Perfect Paleo Pancakes

I've been on and off my Paleo diet for a few weeks now for a variety of reasons (none of which are really the point of this post), and a couple of weeks ago, I came across the most incredible discovery. I'm really kicking myself for not finding it out sooner.

See, my issue with pretty much ALL Paleo bread-like goods is the texture. I'm a bread girl. I really could live off of bread, cereal, and pastries and be very happy about it. And so no-grain breads just have not cut it for me. Almond flour has made things grainy, and coconut flour produces a pasty/dry texture. No thanks.

But, like I was saying, I made a discovery upon trying a new recipe for Paleo naan (which is great, by the way- you should make it)... and that discovery is the wonderful ingredient that is tapioca starch. It takes a very dry, not-at-all-doughy Paleo bread and turns it into something that actually bends, stretches and pulls apart like regular bread!

So I started experiementing. I've gone through a lot of tapioca flour in the last week.

And along with some other new recipes (that I will need to post soon), I adapted the previously mentioned recipe to be what I am certain is the best paleo pancake recipe I've ever had.

They are fluffy but dense, they don't crumble or break, they have a perfect bite on the outside and are soft inside, and they taste GREAT.

So! Without further ado, go make these and eat the whole batch, because I dare you to try not to.

Perfect Paleo Pancakes

dry:
1 cup tapioca starch

1/2 cup coconut flour

1/2 tsp celtic sea salt

1/2 cup coconut sugar

wet: 

2 cups canned coconut milk (whole fat, room temperature)

1/2 tsp vanilla 

2 eggs 

optional add-ins:

cinnamon, stevia-sweetened chocolate chips, mashed banana, nuts

Preheat a nonstick griddle to 350ºF.

In a medium bowl, whisk dry ingredients together. In a small bowl, whisk wet ingredients together, then pour wet into dry and mix well.

Pour by 1/4 cup ladles onto griddle. The batter will begin to bubble all over and get dry around the edges.

This is where you would usually flip a normal pancake, but these take longer to cook than normal, so WAIT. It usually takes a few minutes before the pancakes is ready to be filpped. You want to flip it as few times as possible, so carefully check the underside of the pancake with your spatula before flipping. It should be very brown and crispy, but not burnt.
 Flip when ready, then let get that dark on the other side too.

 (Tip for flipping pancakes: carefully inch your spatula under the edge of your pancake to be sure it's not sticking; when you're sure it isn't, shove the spatula under at a parallel with your griddle VERY QUICKLY. Then, quickly again, flip the pancake over in one swift motion. Going fast is the key- if you go to slowly, it will fall apart)

Serve with your favorite toppings. Ours are some grassfed ghee, homemade cashew butter and a drizzle of maple syrup. Bon apetit!

Cheap, Quick and Easy: Meal Ideas

From the Cheap, Quick and Easy Kid Food post...

This is a general breakdown of the quick meals (excluding dinners) we give our kids. Recipes are linked when available!

(We eat lots of other options as well, obviously, but I'm only including the ones that fit the "cheap, quick and easy" category!)

 BREAKFASTS 

• smoothies

• oatmeal + fruit + nuts/seeds

• yogurt + fruit + nuts/seeds + raw honey

• hard boiled egg + fruit + toast

SNACKS 

• fruit + cheese + nuts/seeds + crackers

• nut butter + fruit 

• avocado + olive oil + sea salt + pepper

• veggie slices + yogurt dip 

• edamame + lemon juice + sea salt + pepper 

• fresh fruit 

• dried fruit

• nuts

• seeds

• applesauce in squeeze pouch

• chia pudding in squeeze pouch 

 LUNCHES

• sandwich (meat + cheese + greens) + veggies + yogurt dip

• avocado + tuna (yogurt + mustard + spices + olive oil) + feta + olives + olive oil + sea salt + pepper

• leftovers from dinner

DINNERS

• kids eat what we eat!

TREATS
(most of these are quick to grab once made, but require prep!)

• banana ice cream 

• cashew butter

• "healthy cookie dough dip"

• "healthy brownie batter dip"

• “healthy cookies” 

• “healthy brownies”

• whipped coconut cream + fruit

Cheap, Quick & Healthy Kid Food

Anyone who follows me on Instagram has probably been saying (either silently or aloud), "Why does Jessica keep posting so many food pictures lately??"

No, not because I got bored of taking pictures of my kids.

Please.

I've been working on compiling a list of quick, easy and healthy food ideas for kids. It has come up more than once in conversation recently- why is it so hard to feed your kids good food?

Well, I can tell you two very likely reasons why, in most cases. Healthy food either requires time (for preparation), or it takes money (to buy it pre-made). And you know what moms usually don't have a lot of?

Time and money.

But it doesn't have to be complicated- not always. We've never had a lot of expendable income, but healthy eating has been high on the priority list. Not "healthy eating" in the way that we were taught in school- not the whole-grains, low-fat, high-fiber, food-pyramid stuff. The new (or rather, the old) way of eating healthy, in the line of eating whole foods, straight from nature. No processed food, no refined sugar, no artificial or genetically modified ingredients. Just food as simple as you can get it.

So, I've made a list of quick, cheap and healthy foods we give our kids. It's not all-inclusive, but it gives a good starting point. The idea here is food that is quickly thrown together (or requires no prep), full of nutrients, and won't break the bank. 

(For ideas on how we put these together into kid-friendly meals, click here!) 

Obviously, eating this way is affordable for us not because the food we're buying is inherently cheap. If you've noticed, most organic and natural items tend to be quite a bit pricier than the less-healthy alternatives. 

Here are some of the things I've learned along the way that have enabled us to keep eating this way on a not-very-stretchy budget.

How to make it cheap...

1. Our kids eat what we eat.

Straight from day one of solid-food introduction (which we do when baby shows 3 or more signs of readiness), our babies eat the food we eat. This is two-fold- because in order for that to be safe, we have to be eating well (I find it motivating!). We start with fruits, veggies, meats and eggs, and gradually add more as they get older (finger foods when they get the pincer grasp, dairy around 1, honey after 1, grains after first molars erupt, etc...). This method is called Baby Led Weaning (also known as Baby Led Feeding), and it's worked great for our family. Not only do our kids learn to chew and swallow in the biologically logical order (first learn to mouth the food, then learn to chew, then learn to swallow- as opposed to learning to swallow first, then learning to chew later), but they become accustomed to the tastes of our family's diet.
Another bonus? We don't spend money or time on "kid food." I make one dinner, and everyone eats it. Believe me, that makes my life easier.

You can read more about BLW here.

2. We buy on sale. 

This seems a little obvious, but if you're under a tight budget- especially when you are trying to make good food choices- it's so important to buy things on sale. We only buy on-sale meat for meals each week, and try to do the same for produce as well. That changes our rotation of dinners with what's on sale, for the most part. If there's a great deal on wild-caught salmon, guess what we're having for dinner! If something I know I'll need is on a great sale, and I have the extra money to cover it, I'll buy extra. If it's meat, we freeze it. If it's dry goods, I try to buy enough to last us until the next sale rotation, which varies from item to item.

3. We buy produce in season. 

It's better and cheaper. Some things are really hard to get in season- depending on where you live- but whenever possible, aim to buy in season.

4. We don't shop at just one place. 

If you're only shopping at one (or even two) stores, you're definitely paying more for some items than you need to. Look around for the best prices and keep track of what is cheapest at which stores. We shop at a mixture of Costco, Sprouts, Whole Foods, King Soopers, Natural Grocers, Walmart and Target- all of which have certain things at the best price.

5. We don't buy pre-made or packaged food. 

This is where the "time" part comes into play. Believe me, when we have the extra money, I buy packaged healthy food for the kids. Why? It saves me time and effort! But more often than not, our wallet just can't afford the extra money (and for genuinely healthy packaged food, it gets very, very pricey), and that's when we start prepping our food instead. Which leads me to the next point...

6. We set aside prep time.

This takes time early on, but can save you just as much time as packaged food when you need it quickly. And anyone with a toddler knows that children need food INSTANTLY-BECAUSE-I-CAN'T-FUNCTION on a daily basis. Most of my desserts and snacks for the kids (and myself) are made at night, and then stored in the fridge for quick access. After the kids go to bed, I have prep time for dinners, snacks or other things I want to be easily accessible the next day.

6. We ration dairy, grains and desserts. 

If you really want to be extreme, you can cut them out completely. But even cutting back- and filling those gaps with more produce- will make a huge difference. It's really expensive to take a normal grocery budget and ADD a bunch of healthy food to it. But it's much less of a difference if- on top of cutting out the pre-made and packaged food- you cut back on the expenses of dairy, grains and desserts.

7. We buy in bulk when cheaper. 

Costco, Sam's Club, Sprouts' bulk section, and Amazon (to name a few) can all offer better prices on lots of items just by buying bulk. If you have the ability to fork out the extra money and buy more at a time, it can make a huge difference. (Again, check where prices are cheaper- usually bulk is cheapest, but that's not always the case.) We have never had the expendable income to buy meat in bulk, but if you can afford to buy a quarter of a cow from a farm, that is an excellent way to save on meat.

8. We only buy organic on the necessities.

The big ones are meat, dairy, and the "dirty dozen." Meat and dairy usually have a pretty significant price jump from non-organic to organic. At this point, with the amount of meat and dairy that our family buys, we can't afford to buy all organic, so we have to compromise there. But when organic options go on sale, or we can find them cheaply in bulk or otherwise, we always choose that over non-organic. If you must compromise on meat or dairy, always choose 100% natural and non-GMO, from a reputable company or farm.

 If you haven't heard the term "dirty dozen," it's referring to the 12 most pesticide and GMO-laden produce, which you should definitely buy organic.

The cost difference between organic and non-organic produce isn't overwhelming, but it adds up if you're buying all organic, all the time. We buy organic on the "dirty dozen," but not on the "clean 15."

Those lists are below.

9. We rarely eat out. 

This is more dependent on where we're at financially, because we really enjoy eating out. When our budget expands, we'll go out to Chipotle here and there, or go on a dinner date. But on the regular, and especially when we have a tight budget, we just eat at home. If you're used to getting fast food, or getting Starbucks, or going out to eat on a weekly basis, cutting those out would be a really easy way to save money. 

10. We save and repurpose leftovers.

If you have a toddler, you know that they are notorious for wasting food. It kills me a little inside, so I try to re-use it however I can. If my girls don't eat their yogurt, I'll make it into a smoothie. If they only eat half of a peach, I cut the rest up and freeze it for another day. If they only eat a half of an avocado, I mash it up and use it as a mayo substitute for tuna. Not everything can be saved, but when it can, it can make a difference! 



I hope this is useful for your family!
Do you have any other suggestions? Meal ideas? Favorite "kid-approved" foods? Leave some ideas in the comments!

On The Years That Age You Twice As Fast

There are some years, I think, that age you twice as fast. They feel harder, they seem to last longer, but in the aftermath you can see that they produced twice as much growth. This year was one of those years for me. 

This year, I learned that people are slaves to the things they won't face. I learned that you can analyze and dissect people and you can predict their next few moves, but you can not do anything to change them. I learned that understanding people does not keep you safe from them. I learned that loyalty does not buy loyalty, and being cautious does not guarantee security. That playing by the rules and doing things the right way can be a one way street, and sometimes not fighting back means being vulnerable. I learned that you should never take down a fence until you know why it was put up. I learned that sometimes you have to let people hide, and let go of those who do.

This year, I learned that healing isn't a linear process. That grief does not follow the rules. That forgiveness is a continual, daily process. That sometimes closure doesn't really close the door. I learned that sometimes you have to pull yourself up and walk away, even if it means limping as you do it. I learned that every relationship is irreplaceable, because every relationship is individual. I learned that some relationships aren't meant to be replaced. 

This year, I learned that it's okay to change your mind. I learned that compromising your plans, allowing yourself grace, and lowering your standards aren't failures. That priorities can shift, and more knowledge can give more room for change. I learned that hard work and diligence do not always produce success. That sometimes results aren't an accurate measure of how hard you are trying. That doing your best is enough, even if that looks like failure on the outside. I learned that, in some stages of life, it's not possible to get all of your needs met at once. I learned that you have to choose which to meet and which to put on the back burner. I learned that you can still move through those stages of life, no matter how slowly you are moving. 

This year, I learned that we all use other people as bandages. That we throw our pain onto others in an attempt to get it off of our own backs. I learned that small events can trigger deep wounds, and that the only way to stop the cycle of protecting ourselves by hurting others is to address our hurt first. I learned to recognize my triggers. I learned that addressing them is easier said than done. 

This year, I learned that you can not love people to safety. That people can not be saved if they don't want to be. That sometimes loving someone is dangerous. That promising your loyalty and love to someone means risking losing a part of your heart if they leave. I learned that standing by someone's bedside doesn't mean they will recover. I learned that standing there is worth it anyway.

Sometimes I think it's hard to be thankful for the painful years. I think it's hard to see the good that God brings out of the rubble. But it's there, every time. It's just a matter of recognizing it when we see it.