Banana Buckwheat Flax Pancakes with Pecans

Yes, pancakes.  These fall more into the fruit and whole grains for breakfast category than veggies for dinner, but people have been asking about breakfast, especially for kids, and this puts a pretty good spin on the old classic.  Pancakes are typically problematic with the refined white flour, dairy, eggs, sugar, and additives and preservatives.  This version is pure whole, lightly refined, plant food, and they are delicious!

Banana Buckwheat Flax Pancakes cooked with Pecans and topped with Blueberries

Serves: 6
Prep Time: 10 min
Cook Time: 20 min

Ingredients:

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup buckwheat flour 
1 cup freshly ground flax seed
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 cups nut/soy/seed milk (we use homemade hemp milk, or whatever we have on-hand)
1 cup applesauce
2 mashed bananas 
1/4 cup water (adjust to achieve a good batter consistency)

Optional:

Pecans or walnuts to cook into the pancaked
Frozen blueberries, raspberries, diced apples, sliced bananas, or any other fruit for toppings

Instructions:

Combine the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix.  Mash 2 bananas really well with a fork until they become soft like the applesauce.  Add the mashed banana and other wet ingredients on top of the dry ingredients and whisk to mix thoroughly.  

Preheat a large pan or skillet on the stove.  Lightly coat the pan with a spritz/spray oil to avoid sticking.  Ladle the batter into the pan to make whatever size and shape pancakes you like.  Add nuts and another dash of cinnamon if you like. Once they start to cook around the edges and bubble in the middle, flip them over and finish cooking on the other side.  

Server warm topped with warmed frozen or fresh fruit.  I like to heat frozen berries until they get soft and juicy like a fruity syrup, or dice fresh apples and bananas to put on top.  Now you have a delicious and healthy breakfast that will fuel you up and start your day off right!

The dry ingredients.  Clockwise whole wheat flour, buckwheat flour, ground flax seed, baking powder, cinnamon, and baking soda.

The wet ingredients.  Nut/soy/seed mild, mashed bananas, applesauce, and water.

A pancake that's ready to be flipped

Ready to go, eat it up!

Lentil Shepherd's pie

Dr. Fuhrman emailed out this recipe in his newsletter and I was really excited to try it!  When the weather gets cold, I really enjoy really hot, comfort food and I think this recipe satisfies both while being totally plant based.  His recipe can be found here.

Serves: 6
Prep Time: 30 - 45 min (this took me a while the first time, but will be faster as I make it more often)
Cook Time: about 60 min (including time to cook lentils)

Ingredients:

1 bulb garlic
1 medium head cauliflower, cut into chunks
1/2 cup raw cashew butter
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, divided
1/4 cup soy, hemp or almond milk, if needed to adjust consistency
1 1/2 cups dry lentils
1 large onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 large carrots, diced
2 ribs celery, diced
10 ounces mushrooms, sliced
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 cup low sodium or no-salt-added vegetable broth
1 teaspoon dried rosemary or 2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, chopped
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme or 1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped


Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Bring lentils and 3 cups water to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until lentils have absorbed all liquid and are soft, about 30 minutes. Set aside.  If you are trying to speed up this recipe, canned lentils can also be used, but try to get unsalted lentils.

While lentils are cooking, roast unpeeled garlic for about 25 minutes or until soft.  I like to chop off a small portion of the non-stemmed side of the garlic, wrap it in foil, and place the garlic right on the rack in the oven.  I absolutely love roasted garlic and I think it adds lots of flavor, but if you are trying to speed up the recipe, maybe for a weeknight meal, I think this step could be skipped.  If you do choose to roast the garlic, when it's cool enough to handle, squeeze out the soft cooked garlic, removing and discarding the skins and set aside.

Steam chopped cauliflower for about 8 to 10 minutes or until tender. Place in a high-powered blender along with roasted garlic, cashew butter, nutritional yeast and 1/8 teaspoon of the black pepper and blend until smooth, adding a splash of non-dairy milk if needed to adjust consistency.  I did end up adding some non-dairy milk, but afterwards I think I would have like have the cauliflower mash more chunky and would probably add less next time around.  I wouldn't blend as much as I did either too keep it more chunky, but this you can adjust based on your preference.  I also didn't have cashew butter, so I blended some raw cashews ahead of time to make my own cashew butter.  Once the mash is blended, set aside.

Heat 2-3 tablespoons water in a large saute pan, add carrots and celery and cook for 5 minutes, then add onions and garlic and cook until vegetables are tender. Add the mushrooms and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Stir in tomato paste. Add the lentils, rosemary, thyme, remaining black pepper and 1/2 cup of the vegetable broth. Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add remaining vegetable broth as needed; mixture should be moist but not runny.  Everything is starting to smell delicious at this point!

Place the lentil mixture in a large casserole dish and spread mashed cauliflower evenly over the top. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes or until the cauliflower starts to brown.

Enjoy!  We loved this recipe and all four of us almost ate the entire thing for dinner one night!

Cashew Hot Chocolate

My 10 year old and I were invited to a get together where hot chocolate was going to be served.  Since we try to eat as healthy as possible, avoiding all dairy, sugar, and processed foods, I’m not into giving him traditional hot chocolate…  I still wanted to go, and I was thrilled when I found this recipe!  I made a batch and brought it with us so he wouldn't feel like he was missing out on the treat.   It was a huge hit, and if you like hot chocolate you MUST give it a try!!


I found the recipe on Our Fresh Kitchen.  Check out their site, I'm sure they have plenty of other healthy recipes to try!  http://www.ourfreshkitchen.com/snacks/cashew-hot-chocolate/

Serves: 4
Prep Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:
4 pitted dates
3 cups of hot water
2 tsp. cocoa powder
1 cup of raw cashews

Instructions:

Boil the water, put everything in the blender and blend until very smooth.  That's it!

Cashews, Dates, Coco powder, and water.

The Taste Test...

They love it!!