Breakfast for Dinner ~ Low Carb Coconut Flour Pancakes (gluten free, grain free)

Breakfast for breakfast is fine, but why not switch it up and have breakfast for dinner every once in a while?  My family does this alot because it is simple, on the cheaper side, and the kids think it is so fun!

One of the challenges with eating low carb is when you miss things like pancakes.  When I first was searching for low carb recipes I found this one, which I love.  It makes thin little pancakes that kind of taste like French toast.  Simple and tasty.

Now, I know I have said before that I am not creative in the kitchen, but after making a good amount of low carb and paleo baking recipes I thought I could try my hand at some alterations.  I love the pancakes I mentioned, but they are very thin and I wanted to try to add some fluffiness.  I have not been a fan of the pancakes made with almond flour b/c they are too dry and gritty for my liking but then I was introduced to coconut flour and it changed my world.

So here is my altered recipe that is pictured above:

Coconut Flour Pancakes
2 eggs
2 oz. cream cheese
5 drops vanilla stevia (or 1 packet splenda or other sweetner)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 c coconut flour
1/4 c water
1 Tablespoon nut butter - I used my pecan butter but almond would work (peanut butter probably too but it might taste like it a little)
Mix-ins optional - I sometimes add mini chocolate chips for the kiddos or fruit for a MM step 2 option or chopped up nuts

I mix the batter in a magic bullet or any small blender to make sure it is good and combined.  If you want a thinner batter just add more water until you get the desired consistency.  I pour about 1/4 cup per pancake on a griddle for about 2 minutes on each side (you really can't over cook them but thy can be under cooked in the middle so be sure to do what works for your heat level).

You can see that they are pretty fluffy and moist on the inside :)

I may try and substitute the cream cheese/water for some coconut milk next time to make it paleo friendly.......but the hubby does not really dig panckes anyway so my efforts may be wasted.

I added blueberries to half the batch which was amazing!!  I asked Tyce if he liked the chocolate chips or the blueberries better and he said blueberries!!  That's my boy! And these were fresh blueberries so no fake stuff you find in the eggo waffles and such!

If you use 1/4 c blueberries or less this can be your 5 g counter for those on MM.

I hope you like these!  If you try them let me know what you think or any tweaks you have made!!

Merging a Family of Eating Styles

photo source

We started out being a family where I was the only one making eating changes.  Everyone was supportive of me but I did not want to make them change the way they were eating just because I needed to.  So I started to blend the way I was eating while still cooking for everyone else (or my husband cooking....which always tastes better....thanks sweetie).  I wasn't cooking something completely different just eliminating buns or pastas for myself.

So flash forward to now.....my family has 3 different eating styles.  Metabolism Miracle (me), Paleo/Primal (the hubby), and anything kid friendly and nutritious for 2 growing boys.

So my husband has started to eat Paleo/Primal.  It is great b/c the paleo way of eating is not a very far cry from the way I have to eat.  You cannot have any grains but you can have as much fruit as you want.  Dairy and natural sugars (honey, maple syrup) are limited up to your personal preference. I really like to think of it as eating real whole foods.  I was so excited to see my husband make this change for his health even though he is super fit and definitely not a "met B".  Now the 2 of us can eat very similarly I just need to pay close attention to the amount of fruit or honey in a dish.  He does get the occasional "oh you are eating like a caveman" comments, but I will take a super healthy husband any day (I actually kinda like him and want him to be around for a good long time by my side).

So as you might notice if you follow my recipes, I do my best to merge our eating "requirements" when finding and making foods.  And as far as the kids go, I believe they are eating as healthy as possible by sharing with us.  They are not being limited in any way but only benefiting from learning a healthy way to live while they are young.  Maybe they will help to change this crazy world of processed foods and health problems instead of making all of the mistakes we made.  Also, if they really want something not on one of mommy or daddy's plans then we let them have it in moderation and at this point we do not alter what they eat at school/daycare.  They are kids after all.  (but they actually really love my homemade nut butters, kale chips, and secretly-full-of-nutrients veggie juices or smoothies...hehe.....tricky tricky).

Yummy Banana Chocolate Chip Spice Muffins (possibly paleo ~ definitely gluten free and low carb)

So what you will soon learn about me is that I am not very creative in the kitchen.  I can follow a recipe like nobodies business (hello....I am a scientist) but when it comes to just winging it......total fail on my part.  In other words if you ever see a recipe on my blog I will probably have a link to the original author's post just like this one I am about to tell you about.

Side note:  I am not really sure on the etiquette of referencing another blog so I am hoping putting the link to give credit is the way to go.

Anywhoooooo.....I will talk in much more detail in other posts about our families eating habits but this recipe was one I came across when looking for a paleo breakfast item.  A couple of the ways I am trying to live a simpler life are incorporated here such as eating simple whole foods and eating on a budget by buying on sale and freezing meals/snacks.

So you can find the recipe on the link I posted above, the only modification is at the last minute I decided to add some mini dark chocolate chips (gluten free) to half of the batter for the kiddos (and maybe me).  This is the part that may or may not be paleo - up to your personal paleo eating style.

all of the ingredients ~ homemade almond butter in the Ball jar on the left and that cute little flower jar on the right was made by my soon to be sister-in-law and is homemade vanilla just using vanilla bean and vodka (genius)

I used my Ninja for this ~ if you are not familiar with it think of a cross between a blender and a food processor ~ we love it in my house

combine all of the wet ingredients - eggs, bananas, almond butter, cocnut oil, vanilla and blend until completely mixed

combine all of the dry ingredients ~ coconut flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, salt ~ add to wet ingredients and bland until smooth

should look something like this



this is me deciding last minute to spruce it up with some chocolate chips ~ I didn't measure this out just kinda threw them in there ~ it is not very many chips per muffin

I love using my ice cream scoop to equally measure out muffins into the pan so theoretically they bake the same

I filled mine almost 3/4 full and got 12 muffins out of the whole batter ( I think you were supposed to get 24 ~ oops)

About 15 minutes later on 350 and finished!!



These were seriously yummy and super moist (which is not very characteristic of gluten free baking so I was super excited).  Most of the sugar/carbs come from the bananas so I feel pretty good about it.  The net carb count without the chocolate chips is around 11 g per muffin if you make 12.  Adding the chocolate chips is probably another carb or 2 (like I said ~ I didn't measure them out like a good scientist).

If anyone out there ever reads this and tries them, let me know what you think or any alterations you think would be good!!  I am going to try and put a few of these in the freezer to save for later before all of my boys get their hands on them :)