My Newest TV Obsession (And the Pancakes You Should Eat While Watching It)

I think Raymond Reddingtion may be my new favorite fictional bad guy. I also may be slightly idolizing over Elizabeth Keen and her super exciting job (perhaps not the whole abused-by-father and my-husband-is-not-who-he-says-he is backstory though… but that’s beside the point).

In short, The Blacklist is my newest television obsession. It has all of the necessary must-have pieces to be a potential binge-watching series. That is, if I ever fall behind on watching it on Hulu the day after they premiere. Which is unlikely.

There’s an intriguing criminal, a relateable main character, a twisted, action-filled plot in every episode, and lots of hidden secrets. Basically it’s perfect.

So do yourself a favor and if you haven’t already seen this show, go watch it. Now. And if you have watched it already, go watch an episode again just for me. Or scavenger YouTube for the preview of next week’s episode (oh wait, I already did that for you 😉 ).

I repeat: Go watch it NOW.

But first, make these pancakes so you have something to delicious to eat during the commercial breaks.

Paleo Strawberry and Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Adapted from my Unbelievably Grain-Free Berry Pancakes

Grain/Gluten/Wheat-Free, Paleo/GAPS-Friendly, Nut/Dairy-Free Option

Makes two batches of three pancakes

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 1 tbsp honey (optional)
• 1 small banana
• 1/4 cup light coconut milk
• 1 tsp vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup almond flour (or other nut/seed flour)
• 1/4 cup coconut flour
• dash of sea salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup strawberries, frozen or fresh, sliced
• carob or chocolate chips/chunks (homemade)

Directions:

1. Preheat griddle to 350 degrees (or a pan to about medium heat). Coat with coconut oil, ghee, or cooking spray to prevent sticking.
2. Put all of the wet ingredients into a food processor and blend until smooth.
3. Then add the dry ingredients and combine again.
4. Using a 1/3 cup measuring spoon scoop portion out the batter onto your griddle in medium-sized circles, spreading with the back of the measuring cup if too small.
5. Cook for approximately three minutes, then place a few strawberry slices and carob/chocolate chunks on each pancake. Cook for another minute or two until the side facing up is bubbly. Flip and cook for approximately four more minutes. Repeat with remaining batter and serve!

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Happy Friday!

• What is your favorite kind of pancake?
• Have you seen The Blacklist yet?
• What is your current TV obsession?

Pin Around the Rosie

Hey everyone! I’m just popping in for a quick post today to participate in Lindsay’s Pin It Party over at The Lean Green Bean.

Today I am sharing five recipes that you can easily pin on your Pinterest boards.

For ease of use I included a Pin It button to the right of each recipe title so that you can add the picture to whatever board you like. To see the recipe itself you can either click on the recipe title or the picture itself. After pinning one recipe just hit the back button in your browser and it should take you to this post again so that you can pin even more! 😉 (Let me know if there are any technical issues or mistakes on my part with the pins/links!).

Easy enough, right?

Make sure to link-up your top five posts for Lindsay’s link-up today!

Grain-Free Cinnamon Roll Bread 

Coconut Flour Cinnamon Rolls

Grain-Free and Vegan Biscuits 

Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins 

Apple Chunk Cinnamon Rolls (Grain-Free and Vegan) 

And if you’d like to follow me on Pinterest for my most recent food finds, funny memes, and all around interesting stuff, go here!

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If you’d like me to take a look at your Pin It Party post leave a link in the comments.

If you have a recipe that you think I’d enjoy and would like me to pin you can leave a second link and I’ll make sure to pin it!

Game Changer Chocolate Frosting

No.

Time.

Ahhh!!

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Okay, now that that rant is over, I want to thank you all for your amazing comments on my last few posts! Sorry I haven’t gotten back to you. Same goes for my blog reading recently. As I said above, I just haven’t had the time.

Today my aunt helped me move all of my big furniture into my dorm room (mini fridge, microwave, chair, computer/phone setup for my internship, table). I would have moved everything today on campus but I also had an appointment with my GAPS practitioner so I couldn’t stay.

This Saturday I’ll probably finish moving up with the help of my parents (and maybe my brother depending on his mood 😉 ).

Would you believe that I already have things to do before school starts? Like non-moving in things. More specifically speaking, homework-esque things. Ugh.

But for now I am living in blissful denial until Sunday when I will tackle all of that.

Let’s focus on glorious food for now, okay?

As I mentioned on Wednesday this past Sunday was my dad’s birthday so I made him a cake. Yellow layers with chocolate frosting.

The cake part turned out pretty tasty but not exactly sharing-material.

The frosting however was a real winner.

Some may call it a…

Grain/Gluten/Wheat-Free, Vegan, Nut-Free, Paleo/GAPS-Friendly

Makes about 2 cups of frosting

Ingredients:

• 1 ripe avocado, peeled and chopped
• 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
• 1/2 cup carob powder (or cocoa powder but it will not be as sweet)
• 1/2 cup honey
• dash of sea salt and splash of vanilla (optional but recommended)

Directions:

1. Add all ingredients to a food processor or blend and mix well.
2. Refrigerate until ready to use.
3. If making a layer cake add the frosting in between the layers and freeze for a few hours. Then frost the rest of the cake with the remaining chilled frosting.

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Questions for you:

How do you people click that “Mark all as read” button on Bloglovin? I just feel SO guilty! 😦

Is chocolate and avocado even a surprising combo anymore? Answer: Whenever I see chocolate + “surprise ingredient” I immediately guess avocado.

Feel free to rant about not having any time either! I’m all ears.

Grain-Free, Vegan Carob Chunk Cookie Bars

It has been over a week since I posted my last recipe, and quite a while since I posted a full-blown recipe that was not a pancake.

It has been even longer since I posted an allergy friendly recipe!

Last weekend I had quite a bit of time free to myself and instead of lounging around with my laptop I decided to bake instead.

Wheat/Gluten/Wheat-Free, Dairy/Egg-Free, Nut-Free Option, Peanut-Free, Refined Sugar-Free, Paleo

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
• 1/2 cup carob powder
• 1/4 cup ground flaxseed + 1/4 cup water
• 1/2-1 ripe banana, mashed
• 2-6 tbsp honey (replace with maple syrup to make vegan)
• 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cup almond flour (any other nut flour or seed flour will work)
• 1/3 cup coconut flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix together the coconut oil and carob powder until well combined. Pour the carob sauce into a small loaf pan or large rimmed lid. Place in the freezer until solid (around 15 minutes for me).
3. Combine ground flaxseed and water in a small microwave-safe bowl. Heat the flaxseed mixture in the microwave for approximately 2 minutes or until the water is all absorbed.
4. Add the mashed banana, honey, coconut oil and vanilla extract to the flaxseed mixture. Stir until smooth.
5. In a separate bowl mix all of the dry ingredients together. Then mix in the wet ingredients. Combine well.
6. Take the carob out of the freezer and break into small chunks. Mix about 1/3 of the chunks into the cookie dough.
7. Grease an 8×8 or 9×9 square baking pan with coconut oil and further line with parchment paper to prevent sticking. Evenly spread out the cookie dough in the pan. Top with another 1/3 of the carob chunks.
8.  Bake for 20-30 or until golden brown and the cookie bars bounce back to the touch. Remove from the oven and slice into 9 pieces.

Notes:  

• If you are able to eat eggs you could probably substitute two eggs for the flaxseed + water mixture.
• I used only 2 tbsp of honey and 1 small banana but my parents said that they would have preferred it to be sweeter. Next time I will use 1/2 banana and 6 tbsp honey.
• I didn’t use all of the carob chunks and had some leftovers just for snacking. Depending on the size of yours and thickness you may end up needing them all. Also, if you don’t use carob a starch-free alternative would be cocoa. This would be much more bitter however (you could try experimenting with additional honey but that would probably not hold up/freeze as well).

 

Shared at Food Forager.

Being finally able to post an egg-free and dairy-free recipe makes me incredibly excited. I felt like I was kind of abandoning the whole intent of my blog being for those with food allergies. While I will continue to post non-vegan recipes, I will also try to make more of an effort to post allergy friendly recipes as well.

Thanks for all of your really nice comments and insight on my post yesterday about my gastric emptying study results. I have more doctor appointments scheduled for my week off in between the end of my full time internship and the start of school/my part-time internship. They are mostly just to check-in but as always I’m hopeful that I will walk away with something new to try out!

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Have you been baking a lot this summer or just sticking the heat-friendly, non-oven recipes?

Have you ever tried carob before? Do you prefer its sweeter taste to cocoa?

What are your plans for the weekend?