My Power Pancake!

I've made power pancakes before, but I can confidently say they were modeled/inspired by and don't live up to these. Other than Lenny and Larry's The Complete Cookie, these are a good buyable healthy tasty food!

Thanks to Alan at AbsClubLA where you can purchase these tasty and nutritious babies online!

Right now I only have the Chocolate Chip Hempseed flavor, but I really shouldn't say only.

I would say they are a cross between an epic breakfast oatmeal cookie without lots of oats and a chocolate chip pancake with some extra delicious dried fruit and seeds. And 100x more nutritious ingredients. Good on the go, or enjoy them at home after softening in the microwave if that's your thing or making them nice and toasty in a toaster/toaster oven.  Getting some nice warm melty chocolate chips is always a bonus. Could even top with nut butters, yogurt, etc for extra fun.
*I must mention that I toasted one with some coconut butter to melt all over the top and it was off the hook!

I love dates and chocolate. Enough said. Just try them!

Thankfully, they are wheat free, so the gluten content is low in the rye flour. Also no dairy so happy digestion all around (no eggs either for the vegan fans out there).

Great for pre or post workout nutrition, providing plenty of carb fuel/refuel along with just enough fat and protein for fuel/rebuilding, but not overworked digestion (and not super high glycemic raising sugar carbs that will just make you crash/not last long either).  I also use them for longer lasting exercise like rides well over 2 hours.

At $2 a pancake (plus discounts!) they are competitively priced for buying what I would consider an unprocessed real food that is excellent on the go or pairing with exercise/workouts.  Far more nutrients (and same calories/$) than what you get in your standard $2 sports bar!

I'm really excited to get my hands on the Carob Chip and Mango flavors!

Settling Routines

Pretty much just posting this to show off the quality Salmon! 

I toaster-ovened it with some leftover broccoli and yam, topped with plenty of coconut butter. It tasted bomb with a hint of dill that I wanted more of so I sprinkled some extra on. I cant wait to properly grill the next one with some creamy lemon dill dressing.

Onto the real goods: some more protein pancakes, more off of this recipe this time.

• Some Coconut Water
• 1 Scoop Vanilla Whey
• 1t Vanilla
• Blueberries
• 1T Cacao powder
• 1T Coconut flour
• Some coconut shredded
• Some Cacao nibs
• 1T Chia seeds
• An Egg white

The Cacao-Coconut Side

I thought I put too much coconut water but they actually puffed up a bit and made nice thin pancakes!

 Chocolate Chip Pancakes gone protein and primal! (grain free)

 So chocolatey and coconut-y with delicious cooked blueberries, with some more fresh and melty coconut butter on top. Win.

These taste so much like traditional choco-blueberry pancakes! Imagine the coconut butter as completely melted and drizzled all over if you'd like (more like frosting instead of a butter replacement upgrade).

Wasn't going to post this but I had to highlight one thing:

1) I'm loving seaweed in salads, it soaks up the dressing and becomes undried and the flavor is delightful. This was some turkey breast, greens, avocado, and sweet potato with some Flax Oil-Bangkok Pesto-Lemon Dressing.

I followed up the seaweed in salads theme with the most packed Asian Salad Bowl ever.

• Raw Hotate Scallops (for Sushi)
• Kimchee Liquid, Lemon, Flax Oil, Minced Ginger, Minced Garlic Dressing
• Greens, Cucumber, Avocado
• Shirataki Noodles and Sushi Ginger
• Nori Seaweed
• Steamed Crookneck Squash w/ Sesame Oil
• Artichoke Hearts
• Macadamia Nuts and Sesame Seeds

 The scallops, even plain were insanely good: a bit creamy, not fishy at all, the perfect soft texture.  The dressing had plenty of spice from the kimchee with ginger-lemon-garlic flavors. The seaweed and noodles  made some noodly texture. Then some crunchy macadamias and mushy avocado and tasty squash. It lasted forever and never got old!

Power Pancakes 2.0, Gratitude, Super Dal

     Along with all the baking I did this weekend, I also whipped up and froze my 2nd time batch of protein pancakes, and without protein powder!  I switched them to the fridge the night before I wanted them. 

Coconut Power Pancakes

The nutrition is off the hook with a solid amount of fiber and protein, yet still super tasty (click nutrition-without seeds/fruit added in).  #1 The key is garbanzo, coconut flour, and egg whites.  They were a bit dry so maybe coconut milk, and less garbanzo flour and baking powder. The pancakes alone were actually quite tasty, fluffy and light, flavorful and a little sweet!

• 6T Garbanzo Flour
• 2T Coconut Flour
• 2t Baking Powder
• 2t Cinnamon
• 2 Egg Whites
• 5 Drops Stevia
• Vanilla
• Fair amount of unsweetened almond milk (until good consistency)
• Add in pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, raspberries, blueberries, dried fruit, cacao nibs...

 Seeds were the best addition to during cooking and although I ate on the go, sauces/toppings would help  the moisture factor. More fresh fruit cooked in would benefit as well! This breakfast kept me full for a while so I would maybe make 2/3 of the recipe for one person (the above changes would probably do the trick). Just mix ingredients and pour 3-5" pancakes on a griddle, flipping after bubbling for a while (if you roll non-greased like me!).

Some more Gratitude:

I Am Whole

 Probably now my go to grain bowl at Cafe Gratitude. I love it.  The Kim Chee is just a bit spicy and not too acidic, and the Teriyaki Almonds sweetness and nice crunch balance out the Garlic Tahini Dressing!

 Sea vegetables and kale, steamed quinoa or local brown rice, house-made kim chee, carrots, and sprouts with tahini-garlic sauce and teriyaki almonds.

 I made Channa Dal pretty well for the 2nd time as well!

 Channa Dal Houtzager 

It ended up perfectly sweet, spicy and creamy oozing with flavors and went with the salad and dressing perfectly. 

• Cardamom, Garam Masala, Basil, Turmeric, Ginger Powder, Ginger Juice, Olive Oil, Agave Nectar
• Garlic, Fennel, Onion, Dal, Butternut Squash
• Almonds, Fennel to Garnish
• Chicken broth and Coconut milk
• Spinach Avo Salad w/ Ginger-Lemon-Olive oil Dressing

 #2 I did the dressing quickly without thinking and it is so good for how simple it is to throw together (when you have home-bottled ginger and lemon juice in the fridge!). Just saute the vegetables and garlic with the spice combo and then add in steamed butternut squash, rice-cooker made Dal, and extra Chicken Broth and Coconut Milk to make it your desired consistency.  Top with the yummy garnishing and enjoy! #3 The agave nectar is key to sweeten it up just a bit.

Power Maple Banana Nut Pancakes, Garlic Sesame Grill Remix with Bite, Super Granola

Easy Garlic Sesame Remix Meal

 Had to throw this together and bring to a friends house to be on time, it was so easy yet tasty.  I just prepared the B-Sprouts, Sweet Potato, and Tahini Dressing and was off. Could of done a better job with the avo/tomato/cucumber in terms of presentation but time was limited and that wasn't really my goal. The Mediterranean Chicken Leftovers remixed into this meal perfectly. Plenty of Garlic in the dressing and Grilled-ness from the Sprouts = happy me. More bite from the olives and sweet Sweet Potato mixing with the creamy Tahini also a plus.
-Baked Sweet Potato
-Avo, Tomato, Cucumber
-Garlic Lemon Chicken Lefty's
-Grilled Brussel Sprouts (Sea Salt, Pepper, Olive Oil, Mustard Seed)
-Garlic Sesame Dressing (Lots of Crushed Garlic, Tahini and Water)

The Last of the Bungalow Munch

 This large beautiful container emptied fast in my house! It's presence on the countertop led to my parents loving it and digging in all the time.  They love it. After eating the granola this time with actual yogurt, the traditional granola way, I now truly appreciate it's quality. The special glass jar matches it's magnificence perfectly. It shouldn't come in anything else. And it's more eco friendly. Kind of like my Bento Lunches.  I've decided it is simply the highest quality organic granola experience. And the sunflower seeds and coconut combined with the toasted aspect sort of remind me of WAFFLES while I'm eating it! Win for sure. This was creamy yet toasty and delicious with some Almond Milk and Greek Yogurt and Fresh Blueberries. Yum.
-1/4c Bungalow Munch (nut free)
-1-2t Greek Fage Nonfat Yogurt (so creamy so good)
-Some Almond Milk
-Fresh Blueberries

Salad Turkey Rice Dish

Not much cooking here, but i'll include it anyways cause it was quite tasty and I just want to give the purple cabbage some credit for being back again and delicious. I do think it might pair even better with Tahini. Another thing I could munch on solely for days! It was a nice bed under the rice-turkey-salad combo, its slight bite flavor paired perfectly with wasabi mustard. Just like the purple cabbage combined with mustard seed! Which also went with the creamy avocado and hummus!

-Brown Jasmine Rice and Diestel Pastrami Turkey

-Hummus and Wasabi Dijon Mustard

-Carrot chopped and shredded, Cucumber, Tomato

-Kalamata Olives

-Purple Cabbage

Power Maple Banana Nut Pancakes

This is only the beginning! They may not look much like pancakes but trust me, they are.  The dark color is from a lot of cinnamon and brown rice protein.  This is totally possible thanks to chia gel. I can't even argue that this is unhealthy compared to what I normally eat. Protein from protein powder and quinoa and super fats from chia seeds!  Wheat free not too much sugar if you go easy on the syrup and nutritionally balanced.  I can't wait to make a million variations / make a batch to freeze for on the go breakfasts/snacking. Highlights within the pancake are definitely the sunflower seeds and pecans (I wanted to get a taste similar to bungalow munch with sunflower seed coconut combo), which get nice and toasted and add some major crunch factor. #1 For toppings it's hard to go wrong, no fruit on hand but frozen bananas (best way to save them!) which I just threw in the pan to defrost and they became so soft and sweet, like in Asian desserts.  I used too much cinnamon / baking powder, combined with the brown rice protein made the batter a little bitter on it's own so I may go for plant protein and fix those mis-measurements before trying different flours, although oat flour seems like a tempting nutty option(the below measurements are the correct ones)! So easy and so simple! They didn't turn out picture perfect because I tried flipping too early and made them too big = also hard to flip.  I didn't even use olive oil for one on the nonstick griddle and it worked fine! Can't wait to make Cocoa Hazelnut or Mexican Cocoa variations and so much more just like oatmeal!
-Chia Gel (1t to 1/2 cup water, truly amazing stuff)
-2t Quinoa Flour (2t or a bit less sprouted quinoa in coffee grinder)
-1t/7g Cinnamon (I did a bit more, but don't)
-2t/10g Protein Powder (I did Brown Rice Vanilla but may tree Vanilla Plant Fusion)
-1t Baking Powder (I accidentally did more)
-65g Almond Milk (just until desired consistency, not soup but not cookie dough)
-Pecans/Sunflower Seeds
Toppings: Almond Butter, Maple Syrup, Banana, Shredded Coconut