Everyday Healthy Choices (Healthy Smoothie & pancake recipe)

Today I thought I'd just make a quick post showing how easy it can be to fit nutritious meals in your day, even if you only have a few minutes to spare on a busy work/school morning! My kids are on a serious fruit smoothie kick lately, which works fine for me because it literally takes 5 minutes start to finish to be thrown together. I took a little more time than I normally would on a weekday to make my breakfast because we had some deliciously brown bananas that are PERFECT for sweetening up any recipe, and since yesterday was apparently 'National Pancake Day' (not sure how I missed that one) I thought I'd whip up a healthier version of pancakes.

Anyway, there are countless ways to make fruit smoothies, but instead of swinging through McD's or some fast food place for one full of high fructose corn syrup, artificial flavors, and more...make one at home! You can really use any combination of these items: a base liquid, frozen or fresh fruit, and a thickener. Today I used Bai antioxidant infusion- Panama Peach as my base, a frozen fruit mix from my local grocery store, and some Strawberry Chobani Greek Yogurt as my thickener...because my kids love it. 

My ingredients for the smoothie

Of course when I usually make these I eyeball all amounts, which drives my husband nuts because he really likes measurements and exactness :D But today, I made guesstimates at my measurements so I could pass them along! So, depending on how many people you're making a smoothie for obviously add more of everything. Let's go over a single serving and then you can take it from there! 

          - 3/4 to 1 cup Bai
          - 1 cup frozen fruit
          - 1/4 cup greek yogurt

Today I needed to add a little ice because I went with a little TOO much base...but it's all about that bass right? (total dad joke I know) 

Voila! Deliciousness ready to be eaten!

This smoothie was packed with nutrition from the fruit, and bai antioxidant drink, with a little protein added in from the greek yogurt. Give it a whirl!

For my next trick recipe, I'm sure you've seen at least something similar that's referred to as Paleo Pancakes. We won't go into all of that today, but what makes them paleo in a nutshell, is that there are no refined grains. This is a simple recipe that I found that literally called for two ingredients: a ripe banana, and eggs. I have made them that way and they are delicious albeit tricky to flip and try to keep together in one piece. So...after a little dabbling in the kitchen as I often like to do, this is my take on the paleo pancake! Here are all of your ingredients to gather up:

Yes I totally did that on purpose with the eggs and banana...I'm so clever ;) Again, this recipe is for a single serving, so adjust as needed.

- 1 tsp coconut oil (butter also works- grassfed for paleo)

- 2 eggs

- 1 ripe banana

- 1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)*

- 1 heaping TBSP almond flour (coconut flour or protein powder will also work)

 Start by putting 1 tsp coconut oil in your pan, honestly these are WAY easier and less time consuming to make on the griddle...but I didn't use mine this morning. Normally I make these on weekends and I use my griddle, that being said, adjust your amount of coconut oil needed to cover your griddle space. Then just dump all of the rest of your ingredients into your blender, blend on medium to high speed, depending on if you like banana chunks. And you're ready to get cooking!

I just make whatever sized pancakes I like to eat and go with it, so pour desired amount at a time either into a pan like this one, or use your griddle.

These are a little trickier than normal pancakes but watch for the same signs, this one is just about ready to flip. Note the bubbles, but it's a little more liquid in appearance than regular pancakes at this point. Trial and error, it'll all taste great so if they don't look beautiful the first round, try, try, again!

Flipped, and it's all still in one piece, but I've made plenty that haven't gone so well. Continue on until you've gone through all of your batter. This is where the griddle trumps the pan because then you have hot pancakes all done at the same time :D

I know, and yes they WERE delish! So I have mine topped with a few banana slices, because to me they almost have a little bit of a banana bread flavor to them. The consistency is slightly different than flour laden pancakes, but you won't walk away from the table looking for a place to nap either. I have topped mine with fresh blueberries too, or nothing at all. I used a little butter (because c'mon they're pancakes) and then I use my favorite organic pure maple syrup, which is Simply Balanced brand from target. My husband and kid's prefer the darker amber one I buy at our local grocery store called Anderson's Maple Syrup, but either way you'll have to feel better about using an actual maple syrup instead of the regular stuff filled with HFCS, artificial flavors, and colors, plus 30 grams of sugar per serving. I took a picture of the syrup nutrition facts so you can compare for yourself. 

I will dedicate an entire blog to reading nutrition labels on foods, because I think a lot of people are unaware of what goes into our foods, and if no one has taught you how to properly read food labels, you might WANT to know, but you're not sure what you're looking for.

This is my favorite tasting pure maple syrup because it's light in taste.

These are the nutrition facts on the back of the bottle. Note the ingredients: pure maple syrup. There is more sugar in one serving of this syrup compared to the generic stuff they sell in the pancake mix aisle, but because it's so much sweeter than the artificial stuff, I only use about 1/2-1 TBSP at most.

This is the back of the artificial syrup from our local grocery store. Now, don't get me wrong, this crap stuff is delicious, and we bought it because our daughter had a birthday party and sleepover & I planned to make regular pancakes. Now, just because we're crunchy doesn't mean I force feed the healthy shit stuff to other people's kids just based on principal. However, I have stopped keeping it in our house because my kids honestly like the organic pure maple syrup just as well, and I feel better about giving it to them. Now what I want you to notice most on this nutrition label, is the ingredient list: the first two ingredients are corn syrup, and high fructose corn syrup. After that there is caramel coloring, and other things, but nowhere on there is there even actual maple syrup. Crazy right? I encourage you to go to your pantry and just take a look at your own favorite syrup. I grew up on Mrs. Buttersworth, and if we go to some local diner with amazing plate sized pancakes I'm not one to be the whiny teet about syrup. So, there I eat the bad for you stuff once in a while too. HOWEVER, if the majority of the time we make healthy choices, then those 'once in a while' choices aren't going to undo all of our hard work. (Steps off soap box)

Well I hope you try these yummy recipes, feel free to leave a comment and tell me off all about your favorite syrups, or what you thought about these recipes!

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