Best Grain-free Pancakes Ever!

These are hands down the best grain free pancakes I've ever made!

For Pancake Mix:
-1 Cup Almond Flour
-1 Cup Garbanzo Bean Flour
-1 Cup Flax Seed Meal
-3 Tbsp Swerve
-3 Tbsp Baking Powder (aluminum Free)
-1 Tsp Salt

Combine thoroughly and store in sealed jar for whenever you're in the mood for pancakes!

For Batter:
-1 Cup Pancake Mix
- 3/4 Cup Milk (almond, coconut, organic cow's)
-2 Tbsp Oil (I use coconut)
-1 Organic Egg

Mix all ingredients together and let it sit for a minute while you heat up a pancake pan with coconut oil. 1 Cup of mix makes about 6 medium sized pancakes. Enjoy!

Maximized Meditation!

Hi Everyone-

I wanted to let you guys know about an awesome meditation program from Centerpointe Research Institute. I've been using this program for almost two years now, and during that time I've enjoyed some incredible positive changes in mental clarity, awareness, and quality of life. If you're interested in learning more about the powerful benefits of meditation and the Holosync program specifically join us on Wednesday, May 7th at 7pm at West Cobb Chiropractic for a workshop!

Register for Workshop

Makin' Banana Pancakes

I am a lover of the little things. The little routines, traditions, rituals and songs of daily life warm my soul and make me happy to be alive. One of these little things are Sunday morning pancakes. What could be better than a cute mug full of hot, black, organic coffee and a stack of grain free perfectly fluffed pancakes? This past fall every Sunday morning was spent trying to find the perfect pumpkin pancake recipe and not every one was a success. In fact there were more failures than winners. Several times I ended up making muffins because the batter was so uncooperative. This recipe, however, is a winner! 

• 1 and 1/4 cup almond flour
• 1/4 cup coconut flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 1 ripe banana (or 1/2 cup organic pumpkin)
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup Swerve (optional) 

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl with a hand mixer until fully incorporated. Heat up coconut oil on a flat cast iron skillet (this is my favorite pan for pancakes- also tortilla making) and pour batter into small/medium pancakes. I find that the first few pancakes never come out perfect, but around #3 you should be good to go! 

Chia Superfood Energy Bars

These bars were inspired by a trip to Harry's (Whole Foods) for a cold coconut water after a Bikram Yoga class(105 degrees for 90 minutes). I was looking through the bulk snack food section, saw some chia based snack bars, read through the ingredient list and said "I can totally make these myself". So I grabbed some dates (which I normally don't keep around because they are pretty high in sugar) and headed home. I googled chia bars looking for a recipe and didn't find one I was thrilled about so I decided to wing it. Here's what happened...

9-10 pitted medjool dates
1/3 cup white chia seeds
1/4 cup black chia seeds
1/3 cup hemp hearts
handful raw walnuts
handful raw cashews
handful raw sunflower seeds
handful golden flax meal
2 tbsp melted coconut oil
1 tbsp hemp oil
2 tbsp coconut manna (which is AMAZING by the way find it here)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Place everything in the Vita-Mix and process until until thoroughly combined. Grease a glass pyrex dish with coconut oil and empty the sweet, nutty mix into container. Press down tightly so there are no bumps, cover and chill over night. In the morning cut into square or bars and enjoy!

After making these I thought of all kinds of other fun stuff you could add: goji berries, cacao nibs, coconut shreds/flakes, pecans, pistachios... the possibilities are endless!

Cozy Root Vegetable Soup

I've made this delightful soup twice in the last week!

• 1 sweet potato
• 1 small butternut squash
• 3 carrots
• 2 parsnips
• 1 yellow onion
• 3 cloves of garlic
• thyme, rosemary, salt, pepper, oregano
• olive oil 
• 2 boxes chicken broth
• 2 lbs boneless chicken (breast or thighs)
• 4-5 kale leaves

Step 1: 

Peel, chop and roast veggies at 425 for 30 minutes or until you can get a fork through it the tough veggies. 

Step 2: 

Boil chicken in filtered water until cooked through then shred. 

Step 3: 

Pour broth (except for 1 cup) into large soup pot with handfuls of the dried spices (I'm bad with measurements- I just do what tastes good).  Add in the chicken shreds and start to warm. 

Step 4: 

Take your roasted veggies (excluding onions and garlic) and put half of them into the soup. The other half, place in high power blender with the 1 cup of broth and blend thoroughly. 

Step 5:

Add in pureed veggies to the rest of the soup along with your chopped up kale leaves. Heat everything together for 10 minutes and then serve! 

This was wonderful when served with Kim's Southern Style Biscuits!

October = Pumpkin Cheesecake

It's the most wonderful time of the year! FALL <3 What better way is there to celebrate than with a healthy pumpkin cheesecake? I've tweaked a few things on a recipe from Maria Emmerich and my version got rave reviews.

Crust:
11/2 cup almond flour
1/2 cup coconut flour
3/4 cup Swerve
1 cup coconut oil
1 tsp baking powder
1 free range egg
pinch of sea salt
*add 1/4 cup of cocoa powder and a few drops of liquid stevia to make it a chocolate crust!

Filling:
2 bars organic neufchâtel cheese or cream cheese
1 can organic pumpkin
1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tbsp cinnamon (or more to taste)
3/4 cup swerve
1 tbsp vanilla extract
3 free range eggs

Preheat oven to 350. Combine all crust ingredients and evenly press down in to pie pan and up the sides. Bake crust by itself for 15 minutes and remove.

Whip together cream cheese and swerve. Add in pumpkin,spices and vanilla, combine thoroughly. Add in one egg at a time until full incorporated. Taste to see if it needs any added sweetener or spice.

Pour batter over crust and bake for 45-55 minutes until center is set. Best after chilled for a few hours!

Green Smoothie!

Every single day we need to eat AT LEAST 5 servings of vegetables. Most people need up to 15 servings (especially those fighting disease or elderly) to maintain proper nutrition. A great way to incorporate more greens is by throwing them all in a smoothie! Here is an idea of a great green smoothie. There are endless combinations!

• celery
• green apple
• kale
• spinach
• broccoli 
• cucumber
• grated fresh ginger root 
• lemon juice 
• coconut water
• frozen pineapple
• frozen strawberries 

I don't measure anything so i just chop up a handful of each veggie or fruit, throw it in the vitamix, add a splash of lemon juice, a TBSP or so of grated ginger and cover the blades with coconut water and turn it on for at least a minute. 

Raspberry Rhubarb Crumble

I will occasionally become inspired to purchase a fresh produce ingredient that I've never worked with before just for the heck of it. I am ashamed to admit that usually it will sit in the fridge and slowly wilt while I try to muster the courage to do something meaningful with it. I am proud to say that I got it right with the long, lovely rhubarb stalks I picked up on the first of August...

• 3 large rhubarb stalks chopped
• 1 bag frozen raspberries
• Swerve
• Stevia 
• almond flour
• cold pasture butter 
• handful of whatever random nuts/seeds you have in the pantry 
• lemon juice

In a large bowl combine the frozen raspberries (or whatever berries you choose) and rhubarb. Add about 1/2 cup of swerve, a few drops of liquid stevia (or powder) and a splash of lemon juice. Toss around so fruit is coated in sweetie goodness (taste to make sure it's sweet/tart enough for you). Let this sit. 

Next take very cold butter and cut it up into 1/2 inch cubes. In another bowl place 1 cup of almond flour and then add in the cold butter chunks. You will now massage the almond flour into the butter cubes. Once the butter and almond flour is married you may now add in 1/2-3/4 cup of Swerve and chopped nuts (I used slivered almond, walnuts and pecan chunks) to the mix. At this point I advise placing crumble topping and fruit bowl in the fridge for 20-30 minutes. 

After that pour the fruit into a baking dish and sprinkle the crumble topping over. Resist the urge to press it down. Bake at 400 for 30 minutes or until top is crispy and fruit is bubbly. Serve warm or chilled. It's amazing on its own but for a divine experience try with vanilla bean ice cream or coconut ice cream. 

Tortillas!

We are always looking to recreate favorite meals in a healthier way. One that I feared we'd never get right was the tortilla. We have tried the Ezekiel tortillas and they really didn't make the cut. They fall apart and still are grain based. The first time I tried this simple amazing grainless tortilla recipe I knew we'd never go back to substandard tortillas!

• 1 and 1/4 cup almond flour
• 5 Tbsp psyllium husk powder
• 2 free range eggs
• pinch of salt 
• 1 cup boiling water 

Sift together almond flour, salt and psyllium then add in the 2 eggs. Add the boiling water and mix thoroughly until dough becomes less sticky. Take 2 pieces of parchment paper and flatten out a ball of the dough until rather thin. I have a great cast iron pancake skillet (very flat and shallow) that I use to fry the tortillas. Heat up some coconut oil on low/medium. Carefully coax the flattened tortilla dough to fall off the parchment piece and place it on the pan. I like to tilt the pan so that the coconut oil reaches all parts of the tortilla. I also like to sprinkle a little salt on the not cooked side. Once the edges look slightly crisp flip it over and cook the other side. 

You can use these tortillas for just about anything. The first time I made them I made fajitas using some local grass fed sirloin steak from Vineyard Farms. Since then I've used ground beef and grass fed cheese to make quesadilla which are now a weekly favorite! 

Grainless Pizza Crust

This is my FAVORITE advanced plan pizza crust...

• 1 and 1/4 cup almond flour 
• 1/4 cup unflavored protein powder (I use egg white protein)
• 4 Tbsp Psyllium husk powder
• 2 Tbsp Italian spices
• 2 Tsp baking powder
• 2 eggs
• tsp pink salt
• 1 cup boiling filtered water 

Preheat oven to 350. Combine all dry ingredient and set water to boil. Scramble eggs in a separate bowl then add to dry mix. Combine as much as possible then add boiling water. Stir for a minute or so to fully incorporate. Dough will be pretty sticky. Cut 2 pieces of parchment to the size of your baking pan. Place on piece on the pan and place dough in the center. Top with the other piece of parchment and use a drinking glass or rolling pin to roll out the dough to desired thickness. Bake for 20 minutes then remove from oven. Cover with desired sauce, cheese, toppings etc... 

Turkey Burgers with Avocado Pesto

My new mortar and pestle inspired me to make pesto!

Pesto 

• 3 Cups Fresh Basil (tightly packed)
• small handful of sunflower seeds
• handful of almonds
• 4-5 TBSP EVOO
• juice of 1 freshly squeezed lemon 
• sea salt & pepper to taste
• 1 large garlic clove shredded 
• 1 large ripe avocado 

 Throw all the ingredients except avocado in your food processor or VitaMix and pulse until thoroughly combined. Scoop avocado into your mortar and add a few tablespoons of pesto. Mash together, adding a few spoonfuls at a time until desired consistency is achieved. Add more lemon juice, salt or pepper as needed. 

Turkey Burger 

• 1-2 lbs of free range ground turkey (dark meat)
• Curry, turmeric, cumin, salt, pepper, garlic powder, chili powder, red pepper flakes 

Add desired amounts of spices to turkey meat and combine thoroughly. Heat up 1-2 tbsp of coconut oil in a deep pan or cast iron skillet. Form into 1/3 lb patties and get both sides nicely browned and crispy. Once the outside of the burger is the way you want it, finish cooking in a 350 degree oven until cooked all the way through.  Top turkey burger with a generous scoop of avocado pesto! Serve with a hearty kale salad. 

**For a light summery dish make raw zucchini noodles with a mandolin or vegetable spiralizer and toss noodles in basil pesto. 

Yummy Layered Cookie Bars

In searching for a recipe to serve for our End of 30 Day Challenge Dessert Night I found this gem and adapted it slightly to suit the Advanced Plan!

• 1.5 Cups Almond Flour
• 1 Cup Chopped Walnuts
• 1 Cup Coconut Flakes
• 1/4 Cup Golden Flax Seed Meal 
• 1 Coco Polo stevia sweetened chocolate bar chopped
• 1 tsp Cinnamon 
• 1/4 Cup Swerve (or sweetener of choice) 
• 1 Organic Egg
• 4 Tablespoons pasture butter 
• 1 Cup Sweetened Condensed Coconut Milk
• 2 Cans coconut milk
• 2 Tbsp Pasture Butter
• 1 Tbsp Vanilla Extract
• 3/4 Cup Swerve
• You'll want to prepare this beforehand: Bring ingredients to a boil then lower to a simmer and reduce down for 45-60mins. This will make more than needed for this recipe, but its great to keep in the refrigerator for recipes- try adding it to your organic coffee for a super delicious latte! 
• Combine almond flour, flax meal, cinnamon, swerve, butter and egg into a thick dough and press down into brownie pan or baking dish. Bake this for 12ish minutes at 325 until golden. Let it cool down and then cover with chopped chocolate, coconut and walnuts. Next drizzle 1 cup or more of the sweetened condensed coconut milk evenly over the whole thing. Bake at 350 for 17ish minutes until golden!

Chicken Fried "Rice"

This is a super easy and absolutely delicious advanced plan version of chicken fried rice! All you do to make the "rice" is cut up a medium sized cauliflower into florets and pulse in blender until it breaks down into small pieces.

Ingredients:
2-4 Pastured Chicken Breasts cut into chunks
1 head organic cauliflower
2 cups broccoli florets
1 cup organic mushrooms chopped
2 cloves of garlic chopped
1 large shallot chopped
green onions
3 organic eggs
1-2 tsp fish sauce
1-2 tsp sesame oil
1-3 tbsp coconut aminos or Bragg's aminos
grass fed butter or coconut oil
garlic powder
tbsp fresh grated ginger
wedge of lemon
pink salt & pepper

Cook chicken chunks in butter or coconut oil. Season generously with garlic powder, salt and pepper. Squeeze lemon over cooked chicken. In a separate pan start cooking down broccoli, mushrooms, garlic ginger, and shallots in coconut oil. Cook for 3 minutes and add in fish sauce, sesame oil and aminos. Add cooked chicken to veggie mix. I like to use the chicken pan to quickly scramble the 3 eggs in coconut oil and add to the chicken veggie mix. Finally add in your cauliflower "rice" and cook down for 2-3 minutes until warmed through, but not mushy. At this point you can taste to see if it needs more sesame oil, fish sauce, aminos or pepper. Top with chopped green onions!

Advanced Plan Strawberry Cheesecake

Strawberry Cheesecake 

Crust:

3/4 cup coconut flour

2 eggs 

3/4 cup pulverized xylitol (or Swerve)

1/2 melted grass fed butter 

Press into pie pan (or springform pan), bake at 400∘for 9 min

Cheesecake: 

8 oz. cream cheese 

3 eggs

1 tbsp. vanilla extract

3/4 cup pulverized xylitol (or Swerve)

Mix ingredients adding one egg at a time. Pour over baked crust and return to 350∘oven for 45min-1hour.

Strawberry Sauce:

1 bag frozen organic strawberries

Stevia or pulverized xylitol

1-3 lemon wedges

Heat frozen berries in saucepan on low until they begin to break down. Add sweetener and lemon juice to taste. Blend and strain for smooth sauce. Serve over chilled cheesecake. 

Delicious Grainless Granola

• 2 Cups chopped walnuts 
• 1/2 Cup chopped pecans
• 1 Cup sunflower seeds 
• 1/2 Cup hazelnuts 
• 1-2 TBSP sesame seeds
• 1-2 TBSP poppy seeds
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds
• 1/4 cup shredded coconut 
• 1/4 Cup almond meal 
• 1 Cup protein powder (Maximized Living Perfect Protein  or Jay Robb Egg Protein)
• 1/2 cup Swerve or xylitol 
• 1 Tsp stevia 
• 2 TBSP cinnamon 
• dash of pink himalayan sea salt 
• 11/3 cups grass fed butter or coconut oil 
• 1 free range organic egg 
• 1 TBSP vanilla extract 

Combine everything except the last 3 ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Melt down butter or coconut oil and pour over nut mixture. Scramble egg and add vanilla then add to the mix. Bake at 300 for about 25 minutes until browned and slightly crisp. Allow to cool and store in airtight containers. I plan to have this for breakfast with some unsweetened almond milk and fresh organic blueberries! 

*As a side note you don't have to use all the nut/seeds mentioned in the recipe. I pretty much just went to my cupboard to see what I had and threw it all in.

Stuffed Chicken

• 2-4 Free Range Organic Chicken Breasts
• 3-4 Tablespoons of Organic Cream Cheese
• 6-8 Strips of Nitrate Free Turkey Bacon
• Chopped Organic Green Onions
• Sea Salt & Pepper to taste

If the breasts are thick slice them in half longways and pound to about 1/4 inch thick. Combine cream cheese with green onions. Lightly salt and pepper both sides of the chicken breast and spread 1 thin layer of cream cheese mixture onto 1 side of chicken. Roll up chicken and wrap 2-3 pieces of turkey bacon around roll up. Place on parchment lined baking sheet and bake for about 1 hour or until chicken is thoroughly cooked and bacon is crisp. Allow to cool before slicing into medallions. Serve with broccoli and brussels sprouts (drizzle with evoo and bake with chopped garlic chunks for 15-20)! 

Pumpkin Spice Cake Pops

Pumpkin Spice Cake Pops  (Advanced & Core Plan Approved)

                     Recipe:  Dr. Melissa Sell

Cake

½ Cup Coconut Flour                ½ Cup Xylitol (pulverized)

2TBS Psyllium Husk Powder      1 Tsp Stevia

¼ Tsp Sea Salt                         1 TBS Vanilla Extract

¼ Tsp Baking Soda                   ½ Cup Coconut Oil or Butter (melted)

6 Eggs                                      4 TBS Organic Pumpkin

1 TBS Cinnamon                        1 Tsp Nutmeg

Frosting

½ Bar Organic Cream Cheese     1 Tsp Cinnamon         1 TBS Organic Butter (softened)

¼ Cup Xylitol (pulverized)           1 Tsp Vanilla extract   Stevia (to taste)

Chocolate Coating

6 TBS Butter or Coconut Oil,       6 TBS Unsweetened Cocoa Powder   ¼ Cup Xylitol (pulverized)          

½ Tsp Sea Salt            Stevia to taste    1 Tsp Cinnamon     Dash of Nutmeg 

Thoroughly combine cake ingredients and bake 12 cupcakes at 350 for 22 minutes. Allow cupcakes to cool and place in a large mixing bowl. Combine cupcakes with frosting 1 TBS at a time until cake sticks together (not too dry, not too sticky). Form cake/frosting mixture into small balls (about 3-4 TBS), place on parchment and cool in fridge for 1-2 hours. Melt chocolate coating over low and allow to cool down to room temp. Remove cake balls from fridge, dip one end of a lollipop stick into chocolate mix and insert into cake ball ¾ of the way. Spoon chocolate until cake pop is covered then insert stick into craft foam and place in fridge to cool!

Pigs in a Blanket

In my family it seemed like no holiday was complete without the appetizer of "lil' smokies" wrapped in crescent roll dough aka pigs in a blanket. I was looking for a fun, kid-friendly recipe for our monthly patient appreciation day at the office and stumbled upon a healthy version of this recipe on mariahealth.blogspot.com. 

Dough

1/2 cup Coconut Flour

2 Tbsp Psyllium Husk Powder

1/4 Tsp Seat Salt

1/4 cup grass fed organic butter

1 Cup boiling water

As a replacement for the unhealthy pork sausages I found these great breakfast link sausages made from organic chicken! I cut them in half and they were the perfect size.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the coconut flour, psyllium husk powder and salt. Start boiling water and melt butter at the same time. Add melted butter to flour mix and stir continuously. Pour in boiling water while stirring the dough. Move quickly at this stage because the hot water begins to cook the dough. Pinch off 1 Tbsp sized pieces of dough, roll out and wrap sausage links. Place on a coconut oiled baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes until dough has puffed up and is golden on the bottom. 

Serve with mustard or core plan ketchup (recipe to come)!

Epigenetics

Most people today have been conditioned to believe that they are a victim to whatever genetics factors their parents have passed on to them.  However, there is an exciting field of biology called Epigenetics that is discovering that lifestyle factors actually play a larger role in overall health.  Join us at West Cobb Chiropractic on Thursday August 16th at 7pm for a free educational workshop that will give an introduction to this topic!

Chocolate Muffins

These muffins are great for breakfast or for snacking all throughout the day.  They are filled with good quality fats that will keep you full, but won't weigh you down OR spike your insulin levels like ordinary muffins. 

Another great thing about these muffins is that the basic recipe is very versatile. You can easily add in cinnamon, coconut almond/peanut butter, nut pieces, simply lite chocolate chunks etc. Enjoy!

Add all dry ingredients together in food processor.

2 cups walnuts
1/3 cup cocoa
1 tsp. Baking powder
¼ tsp salt
1/3 cup xylitol

Once mixed: add wet ingredients
4 free range eggs
½ cup melted grass fed butter
1tsp vanilla (I used 2 tsp)
½ cup water or almond milk (I used coconut milk)

Bake at 350 for 25 minutes