Clean Eating Bananas Foster Waffles

I got a new waffle maker for Christmas this year. Over the holidays I made a few buttery, white flour waffles and they were fantastic but we're back to everyday healthy eating.

I always make a hot breakfast on the weekend for my family and I came up with a waffle idea last night and I just had to figure out how to make it!

So here it is- Bananas Foster waffles, the clean version!

Waffles
2 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 Tbsp coconut sugar
3 cups almond milk (regular milk works fine too)
1/4 cup melted coconut oil
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon

Bananas Foster Topping
3 bananas, sliced
1 Tbsp coconut oil
3 Tbsp honey
3 Tbsp maple syrup

1 Tbsp pecans (chopped)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla

1) Whisk flour, baking powder and sugar together in a medium bowl.

2) Whisk in milk, oil and eggs. Add vanilla and cinnamon until the mixture looks like this:

3) Cook in waffle maker until browned. Keep warm in the oven.

And now for the topping....

4) Put coconut oil in frying pan and melt. 

5) Add sliced banana, honey, syrup and cinnamon. 

6) Cook until bananas are caramelized.

7) Put banana mixture on top of the waffles and enjoy!

I even put a bit of butter on my waffle since it's treat day! ;)

Clean Eating Tropical Birthday Carrot Cake

Our family fell off the clean eating wagon over the holidays, but we decided we'd better hop back on ASAP. And so far, so good! Then I realized Abbey's 3rd birthday was coming up and I had to think up a healthy birthday cake for her family party since we always do a small one on their actual birthday. She loves carrot cake and cream cheese so Isearched online but pretty much every recipe was full of fat and sugar! That's when I decided to take a bunch of recipes and create my own.

This recipe makes one small cake pan and a couple of muffins.

2 eggs, beaten
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup applesauce
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup crushed pineapple, semi-drained
1 1/2 cup carrots, shredded
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease pans with olive oil and sprinkle with flour. Cut out parchment paper to the size of the bottom of the pan and put it in prepared pan.
2) Mix eggs, vanilla, honey and sugar with whisk in a medium mixing bowl.
3) Whisk in cinnamon, applesauce and olive oil.
4) Add baking soda, salt and baking powder. Mix in pineapple, carrots, flour and coconut.
5) Pour into greased pans and bake for approx. 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Icing:
1/4 cup cream cheese
1/4 cup plain greek yogurt
2 Tbsp honey
Sprinkle of toasted coconut
Sprinkle of chopped pecans
While cake is baking, beat cream cheese, yogurt and honey together and refrigerate until cake is cooled.
Once cooled, ice cake then sprinkle with coconut and pecans on top.

The birthday girl enjoyed her cake very much and I hope you do too!

Clean Eating Strawberry Banana Oat Muffins

I was looking for a decent muffin recipe for breakfast this morning and just couldn't. I found some that sounded delicious but I didn't want to eat a bunch of wheat first thing. Then I came across one with no wheat that sounded perfect, so of course I had to adapt it and try it!

So, here is my recipe for the most delicious muffins I have had in a long time! As a bonus they are gluten, dairy and sugar free.

Strawberry Banana Oat Muffins

4 Tbsp melted coconut oil
1/2 cup honey
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups oat flour (you can make your own by putting rolled oats in a food processor until a flour-like consistency)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup almond milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 banana, mashed

Approx 10 strawberries, washed and diced

1) Preheat oven to 395°

2) Beat coconut oil and honey in a medium bowl. Add eggs and beat well.

3) Add oat flour, salt, baking soda & cinnamon. Stir.

4) Add almond milk, vanilla and banana then strawberries.

5) Spoon into greased/lined muffin tins and bake for 22-25 minutes.

These were such a hit, even our 2 year old had 2 muffins for breakfast!

Warm Yam Salad with Chipotle Drizzle

Myself and Matt were craving yam fries the other night. I was also craving that delicious chipotle dip that comes along with them at many greasy spoons. I know that dip is totally unhealthy so I came up with my own version. This is what we pulled together and it tasted like heaven!

Baked Yams:
1 Yam per person (we used 3 smaller yams)
Drizzle of olive oil
Sea salt & pepper to taste

1) Heat oven to 420 degrees F.
2) While oven is heating, wash yam and cut into thin strips. Place in large container with lid and drizzle olive oil on top with the salt and pepper. Shake around to coat.
3) Grease large baking sheet and pour yams on. Try to be sure they are not stacked ontop of eachother as they won't crisp that way.
4) Bake for 20 minutes, flipping once. Broil for a few minutes if they aren't crisp to your liking.

Sauce & salad:
1/2 cup greek yogurt (I used fat free)
1/4 tsp liquid smoke
1/4 chili powder
Juice of 1 lime
Dash of garlic powder
Dash of mustard powder
Dash of dried oregano leaves
A few drops of hot sauce of your choice
1 Roma tomato, diced
3 Green onions, chopped

1) Mix up first 8 ingredients and add a little water if needed to thin into runny consistency.
2) Top warm yams with tomato and green onion.
3) Drizzle sauce over and enjoy!

Pizza Cravings are Under Control

I was having the biggest pizza craving ever a few weeks ago. I toyed with the idea of ordering a pizza and then flashed back the stomach cramps that come along with greasy, preservative filled pizza. And then I remembered this wonderful recipe that curbs the cravings and tastes just like junk food!

Pita Pizza
1 whole wheat pita
1/4 cup grated cheese (I used low fat cheddar)
1/4 bell pepper, sliced
1 green onion, chopped
1/2 chicken breast, cooked & sliced
2 Tbsp organic spaghetti sauce

1) Heat oven to 375 degrees.
2) Put pita in oven right on rack for about 4 mins.
3) Take pita out and place on baking sheet. Top with sauce, chicken, veggies and cheese.
4) Bake for 10-15 minutes or until cheese is melted and pita edges are brown.
5) Enjoy!

A New Lease on Life!

Clean eating is still going great! We eat as much as possible organic and are making pretty much everything from scratch. I have now lost 15lbs and feel like a new person. I haven't weighed this little and felt this good in over 5 years.

Yesterday we put together the bike trailer and went for a little ride and today I packed the girls up and went on a longer ride. When I got home I was sweating and thirsty but man did I feel great!

I have a friend who started eating clean about a week before us and she is feeling the same way. More energy and loving the healthy grub.

I thought I would put together a little blog post sharing my favorite clean and healthy recipes for those of you who would like to try some. I have a few friends asking what my favorites are, so here it goes!

Breakfast:

Breakfast Pita

Apple Cinnamon Quinoa Muffins

Lunch & Dinner:

Chicken Gyros, so juicy and delicious!

Southwestern Chicken Chopped Salad

Asian Noodle Bowl, this is amazing! We eat it once a week in our house.

Greek Salad with Baked Pita. Filling and delicious!

Quinoa Chicken Fried Rice. Matt says this tastes like "junk food" but it's not!

Cilantro Lime Shrimp, tastes just like buttery shrimp from a restaurant but with no butter

Snacks & Desserts

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Apple Sandwiches, great after exercise!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Ice Cream, this is a real favorite around here

Chewy Granola Bars, so yummy

The longer I do this eating clean thing, the more I look at a lot of the recipes on Pinterest and shake my head in disgust. They are so full of artificial ingredients like color, flavor, and refined suger and flour. I can't believe that I used to eat that stuff. Now if I eat anything that contains refined sugar or is processed I get severe stomach cramps. Tells you something, doesn't it?!

Quinoa Salad Rolls

We have been eating clean for almost a week now (including our juice reboot) and so far so good. Our fridge is stocked with lots of fruits and veggies and I'm having a lot of fun experimenting and creating new recipes! I have also tried a few off of Pinterest, most of them totally delicious. I find myself appreciating flavours so much more since we did the juice cleanse and I feel great. I haven't had to take an Advil for my aches and pains in over a week!

I bought some rice paper wrappers at the Asian grocery store and wanted to do something different with them. I was thinking salad rolls but wanted to add something to them. White rice isn't such a good idea, but quinoa is! Here is my recipe for my new recipe that I can't get enough of. I have made these a couple of times and changed up the ingredients.

Yields about 8 spring rolls, depending how much fill them!

Ingredients:
1 cup Quinoa, dry
2 cups Low Sodium Organic chicken broth
1 tsp Sesame oil
1 tsp Organic soy sauce
1 tsp Rice Vinegar
Rice Paper Wraps
1 lg. Cucumber cut into sticks
Bean Sprouts
1 carrot, peeled & shredded
3 Green onions chopped (I found if cut lengthwise they were too hard to bite)
1/4 Cup unsalted chopped peanuts

1) Cook quinoa as per package directions using the chicken stock and add the sesame oil and soy sauce. Once cooked add the rice vinegar. Allow to cool before using.
2) Wet rice paper wrappers and lay out on a flat surface. Layer quinoa, veggies and peanuts on the wrappers.

3) Roll up and enjoy!

I also made this dressing as a dip for our salad rolls and it was great!