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! ;)

Our Lives Have Changed

I apologize for being away from the blog for so long. So many things have changed in our lives which have kept me so busy!

One awesome change has been our home. We sold our 30+ year old, 1000 square foot home in the city and bought a beautiful 1 year old, 1400 square foot home on almost 3 acres of land outside of the city. It has been a huge adjustment for us all but I think now we're in our groove and loving it! I was a little sad to leave our old home behind but more excited for a new adventure as a family. This is a picture of us at our new home the day we got posession.

We started out with absolutely no grass, but it has filled in so my hubby enjoys mowing it on his new tractor. Ceili, our oldest loves to help too. I have learned all sorts of things like how to use a chainsaw, log splitter and more! We are on a bit more of a budget since we moved so I have gotten very good at baking all of our own bread as well. We have met quite a few of our neighbors in the subdivision and a few people close by. Everyone has been very welcoming and kind to us.

We have had a cougar issue around our home since the beginning of fall. It is a cub and has been hanging around our yard and the neighbors. The first time my hubby saw it was when our dog and it scared eachother at the edge of the treeline. They both went jumping backward in the air! Since then we have seen it a few more times and have become much more aware of our surroundings. Ceili is a little more frightened than her sister so we have to keep reassuring her that it's not going to get her. Animals are part of living in the country and we just need to get used to it, although this cougar should probably be moved since it seems to like humans!

All in all we are happier now than I think we have ever been. We are enjoying "camping" in our home and seeing all of the nature around us. I really love the fact that we have so much space and can do what we want when we want to and the loudest noises we hear is the wind for the most part. I am in love with our new life.

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!

Purple Citrus Punch Recipe

On a whim I decided to throw together a bunch of fruit and veggies tonight to create something for our juice tomorrow morning. My hubby and I have been having a juice every morning to try new recipes and prepare for the cleanse. I am slowly weaning myself off of my morning tea!

I tasted it and couldn't believe how delicious it was! Even the kids slurped it down and asked for more. Now I am left with only a half glass for breakfast!
I named it "Purple Citrus Punch" because it's quite sour but delicious and purple :) Here is the recipe for anyone who wants to try it out.

Purple Citrus Punch

2 Oranges, peeled
1 Grapefruit, peeled
1 lime, peeled
2 pears
1 handful blackberries

Put through the juicer alternating ingredients and enjoy! Keeps for 24 hours in fridge, but it's best to drink it right away.
Yields about 4 cups (2 servings)

Ready to Start Fresh

I haven't posted in way too long. Things in our lives have been absolutely nuts!

I have started my own home business selling children's clothes, a true passion of mine...clothes and am loving it so far. Most of my customers are fellow moms and I love talking to them and choosing new awesome items to order in! I am learning more about the market every day and Matt has been helping me do the spreadsheets and technical stuff.

I am also going to be starting a new adventure next weekend. Again, with Matt by my side we are doing a juice cleanse. After watching "Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead" we decided to get rid of the junk in our bodies and start fresh! We are starting with a 3 day cleanse and I may continue onto 5 days depending how I feel. After that it's clean eating for this family! No more preservative- filled crap. I'm going to slowly replace our regular foods with clean foods as we run out of them so as not to break the bank. I'm not dreading this at all like I would have a few years ago. I am quite excited to begin this new journey and start fresh. We eat far too much junk food and "fast and easy" foods in our house and I'm done with it. I want to become healthier and feel good. I am suffering with migraines and daily aches and pains- things a 31 year old shouldn't be dealing with!

I am going to post about our journey here so that I can look back and feel good about what we have done!

Off to Pinterest to look up some more juice and clean recipes. Wish us luck!

Christmas Catch-up

I apologize for the large gap in posts. Christmas at our house was very busy and required a lot of preparation this year. I made Christmas dinner for 13 family members and cooked my first turkey. It was a massive 19 pounder and was a little scary, but I managed just fine! Knowing that 13 people's hungry tummies are depending on you making a delicious dinner puts some pressure on a person!

Christmas morning was wonderful for us. We invited my parents for present opening and breakfast. It was so nice to have them there with us and watching the looks on the kids faces as they opened their gifts. We opened stockings, ate breakfast (a yummy cake I found on Pinterest) and then went back to opening more gifts! I got almost everything I asked for- a griddle for making pancakes, a new pedometer, There were alot of gifts this year, but my favorite gift was having all of my family together. It was very cold outside, but our house was warm and cozy and full of love!

Here are a few photos from Christmas at the Thompson household.

Chocolate Yogurt Dream!

I found this recipe the other day and decided to try it with my own twist by tring a different yogurt and adding raspberries. It ended in a to-die for dessert that isn't completely unhealthy! This makes approx. 4 servings.

Ingredients:
1 Cup Greek Yogurt- I used coconut
4 Tbsp. Semisweet Chocolate Chips
4 tsp. Coffee Cream
16 (or more) Raspberries

1) Spoon 1/4 Cup yogurt into each dish.

2) Put chocolate chips and cream in a small dish and microwave for 15-20 seconds. Stir until blended.

4) Spoon some of the chocolate onto each cup of yogurt and smooth over top.

5) Top with a few raspberries.

6) Refrigerate for around an hour until chocolate is set. Enjoy!

Banana Yogurt Pancakes

I'm sharing another one of our family favorite recipes. I took a recipe from the Food Network and altered it a bit to suit our tastes. After some experimentation, I found the perfect combination of flavours. So, here are my favorite banana yogurt pancakes. I usually make a double recipe and stick a bunch in the freezer for quick breakfasts!

1 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup vanilla greek/balkan yogurt
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon milk
2 extra-large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Unsalted butter
2 ripe bananas, diced, plus extra for serving
1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)
Maple syrup

Whisk together the yogurt, milk, eggs and vanilla.

- Add the flour, baking powder and salt and stir until just mixed. Add chocolate chips if you are using them.

Melt a small amount of butter in the pan.

Use a ladle and pour a couple of Tablespoons of batter per pancake onto pan/griddle

Lay banana slices into batter in pan and cover with a little more batter.

Cook until bubbles form around the edge of pancakes then flip and cook until browned.

Serve with maple syrup and banana slices.

I even made a few tiny ones for Abbey and she loved them!

Yogurt Cones

Our oldest daughter Ceili is all about the snacks. If she could eat snacks for meals, she would be all over it!

Tonight I made her favorite snack before bed. She thinks it's a huge treat, but it's really fairly healthy! All you need is yogurt and an ice cream cone. If you have fruit and sprinkles it's even better. Just fill the ice cream cone with yogurt and fruit and top it off with a few colorful sprinkles. Yum!

As you can see by the photo, she is quite pleased with her snack.

Good Morning Sunshine!

I made one of my favorite childhood breakfasts for us this morning. Bacon and eggs in a nest, I used a cookie cutter to cut out a sun shape though. It was a huge hit with Ceili!

Homemade Granola Bars from Heaven!

I have been trying to make some things instead of buy them lately because they are healthier (less preservatives and you can add extra healthy things to them!) as well as less expensive. Here is my take on homemade no- bake granola bars...they're even gluten free!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
2 cups quick cooking oats
1/2 cup coconut (you can use Rice Krispies insead if you prefer)
1/4 cup quinoa
1/4 cup chopped nuts (I use almonds)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons mini chocolate chips

1) In a large bowl, combine oats, coconut, quinoa and nuts and set aside.
2) In a small pot over medium heat combine butter, brown sugar and honey until it starts bubbling. Reduce heat to low and cook for 2 minutes.
3) Add vanilla and pour over dry ingradients.
4) Pour into lightly greased 8" x 8" pan and sprinkle chocolate chips over top.
5) Pack down well and let cool until chocolate chips are no longer soft.
6) Cut into bars and enjoy your healthy, protein-filled snack!
Makes about 12 granola bars.

*Store in plastic bags or plastic wrap for future snacking :)