Fluffiest pancakes ever!

These are no joke, the lightest pancakes that I have ever had. Whole wheat or not.
Ingredients :
1 1/2 cups milk (no almond, soy, etc)
3 TBS lemon juice
2 cups whole wheat flour (freshly ground)
3 TBS organic cane sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
4 TBS melted butter

Directions:
1. Combine milk with lemon juice in medium bowl and let it sit for 5 min or so to sour.
2. In another bowl, combine all dry ingredients.
3.Whisk in the eggs and butter into the soured milk. Then pour this mixture into the flour mix.
   Mix until most of the lumps are gone.
4. Prepare your griddle or pan to a medium heat. Spray with cooking spray. Use a 1/4 measuring cup
    to pour batter on your griddle. Flip with a spatula when lots of bubbles appear. Cook a couple
    of minutes longer and remove.

We serve these pancakes with butter and maple syrup or agave. I hope you enjoy them as much as we do!

German Pancakes

Ingredients:
6 eggs ( I use fresh, free range, farm eggs)
1 cup of milk or almond milk (this pic was my almond milk recipe. Slightly less airy)
1 cup whole wheat flour ( I use freshly ground)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp lemon or lemon extract (can be left out)
*1/4 cup of butter- just for pan

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Melt 1/4 cup of butter in your 9x13 pan in the oven. Careful not to burn.

Add all ingredients to blender and blend for a minute or two until mixed. Then pour in your 9x13 pan with melted butter and bake at 450 degrees for 15-18 minutes.

When it comes out, its sometimes huge and puffy. It will fall a bit. Then cut into squares and pour some maple syrup or agave on top.  The best part is the thin layer of extra crispy, buttered batter. MMM...

Kale chips

 Kale chips are a very healthy and light snack. So easy to make too.
You will need 1 bundle of Kale, cleaned and dried. Rip up into bite size pieces and toss on an oiled pan. Spray with a little olive oil spray, sprinkle sea salt on top and bake. Easy as that! Bake for 15 min at 350 degrees. They will come out light and crispy. Munch on right away.  My kids ate the whole pan in 30 minutes.

Best sugar substitutes

These are some of my favorite sugar substitutes

Stevia is one of the healthiest and natural zero calorie sweeteners. It comes from a plant and can be used exactly like sugar. It has a slight after taste that reminds me alot of Splenda so after lots of experimenting, I have found the magic way to hide that flavor. If a recipe calls for 1 cup of sugar, I use 1/2 cup Stevia and 1/2 cup of organic cane sugar or agave. So this brings me to my next favorite sweetener...

Organic Cane Sugar is the best! It is of course sugar, but not refined. Your body uses it as a natural substance rather than a chemical. It is yummy stuff. 

Agave is also a top sweetener in our house. It is like syrup with a low glycemic index. In other words, it doesn't hit your body like sugar. It is slightly sweeter than sugar so you usually use 3/4 cup agave instead of 1 cup of sugar. It can be used on pancakes (my fav), in baking or in anything else that you need sugar or sweetener. 

I encourage everyone to give it a try. I promise, you wont even notice that you ditched that refined sugar.

Low sugar strawberry jam

I had a huge container of strawberries that were starting to get a little old. I decided to try out some of my Real Fruit Pectin that I purchased quite some time ago and make some jam.

You will need:
2 cups pureed strawberries
2 TBS instant pectin
1/2 cup stevia in the raw
1/2 cup organic cane sugar


First, cut tops off of the strawberries and puree about 2 cups worth of them in a food processor or blender.  In a separate bowl, combine instant pectin, and sugars. Stir the strawberry mix and pectin mix together, stirring for 3 min. Let sit alone for 30 more min. Then refrigerate! Simple as that. They are fresh strawberries, no cooking involved.