Plantain Tortillas, Vegan and Absurdly Scrumptious !!

Tasty, crispy, flaky goodness!  This is one of those things I was so overjoyed to discover.  And once I saw how easy they are to make, I loved it even more!

I am obsessed with food, I can't even really explain it.  If you are to, then you may understand.  But, when I discover a new recipe and it turns out well, I get this insane vibration of excitement inside me.  Onlookers may call it crazy, but I call it Success!

Anyway, if you like tacos, wraps, and rolls I urge you to give this a try.  I've just barely played around with this, and have loved it every time.  I've done the recipe a little different each time, and it honestly has always come out well.  So, you can adjust it if you like.

The plantain you choose can be varying in ripeness.  I find from green to spotted all work well.  Also, I haven't been able to successfully store these and keep to where they keep their great just baked texture, if you do let me know.  Until then, just bake as needed.  I've been consistently getting 6 tortillas per plantain.  I can eat 3 easy, so adjust recipe as needed.

Makes 6 medium tortillas
Ingredients:

1 plantain
2 tbl melted unrefined virgin coconut oil
pinch of salt
1/8 cup to 1/4 cup water

Method:
Preheat oven to 350, line baking sheet with parchment

Cut the ends off of the plantain, and then slice all the way down one side to peel off the skin.  Slice plantain into chunks and throw in a food processor.  Add remaining ingredients except water, blend.  Slowly add water to thin a bit.  I usually use about 1/8 cup, but you want it like a thick soup.  Once that is done, spoon 6 equal amounts onto parchment lined baking sheet.  Then slowly spread out each bit into thin, but not holy circles.

Bake on bottom rack for 10-12 minutes, then flip around and bake for 10-12 minutes more.  If baking more and using 2 baking sheets; trade racks and flip half way through.  Remove from the oven once you see some brown spots happening.  Let cool for a few minutes, and carefully peel off sheet and fill to hearts content!  Let me know how yours turn out!

                Before Baking...                                                   Crispy After Baking

The first way I ate these guys...Simple avocados, lettuce, and cilantro, and I probably added some sriracha

Healthy Easy Meals For Kids and Blogs I Love

This blog is not about judging anyone, or telling anyone what to do.  This is simply about offering some guidance to anyone who might want some.  I looked for help when I started cooking, and I had no idea what I was doing.  And had no idea how I would have the time, and at the time, money to cook healthy meals.

Cooking healthy seemed like a daunting task, but after helpful blogs and research I found that it can be simple!  Especially for kids, they don't generally like fancy meals.  

These are just some examples of meals I've served my kids.  And I find they eat the best when things are basic and simple.  Like applesauce, peas, carrot sticks, cucumbers, brown rice with vegan butter and maybe a little cheese.  

It doesn't have to be hard or complicated.  I love cooking a crazy meal if I have time.  But, even as a stay at home mom, I don't always have time.  In fact, I rarely have time.  So, in my craziness, I've found simple is best for the kids.  Sometimes my four year old won't eat things mixed together, or cooked vegetables.

So, again this is just to maybe help someone who is trying to feed kids or anyone healthy and affordable meals.

Frozen veggies are cheap!  And if your kids are hungry they will eat them.  You know what isn't cheap?  Chips, fruit bars, and other processed snacks.  Sometimes I buy that stuff too, I mean hello convenience.  But, the best kind of snacks are natural; apples with raw almond butter, veggies with hummus.  I've heard people say they don't want to give their kids too much fruit because of the sugar, which is fine, but I would rather give them lots of fruit over anything processed.

There are great sources of protein in things like broccoli, peas, legumes, and even complete protein in quinoa if you're worried about it.

And if anyone has questions or needs guidance, I would love to help!  I'm no expert, but am happy to pass on any information I've learned so far.

Do my kids eat perfect every time, no.  Do they sometimes not even try something I've worked so hard on, yes.  Will that stop from giving it to them again, no!

Want any further information or help? Leave me a comment, and let me know!



Just a Few Blogs and Sites I Love:

http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/  Amazing all vegan , all types

http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/   Perfect if you're sweet treat obsessed like me, all healthy vegan treats!

http://allrecipes.com/recipes/everyday-cooking/vegetarian/  They've got it all, and a lot of simple

http://ohsheglows.com/  Vegan and lots of gluten free, the Sweet Potato, black bean, and quinoa soup is bomb!

Minimalist Baker  Because tasty and easy should go together

CleanFoodDirtyGirl Title pretty much says, I love reading her blog, it's hilarious!

There's so many blogs and helpful sites I love, but these are just a few.  I'm finding new ones all the time, and pretty much always hungry because of it!

One Bowl Vegan Banana Bread

This doesn't need much of an introduction or explanation.  Got ripe bananas, make banana bread.  It's that simple!  Super quick and tasty and all those other gross sounding descriptive words! I'm not sure why, but this is my favorite banana bread recipe.  It's bomb, try it!

And everything in one bowl!  Oh if you've seen my last few posts I've been talking about the Fodmap diet.  Really it's a lifestyle change, not a diet, and you will be seeing it mentioned more and more as people discover it.

I will be talking about it in a lot of posts I'm guessing, because I'm trying to implement it into my life a little.  If you are too, you can make this recipe Fodmap friendly by removing the apple sauce and just using more oil!

Ingredients:

2 big ripe bananas
1/2 cup brown sugar (any sugar works)
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup apple sauce
1/4 cup oil
1 tsp ish cinnamon
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp pink salt
3 tbl choc chips (or nuts or dried fruit)

Method:

Preheat oven to 350

Add first six ingredients to a medium sized bowl and mash well.  Then, add the flour of choice and before stirring add the baking soda, powder, and salt on top of the flour.  Stir to incorporate. Add in the chocolate chips and pour into a greased or lined bread pan.  I like to use extra virgin unrefined coconut oil.  Bake for 35-45 minutes.  Bake until a toothpick comes out clean.  Eat!

Let me know what you think!  Thanks for stopping by!

A Stupid Good Morning Smoothie

This is a massive smoothie packed with calories, but good ones.  And it's crazy good!
I used my homemade almond butter, but any will do.
 So lets get to it!  I shared this with my kids, but you could drink it yourself.  However it's 800 calories.  But it is a healthy 800 calories.  Not all calories are created equally.  You get lots of vitamins, 21 grams of protein, and 60% of your daily fiber.  So depending on your activity level and amount of calories you want to consume in a day, you can decide how much you want to have.  You could also cut the ingredients in half or so for a single serving.  I like to have a really big calorie filled breakfast to get my day started!

Also, for anyone following a Fodmap diet, you would want to remove the hemp seeds, date, and change the almond butter to peanut butter or cashew butter, and switch to coconut or rice milk.  you would then be all set for tasty smoothie goodness






Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

1 tbl hemp seed
2 tbl chia seeds
2 sliced frozen bananas
1/4 cup frozen cherries
1/2 fresh blueberries
3 chopped dates
1/4 cup raw almond butter
1 tbl cocoa
unsweetened almond milk, enough to blend
I'm not sure how much I use, somewhere between 1/2 cup to 1 cup





                                                                                                                   

My kids definitely loved it!  Give this smoothie a try, and let me know what you think!

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 365 g

Amount Per Serving

Calories 810 Calories from Fat 514

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 57.1g 88%

Saturated Fat 17.1g 85%

Trans Fat 0.0g

Cholesterol 0mg 0%

Sodium 11mg 0%

Potassium 1395mg 40%

Total Carbohydrates 65.0g 22%

Dietary Fiber 15.0g 60%

Sugars 29.7g

Protein 21.6g

Vitamin A 5% • Vitamin C 31% Calcium 35% • Iron 41%

Nutrition Grade B-

* Based on a 2000 calorie diet

Nutritional Analysis

Good points

• No cholesterol
• Very low in sodium
• High in manganese
• High in magnesium

Bad points

• High in saturated fat    

            I don't post these normally, but I wanted you to see.  I also posted the analysis.  The bad point it says it lots of saturated fat which would be from the almond butter.  But, I made it myself so that my be inaccurate.  But even so, some saturated fat is good for you depending where it comes from.  Things like unrefined virgin coconut oil, raw nuts, avocados, and unrefined virgin olive oil are good sources of saturated fat.  You can also see it's low in sodium, and importantly all the sugar and everything else is from real food.  It's natural, not added or processed!  That's what matters, not the calories!  The more plant based your diet it, the healthier you will be!!

Low Fodmap Pancakes Vegan and Awesome!

These pictures were not good, but I wanted to quickly post this.  I made these this morning because after doing some extensive research I've decided to start a low Fodmap diet.

You may have seen this around the internet or maybe not.  Here is a good definition of what a Fodmap diet means.  Your basically eliminating certain types of complex sugars found in lots of food.

This is supposed to help someone with stomach issues in a range of severities. So, I'm going to try my best to be strict to this for 2 weeks or so and see how I feel.

This will be kind of difficult since some of my favorite fruits and veggies and nuts are on the no no list.  But I think anything can be done for a short amount of time, but we shall see.

I've seen a few different Fodmap food charts, this is the one I liked the best.  I've seen some different information here and there, but it's still being tested and there's also still a lot of food that is unknown.

So, this morning I made these pancakes that are supposedly Fodmap diet safe!


Serves 3
Ingredients:

1 ripe banana mashed
1 tbl oil
1 tsp vanilla
juice from 1 cutie or lemon would work
3/4 cup rolled oats ground
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
pinch of pink salt
up to a cup of unsweetened coconut milk

Method:

Mash banana in medium bowl with juice from orange, vanilla, and oil. Mix.  Add the rest of the dry ingredients and stir.  Slowly add milk until you get the consistency you want.

Cook in virgin unrefined coconut oil over medium heat for 3-5 minutes on each side.  I then topped mine with vegan butter, peanut butter, and maple syrup!

Let me know if you like this, and want to see more Fodmap friendly recipes!