frozen banana and berry smoothies

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I often get asked what I put in my morning smoothies. Here's what I'm doing this summer: - 1 banana (a good use of overripe bananas is to peel them and freeze them in between baking sheets in a container. Pop one out whenever you need) - a handful of frozen berries or 1/2 tablespoon of raw cacao powder and 1/2 tsp vanilla bean powder - 1 cup home made kefir (Turkish yogurt) (or full fat yogurt if you have no kefir) - 1 tablespoon cold /frozen beef stock - yes I try to incorporate gelatinous bone broth into as many things as I can...click here to read more about that  (trust me, you won't taste it at all...) - 1/2 tablespoon of coconut oil (I like Aclara Health or Nuis) (optional)

Blend with hand held blender until smooth. A winner with kids (big ones too!).

I team this with pastured eggs on steamed buttered greens with sides of avocado and sauerkraut (and my obligatory macchiato).  If in a rush, make the smoothie a complete meal by adding a couple of raw egg yolks (do not add raw the whites- to find out why click here). If you need to be out the door super early, throw the smoothie ingredients altogether the night before and just blend in the morning. No excuses for leaving the house on an empty stomach!

Variations: add coconut water instead of milk, try fresh mango instead of berries or banana.

my morning macchiato

Banana raspberry coconut pancake (grain-free, sweetener-free)

I have eggs for breakfast every morning cooked any which way. But this morning I had a hankering for something a little different....something more decadent with some sweetness.....something akin to a pancake without the dreaded gut-irritating nutrient-sapping flour........so this is what I concocted and it hit the spot......

Ingredients:

• Pastured eggs (allow 2-3 eggs per person depending on appetite)

• Home-made cream cheese OR store bought quark OR pouring cream OR mud cream - allow 1 tablespoon per person (optional)

• Banana, sliced (allow 1/2 banana per person)

• A couple of handfuls of fresh of frozen rasberries (I used frozen, unthawed)

• Flesh of 1 young coconut butter OR coconut oil for frying

Directions:

Turn on grill element in oven. Melt butter or coconut oil in frying pan. Beat eggs and cream cheese with hand held blender then add to frying pan. Add banana (I sliced it straight into egg mixture), raspberries and coconut slithers. Cook on gentle heat for approx 5 minutes so that the underside of the pancake is cooked then transfer to oven under grill element so that the top side cooks. This avoids trying to flip the pancake and making a big mess! It is ready when  the top is golden brown and the eggs are set. If mixture is still runny add back on stovetop to cook until set. If you have a sweet tooth you could drizzle a little maple syrup over the top when serving (though we didn't need to - the fruit alone is sweet enough for me).

This was teamed with a raw dark chocolate smoothie made by mixing the following with a hand held blender:

• Whole milk (1 cup per person)

• Home made kefir and/or yogurt (I like Alpine goats yogurt or Meredith's sheeps milk yogurt) - allow 1/4 cup per person

• Coconut water from 1 young coconut

• Raw cacao powder (1 teaspoon per person)

• Cinnamon powder (1/2 teaspoon per person)

• Vanilla powder (1/4 teaspoon per person)

• Home-made gelatinous beef stock (1 tablespoon per person) (I promise you won't taste the beef at all in the smoothie- it just adds thickness- like a real thickshake- and loads of nutrients)

I rarely measure anything - I tend to just thrown things together- so the above measurements are approximates.

A variation on the banana raspberry coconut pancake is a banana chocolate pancake as follows:

• Pastured eggs (allow 2-3 eggs per person depending on appetite)

• Home-made cream cheese OR store bought quark - allow 1 tablespoon per person (optional)

• Banana, sliced (allow 1/2 banana per person)

• Raw cacao powder

• Cinnamon powder

• Vanilla powder

• Butter OR coconut oil for frying

Cook as per pancake recipe above omitting the raspberries and coconut and adding a generous sprinkling of the 3 powders after you add the sliced banana. You can add a further dusting of  raw cacao powder prior to serving (guess who likes chocolate?!?).....

Using the egg mixture as the pancake base you can make whatever variations of the pancake recipe you like! Cool, hey?! The eggs provide much needed brain-loving saturated fat to slow down the release of the sugars contained in the fruit to avoid fluctuations in blood sugar levels with insulin spikes and crashes. The saturated fat in the egg yolks helps with the absorbtion of the fat-soluble vitamins and minerals in the fruit.

I hope you enjoy these creations as much as we did! Do you have a grain-free pancake recipe? If so please share it! I've tried using activated nut meal together with the beaten eggs but the mixture is more crumbly /coarse and less smooth than plain eggs (or eggs with cream).

Its a glorious day here in Sydney so I'm now making a beeline for Bronte beach for a vitamin D fix and some fun in the sun ....With love x