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

"My kefir won't set!!! Why?!?"

I've been getting a few people asking me lately why their kefir (home-made Turkish yogurt) won't set at this time of year. Quite simply-  its because the weather is cold!! During the colder winter months when the temperatures drop the lacto-fermnetation process slows right down. Even after a couple of days of leaving your yogurt on the bench it won't thicken but remains runny. That's ok- its still full of good bacteria (essential for strong immunity and good digestion) and much of the lactose has been removed (eaten up) by the lacto-fermentation process but don't expect the milk to thicken as it does in warmer weather. I still make kefir even over winter but I just consume it as a drink or in smoothies as opposed to eating it like yogurt.  So for those who make their own kefir- continue to make it but try to put it in the warmest part of the house when its out at room temperature then transfer it to the fridge after a couple days. For those who want to learn how to make it, I will run a kefir-making workshop when the weather warms up over Spring.

When you start making your own food from scratch (such as cultured vegetables or lacto-fermented yogurt) you start having a greater appreciation of how our food supply is connected to the seasons. Coconut oil hardens, lacto-fermentation slows down, and different produce appears on the shelves of organic stores.  In stark contrast, buying food from supermarkets disconnects people from the food chain because they are buying the same produce all year round regardless of the season, temperature and where it came from.

Cypriot Haloumi, Pomegranate and Lamb salad

With my Cyrpriot heritage I grew up on Haloumi cheese, lamb, pomegranates, parsley and lemons from dad's garden. So I put together this salad starring these ingredients that remind me of my childhood...and this is what we ate for  Mothers Day lunch today. Growing up in Queensland in the 70s, no body ate (or even heard of) Haloumi cheese other than the handful of Cypriots that lived there (the Greeks were chowing into their feta thank you very much).  Along with olives, Haloumi was a staple that appeared on our table every night (and I considered it outright boring, daggy, and I wished my lunch box could instead feature  'normal' cheese like Kraft cheese sticks eaten by my peers).  Wind the clock forward 30 odd years and today Haloumi cheese is found in organic stores and on the menus of trendy establishments. So there you have it.

Ingredients:

- 3 small packets of Haloumi cheese (bought at Suveran, Oxford St

- 2 pomegrantes

- pieces of cold lamb cut into strips (left over from lamb roast)

- fresh green beans, cut in half, steamed then buttered

- snow peans, left whole or cut in half if very long

- 2 avocados, sliced

- a handful of rocket or lettuce, chopped

- 1 bunch roughly chopped parsley (and/or mint)

- 2 lemons

- extra virgin cold pressed olive oil (I like Nolans Road)

- balsamic vinegar

- sea salt

- pepper

- butter

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Cut haloumi cheese into portions (about 2 inch strips) and fry in frying pan with a little butter until golden brown on both sides (you will need to give them a prod with the spatula every few minutes to prevent them from sticking). Steam green beans, then butter. On a platter assemble all of the ingredients. Drizzle with olive oil, a touch of balsamic vinegar and the juice of one of the lemons. Season with salt and pepper. Cut the remaining lemon in wedges and place around platter.

Serves 6 as an entree or 4 as a main.

This recipe was loosely inspired by one I saw in this months Feast Magazine (thanks Sylvia and Mont for the subscription!!). As always I modify recipes to suit    my nutritional philosophy which typically involves removing grains, legumes, refined sugar, vegetable oils (and anything that looks too fiddly, complicated or time consuming!), and replacing with nutrient-dense whole foods. The addition of avocado and plenty of butter on the steamed fresh beans adds some essential fats into the meal (and ensure that the lamb has plenty of fat on it and is not lean). This salad only took me about 15 minutes to throw together. I purposefully made a large amount so that Grant and the kids could take the leftovers to work/school for lunch tomorrow (one meal typically gets incorporated into another meal in our household.....capitalise on your time and effort in the kitchen as much as possible - milk it baby!).