The Healthiest and Yummiest Pancakes Ever

Happy Memorial Day! 

Every weekend should be three days long. It gives you time to settle in. Be together. Relax and catch up. We had a very simple weekend. No babysitters, no day trips, no live music or fancy dinners out. But it was the absolute best. Even tropical storm Beryl did not ruin our weekend. In fact, all it did was cause us to hold on to our hats as we explored...

...did some work in the yard...

...took some couch naps (after all of that yard work)

...and of course logged plenty of beach time.

We have been trying to clean up our diet. Diabetes runs in the family, and we want to avoid it and all of the things that come along with getting older. We also want to shed a few pounds and teach our children to eat more vegetables. In short, we want to be able to run distance, paddle the marshes, and bench press each other well into our nineties. So we've stopped eating grains, sugar, dairy, and anything that triggers an insulin response in the body. It's an experiment, but so far it's going well. After one week I notice that my appetite is manageable, I don't have ups and downs in the afternoon, and since my taste palette has been re-sensitized to real food, fruit and vegetables taste like heaven. I will let you know more as time goes on.

That said, what is Saturday morning without pancakes? I made these Paleo-friendly healthy pancakes and we all loved them, including the little ones. 

Pumpkin Almond Butter Pancakes

Ingredients:

2 egg

4 egg whites

1 cup canned pumpkin

1/3 to 1/2 cup maple almond butter (or regular if you can't find maple)

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp nutmeg

oil for cooking (I like coconut oil for this)

First:  Put all the ingredients in a large bowl and beat with a whisk. It takes a few minutes to make everything smooth. 

Next: Heat a cast iron or nonstick skillet and add oil to coat the pan. Drop the batter in 1/2 cup servings. Flip when bubbles begin to appear and the edges are set. They cook up pretty fast which is a good thing if you have a child who loves pancakes as much as mine does. I served these with turkey sausage and agave nectar to go on top.

So far, eating healthy has been all pleasure and very little pain. And I'm glad, because we plan to live long enough to be able to afford our dream house on the beach:

No, I'm not serious. But I'd love to spend a weekend partying there!

Skinny Margaritas

via

Ever since I learned that tequila is the liquor with the lowest glycemic index from some of my crazy (and very skinny) friends who follow the Paleo diet, I've been making these at home on a regular basis. They're easy and good and best of all, it's a scientifically proven fact that the more of them you drink the skinnier you get.

One of the keys is using a decent tequila since you will really taste it. Usually that means a silver instead of a gold. We really like Milagro tequila for its smoky flavor. My brother sips tequila neat, but he's always been sort of a general badass.

To make skinny margaritas:
1. Fill a pretty glass with ice. Crushed is best.
3. Fill the glass about 1/3 full with tequila.
4. Add enough sparkling water until the glass is almost full. Flavored is nice, but plain is good too.
5. Add a touch of Rose's sweetened lime juice - about a pinkie finger full.
6. Use lots of fresh lime to top it off, and don't forget a nice cocktail napkin.
If you are a Paleo purist you would avoid the Rose's, of course. You try it your way and figure out what you like.

And here's my brother, the general badass, only instead of holding a glass of tequila he's holding my daughter.

Aren't I nice to send you into the weekend with a new cocktail recipe? Happy sipping.