Chai Spice Latte & Zucchini Griddle Cakes (Almond & Coconut Flour)

If you’re anything like me, chai lattes are hands down a favorite… Even though I love my coffee and espresso, chances are I’d choose a chai spice latte over a cup of joe any day… Anyway, it was after I had been given some of the most INCREDIBLY gorgeous and potpourri-like loose leaf chai spice tea that I came up with this recipe.

I really should have posted this MONTHS ago (as I created this insanely delicious recipe back in January, I believe) but alas, here it is!

Chai Spice Latte Zucchini Griddle Cakes w/ No Sugar Apricot Preserves & Almond Butter

I know you must be wondering, “zucchini???” Yes, zucchini… the idea came from my overly abundant package of zucchini just sitting in the fridge. Additionally, I know that zucchini adds a nice amount of moisture to breads/cakes so I thought, “Why not?”

Here’s the recipe for my Chai Spice Latte & Zucchini Griddle Cakes made with Almond & Coconut Flour:

1/4 c. almond flour
2 T coconut flour (sifted)
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t sea salt
1 t cinnamon (omit or add to taste)
1 egg
1/2 t vanilla extract
2 T loose leaf chai tea (depending on how strong or not you prefer; or a tea bag)
2 T to 1/4 c. almond milk
2 T finely shredded zucchini (I squeezed mine with a paper towel to drain excess moisture)

1. Gather materials; measure out the dry ingredients first
2. Sift and combine the almond & coconut flour with the sea salt, cinnamon and baking soda
3. Prep chai tea by placing the almond milk in a small saucepan & warming to a simmer/just before boiling (you don’t want to boil the milk)
4. When the almond milk reaches a nice simmer, add the loose leaf chai and let steep for a good 10 minutes or so (more or less, it’s really up to you but I like to get that strong flavor, personally) and let the temperature come down a bit
5. Beat the egg in a separate bowl (try to get it a bit foamy), add the vanilla to the egg then mix this in with the dry ingredients
6. Strain the chai from the saucepan/milk (unless you used a tea bag, in which case, remove it) and add it to the griddle cake mix
7. Add the zucchini to the mixture
8. Spoon your batter onto your griddle or pan, cook and voila!

I added some apricot preserves to mine with a dollop of almond butter and it was hands down, the best griddle cakes I’ve prepared to date… I really should take the time to make another batch at some point in the very near future

Oh also, if you like your pancakes a bit sweet, I’d recommend using a couple of drops of stevia extract to the batter… I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I did (and will continue to!)…

Much Love and Deliciously Healthy Eats!
~K

Kapua’s Craving: Almond Flour Biscuits w/ Chicken Sausage and Gravy (No Starch, Gluten Free!)

This is an “old” post that I originally wrote back in January! o_O But alas, here it is…

Ok, I know that I’ve already mentioned that I’m from Hawai’i but deep in my heart, a biscuit-lovin’, blackened catfish-eatin’, sweet potato pie-cravin’ Southern Girl also resides! Maybe it’s my past life connections with the South and/or the fact that when my great-great-grandfather immigrated from England he landed and stayed in Maryland… My great-great-grandmother being Southern.

Who knows?!

So anyway… I was craving biscuits and gravy the other day. Growing up I absolutely did NOT like gravy. I didn’t like any sort of dressings or weird wet stuff coating my foods… LOL Then I grew up and my taste buds matured, blah blah blah… I am just amused at this whole situation with my “changed ways”.

I thought about it and realized I had just about everything I needed to make some chicken sausage (pre-made, of course) with biscuits and homemade gravy. You have no idea how excited I was. I’d been craving biscuits the whole week so I took a few days to come up with a recipe that I felt confident in testing out.

Tender Almond Flour Biscuits

These almond flour biscuits were SO tender, let… me… tell… you! Well first of all, I noticed that almond flour tends to turn out rather tender/crumbly items; but these were perfect, in my humble opinion. The outside was nice and ‘crusty’, while the inside was soft and just lovely. It was not necessarily easy to pick up the sliced halves without a few bits of it breaking off but who cares?! This is a fork and knife type of job!

Almond Flour Biscuits w/ Roasted Zucchini, Chicken Sausage & Gravy

I was so excited about testing out my biscuits that I simply HAD to eat one with butter and (SF) apricot preserves aside from the savory dish. I really can’t express enough just how much I enjoyed this dish. The best part is that I ate the leftovers for lunch the next day! All you have to do is store your leftover biscuits in a glass container and pop them either in a toaster oven, oven or broiler (but make sure to wrap it in tin foil a bit and keep the broiler on low heat–also, don’t leave it in there for too long!).

Almond/Coconut Flour Biscuits :
3/4 c. almond flour
2 T coconut flour
1/4 t sea salt
1/4 t baking soda
1/2 t cream of tartar
2 T butter (very cold!–as if you were making regular biscuits)
2 egg whites plus 1 yolk
2 t brown sugar sweetener (I used Ideal No Calorie Sweetener but you can use whatever you want and/or omit)

Combine the dry ingredients (sift the flours together–this is important). Cut the butter into the flour (the flour should have pea-sized bits throughout) Mix in the egg yolk. Whip the egg whites in a separate bowl (you can whip them however frothy or stiff you’d like, it will deflate some upon mixing) and then combine with the dough. Distribute evenly into a jumbo muffin tin (non-stick or greased with butter/coconut oil) and bake for 12-15 mins at 380-400°–makes 5 small/medium sized biscuits.

As for the sausage–use any type of sausage you wish (remove from casing) and sorry, but just use your judgment on the amount of ingredients… I used almond milk and konjac flour (no starch/carbs) to thicken. Seasoned with salt, pepper, dried basil and thyme.

Acai Bowl & Gluten Free Griddle Cakes (2)

A Bowl of Acai w/ Gluten/Grain Free Griddle Cakes (2)

Breakfast is a running theme for me, isn’t it? I swear, I’m going to add other recipes–I promise! I have a tendency to stick with something until I’ve perfected it, luckily, I think the following recipe for gluten/grain free pancakes (I like ‘griddle cakes’ better, I’m a Southern girl in my heart, lol) is getting there.

This recipe, in particular differs from the first one in that I actually enjoyed eating it… remember the last batch that totally sucked? Yeeeah, this one was SO much better! Go ahead and click on the link if you’d like the recipe for the Acai Bowl. Otherwise, without further ado…

Coconut Flour & Flax Meal Griddle Cakes with Almond Butter & Raspberry Preserves

This recipe makes 2 medium/small pancakes so double it or triple it accordingly

Coconut Flour & Flax Meal Griddle Cakes

2 T coconut flour
1 T ground flax meal (soaked in 1 to 2 T drinking water, you may omit the water if you want)
1/4 t baking soda
1/8 t Himalayan Pink Salt (or any good sea salt)
1 egg (beaten for a good 2-3 minutes before adding to mix)
stevia extract to taste (I used 2-3 drops but you may omit or add a bit more if you want)
1/2 t vanilla extract
2 T to 1/4 c almond milk depending on the type of consistency you prefer (I use Almond Breeze or Whole Foods 365 Brand)
*coconut oil or butter for the griddle

As a note, these pancakes will be a little “mealy” due to the flax meal but I love the texture of flax so it was fine for me. It also could have been a BIT more moist but who’s complaining, really? I just love that I can eat healthy, gluten/grain free pancakes! These also came out MUCH more fluffy and light in comparison to the first batch, which obviously made me very happy.

Also, I created another recipe for griddle cakes using almond flour and coconut flour which I will be posting in a few days… That one came out even better and has a couple of special ingredients which I think you’ll find pretty interesting.

Coconut Flour Flax Griddle Cakes with Almond Butter & SF Raspberry Preserves

Now isn’t this just the sweetest little short-stack of pancakes EVER?! I paired my griddle cakes with a gorgeous dollop of fresh roasted almond butter and Smucker’s Sugar Free Raspberry Preserves (I put a tablespoon of it in a small pot with about 1/2 T of water to thin it out a bit) which, I know… Splenda is ‘no bueno’. I don’t like Splenda and I really didn’t want to “go there” in buying it but it was the best option that I could ‘live’ with for the time being. Until I have my own place and can dedicate time to making my own sauces and compotes, I’ll deal… so please forgive me for that! LOL

Anyway… I sincerely hope that you enjoy this recipe, I know I did!

Many Blessings & Warm and Fuzzies in your Bellies!
Kapua

Acai Bowl & The “Never Again” Griddle Cake Mistake…

Adventures in the Guided By Spirit Test Kitchen are a go!…

You know how I mentioned, in my previous entry how I love food? Well, my little shrinking dumplings (<–I say this with utmost affection and love), I… LOVE… Breakfast.

I already have three or four breakfast recipes to share with you! So let's cut to the chase and get to it, shall we?

Last week I tried my hand at my own version of coconut flour pancakes. There are a bunch of different recipes on line, I pulled inspiration from them and tried to come up with something of my own… I will tell you that my first batch was a total failure–at least in my eyes. Here is a close-up:

There is one glaringly obvious thing wrong with this photo/dish… The butter. Butter isn’t ‘illegal’ and even on my current diet (HCG, P3) I can technically use butter, but after detoxing my body and changing my eating habits, I realized that I no longer want butter on my pancakes! When I tried it, it did nothing for me and in fact, I wished I hadn’t added it… Now, feel free to add whatever kinds of toppings you like friends, I won’t judge you! Just giving my own feedback on this dish…

As for the actual batter: I combined a mixture of coconut flour, flax meal (I love this stuff), baking soda, cream of tartar, salt, cacao nibs (which did nothing for flavor) almond extract (HUGE mistake), vanilla extract, egg and almond milk.

It’s a good thing I made an acai bowl as an accompaniment:

Acai Bowl w/ Greek Yogurt & Coconut Flax Griddle Cakes (1)

…because I ended up doing this:

The acai “sauce” drizzled on top made it somewhat bearable LOL… I had forgotten how overwhelming almond extract can be sometimes so… I obviously omitted it on the next batch (along with the cacao–seemed to be a waste of cacao nibs)!

To end on a brighter note, here is my go-to recipe for an excellent ‘mini’ Acai Bowl:

1/2 packet of Unsweetened Sambazon Acai (you may use 1 whole packet, but I like to make mine last and since I’m not consuming a huge smoothie, I prefer 1/2)
1/2 c. (slightly heaping) frozen blueberries
1/2 c. frozen strawberries
1/4 to 1/2 c. (more or less) unsweetened almond milk (I prefer the Almond Breeze brand)
1/2 c. 0% Greek yogurt (I prefer either Fage or Chobani)
1-2 T flax meal (you may omit this if you’d like)
1 packet natural sweetener (I prefer Z-Sweet or Truvia, again, you may omit but I have a sweet tooth

Toppings:
1 T blanched almond slivers
1 T raw pumpkin seeds
1/2 T sunflower seeds
(pretty much add any type of seed/nut topping combination that you’d like–I usually like to add bee pollen but I don’t have any on hand at the moment)

Allow your acai to thaw a bit before blending your bowl/smoothie. Since I only use half of a packet, I like to break the frozen packet in half, putting one half in a container or resealable bag to re-freeze & using the other half. You may either remove the half you’re going to use from the plastic it came in and put it in a nonstick pan/pot on low heat to help it thaw just a tiny bit (a little stove heat goes a long way, you don’t want to cook the acai!) OR put it in another resealable plastic sandwich bag and thaw it under warm/hot water… It’s really up to you–I do NOT recommend microwaving it! (I do not use microwaves, aside from that it would undoubtedly cook the acai)

I suggest that you add the frozen fruit to a cup or a bowl first, pouring the almond milk over it and letting the fruit/milk combo sit out for five minutes or so. This will help the ingredients to blend much easier without having to add additional liquid to the blender.

Remaining Steps:
- Add fruit/milk mixture to blender (may need a TOUCH more liquid–use your judgment)
- Add Greek yogurt, flax meal & acai
- Hit blend! (my blender has a “smoothie” feature so that’s what I use)

My second round of Coconut-Flax Griddle Cakes is up next so stay tuned!

Please note I am in no way profiting by mentioning any/all brands listed in my blog! I just refer to them for my friends who may not know what to look for in the market