My Post-Election Pre-Apocolyptic Breakfast – The REALLY best Paleo almost Aip Plantain Pancakes!

First off, I can’t believe it’s been over 3 months since I’ve posted!

I’ve started several posts during that time, all with good intentions. I’ve taken several photo of my garden, food, and all the other awesome things in my life. But I’ve just been way to busy to spend any real time at my computer, sorting things out into some kind of coherent blog post.

What was I doing?

Playing gigs! During the period between October 16th and Dec 4th I played with 7 different orchestras, yes, Seven different orchestras, with 7 different concert programs, in 8 weeks! So I was practicing A LOT  in between my usual schedule of private students (Harp & Piano). Meanwhile I was also playing a variety of other gigs during that time, like weddings, funerals, etc. And when I was done with all of that, the HoliDaze gigs started, but now all I have left is 2 Christmas Eve church services, and then a blessed week off between Christmas and New Year’s Day. No gigs. No students. Just a week to sleep, rest, eat good food, and goof off a little bit. And get ready for the New Year!

Anyway, it’s all good, and next week I’m going to try to end the year by sharing a mini-compilation of some of the posts I almost posted over the last couple of months, just so that those photo’s and semi-blog-blurbs won’t go to waste!

Meanwhile, here is the Post I had planned to post a few days after the election, written on November 9th.

My Post Election Pre-Apocolyptic Breakfast

On Election Day (yesterday) my sons & I got up early, so that we could be at the poll when it opened to exercise our right & responsibility to vote, and then go out to breakfast. It’s our tradition. Afterwards, we came home and I spent the entire day cleaning my sunroom, and bringing in the houseplants that have lived outside for the last several months. I love sitting in my sunroom, sipping tea, eating breakfast, and communing with my dwarf citrus trees all winter!

I didn’t spend the day thinking about the election, although I did check online before I went to bed, and it was clear to me by 9pm that Trump was going to be the winner, admittedly not the outcome I was hoping for, but I slept well anyway.

Now that the election is over, I’m grateful for the following things:

1. The end, at least for a few years, of all the political bullshit: phone calls, advertisements, junk mail, etc. What a waste of time, resources, and materials.
2. I’m also grateful that I live in the USA, where everyone is allowed to vote, and if I don’t like the outcome, in 4 years I can try again.
3. My wonderful creative life, which I will continue to enjoy with wild abandon. I will continue to play my harp, garden, sing, make good food, meditate, encourage & nurture my inner child, be kind, and savor the many awesome moments that life offers, 24 – 7.

As an American, I am disgusted/dismayed by the following things:

1. The hatefulness & slanderous comments that are allowed to proliferate in the media, especially during election years. It’s nothing new. The candidates spend most of their time telling us how awful their opponent is, & implying negative things about their honesty, integrity, and intentions. They tell us very little about themselves. There is a saying that applies here: “When you point a finger at somebody else, you’re pointing 3 back at yourself.” I wish the candidates would all agree to this suggestion: If you can’t say something nice, please don’t say anything at all. Quit talking about your opponent, and tell me about yourself. I also wish that the media would agree to not allow vaguely slanderous comments & outright lies to be broadcasted, published, etc.
2. The ignorance of my fellow Americans, and the Dumbing Down of the American People. There are a lot of Americans who are poorly educated & poorly informed. Add to this the addiction to Reality TV, which in my opinion generally promotes rude behavior and overall stupidity. Many people will believe anything they see on TV, and even more so if they see it on the internet. Any blogger can post something hateful & blatantly slanderous/untrue, and I guarantee there are people who will believe it & share it as a fact.
3. People who don’t vote, but want to complain about the government & the election results, and then blather on in an uninformed way about these things. Shut the F@#k up, please!
4. The Doomsday Drama Queens (both male & female), who proliferate on social media. Just because your candidate didn’t win, that doesn’t mean the world is going to end, or our country is going to collapse, or one of the other super powers is going to starting lobbing missiles our way.
5. The Crazy Racists, Masogynists, and other Wacko’s that seem to proliferate in the USA these days.

I personally avoid Drama in my life. Fear of the Future will keep me from enjoying today. Talking about and imagining horrible scenarios where women lose all their rights, where we return to some kind of dark ages, & where Hitler-esque atrocities take place is not conducive to savoring life. When we imagine fearful, painful, miserable things, we feel those emotions each time. We become emotionally invested in them. We mind-F&@k ourselves into an endless cycle of emotions & mental realities that will probably never actually materialize in real life. Whether we’re talking about Election results, or just in everyday life, it’s a self-destructive practice that I let go of over 30 years ago, and for that I am endlessly grateful.

I’m not talking about going into denial & sticking my head in the sand like an ostrich. I’m talking about living my life as if nothing has changed, until something actually changes. In that event, I’ll feel what I feel in that moment, do whatever it is I need to do, and continue on. It’s called Living.

We have a new President Elect (he won’t actually be the President until January).

As we say in recovery, Acceptance is the Key.

I don’t know where the next 4 years will lead us. Nobody really knows. But I do know that the President is only one person, that there are limits to that person’s power, and just because he says he’s going to do certain things, that doesn’t mean the American people will allow it. We are a country that prizes personal freedom, and our constitution guarantees that.

Where do we go from here? Forward! Starting with a Decadent Breakfast, because every day in my house starts with food.

My Post-Election Pre-Apocolyse Breakfast was Plantain pancakes, bacon, eggs topped with crispy shallots on a bed of greens, and peach preserves (one of my rare cheats, although they are fruit juice sweetened at least), with plenty of black tea!

“Why so many cups of tea, AND a pot of tea too?” you inquire…

Because I love tea! And I want to linger over my breakfast, without having to get up and make more.

My hopes for the USA & all of it’s inhabitants: Let’s all be kind to one another. Let’s all be Creative and express ourselves in a loving way, accepting & celebrating our differences, encouraging each other to learn & grow. And don’t forget to have a good breakfast!

The REALLY best Paleo/almost AIP Plantain Pancakes Recipe!

I’ve been playing around with this recipe for awhile, and I have to say, I’m really satisfied with the taste and the texture! Most of the plantain pancake recipes I’ve tried have been really gummy, and also a disaster to flip. These are almost like ‘real’ pancakes!

1 Plantain – If you want a sweeter pancake, go with a riper plantain. If you want more savory, go with green. Slice it up into several pieces & remove the peel. You can also use bananas, but you’ll probably need 1.5 – 2 bananas to equal one plantain.

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 Tb melted coconut oil

a pinch of salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 Tb Coconut Flour

2 Tb Arrowroot Flour

Opt: Cinnamon, Powdered Ginger, or other flavors you like (pumpkin pie spice?)

Put all of the ingredients into your food processor & let it go, stopping to scrape the edges a few times, just to make sure everything gets blended up well. Meanwhile, heat up a griddle or skillet to medium-ish. I love my cast iron griddle! And BTW, if you’re using cast iron cookware (and if you’re not, you really should be!), you need a silicone basting brush! It’s the best way to oil your skillets and such, and it also doubles as a fun inner child painting activity! You can baste it with coconut oil, lard, bacon fat, or whatever fat you choose. Also, if something sticks, just work that basting brush under the edges and it will usually let go like magic!

Once the griddle is hot, start making pancakes! I like to use a small ladle, I think the one in the pic holds about 1/8 of a cup, or maybe 1/4th. I keep the pancakes smallish, so that they are easier to turn. Let them bubble, but keep an eye them because they do have a tendency to burn rather easily. They might not bubble that much, and if you need to flip them more than once, it’s ok. Just do it. They will have a tender texture when they first come off the griddle, but will firm up a little more as they cool.

Once the pancakes are done, fry  up some bacon on the same surface, and eggs if you like, and enjoy! You can serve them with preserves or jam, real maple syrup, fresh fruit, coconut whipped cream, or whatever you like, short stack or tall. To be honest, I usually stand there grazing on them as they come off the griddle, plain.

If you’re following an AIP variation, you can eat these as long as you can eat eggs. If you can’t eat eggs, I’m sorry…

This recipe makes roughly a dozen pancakes and here’s the nutritional breakdown per cake: 65 calories, 8 Grams of Carbs, 4 Grams of Fat, 1 Gram of Protein. That’s 44% carbs, 48% Fat, and 8% Protein. So as you can see, they aren’t exactly low carb, LOL. But they are delicious. And worthy as a breakfast treat. And if you look at the overall meal in the picture, with the bacon, eggs, greens & preserves,  it comes out like this:

 

Yes, it’s kind of a big breakfast, but I also tend to eat late in the morning, and then I don’t eat lunch, so if I eat a high protein low carb dinner, it all balances out nicely. And I’m not really sticking to a Keto kind of thing right now anyway, at least not every day!

And I don’t eat them every day! If I’ve had a particularly intense workout, or if I just feel like pampering myself a little bit, they really do the trick.

 

I recommend that you triple the recipe. A single batch will blend up well, but a triple batch seems to blend up better. Eat as many as you want, then freeze the leftovers on a cookie sheet and bag them for days when you want an easy breakfast, a quick snack, a bacon & eggs sandwich, or just because you feel like having pancakes and therefore you should have them. Enjoy!