LCHF Pancake Recipe

Do you remember when you were little and your mom would make you these amazing, perfectly fried pancakes?

Well, I do. And I’ve been missing them a little since I cut out grains from my diet, a good few years ago now.

Throughout the years, I’ve been trying one low carb pancake recipe after the other, but they never quite get to where I would like them.

They’re either too soggy, too thick (I much prefer crepes to american style pancakes!), taste too much like nuts, don’t contain enough fat, or, frankly, are too complicated to make with ingredients that you have to really go on a hunt for.

Call me the Goldilocks of Pancakes if you will, but finding an easy, yummy, healthy, low carb pancake recipe has not been easy. I might as well have gone out for that hunt of those ingredients no human has in their pantry ever.

I’ve recently given up a bit on searching for The Pancake Recipe. Too much milk products isn’t an option, neither are fake ingredients. Or combinations of ingredients that give them a funky flavor. No, thanks!

Until now.

I’ve quite frankly completely stumbled upon what might just be The Complete Pancake Lovers Awesome Recipe For Low Carb High Fat Pancakes!

I was first alerted to this recipe through a fantastic Facebook group I’m in, and thought it sounded a little weird, to be honest. “Egg and cream cheese, that’s it?! They’ll never keep together and the’ll taste like, well eggs and cream cheese. Perhaps sometime when I have n o t h i n g else at home.” my mind started blabbering.

That day was the other day (although we had tons of other yummy food at home). Turns out, they hold together just fine, almost better than “normal” pancakes. And the taste… I bet you anything no one would realize they’re not “normal” pancakes if I served them these. They taste exactly like I remember pancakes tasting!

Yummy LCHF Pancakes

This recipe is from the wonderful blog I Breathe I’m Hungry, where you can find the recipe in all its glory and originality.

This is my version:

Real LCHF Pancakes

Makes: Four pancakes/crepes

You’ll need

2 oz (60 grams) cream cheese (I used Philadelphia)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon xylitol (or sweetener of your choice) (this can also be completely skipped, they’ll still be awesome)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (because who doesn’t love cinnamon?!)

Do this

Put all ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth
Let rest for 2 minutes
Pour some batter into a hot pan with some melted butter. Cook for 2 minutes until golden, flip and cook 1 minute on the other side.
Serve with some fresh berries, cinnamon, sweetener if you want, lemon, almond butter, butter, bacon… The world’s your oyster and the sky’s the limit!

LCHF Pancakes with Raspberries, Coconut cream and Cinnamon

Approx nutrition info per batch:

344 calories
29g fat
2.5g net carbs
17g protein

Enjoy these amazing pancakes!

Hope they can become a staple in your food routine, it’s always nice with new inspiration.

Do you have a favorite pancake recipe you want to share with me? Comment below!

July 2, 2015/14 Comments/by Hanna Boëthius

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Seed Crackers GrainBrain Style

Have you ever tried seed crackers?

All you wanted was a little crunch in your life, but all you got was disappointment.

Were they a little… papery? Or were they full of chemical stuff, or stuff that you can’t/don’t want to eat?

I’m making you a very happy bunny today.

Almost everyone who has tried these seed crackers has asked for the recipe. I’ve even ended up selling quite a lot of it!

So today I’m going to be super nice and share it with you so that you can make it yourself! ! It’s safe to say that this will be the only crack(er) recipe you’ll ever need.

And, what’s fantastically awesome about these is that they are completely allergen free! No grains, no gluten, no dairy, no egg, no soy, no funky chemical stuff. Well, unless you’re allergic to seeds (sesame?), or crunchy seed crackers!

The recipe is actually super simple, and can be tweaked exactly to your liking.

GrainBrain’s Seed Crackers

3,5 dl (1,5 cups) sunflower seeds

1 dl (0.4 – 0.5 cups) flaxseed

1 dl (0.4 – 0.5 cups) sesame seeds (can be swapped if you’re allergic, see below)

0,5 dl (0,2 cups) pumpkin seed

3 tbsp psyllium seed husk

a pinch of salt

2-3 tbsp olive oil

4-5 dl (1,7 – 2 cups) water

Mix all the ingredients carefully. I like to mix all the dry ones first, then add the olive oil and mix again. Lastly, I add the water. Mix!

Let it rest for 10 minutes. Put the oven on 150 degrees celsius (300 fahrenheit).

Bake half of the mix out between two sheets of parchment paper. Use a rolling pin to flatten it out. The mix gives you two baking sheets, depending on the size of your oven, of course.

Remove the upper layer of parchment paper, and cut the dough into cracker sized pieces before putting it in the oven.

Let it dry in the oven for 55 minutes each.

Et viola! Enjoy with some butter and your favourite sandwich topping.

Nutrition Info:

(Whole batch)
Carbs: 55 g
Protein: 36 g
Fat: 114 g

(If you divide the crackers into 24 pieces per baking sheet, 48 pieces total)
Carbs: 1 g
Protein: 0,75 g
Fat: 2,4 g

These are super filling and contain so much good stuff, like fibre, Vitamin B, Vitamin E, Calcium, Iron, Copper, Magnesium, Manganese and Zinc.

The only problem you’re going to have is to stop eating these…!

Customise it (or Pimp my Crackers)

You can add all kinds of herbs and spices to it to make it your own and to add variation.

Here are some ideas: chili flakes, Italian/French herb mixes, sea salt, pepper, paprika spice, taco spice mix (make sure it’s a clean one), fresh garlic, rosemary, oregano or basil, or even cinnamon or cardamom to put a sweeter spin on it.

I’ve also played around with adding and removing different seeds to the mix. I’ve added chia seeds and whole psyllium seeds, for example. This gives it a completely different taste and texture.

I’ve also used a chili-garlic infused olive oil instead if the plain one. There were some sparks flying off of that one! J

Please try this out, it’s definitely worth the longer time it takes to make it than just picking any old crap up from the store. And don’t forget to leave your comment below of what you think of it!

February 25, 2015/2 Comments/by Hanna Boëthius

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Paleo Scones

Going grain free = going bread free.

In the very most cases, at least. The “bread” you do eat won’t be the factory produced, refined stuff you find at the super market.

Bread is usually one of the things I hear most often from my clients that they miss when they are getting healthier. Which nowadays really surprises me, actually, although it didn’t use to… I was just as much of a bread addict as I’m sure you are, or have been, too.

But I’m very proud of you that you’re willing to make this change for yourself; to go at least gluten-, if not grain free!

So, you know those mornings (or lunches, or evenings), where you just wish there was a simple, yet healthy, thing you could throw together and have fresh out of the oven?

These wonderfully nutritious and yummy paleo scones you can whip together in under 5 minutes. And they’re done in 10 in the oven.

Paleo Scones

You’ll need:

3 dl almond flour

0,5 dl chia seeds (can also be changed to sunflower seeds or linseeds, depending on your taste and preference)

2 eggs

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp psyllium seed husk

A pinch of salt

You can also put some seeds on top of the scones, making it more into a type of bun than scones. Variations are endless!

Do this:

Put the oven on 180 degrees Celsius
Mix all ingredients
On an baking sheet covered with parchment paper, make 6 socnes/buns with a spoon
Put in the oven for about 10 minutes
Enjoy with butter, cheese (if you can handle it), vegetables, ham, or unsweetened jam, or almond butter.

Nutritional info (per scone):

Carbs 5g, 3g fibers
Calories (kcal): 198
Fat: 16g
Protein: 7.5g

I’ve based this recipe on the fantastic Annika Sjöö’s original recipe. She’s a truly inspiring swede who is fully into eating Paleo and training CrossFit, and won Swedish “Let’s Dance” (“Dancing with the Stars”) a couple of years ago. If your Swedish is any good, check out her inspirational blog here!

Let me know what you think of this recipe! Do you have another favorite (grain-free) bread recipe to share with me? Post it in the comments!

January 21, 2015/0 Comments/by Hanna Boëthius

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Saffron Coconut Macaroons

I know just how busy you are today.

So today’s post will be very short and to the point.

A few people have asked me about the recipe for the Saffron Coconut Macaroons that I shared in my Diabetes Advent Calendar.

And because I’m feeling the festive spirits (no, I don’t mean the rum), I want to share it with you here on the blog today!

(If you don’t like saffron (gasp!), they’re absolutely delicious if you leave it out, too)

Saffron Coconut Macaroons

Makes about 10

You’ll need:

25 g butter

1 egg

1.5 dl (0.6 cups) desiccated coconut

1 tbsp. stevia or agave (or honey, if you can take it)

1 pinch vanilla powder

1 packet saffron

Do this:

Put the oven on 175 degrees.

Melt the butter with the saffron.

Whisk together the egg and sweetener of your choice.

Add all the other ingredients to the mix.

Let the mix rest for a few minutes.

Make “peaks” on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes, until the tops are golden brown.

Each peak has 4 grams of carbohydrate.

Saffron Coconut Macaroons

These yummy treats are gluten-, grain-, treenut-, soy- and (almost) sugar free, so they suit most people.

Let me know how yours turned out in the comments below!

ENJOY!

December 22, 2014/0 Comments/by Hanna Boëthius

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Grain Free Thanksgiving

Happy American Thanksgiving! (Well, almost)

This year, we cheated a little.

As in we already had our Thanksgiving last weekend.

I’ve seen some questions on how to make a grain free Thanksgiving meal. Luckily, this is exactly what I had last weekend.

It was a great day; we had some friends over, cooked together, laughed, drank delicious wines and ate beyond-glorious food. And we didn’t watch football. How very un-American of us! But almost the best part was that while the boys were cooking, the ladies got their nails done, while drinking some bubbly. (thank you Sam!)

You might be wondering how on this green Earth we pulled together a completely grain free menu. Well, to be honest, it wasn’t all grain free, as some cornbread stuffing and a pumpkin pie were present. But the rest, and the dishes that I put my focus on were all grain free.

And as we’re so close to Thanksgiving, literally hours away, and I am so very thankful that you’re part of my world, I’m sharing The Menu, as well as some options, with you today. There are of course many, many other alternatives and options for a grain free Thanksgiving, but here’s what happened last weekend:

Grain Free Thanksgiving Turkey

I sincerely hope the turkey you get IS grain free…!

One thing I can recommend is to rub your turkey in the deliciousness that is duck fat. The flavors get intense and I’ve never had a juicier bird. I “blame” the duck fat.

Grain Free Thanksgiving Stuffing

I already mentioned the grain filled stuffing with cornbread before. But we also had another one, made entirely out of meat. (again, thank you Sam!)

It was minced meat with sausage, duck meat and some herbs. And it was heavenly.

As alternatives for stuffing, here are three fantastic (sounding) ones:

Best Ever Paleo Thanksgiving Stuffing

Apple-Cranberry and Veal Stuffing

Savoury Sage & Sweet Apple Stuffing

Grain Free Thanksgiving Sides

Moving swiftly on to the side dishes of the glorious grain free Thanksgiving meal!

On our buffet last weekend we had the following ones. Note that none of them are complicated or weird to make. Just really simple, honest food:

Brussels Sprouts with Bacon

Cut the Brussels sprouts either in halves or quarters across. Cut the bacon into smaller pieces. Fry the bacon first and then add the Brussels sprouts to it. Cook until the sprouts are sproutin’ done! 🙂

Kale Salad with Avocado

Cut the kale off the stems and into smaller pieces (or rip it, if that’s more fun). Put it into a bowl. Open an avocado and put the meat in the kale, and then use your hands to mix it all together until the kale wilts a little. This removes the sometimes overpowering taste of kale. Add salt and pepper as desired.

Broccoli Salad with Pomegranates

Shred raw broccoli into a bowl. Add pomegranates and some olive oil. Mix.

Pretty printable recipe here!

Butter-fried Cabbage

As an extra idea, I suggest cutting cabbage into thin strips and frying them in butter until soft and, well, buttery. Few things on earth beat that combination.

Grain Free Thanksgiving Gravy

My husband makes the world’s best gravy, second only to what my grandmother used to make. (Sorry honey!)

Last weekend, he took the juices from the turkey, put it in a pan and added butter, bone broth and red wine and let it simmer until it reduced into gravy.

This is so simple, but of course doesn’t give you thick creamy gravy. For that you need to add either cream or coconut cream.

Grain Free Thanksgiving Desserts

Everyone’s favorite part, of course, is dessert.

Except when you’re more stuffed than the turkey and feel like you might just cry. Then you’ve done Thanksgiving wrong, and I recommend you start from the beginning.

Ha, no just kidding!

Do make sure you leave some space for dessert though. It’s well worth it for these two recipes!

This one I made for last weekend, and holy-turkey-day was it fantastically yummy! The super talented Kelly from The Spunky Coconut really got the flavors together in this one!

Salted Caramel Pecan Pie without Corn Syrup

And, because it’s very traditional, I’m also giving you a link to a great grain free pumpkin pie from Mark’s Daily Apple, click here.

You can serve any or both of these with whipped (coconut) vanilla cream.

If these recipes and ideas just aren’t enough, or they just don’t tickle your fancy, I HIGHLY recommend Danielle Walker’s e-book Thankful, with 20 recipes for Thanksgiving and other Holiday events.

Over to you, what did you have on your Thanksgiving table this year? Share the awesomeness in the comments below.

Also, don’t forget to be #thankful!

November 26, 2014/2 Comments/by Hanna Boëthius

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Paleo Restaurant, What’s on the Menu?

The most difficult part when you want to eat healthily are restaurants.

But what if there is an option to keep eating healthy whilst eating at a restaurant?

About two weeks ago, my husband and I had something a little special to celebrate.

And although we’re not dogs, we decided to treat ourselves to some really good food. I had heard about this Paleo restaurant close to Zürich, and as we had an occasion to celebrate, we went there. And, only for you, I took pictures of every single dish we had. And there were many…

The restaurant is stylish and modern, despite its ancestral menu. And the service was great, couldn’t have asked for better and more attentive service staff.

Anyway, as we’re not here to lollygag, we’re here to party, on to the FOOD:

Restaurant Feinwerk

Elegant and stylish menu, filled with good, healthy courses. At this restaurant, you can freely choose how many of their seasonal courses you want, 3, 4 or all 5 courses that are on the menu. We thought we should “go big or go home”, so we took the 5 course option. All the courses follow the idea of Paleo eating, wild caught fish, wild meat, seasonal vegetables and all of it, of course, organic. No gluten, dairy or processed foods fit in the Paleo framework either, which is GREAT for someone just like me. 🙂

Paleo bread

At “normal” restaurants you usually get a breadbasket before your meal. So also at the Paleo restaurant, although the bread here was made from things like almond flour and walnuts, spiced with saffron and herbs. Delicious!

Amuse bouche: quail egg on root vegetables

A small greeting from the kitchen, with a fried quail egg on root vegetable chips.

Starter: cedar graved lake trout and crayfish on beetroot

The first starter was lake trout that had been graved with cedar wood and crayfish that had been slightly sweetened with honey on top of beetroot. Crayfish and beetroot was a new and fantastic combination for me!

2nd Starter: artichoke and herb soup with rabbit

The second starter was an artichoke and herb soup with a meatball of rabbit. The tastes combined amazingly well, and just look at the decoration!

Main: forest dove with wild asparagus

Onto the main courses: first up was dove from the forest with wild asparagus and beechnut. A lot of new flavours and tastes were presented to me during this dinner, and this is one of them – I had never had dove before. The combination of flavours were, again, knocked out of the park.

2nd Main: fallow deer with roots, nuts and mushrooms

With the second main dish, we got locally caught fallow deer with roots, nuts and mushrooms. As you can see, the main focus is on the meat and not the roots, bringing the carbohydrate count down, making it easier for diabetics like myself to calculate dosages.

Dessert: chocolate tart with forest berries and herb jus

This feast was finished off with a yummy, rich chocolate tart with berries from the forest and herb jus. For a chocolate lover like myself, this dark chocolate tart was the perfect end to a beyond amazing dinner.

The taste combinations that were on these plates were definitely out of this world! For me, it was so nice not to have to change the ingredients in any of the courses, as well.

And, more importantly, had we had this many courses in any other restaurants, we would have felt too full to get home. Sure, we were full and very satisfied after this meal too, but it was really not as bad as perhaps expected. It should probably be noted that eating a fully packed menu like this is nothing my husband and I do often.

The whole experience was a true delight, and I can definitely recommend Restaurant Feinwerk if you’re in or ever around Zürich!

How is it where you live? Do you have truly healthy restaurants, and not just those that try to disguise bread and sugar as healthy? Share your recommendation in the comments below!

(NOTE: I’m by no means affiliated with Restaurant Feinwerk, and we paid for the dinner ourselves. These opinions are completely my own.)

October 29, 2014/0 Comments/by Hanna Boëthius

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