The Cook & The Coach Blog

Flax Pancakes with Orange, Pecan Sryup

12/4/2016

We are currently parked in a campground in central Texas between Houston and San Antonio. There isn't anything super fancy about this park or its location. One upside though is that there are pecan trees everywhere and it's pecan season! If I had the patience I could easily fill up a 5 gallon bucket in less than hour. We've been snacking on them a bit but decided to try to use them the other morning in combination with a new pancake recipe.

If you follow us you know that we love our pancakes and they are a weekend tradition. You also know we need gluten free options since I can no longer eat anything glutenous! I wouln't consider these pancakes health food but they are close. The flax in them provide a ton of Omega 3 fats which are super good for you. You also get a decent dose of protein and fiber too!
The sauce/sryup that I made is the thing that turns a fairly healthy pancake into a bit of a treat! Enjoy it though because it's delicious and a much better way to enjoy pancakes then use a boxed premix.

Ingredients

Pancakes

3/4 cup ground flax seeds
3/4 cup coconut flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp coconut sugar
2 1/2 cups almond milk
Pinch of salt

Syrup

1/3 cup toasted pecans
2 tbsp grassfed butter
Juice of 1 orange
Zest of 1 orange
1/2 cup real maple syrup

Directions

Pancakes

Combine all ingredients in a blender or mixer and mix!
I would recommend adding the liquid last and 1/2 cup at a time until you get a good pancake batter consistency. It took me right around 2 1/2 cups.
Cook on a 325 degree griddle for 5 minutes then flip and cook for another 3-4 minutes until fully cooked.

Syrup

Since we had raw pecans I add them to a small saucepan and cooked over a medium heat for 5 minutes until you could start to smell the toasted nut flavor. Make sure to stir often, if you are toasting your own.
Add the orange juice and zest next, followed by the butter and syrup. Simmer for 5 minutes. The skin on my orange was a little nasty so I opted for using some 1 drop of orange essential oil to up the organge flavor instead.

0 Comments

Coach Summit 2015

8/4/2015

July 16th - 19th we packed our bags, left Eli with my parent's and headed to Nashville, TN to spend 4 whole days with our Beachbody family...to say we were excited was a bit of an understatement!

This event is something we look forward to every single year for quite a few different reasons:

The training is the BEST - we typically walk away with pages and pages of notes to somehow try to condense down and share with our team that couldn't be there.
We become close friends with people over social media but we only get to hang out once or twice a year so we really have to make the most of it!
Being around this many positive, successful and uplifting people will change your outlook on life.
Going to new places means trying new FOOD :)

I won't bore you with all the details of what we did since I have pictures of most of it...but to summarize: there were workouts with Shaun T and Autumn Calabrese, listening to Simon Sinek speak and also DeWitt Jones who is a photographer for National Geographic, delicious food, amazing trainings, knowledge, insight and inspiration shared and LOTS of walking!

"Every One Matters" was the theme for this year...and that couldn't be more true. We're in this business to help people live HEALTHY and FULFILLING lives. Your health really is one of the cornerstones of your life and it impacts every area of your life. If your health is suffering, everything else seems to go downhill as well, right?? So our goal is to get people to focus on health...and how it's a lifestyle and not a diet or a short term fix. It can't be if you want to live life to it's fullest!!

We are already looking forward to next year...and can't wait to have so many more people from our team there!!

Brunching in the MSP - Victors on Water

6/16/2015

Last weekend my parents were in town for a quick visit so we spent all day on Sunday with them and my brother's family. We went to church, went to brunch and then spent the afternoon hanging out by the lake where their new house will be built next year! Our brunch adventures this week took us to Victors on Water in Excelsior, MN...right off of Lake Minnetonka. This tiny town has so many cute shops, restaurants and coffee shops...I love it!!

Anyway...this was our first time to Victors and everything was just spot on. The food, the service, the atmosphere...we will definitely go back!! The picture above is what Dan had and it was the Polenta Benedict w/ asparagus, king crab, poached eggs and parmesan fondue....and obviously an arugula salad on top. He loved it. I had the Pork and Vegetable Hash with two eggs and toast. It was delicious and I ate every single bite. I also had a bloody mary that was seriously good. One of the best I've had in a while! Great flavor and thick...which I like.

My view at lunch...isn't he cute?? And miraculously, Eli slept in the Ergo the entire time. It was LOVELY!!!

And then we ended the afternoon/evening with some time on the lake, some naps and cuddle time and then some sushi. Sundays are my FAVORITE!

Oh and YES, we would highly recommend Victors on the Water. Go check out the weekend brunch and then walk down by the lake and enjoy the view!

The Perfect Over Easy Egg

6/2/2015

0 Comments

We love eggs!!! We eat them daily, which means we cook them daily. We like our eggs over easy to over medium, there is just something about that runny yolk that just makes eggs so good. I'm not sure where I picked up this trick on cooking the perfect over easy egg but it is so awesome and easy to do. You don't have to worry about breaking the yolk open when you flip it or try to get them out of the pan. Once you master it, which won't take long, you will have a super simple way to cook your eggs perfectly every time.

0 Comments

Brunching in the MSP - Lake & Irving

5/13/2015

Here is our second installment of "Brunching in the MSP"...even though our brunch spots will be all over the Twin Cities, we'll just say MSP for the sake of ease and the fact that there are no hashtags with that name :)

A few weeks ago it was a GORGEOUS day so we decided to hit up a spot for brunch and then walk around Lake Calhoun. A few of my favorite things to do on the weekends: walk around a body of water, go to a farmers market and go to brunch. Do all 3 and then sit outside and read books and I'm a happy camper!!

We had been to Lake & Irving before when they had first opened and it was pretty delicious then and it did not disappoint this time either.The service was spectacular, the food was tasty and the bloody mary was delicious...although I could have used a few more "additions" to my bloody. I love them loaded with a beef stick, pickle, cube of cheese, bacon...and this was just kinda plain. Oh well, the actual bloody itself was delicious.

My cute date

My other cute date

Dan and I tend to gravitate towards the same things...so we often get two things and then share them, but today we didn't do that. I ordered the open faced kalua pork torta, which had duroc kalua pork, sourdough, guacamole, poached egg, chile japones and a mixed green salad.

And Dan ordered the brisket hash, which had smoked brisket, poached egg, herb potatoes, carmelized onions and roasted red peppers.

They were both a perfect way to start the day! I know you're thinking...aren't these people supposed to eat HEALTHY all the time and be good examples for everyone? Umm no. We are REAL. We're people. We love bloody mary's...heck...that's basically vegetables isn't it? :)

We know eating out can be hard so we really do try to be intentional about where we choose to go eat. We stay away from chain restaurants and try to go local as much as we can. We love farm to table restaurants and places that serve fresh, real ingredients. We do tend to also gravitate towards the healthier things on the menu and stay away from the sugary, sweet, because we know how much better they'll make us feel.

Peace out. Make it a great day!

Sweet Potato & Black Bean Hash with Eggs

3/30/2015

0 Comments

We wanted to switch it up for you guys this week and give you a great breakfast option for a meal. I know we've focused more on dinner type meals but everybody loves breakfast, right? This would be a great dish/meal to throw together Saturday morning for the whole family. Feel free to scale the spice level to the people for which you are cooking. You could also double this recipe and have leftovers for the entire week. This recipe will give you about 3-4 servings of the hash.

We really love our breakfast hashes because they are super easy to prepare and usually just involve throwing together whatever ingredients are available. Some easy swaps even with this recipe would be to use regular potatoes. You could also throw in some leftover taco meat from last night. We love adding greens to our hash, so some spinach, kale, or chard would be a great add on to this dish. If you want to go vegetarian you could easily leave the bacon out of this dish and you still get a serving protein and veggies. So many options!

If you are new to hashes, start with this recipe and feel free to venture out and get creative with ingredients you like. The key is adding veggies to your breakfast. It is easy to add fruits and breads to breakfast and start your day on the sweet side and also high in carbohydrates and low in protein. This is one of the keys that we promote with our coaching clients to burn fat and manage hunger throughout the day.

Ingredients

5 pieces of thick cut bacon, chopped
1 medium sweet potato, cubed
½ large large onion, diced
Pinch of red chili flakes
15 oz can of black beans, liquid drained
1 tbsp taco seasoning
¼ cup water
2 eggs
½ tbsp. butter or coconut oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Cilantro, rough chopped for garnish

Directions

Add the chopped bacon to a skillet over medium heat. Cook until fat is rendered out and bacon is crispy.
Remove the bacon from the pan and leave half the bacon grease behind.
Add potatoes, onion, and chili flake and cook for 8 minutes or until onion is soft.
Add the black beans, taco seasoning, water to the pan and cover. All the potatoes to steam for roughly 5 minutes. Depending on how big the pieces of sweet potato it may take more or less time to cook through.
While your potatoes are cooking heat a small skillet, add your oil or butter and cook a couple of over easy eggs… or however you like your eggs.
Garnish with some cilantro, maybe some guacamole, hot sauce and ENJOY!!!

Download Recipe Card for Sweet Potato & Black Bean Hash with Eggs

0 Comments

Brunching in the MSP - Blackbird Cafe

3/25/2015

0 Comments

I like brunch...a lot.

It's one of my absolute favorite things to do on the weekends so we've been trying to make it more of a habit lately. So we figured why not document our brunch journeys and share them with you guys?? Because honestly...who doesn't like pictures of breakfast food??!

This last weekend we went to Blackbird Cafe - a "farm to fork" cafe in Minneapolis. It's one of those places where no matter when you go (lunch, brunch, dinner) it's ALWAYS delicious and the service is always great. Pictured below is one of my favorite breakfast items, the Oxtail Hash: oxtail & root vegetables topped with two basted eggs & hollandaise. with toast and homemade jam.

Dan ordered the Veal Sweetbreads Benedict which came with two poached eggs, fresh baked english muffin, steamed spinach & hollandaise.

If you go there for dinner there are some really delicious options as well...a few of my favorites:

The Spicy Peanut Noodles with smoked chicken confit, roasted shiitakes & poached egg
The Longhorn Sandwich: braised beef brisket, caramelized onions, tomatoes, provolone, horseradish mayo
The Banh Mi: slow roasted pork, jalapenos, pickled vegetables, pate, cilantro & mayo

The Twin Cities definitely has a lot of delicious, local restaurants. We'll be sharing a few of our favorites every week...so stay tuned!!

0 Comments

Flax Pancakes with Orange, Pecan Sryup

Ingredients

Directions

Coach Summit 2015

Brunching in the MSP - Victors on Water

The Perfect Over Easy Egg

Brunching in the MSP - Lake & Irving

Sweet Potato & Black Bean Hash with Eggs

Ingredients

Directions

Download Recipe Card for Sweet Potato & Black Bean Hash with Eggs

Brunching in the MSP - Blackbird Cafe

The Cook & The Coach

Categories

Archives

Need Some Help, We Got Your Back!

About Us

Contact Us

Affiliate Disclosure