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Breakfast is often referred to the most important meal of the day. Some people get this concept some don't. Breakfast for a lot of people actually looks lot more like dessert. Just yesterday we were in a local restaurant and watched a guy sitting in the booth across from us enjoy waffles à la mode. Really, ice cream for breakfast on top of a sweet bread, topped with liquid sugar and whip cream. Why is that even an option for breakfast? Seriously!!!
They all look pretty delicious don't they! You might recognize that waffles à la mode isn't an ideal breakfast but do you know why? #1 - The obvious one is this type of breakfast is packed with sugar. I don't think I need to explain why the sugar in this amount is bad. #2 - We love our fat but we also love getting it from quality sources and this type of breakfast is also extremely fat dense. This combination of high fat and high sugar/carbohydrate is the reason we have the obesity epidemic that faces us in this country. The calorie density is through the roof when you combine sugar and fat, our brains just don't know when to say enough is enough when you combine those things. #3 - Breakfast is also a unique meal. If you look at it's name "Break - Fast" this is the meal that breaks what is likely a 8-10 hour fast depending on when you last ate the previous night. It is because we are in this fasted state that our body is primed to absorb more of the energy that we provide it. This happens mainly due to us being more insulin sensitive after a fast. That means that your body will easily transport blood glucose (carbs) into cells. Now if you worked out at 6 a.m. and you then consume a carb dense breakfast that carbohydrate/glucose will get transported to muscle tissue. That's a good thing! If you roll out of bed and have an Ego waffle, bowl of cereal, or a bowl of oatmeal topped with brown sugar and raisins, that carbohydrate will likely get stored in fat cells. #3 - Lastly, a meal like those mentioned so far is lacking almost all nutritional value. In general, color is a sign of a food's nutritional value. If you didn't cook a waffle, that whole plate would be white = zero nutrition. When you combine combine, calorie dense, blood sugar spiking, and nutrient poor all together in one food/meal you are either having one hell of a treat meal or trying to develop diabetes. How do you upgrade your breakfast?#1 - Eat a balanced meal or for some a lower carbohydrate meal depending on how sensitive you are to carbohydrates. Balanced meal means getting equal amount of calories from protein, fats and carbs. The one that is hardest for most is the protein source. Some of our favorite ways to add protein to breakfast is egg whites, protein powder via a shake or pancakes, or meat of some kind. Studies have even shown that a protein dense breakfast will help stave off hunger throughout the entire day, meaning less snacking and more calories consumed.  Sweet Potato and Black Bean Hash #2 - Add some vegetables! Yeah we said it veggies for breakfast. Not only does this up the nutritional value the meal it also adds some fiber. Try to make 1/3 of your plate a veggie! Our go to is sauteed broccoli slaw or steamed broccoli. By adding fiber you you slow down the digestion process and therefore will avoid blood sugar spikes and as much of that energy getting sent off to fat cells.  Pumpkin Spice Protein Pancakes and Broccoli #3 - Keep it simple. The morning can be a tough time to put a fancy breakfast together. Why do you think cereal is a breakfast staple, convenience. So just make something else that fits the above criteria convenient for you. For a long time this meant have a shake for breakfast that was balanced nutritional and loaded up with some greens to get veggies. Overnight oats that contain some extra protein, greek yogurt with berries, or egg muffins.
#4 - Find something that you like and works for you and stick with it. Variety is important for diet but that means throughout the day, not day to day. Breakfast for us is almost identical 5 days a week, eggs, broccoli of some form and plantains. Find what works for you.  Our Typical Breakfast The common thread that connects all these tips, is having a plan. That starts with maybe building anywhere from an extra 5 minutes up to 20 minutes to prepare an upgraded breakfast. It means having some healthier options stocked in the fridge, freezer and pantry. It means knowing ahead of time what you are going to make or meal prepping earlier in the week. We would love to hear what are your go-to breakfast options?
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 It wouldn't be fall if we didn't throw a pumpkin recipe at you. Since we love pancakes here you go! We've been making a variation of these pancakes for the longest time. However the texture on those other ones just wasn't quite where I would like it when it comes to a pancake. So just a couple little tweaks and we have this new one which I think will be our go to pancake recipe for a quite some time. If you are wondering what the hell the broccoli is doing in the picture, I thought this was a pancake recipe, you aren't the first one to think that is a weird combo. This combo is a great a solution for a number of people that we work with on a regular basis. Two staples that people usually fall short of on a daily basis is protein and veggies. Why not start your day with a healthy dose of both? Why are protein and veggies important? Particularly for people trying to lose weight these two things will likely be your biggest help in seeing measurable progress in a short period of time. By getting adequate protein, 20-40 grams, per meal you will fill yourself with bulk but with lower calories. Same goes for the veggies, due the high fiber in veggies you are adding bulk without adding calories. It's because of this that you are able to eat to the point of being full all while staying in a calorie deficit. If you are curious how much protein and fiber you should specifically be eating head over to our Calorie Calculator page and submit some information and I will get you a customized plan to let you how much of each you should be eating. This will be based on your size, activity level, and your goals. Otherwise enjoy the heck out of these pancakes, we sure did! Macronutrient InformationCalories: 95 Protein: 10.9 g Fat: 4.4 g Carbs: 3.5 g Sugars: 0.9 g Fiber: 1.6 g
We try our best to share our life with you guys....and I know social media makes it seem like it's all glamour, beaches, fun stuff all the time and no work It's not. I promise. BUT there's a big difference between what our days looked like last year compared to now. Now...we choose what our days look like. As coaches, as business partners and life changers with Beachbody...we STILL wake up with an alarm around 6 or 6:30, because we WANT TO...with goals of getting up even earlier. 
Some days we work a lot...some days we don't....sometimes we work on the weekend...and we stop when we'd like!! Sometimes we work at the beach or a coffeeshop or at home in the RV...the location doesn't matter. Total control. Messy hair. Yoga pants...no showers...no pants...no shoes...no problem. HA!! Every day is a new day to make a choice. To set some new goals. To grow. It's a NEW day to connect with people that want to join a movement...and want to spread the message of health and life to their friends and family!! If you want more CONTROL of your life...more flexibility or more control of your health and you love to serve people and help them, we'd love to chat with YOU!! ️  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.
 I want to share some stats and awesome info that I recently read in the book Eat Move Sleep. First off let me give a plug for the book...it's been a great read that goes super fast and has tons of practical tips to help you start making changes in your life. It's not loaded down with science but provides enough to let you know that the stuff he is saying isn't some nonsense he pulled out of thin air. There is a chapter in the book where he refers to a study of more than 6,000 people that all tried to lose weight and what the common characteristics were of the most successful. A common theme among the successful was being healthy at home. Seems like common sense right??? You spend most of your time there but so many people live in a toxic home that doesn't promote health! Here were just a few of the interesting stats that the study showed:
Eating breakfast... If you've followed us for a bit you know I've dabbled with Intermittent Fasting. There is a great science behind it and can lead some amazing results. It's a hard thing though for a novice to jump right in to and be successful. I think that is why the breakfast stat is an important one. Eating breakfast is a great way to set the stage for the rest of the day. If you start your day with a quality breakfast you will be a lot less likely to jump at the office donuts or the french fries at lunch. Your cravings will stay in check! Weighing yourself once a week, this one was a little interesting to me. I get that tracking your progress is a good way to determine if you need to make changes but for the average person they really don't know what changes to make. Other than maybe eat less and exercise more, which we know isn't always a great solution. Plus weight isn't the sole determiner of progress. So we will just let this one go...and agree to disagree. I love this last stat about TV watching. Frankly because I used to be a 10+ hour a week TV watcher. Let's be honest even the most riveting show gets boring at times so I turned to ice cream to help with that boredom. Mindless TV watching often times leads to mindless eating. On top of that TV watching also means sitting which is terrible for your health. The amount of activity went up substantially when we ditched the cable and we would encourage you to do the same. Other Ways to "Healthify" Your Home
 Laura almost didn't let me make these for her. Apparently she has a thing about eating chia seeds because they get stuck in her teeth. I get it... kind of. I was able to twist her arm and get her to try them and I'm pretty sure she was glad she did. We all loved these pancakes, even Eli. Another bonus: zero chia seeds stuck in her teeth too. Talk about having your (pan)cake and eating it too! Seriously if chia seeds aren't part of your diet you need to consider adding them. Even if a few stray seeds end up in your teeth the benefits far outweigh any social anxiety from being caught with something in your teeth. Even if you do get caught it also gives you an excuse to share this amazing seed story with someone new! 
I've never considered myself a baker. There is just too much measuring and too many dishes to clean up afterwards. On top of that most baked goods don't exactly line up with healthy eating. What are the cornerstones of baking; usually a combo of white sugar, flour, and poor quality fats. Basically the worst combo when it comes to health and maintaining a healthy weight.
Now that I've poo pooed bake goods let me tell you about the super tasty muffins I made, lol. This recipe by no means qualifies these muffins as health food but I did remove those poor quality ingredients that cause inflammation and hormonal havoc in your body and replaced them with friendlier ingredients. The recipe that I based my recipe off of is one that my mom passed down to me. She would always make it as a bread loaf instead of muffins and I remember just loving it. Probably because of the amount of sugar that was in it! So here were my "healthy" swaps. Instead of white sugar I used dates that I pureed with a little almond milk. Instead of regular wheat flour I used a combination of coconut and arrowroot. Instead of vegetable oil I used coconut oil. As you will see in the nutrition facts below I reduced the sugar by 18 grams per serving, which is huge and when it comes to weight loss and the insulin response that you would get from eating it. Swapping out the flours will help with GI issues that people have from gluten, along with the high Glycemic Index that comes along with regular wheat flour. Coconut oil versus vegetable oil is a no brainer unless you are still living in the 1980's and think saturated fat will kill you. This are super simple to make and fairly guilt free as long as you don't eat 6 of them. They are a great kick snack for our 16 month old son too, which is super convenient. Hope you enjoy them! Paleo Pumpkin Muffins
Mom's Pumpkin Bread
Last Call for The Master's Hammer & Chisel Test Group
I've heard it called a few different things, Monkey Bread or Pull Apart Bread. Not sure if that is a regional thing??? In Minnesota it goes my Monkey Bread, not exactly sure why but if you are interested I'm sure Dr. Google would let you know. No matter where you are from and what you call it Monkey Bread is straight up delicious. The warm bread! Some of it crusty. Some of it soft! The cinnamon. The caramel. It's a perfect combo.
I've been on a gluten free diet for a little over 6 months now, not by choice unfortunately. I'm always looking at making substitutions to recreate some of my old favorites. I've had a lot of successes and some failures. Beer has been a failure, seriously disappointing. Otherwise, I've found a bread recipe, some pancake recipes, some muffin recipes that are really good. With this creation I wasn't even trying to recreate Monkey Bread. After having it though, it was as good as I remember the real thing. If you can't tell by the picture the key difference is that it is made from plantains. The only tricky part about making these is having patience to allow your plantains to ripen to the point that they get semi-sweet. The plantains pictured below are still mabye even a little under ripe for how I would prefer them. You want to start seeing some black spots covering the peel of the plantain. That's when you know they are ready to go. If you buy them green in the store, it will likely take almost a week to get to that point. 
I'm going to forego the fancy ingredients and directions because honestly this is so easy to make I can just tell you. A serving size for me is 1 plantain. Even our 16 month old son can take down an entire plantain himself. However, if you are watching your carbs a bit you might want to split a plantain with someone else. If you are cooking for more, just scale the recipe up.
To make these I will cut the plantains into 1/2" half moon shaped pieces. Then in a medium-hot skillet I add a couple teaspoons of bacon grease. If you don't save your bacon fat, start doing it, it makes for a great cooking fat. Sautee your plantains for 8-10 minutes, stirring frequently, until they start getting a little carmelized and brown/black. I usually season with a pinch of salt while they are cooking. Once they are cooked, there is the option to add about 1 tbsp of butter to really kick up the flavor. I just add that to the pan and toss the plantains until the butter is melted and coated the plantains. Depending on how ripe your plantains are they may or may not need the butter. When they are more ripe I will likely not add the butter but if they are still a little firmer texture they tend to soak up the fat and they need a little extra shot at the end. Either way they will be delicious! I like to then put the cooked, buttered delicious plantains in a separate bowl and add roughly a 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon. I don't measure I just shake enough out of the spice jar until it looks like they will be adequately coated. I like to do this in a separate bowl versus a skillet because I find you have to add about twice as much cinnamon because a lot gets absorbed by the leftover fat in the pan and it doesn't make it onto the plantains. That's it!!! Hope you enjoy and let us know if you try these. 
Carrot cake is straight up my jam! Hands down, best cake! I love the sweet and spice! I would eat it all the time if it was available.
Given my new gluten free life, I have had to make some sacrifices and cake is one of them. Just this past weekend at my nephews birthday party I was forced to pass on the delicious Mickey Mouse cake. As hard as that was I was just glad I didn't have to say no to carrot cake. That would have just been tough. Avoidance has been my main course of action. Recently though I just had a craving for carrot cake. Maybe it was the fall weather but something made me think of it and that led to a google search... "Gluten free carrot cake recipe" Low and behold I found a really good one and we had all the ingredients so I decided to do some baking. I usually don't bake, that is more Laura's area of expertise! Measuring is tough! I did it though and this muffins turned out awesome! The recipe that I found and tweaked was on a website, Primarily Inspired. Hats off to Kelly for the inspiration for this recipe! We just did the muffin/cupcake recipe but she has an icing that goes along with these too if you want it to be even more desserty, that's a word right??? The following morning Laura was scrolling her IG feed and stumbled across a pic from a local coffee shop and how they do a Orange, Maple Latte. She tried hard to convince me to drive 30 minutes to go get a coffee. I fought hard and told her I would just make her one instead. Since we don't really do dairy either we opted for a "keto coffee." Although given the maple syrup in it, we probably can't call it a "keto" coffee but oh well you get the idea, it has butter in it and other delicious things. This was super simple and super tasty. I have no idea how it compares the the coffee shop latte but we will do this again. It paired perfectly with the carrot muffins too. Pure breakfast bliss!
We have always known that KNOWING where our food comes from is really important...but it was still cheaper to get 2 dozen organic eggs from Costco. Just being honest here!! Sue me.
BUT, when a friend of ours (Sara) said she raises chickens and sells their eggs I knew we had to get on her list. We eat SO. MANY. EGGS. Seriously. It's ridiculous. We go through about 6-8 eggs per day. Yes. SO. MANY. Haha!! We love them though and so does Eli, so we have them for breakfast pretty much every morning. As soon as Sara's chickens started laying eggs she messaged us (this last weekend) and said she'd bring 2 dozen to church the next morning and I kinda jumped for joy. My older sister, Sara (as well....weird)....raised chickens for a short time in Colorado so we had tried pasture raised chicken eggs before and they were SO good. Here's a picture of me holding one of her chickens a few years ago:
However...do you know WHY it's important to know where your eggs came from and what those chickens ate? To quote one of our favorite podcasts, The Model Health Show
"You are what you eat ate."
By that we mean any animal product you're putting into you body, you're also ingesting whatever THEY ATE as well. So choose your animal sources wisely!
Sara's chickens are pastured...meaning they have full access to outdoor area that is fenced for their safety. This is much different from "free range" which simply means according to the USDA the chickens have "access" to the outdoors for at least 50% of their lives. ALSO, don't mistake "Cage free" for being all that great...if they came from a big factory farm those chickens were probably just cooped up in a barn with a thousand other chickens...not technically in a cage per se...but not roaming free and able to eat whatever they want. "Cage free" and "Free range" aren't necessarily better...even though we all get misled by the terms sometimes. I know I did!! That's why knowing where your eggs come from (if you have that ability) is really important. Click here for a great article explaining more about this. Sara's chickens are fed non GMO feed with no soy and it's basically organic...just not certified organic yet because she gets it from farmers that are in the process of organic certification. Her chickens also get fresh fruit and veggies all the time and they add kefir, whey etc...when available! They also forage and eat bugs and weeds in their pasture and they sometimes reserve feed until the end of the day to force them to forage more which means they get more variety in their diet! Genius! That's why the yolks are so yellow (see picture below). Here are a few pictures of her beautiful chickens and her toddler terrorizing a few of them...or maybe they're terrorizing her, I can't tell!
And now the big reveal...we wanted to do a side by side comparison of the organic Costco eggs and Sara's pasture eggs...check it out. Can you tell which is which?? We won't leave you hanging...the one on the left is the pasture raised egg and the one on the right is the organic, cage free egg from Costco.
Egg from a pastured chicken (left) versus a store bought organic egg (right).
SO...if you don't have the option to pay a little more for quality eggs...that's fine!! I just challenge you to think about the foods that you eat ALOT of on a daily basis and think about slowly starting to swap IN a higher quality version!! Your health will thank you in the long run!!
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! 
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.
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! 
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.
Download Recipe Card for Sweet Potato & Black Bean Hash with Eggs
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 Twin Cities definitely has a lot of delicious, local restaurants. We'll be sharing a few of our favorites every week...so stay tuned!!  If you've followed us for a little bit you've seen us use some fun hashtags to connect some of our posts. I wish I could say that we did it for you guys but the truth is, doing #weirdvegwednesday or #weirdpushwednesday kept us accountable to go out and try some new veggies and it made us think of new ways to do push ups. If it helps you great. So often we can get stuck doing the same things over and over and our decisions become mindless. I think a lot of people that eat unhealthy foods don't do it necessarily because they enjoy those foods incredibly, but because it is a habit and it is easy. So with that we have a new hashtag and we hope it will help bring some creativity to your meals. #MakeANewMealMonday Why Monday??? Well because we like alliterations when it comes to our hashtags, that's it. For the next 52 weeks my goal is to come up with a new, fun, healthy recipe that we will try out and we will share with you. We would love it if you used the same hashtag to tag your posts. You don't have to type up full recipes unless you want to, but use the hashtag as motivation to try some new meal ideas. It will also be a great resource for everyone to use to go find inspiration to try some new things. We will post these recipes on our Facebook Page, The Cook & The Coach on Mondays so feel free to follow us over there. If you want to make sure you get all of these recipes delivered to your inbox just plug your email address into the section below and we will email you once a week with our recipe from that week along with any other blog posts we put out.  Who doesn't love some delicious buttery hashbrowns, right? They are a guilty pleasure of mine when I go out for breakfast. Since I started eating healthier one food that I've cut out of my diet has been white potatoes. For me, I look at white potatoes as a treat in the form of french fries or hashbrowns. We've substituted sweet potatoes for our starch of choice, which is a healthier version instead of your standard white potato. This recipe was just a combination of what we had around the house, but was based on a dish that I had at a restaurant that did a beet hash with white potatoes. On top of this dish I just included a couple of delicious poached eggs and an easy hollandaise sauce. If you have never made a poached egg, it is a lot easier than you might think! All you need to do is bring 4 inches of water to a low boil in a medium saucepan. Add 1 tbsp of vinegar to acidulate the water: this keeps the egg whites together so that it doesn't turn into egg drop soup. You will want to crack your egg in a small bowl to make sure your yolk stays together and that you can easily drop it into the water. If you are doing multiple eggs you will want to drop them into the water separately. Before you drop the eggs, the last thing you will want to do is swirl the water in your pot with a spoon, this will also help keep your eggs together. Once you drop them in the water, start the timer and cook for 3-4 minutes depending on the consistency of the yolk that you prefer. Making a hollaindaise sauce does require a little bit of technique, the key is to have all of your ingredients ready, because once you start thickening your yolks, things will move fast. I just used this recipe and added 1 tbsp of stone ground mustard the same time that this recipe calls for adding the salt and cayenne. Hollandaise Sauce Recipe
 This dish is one of my all time favorites. Whenever we go out for breakfast or brunch, I always search the menu for biscuits and gravy. I always look for it but I don't always order, I'm super picky when it comes to my biscuits and gravy, probably because I do enjoy making them myself. I'm one that says if I can make it better at home why should I order it out in a restaurant. Another reason I don't order or eat this dish a lot is that your traditional dish isn't exactly the healthiest thing out there. Biscuits loaded with butter, white flour and probably sugar and sausage gravy that is loaded with more butter and flour. Nothing against butter, but when combined with flour, doesn't make for the healthiest combo. I've traditionally made my own version of this dish the same unhealthy way. So with this version I decided to make some substitutions and take this traditional dish and make it a little bit healthier. A little bit of an aside, but my parents stopped by the morning I was making this dish. My dad's first comment when I told him what I was making, "Oh, shit on a shingle." The story behind that is when he was in the army, this was a normal dish that they were served. By the nickname though, they must not have been a quality biscuit or gravy. I guarantee that this recipe will not taste or look like shit on a shingle. Since I'm not a baker and for sure not a Paleo baker I do need to give credit for this biscuit recipe to Jules at www.paleocomfortfoods.com. After quickly browsing his site, I for sure will be going back for other recipes. 
Lastly, I don't think a biscuit and gravy dish is complete without a couple of eggs that are fried over easy. Nothing better than a runny yolk that gets soaked up by your biscuit. This will definitely be our new biscuit and gravy recipe. These biscuits were so light and fluffy too, I can see us using this for any and all biscuit needs. So even if you don't like the idea of "shit on a shingle" you can least have a new healthier biscuit recipe. Hope you enjoy!   #weirdvegwednesday this week we decided to both honor our weird vegetable choice and the fact that yesterday was National Pancake Day. Why wouldn’t we use a vegetable to make pancakes??? So if you don’t like squash don’t go near this one but if you love it, you have to try it. Kabocha squash has a very similar flavor to butternut squash but with fewer calories and similar health benefits. YES PLEASE!!! I needed to go to a smaller local grocery store in order to find one, your big chain stores probably aren’t going to carry this variety, even Whole Foods. The sauce will take 15-20 minutes to make so plan accordingly when you are timing out your pancakes. 
  Mmmmm…muffins. Vegan Banana Nut Muffins to be exact…although I don’t ever put nuts in them so they’re usually just banana muffins to me. These are SO easy and pretty much the only muffins I make. Probably because I’m lazy and sometimes hesitate to step outside of my baking comfort zone. My sis over at www.happyfoody.com introduced me a long time ago. Delightful Banana Nut Muffins Cookbook: The Garden of Vegan By Sarah Kramer and Tanya Barnard
 Who doesn’t LOVE pancakes? I used to eat so many of these as a kid. I still love them but I really don’t love the bloated, full feeling you get from all the sugar and carbs….you know what I’m talking about. There are healthy alternatives out there and it’s been pretty fun to find them and try them out. Don’t be afraid to step outside of your box and try something new! This is another one that I found on Instagram via @spoonfuloffit…and it’s spectacular. Go check out her website for some great recipes, workout routines and fitness inspiration: http://www.spoonfuloffit.com. AND just because I like to share what I love go check out @amandamclark on IG (http://clarkpharm.blogspot.com/). She has perfected these pancakes and done so many variations you won’t know what to do with yourself Here’s the coconut flour that I bought off of Amazon a few months ago. It’s low in carbs, high in fiber and low in calories! 
 This pancake recipe has been a staple in my diet the last few months. I found it on @briana__sky’s Instagram page (which btw is AWESOME). She has so many great recipes and she just came out with an ebook with 40 recipes and a shopping list! Go check her out on http://www.shineorset.com. And without further ado…here’s a lovely picture AND the recipe!!
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