The Secret to my Famous Avocado Toast!

This is my all time favorite meal, whether it be breakfast, lunch or dinner. I'll happily make breakfast for dinner too, which we do frequently in our household. Avocado toast is nothing new, nor is it complicated, but there are some small tweaks that I do to mine to make it exceptionally good. 

The most important part is the egg on top. The way you cook the egg is what makes the toast! My favorite way is the crispy fried egg, or soft boiled, neither of which are shown here unfortunately. The crispy fried egg gives it a little extra crunch that is oh so satisfying.

To do so, heat oil (I use coconut oil or olive oil) in a pan over medium heat until almost smoking. Crack the egg in the pan and turn the heat down to low immediately. The egg will sizzle and cook pretty quickly because of how hot the pan was when you first dropped the egg in. Cook until the yolk is cooked to your liking - do not flip. 

For the soft boiled egg, bring a small pot of water to a boil (the water level should be just enough to cover the egg or eggs). Drop the whole egg in (inside shell - do not crack open) while the water is boiling, and cook for exactly 7 minutes on high. Remove the egg promptly, and rinse with cold water. Peel and cut in half or in pieces and put on top of avocado toast!

The toast and avocado mash is the easiest part! I always go for gluten free bread, because Nick can't have gluten, and it usually tastes just as good if you buy the right kind. A couple of my favorite brands are this and this. I toast the bread in a toaster or in the oven for extra crispiness, and then slather it with coconut oil. Next, you add the avocado and mash it with a fork (or you can mash it before you add it to the toast, depending on how soft your avocado is). Top with whichever egg you chose to cook!

As for additives, I love sprinkling some hemp seeds on top, as you can see from the photos. Gives the toast a little extra superfood kick as well as extra protein. I always season with Himalayan salt and pepper too. 

So that's it! That's how I make my favorite meal. The coconut oil on the bread, hemp seeds, Himalayan salt, and way you cook the egg is what takes the toast up a notch. Let me know how yours turned out - Tag me on Instagram or comment on this post!

The BEST Paleo Pancakes Yet

Happy Memorial Day!! I hope you all are having a wonderful long weekend filled with friends, family, and good food. Speaking of good food... here's another yummy one for breakfast (or lunch/dinner, since I tend to eat pancakes at all times of the day!).

If you can't tell already, this is like my 3rd pancake post. I have a small obsession with pancakes, and I'm always trying to make them better, healthier, yummier, etc. Although this recipe isn't necessarily healthier than previous ones I've posted, it's for sure yummier. These pancakes have a bit of crispiness to them around the edges that I LOVE - maybe because I cooked them in a hotter pan, or maybe because of the ingredients - I don't know! But these were so DARN yummy, I cannot wait to make them again. 

I didn't experiment much with this recipe, but I'm sure you could throw flax seeds, blueberries, bananas - whatever you want in them for additions really. I almost always add some ground flax seed and berries, but I didn't have it on hand this time around. I always recommend having coconut flour and almond flour on hand, since those are the two I usually use to bake with, but this recipe calls for a new one: arrowroot flour. Actually, it's more of a starch, and doesn't have much nutritional value (although it does contain some protein!) but it sure makes these pancakes delish!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup almond milk
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar (optional, but helps for rising)
• 5 large eggs
• 1/4 cup packed almond flour (make sure you pack it into the cup)
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1/2 cup arrowroot flour
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• optional additions: flax seed, blueberries, raspberries

Directions:

1. Heat a pan over low/medium heat, and add coconut oil or butter to grease the pan.
2. Pour batter in pan to create medium sized pancakes (I fit about 4 pancakes on the pan each time).
3. Cook each side of the pancake until it is lightly brown/crispy on each side. 
4. Serve with pure maple syrup or a berry topping for a lower sugar option!

Gluten Free Blueberry Breakfast Oatmeal Bake

Now I'm not usually a huge fan of sweet breakfasts - I like to start my day with smoothie, and/or eggs and avocado. I'm a savory over sweet kind of girl early in the morning. But when I saw an oatmeal type breakfast bake online, I got some inspiration to create my own. I also just bought some Monk Fruit sweetener that I've been dying to use, so thought, why not test it out in a new recipe?! 

Monk fruit is a newer sweetener that is becoming popular quite quickly. This is due to the fact that it's natural, has high antioxidant levels, is sweeter tasting than regular sugar, and yet it has no calories and no effect on blood sugar. Sounds pretty darn awesome, right? It also substitutes 1:1 with regular sugars in any recipe, so just use it in place of sugar. This is the first recipe I used it in, but I've got all kinds of ideas I plan to use it for in the future.

So I also take every opportunity I can to add extra protein to a recipe, especially breakfast. I try to get about 30 grams of protein in at every meal (about an average of 100 grams per day). Yes it sounds like a lot, but I'm super active and having protein in your diet is extremely important, but we'll save that discussion for another post. I added some collagen peptides to this recipe since they're tasteless and a great source of protein, plus they strengthen your hair, skin and nails. For more on that, visit my post here.

Check out the recipe below - hope you guys love it!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1/4 cup almond meal (or flour)
• 3 scoops collagen peptides
• 2 tbsp ghee (or coconut oil)j
• 1/4 cup monk fruit sweetener (or coconut sugar)
• 2 cups cashew milk (or pretty much any kind of nut milk)
• 1/4 cup greek yogurt
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 2 cups frozen blueberries (or any type of berry)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a large baking dish with ghee or coconut oil.
2. In one bowl, combine all the dry ingredients: oats, almond meal, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, salt, monk fruit, and collagen peptides.
3. Melt the ghee or coconut oil in a separate bowl. Once it's melted, add the milk to the ghee while whisking the mixture.
4. Add greek yogurt, eggs, and vanilla to the ghee/milk, and whisk until well combined.
5. Combine the wet and dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.
6. Fold the blueberries into the mixture and stir gently.
7. Pour into the greased baking pan and throw in the oven at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes (top of the oatmeal should look brown/crispy when it's done).
8. Serve warm with a little bit of syrup poured over it or just eat it alone!