The "I Miss Cali Guac" Recipe

I am a total California girl - you can probably hear the accent! I love the beach, warm weather and above all - avocados! In California I would put avocados on everything!

In that respect, living in Cayman has been tough (oxymoron!?!?). I love living here, but the avocados are certainly not plentiful and they are expensive! But when I see a decent deal, or I'm really craving it, I buy as many good looking avocados as I can.

One of my favorite things to do with avocados is make guacamole! Below is a simple recipe for my favorite guac.

Ingredients:

·       3 Ripe Avocados           

·       ½ lime – juiced

·       1 clove garlic minced

·       ½ teaspoon salt

·       ½ teaspoon pepper

·       ½ teaspoon cayenne

·       ½ jalapeno pepper (if you like your guac with some heat!) – seeded and miced

·       2 Roma tomatoes – diced

·       ½ medium onion (I prefer purple, but any onion will work)

1.            Mash avocado in a large bowl. Add lime juice, garlic, spices and jalapeno. Fold in tomatoes and onion. Mix well.

2.            Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving so all the flavors can come together.

3.            Serve with homemade sweet potato chips (recipe to come), Terra sweet potato chips (pictured and WLC approved), plantain chips (recipe to come), veggies, or just eat it with a spoon – its that good! Enjoy!

**If you are a fan of bacon (who isn't) - add a couple strips of chopped bacon to the guac...you won't be sorry!

THE Banana Pancake Recipe

This is one of my FAVORITE recipes! If you go to CrossFit 7 Mile - you've heard me rave about these! I found a version of it when I was doing the Whole Life Challenge a couple months back and doctored it up a bit to get it exactly how I like it. It is a great substitute for traditional, high fat, high sugar pancakes.

The following recipe is easy, clean, gluten free, dairy free and paleo!

Ingredients:
Bananas (ripe)
Eggs
Spinach
Nut Butter
Coconut Oil (to cook with)

Prep:

• Mash up 1 banana and put it directly into the blender
• Crack 1 egg into the blender
• 1 cup of raw spinach
• 1 teaspoon of your favorite nut butter (I use hazlenut butter; however, you can use almond butter or whatever butter you prefer...but hazlenut will be the best...I have tested this!)
• Combine all ingredients in the blender until the mixture is a pancake batter-like consistency

Directions:

• Heat pan on a low-medium heat - I use around 4 - 4.5, but this will depend on your stove 
• Add 1 tablespoon of coconut oil
• When pan is hot with coconut oil, pour batter directly into pan and make 3 small pancakes in the pan approximately 3 inches in diameter. You can experiment with how large you want to make the pancakes, but I suggest starting small so they are easier to flip.
• Cook for approximately 4 minutes - unlike regular pancakes you won't see the edges browning as much, so be sure to set a timer
• Carefully flip the pancakes and cook on the second side for approximately 2 minutes
• Take pancakes off pan and onto a plate

And you are done!

I usually just add grass fed butter on top and eat! Feel free to mix it up and add fresh berries, bananas or any fruit! No need for syrup on these - they are already sweet enough!

A couple tips:

• It may take a couple times to get the correct temperature and time on your specific stove, just be sure to cook on a low heat so the egg is fully cooked.
• I usually make a large batch of these at a time 5 - 6 bananas and keep the leftovers in the fridge and use for the next few days.
• If you use more than one banana all the other measurements match the number of bananas you use: example: 5 bananas, 5 eggs, 5 cups spinach, 5 teaspoons nut butter.
• You will NOT taste the spinach - trust me I have tried this with and without spinach. It is just an easy way to add some veggies into the meal! If your kids ask why they are green, just explain they are special St. Patty's Day pancakes (all year round)! They won't care anyways once they try them!
• You can also add cacao powder or dark chocolate chips if you are in chocolatey mood