Banana Berry Smoothie

Feb 23, 2012 by

I haven’t posted a smoothie to The Lovely Pantry in a while. My first (and only) smoothie post thus far was the Banana Nutmeg Smoothie. I think its safe to say that every smoothie that I make will have a banana in it. Everything else is purely optional. For  the past week, I’ve been eating soft foods and so smoothies almost became mandatory – which is great. I’ve been whipping up smoothies for me and the kids, and even allowing them to choose some of the ingredients. Great!

 

Banana Berry Smoothie

 

I generally keep smoothies pretty simple. Occasionally, I’ll add vegetables or a flavoured protein powder (if I’m making just for me).

 

4.7 from 3 reviews
Banana Berry Smoothie
 
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A quick fix smoothie
Author:
Recipe type: Smoothie
Serves: 2
Ingredients
  • 1 Cup Almond Milk
  • 1 Cup Baby Spinach
  • 1 Banana
  • ½ Cup Frozen Berries (of more if you like)
Instructions
  1. Place all ingredients in a blender
  2. Strain into serving cups (optional)

 

Banana, Berries, Spinach, Almond Milk

 

Frozen berries are always in my freezer specifically for smoothies. That way I have them on hand throughout the year and also I don’t have to add ice. I’ll use frozen bananas too if I don’t have fresh on hand. Whatever works, right?

 

 

My cousin told me that she adds spinach to her smoothies. I’ve been putting it in my smoothies ever since. You don’t even know it’s there. But I let my son put it in the blender so that he knows there is goodness his smoothie.

 

Spinach - the ingredient you don't realize is even there...

 

 

 

Into the blender they go

 

And here you have a healthy and refreshing breakfast drink!

 

Banana Berry Smoothie

 

Have a wonderful weekend everyone! Take good care of yourselves 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Special Banana Pancakes

Feb 10, 2012 by

My children enjoy pancakes immensely. When I have time, I like to make what we call “special pancakes”. These are the pancakes that… don’t come from the freezer. Mommy gets the ingredients together, and lovingly prepares a variety of pancakes to everyone’s delight. Very special indeed! I experiment with pancake recipes to ensure that we are experiencing different tastes, and sometimes different textures too. I came across a recipe that made me so eager to try – Banana Bread Pancakes. Oh my goodness. So light and fluffy and banana filled. I did make a small change… I added Quinoa Flour. I went half and half with it. Good choice.

The itsy bitsy spider… climbed up the water spout…

Of all the bugs, they liked the spider. And so they sang while they waited for their pancakes.

 

The Itsy Bitsy Spider

 

I can’t tell you how this little pancake griddle brought such delight to my children. I told them we were having “bug pancakes”. Somehow, they found that really, REALLY funny. The sound of your children’s laughter truly is a beautiful thing. Now every time I see this griddle, I’ll remember their smiles, and how much we enjoyed these mini-pancakes.

 

Pancake Griddle

 

This recipe is adapted from The Slow Roasted Italian.

 

5.0 from 1 reviews
Special Banana Pancakes
 
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A tasty breakfast for the family to enjoy
Author:
Recipe type: Breakfast, Brunch
Serves: 8
Ingredients
  • 1 Cup unbleached, all-purpose flour
  • 1 Cup Quinoa Flour
  • 2½ tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • 4 tbsp sugar
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1½ cups buttermilk (1%)
  • 2 large eggs
  • 6 tbsp butter, melted
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 ripe bananas
  • Cooking spray
Instructions
  1. In a small bowl, add flours, baking soda, baking powder, sugar and salt. Whisk to combine
  2. In a medium bowl, add buttermilk, eggs, melted butter and vanilla
  3. Gently combine dry ingredients into the wet
  4. Crush the banana with a fork, and fold into the batter
  5. In a hot griddle, spray with cooking spray
  6. Add ¼ cup of batter onto the griddle or pan
  7. Cook until bubbles appear on the sides, about 1 minute or so untill golden brown
  8. Flip and cook for another minute
  9. Serve with maple syrup and/or fruits
Notes
I used a special pancake griddle that yielded mini-pancakes. I ended up with over 40 pancakes. If you are using a regular griddle, you will have less.

 

 

 

These pancakes were so delicious. I honestly did not need any syrup. The kids started to eat them without any syrup but half way through, they asked for it. I guess pancakes are supposed to have syrup on them. I look forward to making these again. Using the griddle did take more time, since the pancakes are smaller. Maybe next time I’ll use a regular griddle. Bigger pancakes 🙂

 

Banana Pancakes

 

Have a great weekend everyone! Make special pancakes! ~ Lyn

 

 

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Whole Wheat French Toast

Feb 1, 2012 by

 

Hello friends! Can you believe it’s already February? Wow, time certainly flies. I’m looking forward to creating more recipes and working on my photography. How am I doing so far? I’m so excited for what this year has in store! My love for photography is never-ending! And apparently, its keeping a lot of folks quite hungry too 🙂

I picked up a loaf of whole-wheat homestyle bread at the supermarket and I couldn’t wait to dig into it. The thing is, when you buy a loaf of bread like this, you have to eat it all within a day or so of cutting it otherwise it will get hard. After that, the only thing it will be good for is breadcrumbs. And that’s not a bad thing ~ I’d just prefer to eat it :-). I thought it would be a good idea to make French Toast using lovely thick slices of fresh bread. Its a family favourite and its a change from the usual suspects around breakfast time. I used French Bread before to make French Toast. Do you remember that post? Here it is: Stuffed French Toast. That was some tasty toast! But time is always a factor in getting breakfast ready. So the traditional way was good for me this time around. The kids loved it and so did I!

 

Whole Wheat French Toast
 
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An easy breakfast for the family to enjoy
Author:
Recipe type: Breakfast
Serves: 5
Ingredients
  • 1 Loaf Whole Wheat Bread
  • 2 Eggs
  • ½ Tsp Cinnamon
  • ½ Cup Milk
  • Butter
Instructions
  1. Slice loaf into thick slices, about an inch thick
  2. In a rimmed dish, whisk eggs, cinnamon and milk until well combined and a smooth consistency is achieved
  3. Dip each slice of bread into the egg mixture ensuring that both sides absorb some liquid. Be sure not to over soak the slices
  4. In a skillet, melt about 2 tbsp butter (to start as you'll need more as you go along)
  5. Place each slice of bread in the skillet, browning on each side for about 3-4 minutes until golden brown
  6. Serve with fruit and maple syrup
Notes
Makes about 8 slices of french toast.

 

Happy Wednesday!! ~ Lyn

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Apple Crisp

Jan 9, 2012 by

For those that don’t know me, I have a deep love for my family. I suppose it only gets magnified knowing that I’m so far away from them. But it warms my heart whenever we do get a chance to talk and catch up with each other. I’m always so happy to help with any recipes or techniques should they inquire. Recently, my cousin called me with a question that was so simple, but somehow I didn’t have an answer for her. She had an apple and wanted to know if I had any recipes for a single apple. I looked for recipes for a while just to satisfy that desire to have a recipe for a single apple 🙂 Although I did not find exactly what I was looking for, I played around with the basic concept of apple crisp and came up with my own version. I did it quite a few times until my husband and I agreed that we had arrived at something special. So thanks to Kim, I’m able to share this recipe today.

I wanted to keep the ingredients as simple as possible and good for you too.

 

Royal Gala Apple

 

 

Whole Grain Oats

 

Apple Crisp Ingredients

 

5.0 from 2 reviews
Apple Crisp
 
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A simple recipe for Apple Crisp
Author:
Recipe type: Dessert
Serves: 1
Ingredients
  • Apple Filling:
  • 1 Apple - Royal Gala (or a firm apple like Granny Smith)
  • 1 Tbsp Agave Nectar
  • 1 Tsp Lemon Juice
  • 1 Tsp Flour
  • Butter for greasing oven-proof bowl
  • Oats Topping:
  • 2 Tbsp Butter, softened
  • 1 Tbsp Flour
  • 1 Tbsp Brown Sugar
  • 1 Tsp Cinnamon Powder
  • 4 Tbsp Whole Oats
Instructions
  1. Peel the apple and cut into small chunks.
  2. Use butter and grease a small oven proof bowl (I used a16oz bowl, 5inches in diameter)
  3. In a separate bowl, mix apple, agave nectar, lemon juice and flour so that apple is fully coated
  4. Empty coated apple into prepared oven proof bowl
  5. In a small bowl, add softened butter, flour, sugar, cinnamon and oats
  6. Combine using a fork and then crumble with your fingers until all the ingredients are combined
  7. Spread oats mixture on top of the apple in the prepared bowl
  8. Bake in a 375F oven until nicely browned on top, about 25 minutes
  9. Remove from oven and allow to rest for about 10 minutes
  10. Enjoy by itself or with traditional vanilla ice-cream

 

Apple Filling with agave nectar, lemon juice and flour

 

For some reason, Brown Sugar and Cinnamon look so beautiful together…

 

Brown Sugar and Cinnamon

 

Ingredients for the Topping

 

Ready for the oven

 

The result is a very clean and lean Apple Crisp that I’ve enjoyed many times. Thanks, Kim!

 

Kim's Apple Crisp

 

Apple Crisp

 

 

Have a great week everyone!

~Lyn

 

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Banana Nutmeg Smoothie

Oct 17, 2011 by

After chit-chatting with my friends on Facebook, I realized that Smoothies are quite popular with healthy-minded individuals! I guess I’m a bit late on the smoothie band wagon, but I’m slowly getting into it. I mean, who can resist a fruity drink that’s natural and GREAT for you? It’s always a bonus when the kids LOVE it too. I’m down for Smoothies! Are you?

  • What are your best smoothies?
  • How often do you have them?
  • What do you use to make them? (Blender, Immersion blender, Single Serving Blender etc)

 

Smoothies are so versatile. Its a meal on the go, or a quick nutritious snack. When it comes to ingredients, my Facebook friends have listed both fruits and veggies. Bananas seem to be the must have ingredient, followed by mango and pineapple. Peanut Butter adds a smooth shot of protein and frozen spinach adds some extra goodness to the mix. I look forward to experimenting more with Smoothies.

 

Here’s a recipe for a smoothie that my children and I enjoyed ~ Banana Nutmeg Smoothie

 

Ingredients:

2 Bananas (If you use frozen Bananas, you don’t need ice)

1/2 Cup Milk (Substitute with Soy or Almond if desired)

1 Cup Low Fat Vanilla Yogurt

1/4 Tsp Nutmeg

1 Cup Ice

 

Directions:

Add ingredients to a blender and mix until the ice is crushed and the liquid becomes frothy. Pour into individual glasses (or cups for the little ones).

 

If using as an adult meal replacement, adding a flavoured protein powder is great too.

Happy blending!

 

Lyn

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