Saturday, January 28, 2017

A New Breakfast & Coffee

This morning we tried some new recipes for breakfast.

 
We made a paleo/ gluten-free pancake, which has a bizarre ingredient list, but actually works - trust me on this.

Paleo Gluten-Free Pancake 

- 1 banana, mashed
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1 T ground flax seed
- 2 pinches cinnamon (or pumpkin pie spice, or whatever)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1-2 tsp coconut oil, or cooking spray, or butter

Mix together the mashed banana and beaten eggs.  Add the flax, vanilla and cinnamon.  Stir.  Spray or grease up a small frying pan, and put it on medium-low heat.  Once hot, pour in the banana/ egg mixture, and let set in the pan for 10 minutes.  Don't touch it during this time.  Once firmed up, carefully flip it and cook about one minute on the other side.  It turns out very pancake-like.


We also made sweet potato shredded hash browns using this recipe.


They got pretty dark on the outside, but didn't taste burnt at all.  They're really delicious.  We dipped them in a bit of sriracha.  We topped the pancake with Greek yogurt, a sprinkle of coconut sugar, and cacao nibs.


To drink we tried some of the exclusive coffee blend that our friends' Bonnie and Warren had made for their new coffee shop, Mocha Grande Brew, which is located in Parksville, British Columbia.


I worked with Bonnie for many years, and she always talked about opening a coffee shop.  She had the wheels turning for a while, and has now made her vision a reality.  Her and Warren completely overhauled an old coffee shop in Parksville, re-branded, re-decorated it, and re-designed it to bring a new flavour to Parksville.  They are across the street from the water, and have a beautiful patio - a perfect place to grab a brew and relax.  They serve up a variety of hot and cold drinks, soups, sandwiches, and many different types of baking/pastries.  They also sell packages of their exclusive coffee blends, Ethiopian, and Valley Girl.


The coffee is fair trade and organic, which made us really happy to see.  It comes in both 1/2 lb and 1 lb bags to take away and brew at home.  We haven't actually got to visit the coffee shop yet, as it's a couple provinces away, so we're happy to be able to have a taste of it at home. 

I'll be honest, we might have squeezed the bag, with our noses up near the vent about a 100 times - smells so good.  Once we ground the beans, the aroma was even more enticing.

We ground the Valley Girl beans fresh this morning, and brewed a big pot to enjoy with our breakfast.


It was excellent!  We drank the whole pot up in no time, and are already looking forward to another pot tomorrow.  It was smooth, and not overly bitter like some coffees are.

If you're ever in the Parksville area, stop by Mocha Grande Brew and say hello to Everyday Foodie pals, Bonnie and Warren.

How's your weekend going so far?  
What did you have for breakfast today?

1 comment:

Lisa's Yarns said...

I have made those banana pancakes before - they are really good and kind of remind me of crepes! I need to make them again sometime! Crazy that that list of ingredients yields something yummy as I was definitely skeptical, too.

That coffee sounds awesome. How cool that your friends were able to pull off a lifelong dream. There's nothing like good coffee. And I am all about ethically raised, organic coffee.

My weekend was lovely. We stayed in Friday, I had a fun day with girlfriends on Saturday and then we stayed in again on Sunday. Phil made breakfast and I made a yummy thai stew in the crockpot. It was really nice to be home together for most of the day. I did sneak away for a bit in the afternoon to have coffee with a good friend but besides that we were together all day. I love days like that!