It's the weekend and you're wanting something that feels indulgent and sweet, but you also want it to be healthy.

These 5-Ingredient Sweet Potato pancakes are packed with protein and vitamins. The dash of cinnamon and drizzle of maple syrup satisfy the craving for something sweet and VOILA! the perfect weekend breakfast. 

The kids like these topped with berries over nuts, but I prefer the crunch! 

INGREDIENTS

• 2 C. cubed and peeled sweet potatoes
• 6 eggs
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 TBSP. coconut oil 
• 2 TBSP. maple syrup
• 1 C. chopped pecans and walnuts (optional)

DIRECTIONS

• Boil the sweet potatoes in a pot of water for 15 minutes or until tender.
• Drain potatoes and let cool
• Place cooled potatoes in a large bowl. Add eggs and cinnamon and blend with a mixer. 
• Heat 1/4 of coconut oil in a pan and add batter a few TBSP. at a time to form pancakes.
• Fry the pancakes until bubbling. Flip to the other side and finish cooking until golden brown.
• Top with maple syrup and nuts if desired. 

What's your favorite breakfast on a slow Saturday? Ours is pancakes, always! Leave yours in the comments below! 

Are you in a breakfast or tea time rut? We were. I was also in this place where for the past couple of years I was craving the Cheese Danish of my child hood.

Except one without all the gluten, dairy, preservatives and other things I didn't know was baked inside that fluffy, scrumptious, cheesy pastry.

Recreating one that would be just as cravable felt like a herculean task, and while it wasn't a "quick and easy" meal, the labor of love and sourced ingredients that went into these made them worth it.  

I made a big batch, just in case they came out good, and so glad I did! They freeze amazingly well, my kids LOVE them and we've been going back for them time and time again. 

The recipe is below and I do want to give one tip: If you are able to have dairy (and are just here because you're gluten free) I would highly recommend using REAL cream cheese to those that can tolerate it. While the dairy-free brand I used worked just fine, I feel like having that TRUE cream cheese flavor would have made these a 12/10! 

Bringing back a CLASSIC breakfast.

My Paleo Biscuits and Gravy was one of the first recipes that debuted on this blog almost TEN years ago (I'll spare you the link, my photography of it back then wasn't stellar, haha. If you look hard enough around here you can find it.) and I wanted to create a new and improved recipe now that I have  mastered flakier biscuits and a creamier gravy than I previously made. 

While not paleo, you could swap the gluten free 1 to 1 with a Cassava flour to keep it grain free. Or you could stick with my OG recipe suggestion of almond flour for a denser, heartier biscuit.  You do you, but I like the FLUFF. 

So much healthier than the restaurant variety, you can make extra gravy and freeze it to keep on hand for weekend brunches and breakfasts. I would suggest making your biscuits fresh, but you can freeze them as well. 

Biscuit Ingredients

• 1/3 C dairy-free butter
• 1/3 C vegan sour cream
• 1/2 TBSP organic sugar
• 1 1/2 C gluten-free one to one all purpose flour 
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda 
• 1  tsp cream of tartar
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1/3 cup club soda or sparkling water

Gravy Ingredients

• 1/2 lb gluten free sausage (we love organic AppleGate maple sausage or Jenny-O Sweet Italian)
• 2 TBSP gluten free all purpose flour
• 1 3/4 C. milk alternative
• 1/4 C dairy-free cream
• Sea salt and pepper to taste

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Directions For The Biscuits

• Preheat oven to 425° degrees.
• Melt 1/3 cup dairy-free butter, to soft but not liquid.
• Whisk vegan sour cream and sugar into melted butter until smooth.
• Add flour, baking soda, salt and cream of tartar and stir with a fork until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
• Add sparkling water and stir until mixture comes together and is sticky. 
• Lightly flour a clean surface and turn dough onto counter, turning to fully coat. Be careful not to mix the flour into the dough.
• Flatten with your hands into a circle about 3/4" thick.
• Fold in half to form a half circle, then in half again to form a triangular shape, and pat to 3/4" thickness again.
• Repeat the last step. This folding is what creates the flaky, layered effect.
• Cut into circles with biscuit cutter or large cup and arrange in a round cake pan so the biscuits are so close they are almost touching.
• Bake biscuits for 7-10 minutes. Remove biscuits just as edges begin to turn a golden brown and don't overbake!

Directions For The Gravy

• Brown sausage in a skillet. If your sausage has a casing, make sure to remove before browning. 
• Once browned, stir in gluten free flour and continue to cook over medium heat for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
• Pour in milk while stirring and continue to stir until thick.
• Season with salt and pepper to taste. 
• Serve over fresh biscuits, cut in half. Enjoy! 

​Serve these up with a fresh fruit salad and piping hot coffee or tea for a delectable morning indulgence. This recipe remind me of a rainy day or breakfast at a small-town café. Do Biscuits and Gravy bring to mind any special memories for you?

Since learning so much about the food we consume and things we put into our bodies I often look back at periods of my life. How I did things, what I consumed, what was thought about and what was simply routine. 

I think of my childhood and the grilled chicken and veggie dinners mixed with the trips for fast food and boxed breakfast pastries, and honestly, I shudder a bit. Wondering how it all played into altering genes and my autoimmune issues today. However, my parents were amazing parents to my sister and I and did the best they could with the knowledge they had. And so I have to move forward, do what I can to heal my body now, and do the best I can as a parent with the knowledge I have. 

I think back to living on my own in Los Angeles in my early twenties and making healthier, better changes for life in the entertainment industry and all of the physical work I was putting my body through. The gym, running and hip hop dancing. I cleaned up my eating in those years but it still wasn't anything near what it is now, because again, I didn't yet have the knowledge. 

And then the period after I was diagnosed with several food intolerances, genetic defects and an autoimmune disorder is where I took a too strict approach and lost too much weight and adopted a mindset that launched an unhealthy and unwarranted fear of food. 

Thus bringing us to today - a happy place. Where I am knowledgeable about WHAT goes into my body while having a passion to bring back comfort foods, happy foods if you will, into our life. Deprivation isn't a way to live, but neither is giving into desires for food that can cause us harm, so I can say, in the past few years, I have found my niche. My happy place as a chef, a food blogger and a mama in the kitchen. 

Comfort foods that bring connection, warmth and nutrition while being allergen-friendly and more wholesome than a packaged food item. 

Which is why today I present homemade strawberry pop tarts for you and your family to enjoy. Yum! 

Gluten free, dairy free, soy free, corn free and nut free - these pleasant pastries pack delicious strawberry preserves, sweetened naturally and thickened with potato starch versus corn. 

I used gluten-free pie shells and a homemade corn-free powdered sugar glaze to bring back memories of school mornings as a child. Greyson LOVED these and gobbled one up before one of our pre-k home school mornings and I will be making them again as a treat this fall. I am excited to try different flavors as well - such as a warm coconut sugar pop tart in lieu of the famous brown sugar pop tarts - as well as a blueberry and a double chocolate. 

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