I arrived home from San Francisco last week to a pleasant surprise—the most gorgeous, colorful cookbook from Caitlin and Chef Nabil of Grassfed Girl and Diane of Balanced Bites—Mediterranean Paleo Cooking. Their story and journey of healthy and cooking is captivating! I follow both of them on Instagram and have been drooling over their cookbook writing process!  It is so much fun to watch people who are passionate about their work and watch the creative process of recipe testing, photographing and eventually a published book! Seriously it was amazing to watch this cookbook story unfold—so colorful and full of life.  Well, needless to say the cookbook was passed around my house so much that I had to wait two days to actually get a glimpse of it!

As someone who loves to travel, particularly to Europe, I was beyond excited for this book! It really captures the joy of family, heritage and the European culture of cooking.  I love the section of the book that talks about the importance of a slower paced life and connecting over food around the family table—something that is so important to a healthy lifestyle!

Mediterranean Paleo Cooking has recipes for everything you could possibly imagine—from breakfast cakes to caramel custards to kabobs and Paleo pita breads!  I can’t wait to make the crab breakfast hash with hollandaise sauce and try making a tagine, which always seems so complicated but the directions in this book lay it out so simple! If you are looking at cooking with more creativity and even exploring different flavors but feel overwhelmed, this cookbook lays out the seasonings, flavorings and cooking process in such a simple to follow way!  One of my favorite aspects of the book is it lays out ways to modify the recipes according to the way you eat—low carb, autoimmune, nut free and even adding a sprinkle of parmesan cheese or feta if you can tolerate dairy.

The weather has been chilly in the mornings recently so I have enjoyed baking once again.  I am delighted to share these yummy banana pancakes that are nut and egg free designed for people following the autoimmune Paleo program and are great to cozy up to with a hot cup of coffee!  I served mine with a little coconut cream and pinch of cinnamon, because they were perfectly sweet for me!

Head over to my Instagram profile for a chance to win a copy of Mediterranean Paleo Cooking for yourself!

Autoimmune-friendly Banana Pancakes

Egg and nut free Paleo banana pancakes from Mediterranean Paleo Cooking.  A simple, autoimmune friendly baked breakfast treat.

Serves 3

A word from the authors: Though these baked pancakes can be enjoyed by anyone, we created them especially for those following the autoimmune Paleo protocol.  They combine the sweetness of banana with the familiar flair of cinnamon…They’re also especially filling.

Ingredients

• 3 medium bananas
• 1 tbsp honey
• 2 tbsp melted coconut oil
• 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1/3 cup coconut flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tbsp arrowroot flour
• 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• maple syrup or honey, for serving (optional)
• melted butter or ghee, for serving (optional)

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Place all the ingredients in a food processor and plus several times until smooth.
• Spoon a few tablespoons of batter onto the prepared baking sheet and spread into a pancake about 3 inches in diameter and 1/3 inch thick.  Repeat until all the batter is used.  For perfectly shaped pancakes, use a ring mold.
• Bake for 15 minutes, then flip the pancakes and bake for 10 more minutes.
• Let the pancakes cool on baking sheet for 10 minutes before serving.  Top with maple syrup, honey or melted butter.
• Serve and enjoy!