Pancakes for Seed Cycling (Follicular Phase)

Hi!

If you don't know about seed cycling yet, check out this post.

If you do know about it, you may be looking for recipes that aren't energy balls or cookies. Therefore: pancakes!

*These pancakes are adapted from an Elana's Pantry recipe.*

Ingredients – Makes 4-6 pancakes

• 1 Tb ground flaxseeds
• 2 Tb water

Mix these together and set aside to let thicken.

• 3/4 cup almond flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 Tb tapioca starch or arrowroot powder
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 Tb maple syrup

Mix all the ingredients together, including the flax egg once it has thickened. The batter will be very thick because of the flaxseeds. If you prefer your pancakes sweeter, add more maple syrup. (These pancakes aren't super sweet.)

Heat about 1 Tb neutral-flavored oil (I use refined coconut oil) in a nonstick skillet. Once it's hot, drop in spoonfuls of batter. Don't try to make these pancakes big!! They will be much easier to flip if they're small. When the bottoms are cooked, flip them over and cook on the other side. Because of the flaxseed, they may be a little wet in the middle, but if they stay flat and don't fall apart when you flip them, this should be fine. If you think they're going to fall apart, use two spatulas to flip! This worked for me.

Spread each pancake with almond butter; lay them on a plate and sprinkle over cinnamon, 1 Tb pumpkin seeds, and a lot of cooked blueberries.

Enjoy!
–KB

Seed Cycling, Part 3: Recipes and Ideas for the Luteal Phase

Hello there! And welcome!

If you're not sure what a luteal phase is, check out Part 1 of this series on seed cycling. I'll meet you back here with some delicious ideas! If you've already read Parts 1 and 2, keep reading!

1. Oatmeal

If you've read Part II, you'll know that I really love oatmeal. There are all kinds of ways to do this. If you're cooking your oatmeal on the stove, have half a banana (or half an apple) with a tablespoon of SunButter while you wait. When the porridge is done, top it with tahini (sesame seed butter!) and dates or tahini and frozen berries. Or you could add sunflower seeds to your oatmeal and skip the 1/2 banana. If you come up with extra toppings that go well with tahini, please let me know in the comments! It took me a while to get into a rhythm for this phase.

2. Toast

Have you had chocolate SunButter toast?? It's sooooo goooood! Stir together 1 Tb SunButter with a lot of cocoa powder. I like mine so dark it's almost savory, but if you prefer yours sweeter, go ahead and add some honey or maple syrup! And spread it on toast. If you have sesame seeds, you can sprinkle them on top and have all your seeds in one meal. I, unfortunately, did not have sesame seeds, but I'm sure the combo would be delicious. (Once I added banana coins to the toast and it was 👌✨.)

3. Fajita-ish Bowl

Quinoa, roasted sweet potato chunks, sautéed peppers and onions, and tahini lime sauce makes a really good lunch. Add sunflower seeds on top if you don't mind inconsistent vibes. At least you'll have all your seeds in one meal!

4. Granola

I love homemade granola. It's so easy I don't even measure (except for the seeds, of course).

Preheat your oven to 300ºF. Put some oats in a bowl. Eyeball it–whatever looks like an amount you'll eat. You may have to add a bit more later. Add 1 Tablespoon sunflower seeds. Heat 1 Tablespoon tahini, a very little bit of coconut oil (about a quarter to a half a teaspoon), and some maple syrup (this depends on your sweet tooth). Stir together until the coconut oil is melted and the mixture is thoroughly combined. Pour over the oats and sunflower seeds and stir together. Turn out the mixture onto a prepared baking sheet (greased or parchment paper-lined or Silpat-ed). Bake the granola for 30 minutes and let it cool for about 10 minutes before eating (or 5 if you're really hungry).

Don't skip the last step! If you don't let it cool, it won't be crunchy. It will be soft and sad. Let it cool.

If you're as addicted to chocolate as I am, add cocoa powder to the oats and sunflower seeds before you pour in the wet ingredients. You can also add other extras, such as cinnamon or walnuts (although I didn't love the combination of walnuts and tahini when I tried it). I like to eat my granola with a bit of yogurt.

5. Another Bowl

Bowls are life. Quinoa, sweet potato, something green (lettuce! Brussels sprouts! Broccoli! Kale! Your choice), sunflower seeds or sprouted sunflower seeds (I actually did sprout my own; directions below), and tahini sauce. Avocado if you have it and feel like putting it in. I'm sure you can come up with some delightful bowl combinations of your own that use both sesame and sunflower seeds!

Sprouted Sunflower Seeds:
1. Soak some sunflower seeds overnight in a jar with plenty of water.
2. Drain and rinse them.
3. Over the mouth of the jar, place a piece of breathable fabric (such as cotton) and secure with a rubber band. Put the jar into a bowl and prop it up slanting downwards with its mouth facing the bottom of the bowl so any excess water can drain through the fabric. Place it in a dark spot, such as a coat closet.
4. Every 8-12 hours, rinse the sunflower seeds. Replace the jar in the same position in its dark spot every time. You should see sprouts in within a day or two. Transfer them to the fridge when you like the taste. More ideas on how to use them down below!

6. Shawarma Roasted Carrot Sandwich

This was fire. I made a single serving of hummus with 1 Tb tahini, spread that on some bread, and added sunflower sprouts and carrots roasted with olive oil and a shawarma spice blend.

7. Breakfast Bowl

I know, I know, another bowl, but this one is different! Slightly! For this one I heated some leftover quinoa, fried an egg in ghee with salt and pepper, and added avocado, sunflower seeds and sprouts (there wasn't quite a tablespoon of the sprouts left), and CHIMICHURRI. The chimichurri was what really made it so amazing. You may notice that there were no sesame seeds in any form included in this bowl. I had my sesame seeds later in sesame veggie noodles which were very yummy. My mom made them, so I don't have the recipe, but recipes for this would be easy to find!

8. Chocolate SunButter Cups

Admittedly, this does only use one of the types of seeds, but they're so good I couldn't not put them on the list. Find the recipe here.

9. When in Doubt, Apple

One morning my creative juices were nearly dry, so I half half an apple with a tablespoon of SunButter and the other half with a tablespoon of tahini. 🤷 It worked.


I hope you enjoyed/drew inspiration from this! If you have inspiration of your own, please tell me in the comments! I'd love to learn new ways to use these seeds in my diet.

Best,
KB

Seed Cycling, Part 2: Recipes and Ideas for the Follicular Phase

Hi!! Welcome!

If you're here, you've probably already read the first part of this post, Seed Cycling Part 1: What, Why, and How.

Here in Part II, I'm going to share some ideas based on how I consumed my seeds during the follicular phase.

(Note: I never consumed my flaxseeds whole. I ground small batches using an electric spice grinder and kept them in the freezer, grinding more as needed. It was much easier to work into my meals in this form. Plus, the nutrients in ground flaxseed are more absorbable than in whole flaxseed!)

1. "Power Butter"

I actually found this idea in a Bon Appétit magazine! Their recipe was a little different from mine, and they weren't trying to create a seed cycling recipe, but the central idea is the same.

Heat some coconut oil in a small nonstick skillet. Use your judgment as to the amount; the only things I measured when making this "recipe" were the seeds. In a small bowl, stir together your seeds (1 Tb ground flaxseed and 1 Tb pumpkin seeds) with some almond butter. Again, use your judgment on how much. When the coconut oil has melted, add it to the almond butter, flaxseed, and pumpkin seed mixture. You could add salt (I was using roasted, salted pumpkin seeds and salted almond butter, so this wasn't necessary for me) or maple syrup, if you like things a bit sweeter. Or cinnamon . . .

Dip apple slices in your power butter (this is what I did) or spread it on toast!

2. Oatmeal

I loooooove oatmeal! And it's so easy to stir in a tablespoon of ground flaxseed and a tablespoon of pumpkin seeds. In addition, I enjoyed my oatmeal with dates, almond butter, and oat milk, but you could add any other toppings your heart desires!

3. Overnight Oats

Usually I use chia seeds to thicken my overnight oats, but ground flaxseed works excellently as well! I don't measure my oats, but I think around 1/2 cup works well. Add your oats, ground flaxseed, and plant milk (I don't measure that, either) to a jar and shake. It should be thick, but there should still be plenty of liquid. The oats and flaxseeds will absorb it overnight. I also like to add some cinnamon *a lot of cinnamon 😁* at this stage. I don't add any sweetener, but if you like you could add maple syrup or honey here as well.

In the morning, finish with pumpkin seeds and whatever other toppings you want! My favorite variation is chocolate, so I actually did add a bit of maple syrup (not much! I like it d a r k) and a lot of cocoa powder the night before. The next morning, I added frozen raspberries that I'd thawed in the fridge overnight and–of course–pumpkin seeds. So! Good!

4. Baked Potato Bowl

If you're more of a savory person, this might be more your jam. (Bacon jam? Sorry. 😆)

Bake a potato. Add your seeds along with other delicious toppings. My bowl (actually, it was a plate) had roasted broccoli, sautéed onions, spinach, cheese, and yogurt.

5. Savory Cream of Rice

Brussels sprouts in cream of rice for breakfast is not good. (Important Lesson.)

But! Frozen spinach, pumpkin seeds, ground flaxseeds, ghee, nutritional yeast, and salt are very good in cream of rice for breakfast.

6. Breakfast Bowl

I love breakfast bowls. Usually I'm more in the mood for a sweet breakfast, but when I'm hungry for savory, this is the way I go (unless I decide to have savory oatmeal or cream of rice, as described above 🤷).

Fry an egg in ghee or butter (or olive oil!) with salt and pepper. Heat some leftover rice or quinoa. If you have leftover roasted sweet potato or other vegetable you can use that. Otherwise, cook some kale or spinach real quick. Don't forget to add your pumpkin seeds and flaxseeds!

7. Pancakes

We had some ancient pancakes in the fridge that really needed to get eaten, and this breakfast ended up being one of my favorite ways to get my seeds in!

Heat up some handy leftover pancakes (if such a thing exists in your house; I don't know your pancake consumption habits) or cook some fresh ones. These are really good. Also heat some frozen blueberries or cook some fresh ones. Spread the pancakes with almond butter and sprinkle with 1 Tb ground flaxseed, 1 Tb pumpkin seeds, and some cinnamon (a lot of cinnamon. Have I mentioned I really like cinnamon?). Put the warm, juicy blueberries on top. Add maple syrup if you must. I won't stop you.


There you go! I hope you have some good ideas for eating your seeds during the follicular phase now.

Best,
KB

Seed Cycling Part 1: What, Why, and How

Being an aware flexitarian looks like many things for me. It looks like curating–or at least caring about–where my food comes from. It looks like actively learning about health and the environment. And it looks like taking care of my body using the gentlest methods possible.

I learned about seed cycling a couple years ago. Have you heard of it? If so, you can meet me here, where I'll give you practical ways to incorporate seeds into your diet during the follicular phase. (Or if you're looking for inspiration for your luteal phase, meet me here.) For those who have no clue what I'm blathering on about, read on!

Seed cycling is a holistic way to support healthy and regular menstruation. It is especially helpful for those with PCOS, hormone imbalances, and irregular or absent menses. I fall into the very last category. For three years, I haven't had a period. I'm trying seed cycling to see if I can naturally bring back my menses.

As much as I love not having to deal with the mess and the bother, menstruation is healthy and it is a gift. Even if you don't quite want to go the length of saying it's a gift, the fact that menstruation is the healthy way of a woman's body is undeniable.

I am fascinated by the monthly process, the slow thickening of the lining of the uterus to receive a hypothetical fertilized egg, the forming of the eggs themselves, and then, at the end of it all (or the beginning), the shedding of the lining to prepare for the new cycle. Our bodies' universal process is complicated and, yes, beautiful, although it may not seem like it when you're washing stains out of your sheets for the third night in a row.

Oops! I wandered a little off topic, didn't I? Sorry. So, seed cycling: what is it?

How Seed Cycling Works

During the first 14-ish days of your cycle, which is called the follicular phase and which starts on the first day of your period, you eat 1 Tablespoon of flax seeds and 1 Tablespoon of pumpkin seeds every day. During the last 14-ish days of your cycle (the luteal phase), you eat 1 Tablespoon of sunflower seeds and 1 Tablespoon of sesame seeds each day. (And yes, those can be consumed in seed butter form.) These seeds contain properties that help your hormones to balance and behave.

If you don't have a period or have an irregular one, you can mark the beginning of the follicular phase as the day of the new moon, and the beginning of the luteal phase as the day of the full moon. This is what I did.

Does it sound a little woo-woo? Yes! But it may do good, and it won't do the harm that conventional treatments probably will. I'll post updates here on the blog as to how the experiment is going.

Now that you know what seed cycling is, you can head over to Parts 2 and 3 of this series (linked above), where I detail what I ate on my seed cycling adventure. Hopefully those posts will give you some inspiration on how to easily work seeds into your daily routine!

Best,
KB

Broccoli Flatbread

During summer, although I'm ecstatic to have the break, I invariably complain that I'm bored. (I think I just need to be constantly busy, actually.) One thing that alleviates boredom is cooking!

Experimenting with food is one of my favorite pastimes; has been, in fact, since I was around five. My mom would graciously let me make "cupcakes" . . . sometimes they were hockey pucks, once they were salty (that was after my sister suggested that I put in a little salt because they were so bland. Well, she never said how much). . . . Another of my pastimes is refusing to look at instructions.
Over the years I've gotten much better at food improvisation, though.

A few weeks ago, when I was wondering what to do with myself, I decided I would make some interesting side dish for lunch. Seeing a container of leftover broccoli in the fridge (who likes plain leftover broccoli, anyway?), I began to experiment. To my surprise and delight, the result was delicious! I made it again (with measurements this time) so that I could share it here.

• 2 packed cups cooked broccoli
• Heaping 1/4 cup shelled walnuts
• 1 tbsp. nutritional yeast
• Pinch of salt
• 2 tbsp. tapioca starch
• 3 tbsp. water

1. Preheat your oven to 350.

2. Put the broccoli and walnuts in a blender and blend them until they are roughly chopped up.

3. Add the rest of your ingredients and blend them to death. By the time you're done, you should have green paste.

3. Spread the paste thinly on parchment paper on a cookie sheet. FYI, it takes some time and patience to spread it out nicely so it doesn't lump. It will look like it'll just fall apart right out of the oven, but it doesn't. It just needs a couple minutes (5 to 10) to firm up. Instead of making one large flatbread, you could also make several smaller flatbreads. I haven't tried that yet, but it would probably decrease wetness in the middle.

4. Bake it for 25-30 minutes, until the edges are crispy and browned.

Sorry I don't have a picture of the finished product, but I hope you enjoy it anyway!

Lovely Lavender Cookies

It's almost summer, and the lavender is blooming!! On our way out of the house this morning, I noticed the beautiful purple flowers and thought, Hm, I should do something with that. Well, since I love baking, the first idea that popped into my mind was lavender cookies!

After perusing Pinterest to get a general sense of what and how much to put in these cookies, I cobbled together my own recipe and embarked on a kitchen adventure (my family can tell you that I adore pioneering new recipes in the kitchen).

Perhaps best of all is that these cookies are vegan, gluten free, dairy free, and sweetened with honey!

• 1 cup of flour (I used Bob's Red Mill All Purpose gluten-free flour mix)
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• A pinch of salt
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
• 1 tbsp. lavender (or more to taste)

1. Preheat your oven to 350.

2. Mix together the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt).

3. Melt the coconut oil and pour it in the bowl with the dry ingredients, but don't combine yet.

4. Add the lemon juice and honey.

5. Now combine your ingredients thoroughly and add the lavender! Mix it in.

6. Form your dough into balls. The size of these balls is completely up to you! I love big cookies. 

7. Bake them for 10 minutes. Don't worry if they seem super squishy when they come out. They'll firm up nicely as they cool. (In fact, once they cool completely, they're kind of like shortbread.)

8. Enjoy!

AIP Coconut-Free Dinner Rolls

For half a year now, my family has been AIP (which stands for Autoimmune Protocol). My mom and I both enjoy baking, but with limited resources (no grain, no eggs, no nuts), baking has become difficult. Since "normal" baking is out of the question, we've turned to cassava and coconut flour to provide us with the occasional batch of biscuits. Recently, however, I've had to start rotating coconut in my diet, which makes it even harder to bake . . . most AIP bread recipes include at least one coconut product, if not two or three.
So anyway, one night last week I was commissioned with finishing up dinner preparations: should I make stewed apples, or some kind of bread product? I asked my dad which he would prefer and he said, "MMMMM . . . bread product."
Well, after that enthusiastic reaction I didn't want to disappoint, so I had to find a recipe that was both AIP and coconut-free (it wasn't a coconut day). So I pulled up Pinterest (ah, what a lifesaver!) and started to browse . . . and browse . . . but nothing was AIP and coconut-free. Finally I just decided to wing it (with a hefty amount of advice from my mom (Thanks, Mommy!)). Here's what I came up with:

• 1/2 cup cassava flour
• 1 tb. tapioca flour (arrowroot flour will also work)
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 3 tb. water
• 1 tb. olive oil

1. Preheat your oven to 350.
2. Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl.
3. Mix in the wet ingredients. Your dough will be clumpy and hard to stir (wow, I'm excelling at making this recipe sound good). It shouldn't be sticky. If it's too dry, you can add water a tablespoon at a time until it's the right consistency, or add another tablespoon or two of applesauce for a sweeter roll!
4. Roll the dough into small balls and flatten slightly.
5. Bake for 15 minutes and enjoy!