Fresh strawberries are my jam. Lucky for me, there is a ridiculously adorable little farm right by my house up in Kula, Maui, that has its very own strawberry field. You can even go and pick your own strawberries during certain times of the year! It. Is. Epic.
Anyways, I recently took a stroll through the quaint little farm -- speckled with cleverly painted signs (my favorite one says "All children left unattended will be composted") and beautifully feathered chickens roaming the grounds. When I walked into the farm stand, I was immediately greeted by the sweetest and most fragrant scent. Strawberries. The entire ride home (about a minute and a half) I kept taking full, deep breaths of the now strawberry infused air. It was intoxicating in the best way possible. YUM!
So naturally, the next morning, I knew that these strawberries had to be the stars of the show.
As I am no longer eating eggs (my body has made it clear that eggs should not be on the regular menu), my usual "healthy pancake" recipe had to be altered. I used to make simple pancakes out of eggs and bananas or eggs, bananas, and oats (and sometimes peanut butter if I was feeling extra nutty). But alas, my eggcellent days are over.
Luckily, this new pancake recipe is damn delicious, super easy to make, and egg FREE! Topped with raw local honey and fresh local strawberries and sprinkled with organic bee pollen, this brunch was taste-bud-orgasmic!
The rough recipe (I don't really do measurements):
2 apple bananas
oats
1 scoop of almond butter
1 scoop of strawberry protein powder
water
blended and plopped onto a steaming hot skillet sizzling with coconut oil
topped with local honey, fresh local strawberries, and bee pollen
Benefits of strawberries: High in Vitamin C and full of antioxidants, potassium, magnesium, folate, potassium, manganese, dietary fiber, and more!
Benefits of raw honey:
According to Mercola.com
Honey is a blend of sugar, trace enzymes, minerals, vitamins, and amino acids that has antibacterial, anti-fungal, and antioxidant properties
Honey works as well as dextromethorphan, a common ingredient in over-the-counter cough medications, to soothe cough and related sleeping difficulties
Unprocessed honey can help treat skin infections, helps wounds heal, and improves dandruff and itchy scalp
Benefits of bee pollen:
According to Mercola.com:
Bee pollen contains all the essential components of life. The percentage of rejuvenating elements in bee pollen remarkably exceeds those present in brewer's yeast and wheat germ. Bee pollen corrects the deficient or unbalanced nutrition common in the customs of our present-day civilization of consuming incomplete foods, often with added chemical ingredients, which expose us to physiological problems as various as they are numerous.
Pollen is considered an energy and nutritive tonic in Chinese medicine. Cultures throughout the world use it in a surprising number of applications:
Bee-gathered pollens are rich in proteins, free amino acids, and vitamins, including B-complex and folic acid.
According to researchers at the Institute of Apiculture, Taranov, Russia:
"Honeybee pollen is the richest source of vitamins found in Nature in a single food. Even if bee pollen had none of its other vital ingredients, its content of rutin alone would justify taking at least a teaspoon daily, if for no other reason than strengthening the capillaries. Pollen is extremely rich in rutin and may have the highest content of any source, plus it provides a high content of the nucleics RNA [ribonucleic acid] and DNA [deoxyribonucleic acid]."
Bee pollen is a complete food and contains many elements that products of animal origin do not possess. Bee pollen is richer in proteins than any animal source. It contains more amino acids than beef, eggs, or cheese of equal weight. Bee pollen is particularly concentrated in all elements necessary for life.
