Last night I wanted pancakes and I bought garbanzo bean flour the other day so it was on this morning in the kitchen! They were super fluffy and filling and I'm pretty stuffed. In my defense, though, I did drink an entire 24 oz mason jar of lemon water before and during said pancake feast. Lately, I'm all about the lemon water; it is so amazingly refreshing!
Speaking of health, I have not come down with any sickness yet (knock on wood) and it's mid February. This time last year, I was sick with a cold for weeks and even skipped my birthday celebrations. I just wanted to stay in and sleep and do nothing. This year I'm just loving this winter weather. My business is doing well and my spirits are up and I'm healthy and running and lifting weights; it's been lovely. I miss my sun-kissed summer glow but I must say I don't hate this winter at all and I don't mind if it sticks around.
The other new routine I have this winter is taking better care of my skin. I'm going to be 39 in 4 days and I want to keep my youthful glow and keep my skin healthy for as long as I can. Women in NYC are super into their looks and everyone is into keeping themselves young and fit so there is just a little bit of pressure to do that. Plus, I want to keep my skin fresh looking and now is the best time to start getting serious about skincare. After Christmas as I settled back here in the city, I ordered a dry brush and a bunch of exfoliating gadgets plus some shea butter and I haven't looked back. Dry brushing is when you use a body brush to exfoliate your skin. You use it on dry skin and you kind of just brush all parts of your skin lightly and let the brush remove excess skin cells. It can be aggravating at first because the bristles are hard but you get used to it. I also use this charcoal sponge on my face in the shower and I've noticed amazing results; my face is smoother and even though I had a few breakouts, I know that it's cleaning my face. I also use the charcoal sponge on the back of my hands. Then I shea butter EVERYTHING
I mixed shea butter and lavender oil in a small jar and I use this to moisturize my face. Sometimes I will use it on my entire body especially after I dry brush. After just a few days of using shea butter, I notice that my skin feels softer and more hydrated. You don't have to go broke taking care of your skin. You don't need expensive dermatologic procedures to get the skin you want; just moisture, exercise, eat healthy and try to stay out of the sun.
This pancake post really segwayed into skincare-sorry if you're just here for the recipe! I usually use oat flour for almost everything sweet that I make but I ran out of oats. I tend to add a ton of sugar to oatmeal so I was trying to take a break from buying oats. I bought garbanzo bean flour the other day to fix a hummus recipe that I messed up on so I used it for the pancakes. They ended up dense yet fluffy. I would urge you to experiment with different kinds of flours.
1 1/2 cups of garbanzo bean flour
1 mashed ripe banana
1/2 cup of soy milk
2 tbsp of raw cacao nibs or chocolate chips
Put everything in your food processor except the cacao nibs. When everything is blended (add more milk if need be), hand mix in the cacao nibs. Spray a pan with coconut oil or any spray you have and turn the heat on medium. Wait a little for the pan to heat up then pour batter onto the pan. I made 5 small pancakes. I added Earth Balance butter and drizzled with molasses.
