Easy Like Sunday Morning Pancakes

Who doesn't love Pancakes on Sunday morning? I mean really, what else is there to eat for breakfast than pancakes with syrup and butter. Yummm....syrup. 

Unfortunately syrup and butter slathered disks of carbohydrates are not on my diet. Luckily for me I am sometimes rather creative and when I want something bad enough I will find a way to eat it. So I set out on a quest for healthy pancakes and found a recipe for Oatmeal Pancakes and thought with a few tweaks it could be awesomely yummy and healthy at the same time. 
I was right.
Hellooo...Oatmeal Pancakes. 
Let's be friends.

These were soft and fluffy with a  bit of sweetness. I'm in love. I adapted this recipe found on Tastepotting. 


Easy Oatmeal Pancakes:

1 cup oats (quick style is fine)
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
2 Tbls. Stevia (or sugar substitute or even real sugar gasp!)
2 teas. Baking Powder
1 teas. Salt
3 Tbls. Egg White (one eggs worth)
1 Whole Egg
1 1/2 Cups Milk (I used low fat because that's what I had. Almond milk would be good)
1/4 Cup. Canola Oil

Mix together oats, flours, stevia, baking powder and salt in mixing bowl. Combine eggs, milk and oil in separate bowl and mix well. Add milk and egg mixture to dry mixture and stir until just combined. Pour batter by 1/4 to 1/3 scoops onto greased hot griddle or skillet. Turn when bubbles appear on top of pancakes. Flip and continue. Rinse and repeat. 

I had mine with a scant amount of butter, fresh raspberries and honey. They were delicious. 

Black Bean Soup

This is what the mister and I had for dinner tonight:

 And yes, it was as delicious as it looks.

I found this soup the other day at "From Scratch" an awesome blog by a girl named Emma. You should check it out! I changed mine a little, hers is vegan mine is not. Either way would be good, I just happened to have some extra chicken so I got a little crazy and threw it in.

This soup is so simple and quick! It took about 15 minutes to make, I served it with a big hunk of crusty bread and avocado and called it good. 
And so I said, and so it was. 

Here's the recipe:

Black Bean Soup

serves 2-3

2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed

1/2  red onion

1 clove garlic

2 teaspoon chili powder

1 cup shredded chicken, cooked

2 cups chicken stock

1 Tbls olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

In pot heat oil and saute onion until soft, 2-3 minutes. Add garlic, salt and pepper and, chili powder. Cook another minute or so. Turn the heat down and add stock and black beans. Let flavors get happy for 5-8 minutes. 

At this point you could either serve it as is, or you could do what I did and run my potato masher across the beans to loosen them up a bit. Don't squish them to hard, you don't want to make a dip. 

Serve with a dollop of sour cream and avocado slices. 

Rejoice in the simple things. 

Goodnight peeps!

Fresh Food Friday!

Hello friends! Time for another Fresh Food Friday edition!

This week we got: Chard, broccoli, apples, red onion, crimson grapes, tomatoes and eggs. 


Yummmm....


And here's what I plan to do with it:


Swiss Chard, Bacon and Ricotta Ravioli with Tomato Sauce from epicurious.com
    *this may be the recipe I'm most excited for. I'll probably even try to make my own tomato sauce since I have a plethora of tomatoes right now. 


Broccoli, Beef and Brown Rice Combo 
from "Melissa's Everyday Cooking with Organic Produce"
*I meant to make this last week but used all my broccoli before I got the chance.
 *Recipe after the jump!

Marinade:
2 large cloves of garlic
2 TBLS. soy sauce
1 TBLS. Honey
1 teas. toasted sesame oil
1 TBLS. rice vinegar
1 lb. boneless sirloin steak (I just got tri-tips from the butcher)

Rice Mixture:
1 cup long grain brown rice
2 1/4 cups water
1/2 teas.  vegetable or canola oil
2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced diagonally 1/4 inch thick
1 3/4 cup broccoli florets

Sauce:
3 TBLS. smooth peanut butter
3 TBLS. hot water
2 TBLS. seasoned rice vinegar
1 TBLS. soy sauce
1/8 teas. dried red chile flakes
2 teas. toasted sesame oil


Prepare marinade: Set large zipper-style plastic  bag in bowl to hold it upright. Add garlic, soy sauce, honey, oil and vinegar. Poke steak at 1-inch intervals  with tines of fork. Add steak to bag with marinade and seal. Refrigerate at least 2 hours or up to 8 hours, turning bag occasionally to redistribute marinade.

Prepare rice: In large saucepan place rice, water, salt and oil. Bring to boil on high heat; stir once. Cover with tight-fitting lid; reduce heat to low and simmer 45 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand, covered, 5 to 10 minutes. Remove lid and fluff with fork.

Meanwhile, bring about 5 cups water to boil on high heat in separate large saucepan. Add carrots and cook until tender-crisp, about 4 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon and set aside. Add broccoli and cook in boiling water until tender-crisp about 6-7 minutes. Drain and set aside. Heat grill.

Prepare sauce: In medium bowl, stir peanut butter and 3 tbls. hot water to combine. Add vinegar, soy sauce, chile flakes, and sesame oil; stir vigorously to combine. Place rice in large bowl; add sauce and veggies. Set aside at room temp.

Remove steak from marinade; discard marinade. Grill over medium-high heat about 3 minutes on each side; cooking times vary. Set steak aside and allow to rest 5-10 minutes. 

Slice steak into 1/4 inch thick slices. Spoon rice salad into bowls and top with steak. 


I haven't decided if I want to make something with the apples like an apple crisp or just make some sort of scrumptious dip for them. 
Same with the tomatoes, pretty sure I'm going to make a sauce. 
And the onion, well that will be used this weekend in my potato salad, and tonight with our burgers. 


Have a wonderful Friday everyone!
 
 
 

Chocolate Pumpkin Zucchini Bread...

Yeah it's just as good as it sounds.

Before C left for Hawaii she was completely stressed out about the zuc's that she had in her fridge so I offered to take them off her hands and make her some bread while she was gone. That's what I did today, and I'm pretty sure that I'll have to go get some more Zucchini's because I'm not sure this is going to last until they get home. 

Here's the recipe:

Chocolate Pumpkin Zucchini Bread

3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup butter, melted
1 TBLS. vanilla
3 cups flour (I used whole wheat)
1/2 cup baking cocoa
1 teas. baking powder
1/2 teas. salt
1/2 teas. nutmeg
1/2 teas. cinammon
1/2 teas. cloves
1 cup shredded zucchini


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9x5x3 bread loaf pans.


In a mixing bowl combine eggs and sugar. Add pumpkin, butter and vanilla.

In separate bowl combine dry ingredients.

Gradually add dry ingredients into pumpkin mixture and mix well. Stir in zucchini.
Pour into the loaf pans.

Bake for 45-50 minutes. Cool in pans for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack. 

Let me tell you it is heavenly. Seriously. In fact I'm going to get a piece right now. 


Enjoy!