Morning Change Up

I have a lot of recipes to blog so get excited.  As you know I have been really off and on with blogging over the past couple of months.  I have had a lot going on and decided there was no need to have extra pressure to blog.  Over that time I have kind of stockpiled the things I have been cooking, so now I have lots to blog about.  I plan to blog one recipe a post to keep it simple. 
      Back to my morning change up!  If you didn't know, I drink a smoothie almost every morning.  I take Metamucil and flax (to help my stomach) I prefer to blend them in a smoothie rather than drink them in water.  This has been working for about 4 months, but last week I felt the need to change it up.  I have been craving pumpkin (and had some leftover pumpkin in my fridge) so I made pumpkin pancakes!  They turned out so yummy, plus they are moist and filling.  The best part is how easy they are to make-check it out.

 

 Topped with peanut butter, bananas, mini chocolate chips and cinnamon sugar

About 5-6 minutes on the griddle total.

A great way to start the day!

Easy Pumpkin Pancakes (for 1)
1/3 cup just add water pancake mix (I used Kodiak mix)
1/3 cup water
1 tsp. Nopalina Flax
2 Tbsp. pumpkin puree (approximate measurement, it is the plain pumpkin)
Sprinkle of pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon

Basically I made the mix according to the package, adding the pumpkin, flax, and spices before I stirred it all together.  Lightly oil a griddle and cook until bubbles start to pop (about 4-5 minutes) then flip.  Top with your favorite toppings.
*I like to keep my weekday breakfasts on the healthy side so I didn't use syrup.  I topped mine with peanut butter, bananas, a few mini chocolate chips and a sprinkles of cinnamon sugar.  I am not one to skip out on syrup but these were really good without it:)  Hope you enjoy them as much as me.
Other topping/batter ideas:  These would be really good with walnuts or pecans, topped with butter and syrup for a weekend breakfast.  Also they would be good topped with granola.

It Has Been Done

I have made this peanut butter swirl pancake before but this time I got some better pictures and it tasted better to me.  Here is the recipe and a few more pictures.

 Peanut butter, apple sauce and cinnamon swirled into your pancake.

 I mixed my peanut butter and apple sauce and then put them into a small ziplock bag.

 I think it would be good just like this

 I added a little butter and syrup because I was in the mood for it.

This was a really filling and delicious breakfast.  It is one of my favorites.  Hope everyone is having a good weekend.

I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.  I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

Philippians 4:11-13

Healthy Breakfast

I think I have said it before but almost every weekday morning I make My Favorite Smoothie.  On weekends I make whatever I feel like making (sometimes healthy, sometimes not).  This morning I was in the mood for a granola pancake with strawberries.  It is a simple healthy breakfast that is filling and delicious.

 I like it topped with peanut butter, strawberries (or other fruit), cinnamon vanilla yogurt (yogurt, vanilla yogurt and cinnamon mixed) and some extra granola

 This is my pancake fresh off the skillet with granola in it!

A great start to my Sunday!

If you have not tried Kodiak Cakes you should!  I found out about them through cooking blogs and ordered some online.  Now I am hooked.  They are whole wheat buttermilk pancakes and all you have to add is water.  1/3 cup mix to 1/3 cup water for this size pancake.  If you wanted a bigger pancake you could make it with 1/2 cup.

Blueberry Pickin

We found a great blueberry farm about 20 minutes from our house so we went blueberry pickin on Saturday!  So exciting, things like that remind me of my childhood and I tend to get excited like a little kid.  We had a lot of fun and now we have lots of yummy blueberries to eat!

 A cute blueberry farm that was a lot bigger than we expected!

 Cliff was really good at picking blueberries.  I started by roaming around to many trees, sampling blueberries at every tree.  I was not getting very far until I found Cliff and stuck with his method.  Find a tree with a lot of berries and pick them from the top!

 We both had out buckets (he filled his a lot faster!)

 We ended up with 3 and a half pounds for only $7.

 And in case you didn't know, that is a lot of blueberries

 Oh so delicious.  I got home and immediately made us a smoothie

 I will be making many more of these

 Blueberry pancakes were the best though.  We had these this morning and I am already craving more

 So much better with fresh blueberries.  I just used Kodiak mix to save time this morning.  After church I just got a few things done around the house and started on dinner early because I made bread!

 This is from a bread mix my Aunt gave me a while back.  I wanted to make it so I could have bread for sandwiches this week.  It turned out great.

 I also made zucchini meatballs (saw them on Iowa Girl Eats and followed the recipe exactly because they looked so good!).  We will be having meatball subs with them tomorrow

 I also made green beans, and garlic Parmesan mashed potatoes

 It was a lovely dinner.

We went to Culver's with friends afterward.  Chocolate custard with Reese's and peanut butter, my all time favorite!

Hope everyone has had a great weekend.  I am ready to turn in for the evening so I can get up early for the workweek.  Happy Monday and have a good week!

Enjoying the Weekend

Let's start with the new recipe I tried today.  Banana Biscoff Smoothie-need I say more.  Many of you are probably thinking, "What is Biscoff?"  It is high time you learned because it is so good I just want to drink it out of the jar.  It is not healthy in any way whatsoever, so don't get that idea, but it is a delicious treat.  Basically it is cookies that are blended with oil to make this beautiful, creamy, spreadable cookie.  My favorite way to eat it so far is on fruit, but it is also good in oatmeal.  They should pay me to sell this stuff (but they don't!).  It is kind of pricy, but I got lucky and found it at our Wal-Mart for $4.  Okay, on to the smoothie.

 I should have done a close-up, but here it is with our lunch of English Mufffin melts.

In the mix for 2:

1 cup milk
1/4 cup vanilla yogurt
1/2 cup plain yogurt
9 ice cubes
1 large frozen banana
a sprinkle of cinnamon
2-3 Tbsp. of Biscoff
Blend until smooth and enjoy because it pretty much tastes like a milkshake!

 I made Whole Wheat Buttermilk pancakes for breakfast before church this morning.  This is my all-time favorite recipe.  You have got to try this recipe, it is very simple and easy

 I have posted the recipe before as a link but I think it will be easier if I just write it out so you have my variation!  We devoured them:)

Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes

1 cup whole wheat flour (sometimes I put a little bran mixed with the flour)
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 beaten egg
1 cup buttermilk (or 1Tbsp vinegar mixed into 1c milk)
2 Tbsp. cooking oil (I usually use a little less-like 1.5 Tbsp.)
Chocolate chips (optional)

Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt (sometimes I do a sprinkle of cinnamon if I am in the mood).  Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and set aside.  Combine the egg, buttermilk, and oil.  Add egg mixture all at once to the flour mixture.  Stir just until moistened (batter should be a little lumpy).
Lightly grease a griddle or skillet and let it get hot.  I cook mine on med heat.  Use 1/4 cup to scoop out the batter into about 3-4 inch pancakes.  Add chocolate chips now if you are going to!  Flip when the little bubbles start to disappear or you see the edges starting to set.  Enjoy with peanut butter, butter and syrup!

*Recipe from Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook

In other news, we gave away our old bikes today.  It is a little sad because we rode these bikes all over our college town Portales, NM.  Cliff's is a road bike and mine is a very rusty old mountain bike (Wal-Mart special about 8 years ago).  It was kind of sad to let them go

Goodbye Ol' Faithful!

Cliff made breakfast sandwiches Saturday morning!  They were amazing-bacon, egg and cheddar

I made tater tot casserole again.  Love this stuff, especially with a side of green beans

I pulled these amazing peanut butter chocolate rice crispy treats out of the freezer.  There is only one left which means I will be making them again soon

I am off to make calzone!  Hope everyone is having a good weekend.

Granola Pancakes

I have been wanting to try granola pancakes ever since my friend Amber told me about them.  I found this really good granola on sale a couple weeks ago and it has really put me in the mood for granola (as seen in my many posts about milkshake cereal).  This morning I planned to make scrambled cheesy eggs with sausage and hash browns, but didn't know what to have on the side.  Then I remembered granola pancakes!!  I just used my Kodiak pancake mix and added granola to the batter right before I cooked the pancakes.  We really liked them and they kept me full for a long time.

 Cliff tried to dodge this picture....I was kinda in a hurry because I didn't want it to get cold.

 With butter and pure maple syrup!

This day flew by because after breakfast I went to work.  Work was fun and when I came home we went for a walk.  It is chilly today and we enjoyed our walk.  We are totally old, we ate dinner before 5pm.  I am trying to clear stuff out of our freezer.  What do you do with leftover pulled pork?  I decided to change it up a little by making pulled pork paninis.  They were really good.  I also think pulled pork would be good on nachos (my friend Kristen's idea) or even pizza! 

 With potato chips and pickles!

I was bad-I ate these two (big and a little) plus two more small pieces!  Yikes they are so good it was hard to stop.  My self-control is pretty much out the window when you combine peanut butter, sugar, and chocolate.  It is stormy here tonight and Cliff and I are going to find something to watch on Netflix.  Should be fun-have a great night.

Love/Hate Relationships

I have a love/hate relationship with Cardio Challenge.  I love it because it gets my heart rate up like soccer used to, which is great for my mental/physical health.....but sometimes I find myself thinking hateful thoughts toward it lol.  Today we did a circuit where we run laps around the gym weaving in and out of cones with hurdles and such for 3 minutes and then we would alternate that with random things like squat jumps (kill me now), push ups, burpees, mountain climbers for about 3 minutes-we did that circuit about 6 times.  You know it is bad when you are praying for jumping jacks and when she says you will do this for 30 seconds and you think "Are you kidding me?"  Yes, I find it amusing now and like I said, I really do love it.  We all start slowing down toward the end.  Maybe you can relate?  Maybe you don't care to work out like that!  Hope you can find the humor in it like me.  To fuel up for this crazy workout I made a Kodiak pancake with peanut butter, fresh strawberries, and yogurt (blueberry mixed with plain).  I put cinnamon and ground flax in my pancake and this combination is even better than the pear pancake I was eating last week.

 What a great combo!

 This coffee cup times 2.

I came back from Cardio Challenge and ate a bunch of grapes.  For lunch I made chicken melts using the leftover Philly Chicken mix.  I am loving avocado right now so I had some on the side.  LOL I don't even think this put a dent in my hunger so I will probably be eating a snack soon!

 I actually think I like this better in sandwich form, but I was out of buns...next I think I will try it in pasta!

Not sure what I will be cooking for dinner.  I usually have a plan, but some days I just don't.  I will just find something to make out of what is in my pantry.  I plan to work on my cards for a good while this afternoon.  I really like this Bible verse I came across in my morning study:

He will be a sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure.  Isaiah 33:6 

What a comfort.  Hope you enjoy the rest of your day!  P.S. are you ready for another health challenge?  I didn't talk about it much but I did good on the fruit challenge.  I ate at least 1.5 servings of fruit a day and it kind of got me back in the habit of having fruit for a snack!!!  Next challenge:  eat a healthy breakfast during the week which would include whole grains (oats, whole wheat toast, etc.), protein (could come from nuts, milk, eggs), and fruit of some kind!  Yikes...this seems demanding.  I kind of already do this but it will be extra motivation. 

Sweet Snack

Let me just say I have started going to a class called Cardio Challenge.  I have been going for about 4 weeks (only on Tuesday), and it makes me so hungry!  I really like it because it challenges me like soccer workouts used to.  I am glad it is only once a week for an hour.  Before my class I fueled up with an awesome pancake

 Peanut butter, diced pear with cinnamon maple yogurt.

 I made one for Cliff before he headed to work.

I am going to breakfast with Danielle tomorrow and I plan to try their new steel cut oatmeal....exciting!!!!  They also have great coffee and can't wait to hang out and chat with Danielle.  For lunch I made a chicken salad sandwich

Canned chicken, mayo, yogurt, grapes, carrots and seasonings.  I love chicken salad, especially with some kind of fruit in it.

I feel like this day is flying by.  I got a few errands done but have not even touched my cleaning list.  I am about to clean like a mad woman as soon as I finish this post.  I also worked on an application for a college advisor job that would be cool but their job site is being funky so I had to contact their help desk....booooo!  Oh well in the meantime I can clean.  Oh, I also went to the post office to mail off some cards my Aunt requested.  I finally used the self service mailing thing which was not as hard as I thought!

They are little encouragement notes and I am going to start selling on esty soon I hope!

You are probably wondering about the sweet snack!  I invented an awesome snack today because of weird cravings ha.  I blended yogurt + milk + 1/2 frozen banana + 2 ice cubes.  Poured that into a bowl and had cereal on top-the cereal was called vanilla almond cluster and it is amazing!  I actually ended up using the spoon and a straw.  The clusters tasted like a waffle cone and I need to buy more while it is on sale.  Hope everybody is having a great day sorry for the rushed post!

Fun Game

I thought it was a great game last night!  The game, commercials, and half time show were all good.  We went Shaun and Amber's (where we have our small group Bible Study).  They are great hosts and always make good food.  Shaun made meat queso and buffalo dip wontons.  They also had fresh berries.  I brought sausage corn muffins, salad, and M&M's.  Danielle and Ben brought chocolate fudge cake and ice cream.  So, we had lots of good grub.  

 Jalapeno cheddar sausage placed in corn muffin batter and baked!

 These were good but they were cold by the time we ate them:(  If you make them, make sure you can serve them warm.

 This was an awesome salad (spring mix, tomato, cucumber, avocado, bell pepper, mozzarella, and croutons.  I had to have a healthy option around so I wouldn't make myself sick on junk:)

Sorry for this dark picture.  I went back for more of everything and also had that awesome fudge cake and M&M's!  It was all quite tasty.

I also used my leftover salad from last night to make an awesome veggie pita pocket.  I had one for lunch Sunday also and it is awesome.

 Toast a pita and cut it while it is warm so you can stuff it with good stuff.

I also put sunflower seeds and laughing cow cheese in it.  The rest is just the salad from last night minus the soggy croutons!  If you are looking for new lunch ideas you have to try this.  Pitas are awesome and so functional.

Saturday night we had Ben and Danielle over and I made hamburger helper and green beans.  For dessert I made this Strawberry Whipped Cream Pie.  I don't really have a great name for it but is tastes kind of like yogurt fruit dip in a graham cracker crust (similar to fruit pizza as well).  I like to think of this as a healthy dessert because it has 1 cup of yogurt in it;)

 I used strawberry yogurt and served fresh sliced strawberries on top!

Strawberry Whipped Pie

12 oz cream cheese (I used reduced fat and it is a block and a half), softened

1 cup fruit yogurt of your choice (I used yoplait light and used 1.5 small cartons)

1/3 cup powdered sugar

4oz cool whip (1/2 of a small tub)

2 tsp. lemon juice

1 tsp. vanilla

Beat cream cheese until fluffy.  Add yogurt and powdered sugar and beat until smooth adding lemon juice and vanilla for the last few seconds.  Fold in whipped cream and pour into graham cracker crust.  Let it refrigerate for at least 4 hours.  Enjoy with fresh fruit.

 These are our Sunday morning pancakes!

 Mom's recipe again!

I love these and thankfully I have leftovers so I ate them again today and will probably eat them tomorrow!

Hope everyone is off to a great Monday.  I have some serious house cleaning to do because I will be gone all week house sitting for my Aunt.  Bye!