Healthy Pancakes

Healthy Pancakes

1 cup white flour

1/2 whole wheat flour

1/2 almond meal (very fine)

4 tsp baking powder

2 tsp flax meal

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs beaten

2 cups fat free milk

1 cup pumpkin puree

2 tsp melted butter

Optional:  blueberries (fresh or frozen), chocolate chips, nuts

1. Combine all dry ingredients
2. Add egg and milk and whisk until the batter is smooth.  
3. Add the melted butter
4. Heat griddle and oil with nonstick oil spray
5. Use laddle or ice cream scoop to portion out pancakes.
6. Add any optional ingredients.  
7. Flip when small bubbles form on top of pancake.  Depending on heat of grill 1-4 minutes
8. Finish cooking 1-2 minutes
9. Top with butter, syrup, or whipped cream

 Let me first say that I love getting recipes online.  There are so many wonderful ideas out there.  I hate how 99% of these recipes are online.  There is a long story about the recipe, a million step-by-step pictures and then all the way at the bottom is the recipe.  I hate scrolling all the way down to find out if I have the ingredients or the time necessary for the recipe.  So I am switching it up.  One or two pictures (we all know what a bowl of flour looks like!) the recipe and then any thoughts at the bottom. 

Weekly Recipe Planning - March #2

Sunday - Pancakes - healthy with blueberries a huge hit!  (recipe to follow)
Monday - Grandma's Chicken, Oven Roasted Potatoes, Roasted Carrots
Tuesday - Salmon Noodle Casserole
Wednesday - Pizza Playgroup - take-out with the boys friends over!
Thursday - Lentil Burgers, acorn squash, Roasted Cauliflower
Friday - Steak Fajitas, guacamole and beans
Saturday - Leftovers

My most "pinned" pin

I love pinterest.com!  I have loved it since the moment I clicked on my first pin.  I have always loved to tear out recipes, design ideas and crafts from magazines.  I was just going through a long ignored drawer of old magazines and I found folder after folder of saved clippings.  But there was always the problem of how to use them.  When would I ever pull out that disorganized file of random torn papers?

I love pinterest so much.  Any time I come across a website with an article, recipe or craft I want to save for later I cut and copy the address into my pinterest account.  I so enjoy seeing what recipes my friends are thinking of trying or even see what is occupying their time - wedding planning, redesigning a kitchen, baby gear!  It is so searchable - if I remember somewhere back in my head that I had this great cookie recipe I wanted to try - I can search just my pins to find it.

I have 960 pins!  The majority are websites and links from other people.  This snack pin is an original from a recipe by my friend Lori.  Now that I am committing to this blog I will put my original posts on pinterest and see how it goes.

If you want to pin this post click on the red "P" at the end of this post.

The perfect football Snack

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

On an ungreased cookie sheet arrange waffle pretzels in a single layer.

Unwrap millions (not really) of hershey kisses (this is the part that takes forever! little hands can be very helpful or do it front of the tv).

Top each pretzel with a hershey kiss.

Melt hershey kisses for 2 minutes in the oven.  DO NOT OVER MELT!  You might think that longer is better - in this instance it is not.  The chocolate becomes very hard and neither the pretzel nor the m&m will stick.

As soon as you take the pretzels out of the oven press m&m's into each hershey kiss.

Cool in the fridge or even on the counter.  You can store in a freezer bag in the freezer for up to 3 months.

*** Make them your own - one of my friends swears by rollos instead of hershey kisses.  Try peanut m&m's?  Use your favorite team colors for a sporting event.  We are die hard New England Patriots Fans so we had to use Blue and Red.

Special Time

Having more than one child makes everything busier.  As the kids get older there is homework, sports, music lessons, play-dates, birthday parties, field trips, parent teacher conferences…  times 3 for me!  I have been trying to find time to have special time with each child.  I am working on finding something that each one of my kids and I can do together that we both find enjoyable.  #2 and #3 are still on the younger side - so our special time is more like going for ice cream, reading a book, going for a walk.  #1 and I have found that we love to paint pottery together.  Today the stars aligned and we had a couple of hours for just the two of us.  We spent a really wonderful hour at the pottery place.  We thoughtfully picked out our pieces to paint, we concentrated on the primer, we consulted on our color choices, and gave constructive feedback on the finishing touches.  I loved spending an hour where I wasn't nagging him to do his homework or to take a shower.  I loved that he wasn't begging for a snack or for some iPad time.  I hope these are the times that our relationship deepens and grows.  I hope he remembers these times when he is a moody teenager.

Stop Re-committing - just commit

I am the queen of "re-committing" when it comes to diet and exercise.  I can look all the way back to law school where I would proclaim I was on this or that diet - that I was going to be at the gym 5 mornings a week or do yoga in my living room every night.  Fast forward 14 years I am still doing this!  Last monday I showed up at my gym after a weekend of junk food and little to no exercise - I proclaimed to my trainer "I am re-committing!  No more junk - green smoothies every day and hitting the gym 6 times a week!"  Becky turned and looked at me "enough of the recommitting!  can you just commit and be done with it."  Those words rung true with me but how do you make that happen?  Make small reasonable goals?  If you slip off your plan for a meal or a day jump right back on instead of jumping off for a week?  I read that if you do something for 30 days in a row, it is a habit.  Maybe you need to stick with something for 30 days and then it becomes easier?  So, Becky, I am not re-committing to healthy eating, exercise, blogging and doing other creative things - I am just committed!

Weekly Menu Planning - March #1 and Recipe Share

Every monday morning I take out my white board marker and plan the meals for the week.  I use this menu to make my shopping list for the week.  Sometimes our menu is like the one for today with two or more "Out" - entries.  I like to write it down anyway - it makes me feel like there is a plan for the week and I am in control!

If you asked my kids their favorite meal that I make, I am fairly certain that it would be "Chi Night!"  Which is Vegetarian Chili.  We call it "Chi Night" because everything starts with "Chi."  Chili, cheese and of course chips.  I always double or triple the recipe (or more if my brother-in-law is coming for dinner!).  I am trying to alter the recipe to use dry beans - but for now here it is.

Veggie Chili Recipe

1 red pepper, seeded and chopped
1 zucchini diced
1 summer squash diced
8 oz fresh mushrooms, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 T olive oil
2 cloves garlic or 1 tsp jarred
1 14 oz diced tomatoes, undrained
1 14 oz can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 c caned corn
1 envelope chili seasoning (or make your own)

Prepare veggies.  Heal oil over medium heat in a large pot.  Add garlic and onion, sauté for 3-5 minutes.  Add peppers, mushrooms zucchini and squash.  Sauté until veggies are soft - 5 minutes.  Add remaining ingredients.  Stir until combined, lower heat and simmer for 15 minutes (or longer).  Serve with shredded cheese, sour cream and chips.  Leftovers are amazing!

30 days of blogging...

I am committing to myself to do 30 days of blogging a row.  I want to see what it looks like and how it feels.  Sometimes writing something down makes it easier to do…  lets do this!