Thank God its Sunday!!!!

Ok, so it seems I have a stockpile of cooking adventures that I just haven't gotten around to posting. Sorry about that, but its just not easy, it turns out, to work three jobs and go to school full time and train for Tris, and have a life and STILL update my blog. Ok, rant over. So here is one of my old adventures. Enjoy!

I loooOOOoOooOoOooOve pancakes! So very much. I can't wait for a morning when I can get up, slap some fresh pancake batter on the griddle, and savor delicious pancakes with coffee and the newspaper. But lets be honest. Between working 2 or 3 jobs, tri training and school, I don't really have time for that (or I shouldn't, but sometimes I procrastinate a little).

But, I've been having some tough times lately. Things just don't seem to be going my way. Well, that's not entirely true. But I've been working very hard, and I'm at a place where I don't feel like I'm moving upward exactly. So I took a Sunday morning for myself, and made some healthy, dense, delicious pancakes.

Mmmmm. Mushed up bananas. Take that bananas!

Yeah, I don't have a griddle. And I get a little impatient making one pancake at a time, so my pancakes tend to run together. Or, maybe they just love each other so much, they can't stand to be apart, you decide. Invariably, my pancakes always have a few flat edges where I had to separate them from each other.

A little brown from the spices and wheat flour. So delicious!

Glamor Shot!!

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Sunday Healthy Banana Pancakes 
1 c. oats
1 c. flour
1 mashed banana
2 tbs. baking powder
1/2 tsp. nutmeg (optional)
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1 c. applesauce
milk
some agave
Some sort of music playing system

1. Set your music to Jack Johnson. Playlist must include Banana Pancakes.
2. Mush up the bananas with a whisk
3. mix up all the rest of the ingredients. Add agave to taste. Add milk last, adding and mixing up until you get a good, pourable, pancake batter.
4. Pour onto a preheated griddle. Cook until the edges are firm and there are a whole lot of bubble in the batter. I usually cheat and peak to see if the bottom side is tan.
5. Flip. Cook until both sides are nice and tan. Serve with warm maple syrup.
6. Enjoy your chill Jack Johnson tunes, your yummy pancakes, and savor your Sunday. :-)
   

Really, its ok if I have more....I...uh....need the carbs

Listen, I want to put all my cards on the table. What I am really recommending is that you make this ONLY when you have a huge crowd of people coming over, and are SURE there won't be leftovers. This is because, from my experience, once you make this, you'll find no reason why you can't eat breakfast all day long, and any time of day. So please be careful.Then proceed, with caution, to The Pioneer Woman's post about how to really make Cinnamon toast. It will change your life. But, if you're not careful, it will also change your waistline....for the worse.

Most delicious cinnamon toast EVER

Freakishly low caloire muffins

These are pretty tasty muffins. They're moist and healthy, and have a good banana and berry flavor. I really like them for breakfast. I mixed them up using ingredients I had, and froze all the extras. They're great for a healthy breakfast before a long hard day. I also sliced them in half, and toasted them. They're GREAT toasted with jam.


Banana Blueberry Bran Muffins
I got this recipe from chowdiva, which I haven't been able to find online since. Which sucks, because I found a couple of good recipes there. And when I say ridiculously low calorie, I mean it. about 75 calories per muffin, 1 g fat, 10mg sodium, 4 g sugar. Sooo healthy! This recipe makes 19 muffins.

1.5 c. bran
3/4 c. whole wheat flour
1/3 c. oats
1/3 c. ground flax
1 c. mashed ripe banana
1/2 c. milk
1 egg
3 tbs. apple sauce
1/2 c. blueberries (I used frozen cause that's what I had)
1 tbs. honey
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground cloves

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Mix moist ingredients together in mixing bowl
3. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix together until well mixed up.
4. Separate the batter into well greased muffin cups. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until cooked through.

Gimme Pancakes!!

I've probably said this before, but I love breakfast. It gets me up in the morning. In fact, I usually go to bed early at night, so that I can wake up and have breakfast sooner. I also am usually running around like a crazy person in the morning, so a breakfast I don't have to fuss with and watch is perfect for me. (Thus the Veggie Fritatta that you throw in the oven and proceed with your morning, and now this pancake).

That's why I love this pancake recipe. I've seen it called Oven-Puffed pancake, or Finnish pancake. All I know is that its delicious, and turns out perfectly with zero fussing and watching. All you need is the very simple batter, a 8" cake pan all Pamed up, and some pancake toppings.

PERFECT OVEN PANCAKE
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup skim milk
2 tbs. sugar
1 large egg
1 egg white

1) Whip up all the ingredients in a bowl.
2) Pour into greased cake pan
3) Bake at 425 degrees for 18 minutes or until golden (the pancake will probably puff up like a balloon. COOL)
4) Top with your favorite pancake toppings and LOVE YOUR FUN PANCAKE BREAKFAST

I got excited with the toppings. I used cinnamon, powdered sugar, and some pure maple syrup. God, I love pancakes :-)

this one time, I had veggies for breakfast

Lately, I've had a little problem with breakfast food. The problem being, that I love it. Oatmeal, pancakes, waffles, eggs, muffins, cereal, fruit....Breakfast gets me out of bed. I pretty much rotate three types: egg dishes, oatmeal, yogurt parfaits. Of course there are zillions of variations of each, so my breakfast is really quite varied.

I also eat breakfast at any time of day. These days, I eat Oatmeal Squares all day long. Its starting to be a problem. Like a "hello my name is Katie, and I'm an addict" type problem.

Before I had this little Oatmeal Squares problem, I made this fantastically easy and delicious frittata. I found the inspiration on runnersworld.com in Mark Bittman's column. I doctored it up to add more variety and make it even healthier. Oh, and I changed the serving prescription from four to one :-) It is really necessary that you try it. Its a GREAT breakfast.

Yummy Easy Veggie Frittata
About a Tbs. fresh chopped onion
Salt and Black Pepper
4-6 C. Spinach and Sliced Mushrooms
5 egg whites
Pam
Basil
1/4 C. Fresh grated Parmesan cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 350 and Pam a pie tin. Add the 5 egg whites, plus salt and pepper. Set aside.
2. Saute the onions and mushrooms until both are tender. Add spinach and basil and saute until the spinach collapses. Sprinkle into pan of egg whites, making sure the veggies are evenly distributed. Top with Parmesan cheese.
3. Bake for about 15 minutes, until eggs reach desired state of done-ness and Parmesan is melted.
4. Enjoy your healthy breakfast deliciousness!!Mmmmmm. Delicious eggy, cheesy, veggie-y fritatta. YUM!