Cooking Baking Eating

My dear friend Marcy is a nutritionist, so I figure for the most part she’s a good influence on me when it comes to food. But I think that just comes with the territory of her job and her lovable hippy nature.

Once when we went to visit her and her husband, she mentioned making waffles with this recipe that involved buckwheat groats and steel cut oatmeal. It’s supposed to be for pancakes, but she was on a waffle kick and it still worked fine. She liked it because it’s supposed to be really nutritious and also the added bonus of being gluten free. Not that gluten is really a worry for her, but it still made her happy all the same.

After I heard about several of my friends having to change their diets to exclude gluten I asked her for the recipe, I figured it would be fun for me to try something gluten free, and then I could share it with those I care about! I thought finding buckwheat groats would be difficult, but they had them in the bulk section of my local store, yippee! Read more »

I would say my husband thinks I’m crazy, but in reality he already knows I’m crazy and to him this is just more proof.

I hadn’t tried a fried egg until earlier this year. I know. I must have lived such a sheltered life of only eating scrambled eggs. It wasn’t really sheltered though, more like stubborn and picky. I thought the yolk thing would be nasty, all oozy and gelatinous coming out of my eggs. But one day I got a wild hair to eat a fried egg like my dad used to make them for my sister and himself every Sunday.

When I finally made it, I was beside myself with glee. I couldn’t believe I had gone so long without trying this ooey gooey deliciousness.

I started eating them every day for breakfast. Usually over a slice of toast that I could use to soak up all of the yolk-y deliciousness. But then I had a craving for rice.

Yep, rice.

Read more »

Alright, early mornings are high on the “life sucks” list. I’ve been making due and actually got back in the kitchen for once. And even know I have to get up at the un-crack of dawn (my alarm goes off at 3:20am, ick) you still have to eat. So I’ve been trying to figure out easy and quick ways to have breakfast in the morning that still tastes good. Something I can make while still half asleep.

These pancakes really hit the mark on the tasty factor, plus they are high in fiber for sure! I don’t think they are really high in protein and I know they aren’t low fat, but they aren’t too bad for you.

I can’t eat wheat germ or a lot of nuts or seeds, I seem to have a skin “allergy” that makes me break out if I have any of those. But from what I can tell, I seem to have with no problem is oats. So now everything I eat has oats in it. I especially love the granola in the mornings but I’ve been getting a little burned out by it. Read more »

I’m strange. I admit it.

I like trying to make something that I have never ever tried. Most of the time I try to make something because its something my DH loves, but then its sometimes where I think “Mmmmm… this could be good…” and do it anyways.

A little bit of soul cooking, a little bit of curiosity, and a whole lot of making a mess. Examples of this include Mac and Cheese, Banana Pancakes, and Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas. Most of the time there isn’t much of a recipe, just going for it. Mac and Cheese had one mostly because I had never made a white sauce before. It was only loosely followed…

So I decided to do something strange, and stuff my french toast. I never had it before, but I was craving it.

Read more »

I can’t eat normal cereal you buy at the store.

Technically I can eat it, I do have teeth and all, but I can’t eat it because of the sugar content. I don’t have any medical reason for being sensitive to sugar (I just have a physical to make sure) but the only thing we can think of is because I gave up drinking soda over a year ago my taste buds and body are now used to having less sweetness and when I do have sweet its real sugar.

If you cut out as much fake sugar you can, your body will much love it. Plus you then can actually realize what your body is going through when you eat real sugar, and you tend to eat less of it also.

So of course in my neurotic foodie tendencies I decided to make my own.

Read more »

I’ve wanted to make great pancakes forever. I mean really great pancakes that you can’t get enough of and absolutely must have every single day.

I haven’t quite got there, but I’ve gotten pretty darn close to it. I’ve made pancakes with banana, milk, everything but the actual ingredient that I SHOULD have used.

Buttermilk. Read more »

I don’t know why exactly, but I suddenly got the idea to make pancakes. Not just any pancakes, but banana pancakes! I’ve never had or made banana pancakes but it seemed like a great way to have a sweet pancake without adding a whole lot of sugar to them. The natural sugars from the bananas really come out when you cook them, and you really don’t need syrup.

So off I went into the internet and came upon a very simple recipe for banana pancakes on All Recipes. Lovely. I also had JUST enough flour to make one batch of the pancakes.

I have to say they taste pretty darn good. The texture is SO different from regular pancake. Because of the banana bits it’s rather gooey on the inside, which is not really a bad thing texture wise. I also now have pancakes in the fridge to warm up for breakfast tomorrow!

I want to make them again, but possibly use half whole wheat flour instead of only all-purpose flour. I think that will give them a nice and nutty flavor along with the sweet banana. Not to mention it will give it some extra fiber. I also am thinking of using applesauce instead of the vegetable oil, more fiber and less fat.

This could be one of my favorite sweet breakfasts, paired with some fresh strawberries and powdered sugar.
Read more »

Normally, I’m not that big fan of banana bread. Don’t get me wrong, it’s best when warm, with a little butter and the outside has a little bit of crunch.

The husband loves pretty much anything sweet or covered in chocolate, so in the mode of trying to help our waist lines while still enjoying what we’re eating, I found a great recipe for one of his favorites. Banana bread.

One of the things that really stick out to me in this recipe is that it uses apple sauce to keep it moist and not a whole lot of butter. I changed the recipe around a bit from the original, mainly using half whole wheat flour. One of the reasons this is a great trick is it keeps you fuller for longer. Eat two muffins and you feel full and satisfied for hours.

One of the things to note about this recipe is that it definitely does need to rest before going into the oven. Usually the time it takes for the oven to preheat is enough time for the batter to relax a bit before baking. If it doesn’t rest, then it sometimes can have a rubbery outside to it, and not the soft yet crunchy that we all love. Read more »