Tag Archives: Breakfast

Put a Ring on It Blueberry Pancake

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Most pancake recipes are meant to feed groups of 4-6.  That means you can cut it in half but it still makes enough to feed 2 or 3.  I don’t know about you but I’m not a fan of leftovers (although they happen a lot).

But a few days ago I stumbled across a pancake that even Beyonce (you knew it was coming!  I’m obsessed) could appreciate

Obviously, as I always do, I changed the recipe.  This one is healthier, pretty darn tasty… and perfect for one.

Really, you shouldn’t need someone else to have a delicious breakfast.  Be I-N-D-E-P-E-N-D-E-N-T

Single ladies like pancakes too, especially blueberry pancakes.

One huge blueberry pancake.

Put a Ring on It Blueberry Pancake

inspired by Joy the Baker’s Single Lady Pancake

1/3 cup + 1 tbsp whole wheat pastry flour
1 tbsp oats
1 tbsp powdered sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp milk (or soymilk or veganify!)
dribble of vanilla
handful of blueberries
1/2 banana, sliced

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl,  add milk and vanilla and stir together.  Heat a greased pan.  Pour in batter, sprinkle with some blueberries then put a lid on it and let it cook for a few minutes.  Flip and cook for an additional minute or two.  Top with more blueberries,  1/2 a sliced banana and syrup of choice.

Because I’m cheap with calories and money, I made my fabulous yogurt syrup concoction: 1/4 cup plain greek yogurt + 1 tbsp real maple syrup + 1 tbsp water.

I feel like my day is already starting off better than yesterday.  Have a wonderful Friday!!

P.S. I just rewatched the Single Ladies video (you probably should too).  How do I get Beyonce’s legs???!?!?!?!?

Waffles: Round 2

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Waffles seem to go well with the World Cup, especially when I want the team to win.

I have a special place in my heart for the Argentine national team.  I was in Argentina for the 2006 World Cup.

I promise I was actually having fun!

Today!  This guy scored 3 of the 4 goals!

Like last week, there were waffles.

Except this time, I watched from my little computer with Spanish commentators.  With a total of 5 goals scored in throughout the game that means at least an entire minute of them shouting “GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!!!” Univision does it right!

and with this lovely lady

That’s Sara.  She’s pretty.  She’s enjoying banana waffles.

Banana Waffles

2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
1 3/4 cup water
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 very ripe banana, mashed
coconut oil (few tablespoons)
2 eggs

Combine all the dry ingredients.  Mash banana and put in 1/2 cup measuring cup, fill remainder of measuring cup with coconut oil (should be about a tbsp or two).  Add banana, oil, water and eggs to flour mixture and combine.  Place in a hot waffle iron and cook for about 5 minutes.  Makes 3 fat Belgian Waffles.

Ahh! Need to get some work done before my 2:30 date with the gym TV to watch France vs Mexico.  France better lose.

Also, NBA finals game 7 tonight.

Oh my goodness.  I’ve watched more sporting events in the past week than I have all year.

You a sports fan?

World Cup Waffles

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This morning I packed up some stuff to have some waffles with my world cup

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I ran across the street to watch the first game, Mexico vs South Africa, with this fella

That’s Daniele.  He’s pretty.

He also made a bet that South Africa wouldn’t win a single game…reason enough for me to betray the latinos and root for South Africa.  They tied.  I can be happy with that.

So while I watched in rather agitated fashion, I enjoyed this:

Rhubarb Waffles

adapted from Eating Well’s Rhubarb Waffles

5 stalks of rhubarb (cut into 1/4 inch pieces)
1 cup sugar
1 1/4 cup milk
1 1/2 tbsp oil
1 tsp vanilla
3 egg whites
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 tbsp baking powder
3 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt

In a pot, combine rhubarb and sugar.  Cook for about 10 minutes or until rhubarb is tender.  Remove 1 cup of rhubarb and set aside.  Continue to cook the rest of the rhubarb for another 5-10 minutes, until rhubarb breaks down and thickens.

Combine remaining ingredients and reserved rhubarb to make the batter.  Cook in a heated waffle iron for about 10 minutes.   Serve with rhubarb sauce.

This made 4 fat waffles and wayyyy more sauce than necessary.

Thanks Liz for letting us borrow your waffle iron!!

Okay I’m off to burn off some of these waffle calories.  Have a great day!

Quinoa Granola

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Breakfast this morning was inspired by Heather.  A few days ago I saw her post on quinoa granola and after yesterday’s quinoa breakfast, I knew I had to try it ASAP!

I had mind with greek yogurt and a sliced banana.

Seriously. Best homemade breakfast I’ve ever had!  That’s saying a lot!

I tweeked her version a bit. Here’s my recipe for a single serving:

Coconut Quinoa Granola

inspired by Quinoa Granola

1/4 cup uncooked quinoa
1 tbsp flax
1 tbsp unsweetened coconut
1 tbsp agave
cinnamon

Rinse the quinoa.  Combine all the ingredients and spread on a baking sheet.  Bake at 375 degrees for 10-15 mins, stirring occasionally.

This was all sorts of delicious!  The whole meal also had about 20g of protein!  Kept me full for a pretty long time (5 hours?).

Definitely recommend it.

Ugh too much to read tonight!  Have a good one!

Yellow Cupcakes with Chocolate Icing and Other Delicious Eats

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I baked last night! I used Pioneer Woman‘s Recipe for Yellow Cupcakes with Sticky Chocolate Icing.

Oh

My

Goodness

These may be the best things I’ve ever made, solely based on the icing.  I messed it up a little and used too much sweetened condensed milk and not enough chocolate so it ended up a bit saucy.   Which meant it was perfect for drizzling on popcorn…

My roommate enjoyed!

Along with splitting one with me.  Need to make sure they’re safe to eat after all.

This morning after a rockin’ workout, I dug through the fridge looking for breakfast.  I wasn’t in the mood for oatmeal (gasp) since it was 71 degrees this morning!  Instead, I found some quinoa that needed to be consumed and decided to experiment:

Greek Yogurt + Banana + Quinoa + Ground Flax + Cinnamon = Delicious!

It was particularly amazing with sips of coffee, which leads me to believe it would be delicious to try this but cooking the quinoa in coffee to give it that flavor.  I’ll give that a try at some point and let you know how it goes.

Then I went to class and got my study on.  Remember my to do list from yesterday?  Here’s my progress:

  • Finish Reading Good Governance in the Tropics (self imposed deadline: today… hmm might not happen, 90 50 pgs left)
  • Reading for Urban Transformations in the Global South (need to be done tonight, 3 of 5 readings done so far… Africa makes me sad…)
  • Reading response for above mentioned readings (by tonight at midnight)
  • Readings for Urban Spatial Theory (err… might not get to these)
  • Term Paper on Good Governance book mentioned above (due Tuesday Thursday, no idea what to write about… good governance?)
  • Econ problem set due Thursday (luckily almost done)
  • Methods problem set (basically kicking my butt, spent 4 hours on it Sunday only to do 1.5 questions out of 5… meeting with study group tonight, due Monday)

4 out of 7 things done!  Woo!  Also my paper has been extended and is now due Thursday! Super excited!  I’m actually surprised at how much lower my stress level is now as compared to a month ago.  I guess the changes I’ve made in life have been really helpful!   How are you all holding up with stress?

Back to food…

I came home after class and was pretty much starving.  While this morning I had planned to make a peanut stew (a la stew in a jar), all I really wanted was a HUGE salad.  So I started with a layer of spinach and romaine mixed together, added some sliced cucumber, one piece of artichoke heart and some wheatberries and topped it with some dressing.

Then, the exciting part…

I added a poached egg, because let’s be realistic, everything tastes better with a good runny yolk.

My meal ended with another amazing combo: toast + cottage cheese + jam + flax

Aaaamazing!

Now I’m ready to read more, catch up on blogland (don’t think I’ve looked at the internet today!) and watch the episode of Lost that I missed last night!  Hope you all have a fab night!

P.S.  I was sent this NY Times Article about people who take pictures of food by at least 3 people today… I thought it was cute that some friends thought of me when they saw food photography.  Anyone else see this article and smile?

April Will be AAAAmazing!

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Happy April Everyone!

I hate April Fool’s Day!  Sorry to be a scrooge (what? wrong holiday?), but I won’t even pretend to be pregnant or dropping out of school or anything of that shocking sort.  Are you a fan of April Fool’s Day??

Today has starting out wonderfully!!

Reason #1: It’s SUNNY out and there is going to be a high of 78!!!!

Check out the sunshine radiating from my fire escape!!

See Lauren‘s post on Vitamin D

Reason #2: Amazing oats in my new bowl! Isn’t it cute?

My oats may not be as fancy as some, but my oat + banana +yogurt + almond butter combo is the best thing on Earth to me!  Case in point:

Reason #3:  Delicious lunch!

At Allie‘s suggestion I had a tempeh + pumpkin butter + spinach sandwich.  Yes there is tempeh and pumpkin butter amongst that mountain of spinach.

OMG delicious!  Try it!  Even better than yesterday’s sandwich!

Reason #4: Yesterday I got Mad Men season 3 arrived in the mail.  Thus I can continue my love/hate relationship with Don Draper.

Reason #5: Class was outside today!  I got to argue with someone, which is fun because usually it’s a huge group of people sitting around agreeing with each other.

Reason #6: Fantastic work out this morning!  It flew by!  I did 4 miles on the T-Mill while watching Tyra Banks’ E! True Hollywood Story.  I love trash TV!

So I’m posting this later than expected but today has been a great day so far!  To be honest, I’m not sure how much work I’m going to get done the rest of the day, but I’m a happy camper!

Hope your day has been as pleasant as mine!!

Tomorrow is Friday!!! WOO!

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

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I hate letting food go to waste.  Yesterday’s zucchini was starting to mold and the bok choy was turning yellow but I still used them.

I have a sizable container of ricotta leftover from my Eggplant Parmesan.  I don’t want it to go bad, so I’m trying to figure out ways to incorporate it.  On Friday, I spread some on my sandwich… delicious.  Today, I thought… pancakes… It’s Sunday, why not?  Thus…

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

adapted from Bobby Flay’s Recipe

1/3 cup, heaping of whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp cardamom powder, optional
pinch of salt
1/2 cup of ricotta
1/3 cup milk
zest + juice of half a lemon
1 tbsp agave
coconut oil

Combine the dry ingredients in one bowl, the wet ingredients in another bowl.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix to combine.

Add some coconut oil to a skillet/griddle/pan, melt on low heat.  Add 1/4 cup of batter for each pancake, cover with a lid/foil.  Once you see the pancakes get “holey” on one side, flip them over and cook for a few more minutes (maybe 2).  These pancakes are pretty delicate so low heat is essential.  These are the varying degrees of heat I used… low is best :)

I got 8 pancakes out of this recipe.  I immediately froze 4 to be reheated in the toaster oven on a rainy day!

I topped my pancakes with some extra lemon zest, shredded coconut and a mixture of greek yogurt and maple syrup (1/4 cup yogurt + 1 tbsp real maple syrup).  DELICIOUS!

O.M.G.

Make these.  Now!

While I say the cardamom is optional on there (Bobby Flay used nutmeg but I thought lemon and cardamom sounded great together), it really makes the recipe that much better.  Cardamom is one of those underused spices in the US that is just amazing in my opinion.  Best ice cream I ever had was Cardamom Ice Cream at Ici in Berkeley. I might venture to say that cardamom is my favorite spice…

Now I’m stuffed and ready to conquer my pile of reading and methods problem set!

Any suggestions on what else to do with my ricotta?

See you next time for Sunday baking!  I’m making a vegan treat tonight!

Have a great Sunday!!

Carrot Cake Oatmeal

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My bananas aren’t ripe :(

I’m a banana fan as I’ve mentioned in the past.  I usually have at least one per day sliced up in my oats or on toast or in a smoothie.  The riper the better!  Today my bananas are just yellow.  While I could have enjoyed it on a piece of toast, I really wanted oatmeal but I try to use really ripe bananas in my oats.  I guess because of the sugar breakdown as they ripen, they’re sweeter when riper?

Point being… my bananas were not quite ready for oats.  Then I remembered Christie‘s Carrot Cake Oat Bran I read about yesterday and decided to recreate my own!

My combo contained:

1/2 cup Bob’s Red Mill 8 Grain Hot Cereal (or oats or oat bran)
1 carrot, finely grated
lots of cinnamon
dash of allspice
squirt of vanilla extract
topped with plain greek yogurt, agave nectar and a few pieces of walnuts

Pretty delicious!  Interesting way to get a veggie in!

Still… nothing beats the creamy sweetness my sliced banana adds to my oats!  I’m going to try this again but next time with a banana as a sweetener instead of agaven nectar!

Thanks for the inspiration, Christie!

Today is another busy day!  Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday!  But something fun…Tonight I’m baking for a faculty/student mixer!  I’m a little concerned because it was advertised as such: “Come mingle with faculty! Enjoy tea and coffee! Savor Karla’s delicious baked goods!” … just a little pressure to make sure it’s great!

See you tonight for some baking!!

Game Face

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Hi all!  Happy Monday!

Thanks for all your supportive comment about my last post!  I really appreciate it.

This morning I woke up feeling on the ball.  I was up at 6:20, had some coffee, packed a lunch and headed to the gym 20 minutes before I usually do.

It felt great to get my work out over with earlier than usual… even though a ridiculous girl kicked me off the elliptical because she had signed up for the one was on after me.  There were 6 other ellipticals open… ridiculous!  Oh well, I didn’t let her get to me!

I wanted a change from plain old oatmeal so this morning I had Oats in a Jar using Bob’s Red Mill Hot Cereal! Delish!

My lunch is packed and ready to go:

Flatbread sandwich with a Morningstar veggie patty, hummus, tomato and kale

Along with some cantaloupe, an apple and a granola bar.

I’ve got my game face on to conquer the work load!

Another tip I didn’t mention: just do it! Get work done and stress will be reduced.  So that’s my goal for today.

Have a wonderful Monday!

P.S. Lovely Fella will be here in 2 days!!!!

Pure Pleasure

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Happy Saturday!!!  How’s your morning been?

I slept in til 8:00am today!  I haven’t slept that late in a long time!

Last night, when I went to the Wegster, I saw a 4-pack of Oikos Caramel Pure Pleasure.  I still had one of the coupons that Stonyfield sent me so I decided to give it a whirl.

This morning, I had a piece of toast with almond butter and a banana, which was delicious.  After I was done, I remembered the caramel oikos…

A little extra protein won’t hurt, right?

When I first opened it, it looked like regular yogurt but in a smaller cup.  I thought hmm… what’s the big deal?

Then I stirred it up to find caramel on the bottom!!

Oooooh goodness!  There’s a reason they call this pure pleasure.  It tasted like I was eating Dulce de Leche!  (Argentina style)

Check out the caramel swirl.  SOOOOO Good!

A bunch of yogurts sell themselves as replacing dessert, but honestly this could most definitely be dessert.  I’m surprised at how much it ACTUALLY tasted like caramel.  Absolutely delicious! Packed full of protein and pretty low cal!

Have you tried Caramel Oikos?

They also have a chocolate flavor that I feel like I need to try now that this caramel one was so good!

My mission for today is to find new running shoes (WOO! No more knee pain… maybe) then go to the gym!  Not too bad if you ask me :)

What are your Saturday plans??