Pancakes make Mondays better

Monday is always the longest day of the week and what better way to end Monday then with buttermilk pancakes for dinner (plus, I had 2/3 of a carton of buttermilk expiring in 3 days that I didn’t want to waste). I’ve said this a million times to y’all, but it’s true; breakfast is my favorite meal, especially breakfast for dinner. I can’t help it! Seriously, blame my parents. We had breakfast for dinner quite often growing up. We even went through a stage in our house where we had pancakes at least once a week for what seemed like an eternity as a kid. When I got into high school I actually went more than 5 years without eating a single pancake because I was so sick of them! haha

Besides a few all-you-can-eat pancake meals over the course of college at Ihop, I can’t remember the last time I made or ate homemade pancakes. Since I don’t have a ‘favorite’ recipe for pancakes, I found a recipe on Food Network’s website and tweaked it to my tastes and what I had in my pantry. The original recipe was for Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes, which sound delicious, but I wasn’t in the mood for blueberries, so I nixed those little blue babies from the recipe. Also, I did not have any baking powder, nor did the closest supermarket – how a supermarket does not have baking powder, I do not know. Seriously, it’s a baking essential. Anyway, I didn’t have any cream of tartar either to make up for it, so I added just a little more baking soda to the recipe and it actually turned out fine. I also added a little vanilla to give my pancakes a little extra flavor. Seeing as I completely changed the leavening components of these pancakes and I believe I made them infinitely better tasting, I have decided that they should be renamed after me! Just kidding, well not really…

Julie’s Buttermilk Pancakes – serves 4 to 6

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 1/4 cup melted butter, plus some for frying
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

In a large bowl sift together the four, sugar, baking soda and salt, see note at bottom*

Beat the eggs with buttermilk, melted butter and vanilla. Combine the dry and the wet ingredients into a lumpy batter, being careful not to over mix.  Heat some butter in a skillet over medium heat. Spoon 1/3 cup of batter into the skillet. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes on each side or until golden brown.

Serve with your favorite pancake toppings! I used fresh strawberries with a pinch of sugar 🙂

*Note: I did not have a sifter (actually my sifter is in Texas with a million other cooking tools I own) so, I did not sift my dry ingredients. My pancakes still turned out fluffy and light.

Three pancakes with strawberries

My pancakes turned out a perfect golden brown color. They were more oval-shaped than round, but that’s what I get for trying to squeeze three good-size pancakes into a 10 inch frying pan! I felt a little guilty about eating three of them, but considering I don’t like syrup on my pancakes (I know, I’m weird) I figured I could afford to eat an extra one!

After making these, I thought that they would taste really good with some coarsely chopped walnuts and sliced bananas mixed into the batter.  Or I could just add some cinnamon to them! All I know is that I’ve got some left over batter in the fridge, so I will be experimenting later this week with some specialty pancakes. Once you find a good pancake batter recipe there are endless possibilities as to what you can add into your pancakes.

Try these out and don’t be afraid to make them your own.

Day 18: Fried Egg, Avocado, Bacon and Tomato Sandwich

I’m sure you have realized by now that at least once a week I eat breakfast (i.e. eggs) for dinner. I honestly would probably do it much more often than that, but I’m sure y’all would get tired of reading about it and that wouldn’t really fit into the premise of the Pinterest Project.

For Day 18 of the Pinterest Project, I am making a Fried Egg, Avocado, Bacon and Tomato Sandwich, or as I like to call it a Fried Egg BAT. When I originally repinned this to my ‘recipe’ board, I didn’t realize that I was just repinning a picture and not a link to an actual recipe. Luckily the name of this sandwich speaks for itself, so it wasn’t too hard to wing it.

Fried Egg BAT

Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• 2 slices of bread (I used Ezekiel 4:9 whole wheat bread)
• 1 slicing or beefsteak tomato
• 2 pieces of bacon or turkey bacon (I opted for the lighter turkey bacon)
• 1/4 of an avocado
• salt and pepper to taste
• non-stick cooking spray or 1 tsp olive oil

Directions:

Cook bacon according to packaging. [I had 2 pieces of leftover turkey bacon for the other night, so I just reheated that in a frying pan for a few minutes.] Toast 2 pieces of bread in toaster and set aside on plate.

Starting at one end of the tomato, cut 2 or 3 slices off about 1/4 inch thick. Discarding end piece and set aside slices. Cut avocado in half and put away the half with the seed for use another day. Peel remaining half of avocado and slice. You’ll only need about 4 thin slices.

[Look at that avocado below! I have the hardest time finding ripe avocados in NY, so I was super excited when I picked this baby up today! There’s nothing better than a perfectly ripe avocado :)]

Heat frying pan on medium and spray with cooking spray or put olive oil in pan. Crack egg into pan and cook until desired doneness. [I personally like my fried eggs over easy.]  On one piece of toast, layer turkey bacon and fried egg and layer tomato slices and avocado on the other slice of toast. Salt and Pepper as desired.

Close the sandwich up and enjoy!

I know I say this a lot about, but this recipe was really good! I mean, I guess it should be since I’m picking out recipes that I would want to eat! I’m a pretty picky eater, but I at least know what I like. This sandwich was a little messy because of the juice from the tomato and the yolk, but it was totally worth it. The toast was a little more done than I typically like, but overall it was really good.

If you cook the bacon in advance, then you could make this for a quick breakfast before work! Plus, it’s relatively healthy. You’ve got your protein from the turkey bacon and egg, good kind of fat from the avocado slices, carbs from the whole wheat bread and some tomato slices for your veggies. I’d say this sandwich is way better than any breakfast sandwich you’re going to get from a fast food place!

One bite in and it was so good!!!! Try it, you’ll love it!

P.S. My abs are like seriously burning from yesterday’s 300 workout. I definitely need to incorporate that routine into my weekly workout schedule. If you didn’t see yesterday’s post, you can read about it here.

Day 13: Mexican Egg Skillet

Last night as I was typing this blog, my internet stopped working and wouldn’t work for the rest of the evening, so sorry for the delay in posting!

It’s day 13 of the Pinterest Project and I’m making Mexican Egg Skillet for dinner! As I told y’all last week I love eggs, so I’m really excited about trying this recipe and eating some eggs tonight for dinner. I did make a few changes to the original recipe to give it my own flavor and fit my tastes! This recipe is adapted from the Mexican Egg Skillet recipe found on the blog “Pennies on a Platter.” If you look at the original recipe, then you’ll see the changes that I made.

Mexican Egg Skillet – serves one

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp Olive Oil
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1/4 cup chopped tomato
• 2 eggs
• 1/8 cup grated cheese
• 1 tortilla (corn or four)
• Adobo seasoning, to taste
• salt and pepper, to taste
• Salsa (I always use Pace Picante)

Directions:

Heat oil in skillet over medium heat. Sautee onions for 3-4 minutes until golden brown. Add tomatoes and cook until tender. Season with Adobo, salt and pepper.

Push veggies to the side of the skillet to make room for the eggs. Crack two eggs into the skillet and cook until desired doneness. I cooked mine for 6-7 minutes until the egg white was completely set. Sprinkle the shredded cheese over the eggs and vegetables. Cover the skillet with a lid for 1-2 minutes until cheese is melted. Serve over a tortilla and top with salsa, if desired.

As you can see from the above picture, I also added some salt and pepper to the top of my eggs before adding the cheddar cheese. I was really glad that my eggs didn’t become scorched considering I cooked them without flipping them for so long!

I loved the way I changed up this recipe. I served it up with a side of spanish rice and it was amazing. I literally was making noises while eating this meal because I loved it so much. It was like a veggie breakfast taco but with sunny side up eggs instead of scrambled. Seriously though, I was  saying ‘mmmm’ the entire time I was eating this. I was being ridiculous! But look at that food, how could you not love it??! Try it, you’ll be glad you did, especially if you like breakfast!

Day 10: Migas

Today is officially day 10 of the Pinterest Project, one day late that is. For those of you who are regular readers, I skipped a day yesterday. I know I shouldn’t have, but this past week was very tiring, and I needed a day to just relax. Plus, I read almost 250 pages of Mockingjay, so creating something was one of the last things on my mind. Tonight before bed, I’ll finish the last 40 pages of Mockingjay, but you’ll hear about that tomorrow.

Migas are on today’s menu. These aren’t just any Migas though, they’re my Migas that I posted to Pinterest. Coming from Texas I LOVE TexMex and Migas is one of my favorite brunch items to eat. They’re really easy to make and they have one of my favorite ingredients in them – eggs!

Migas with Turkey Bacon (makes 2 servings)

Ingredients:

• 5 eggs
• 4 pieces of Turkey Bacon
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 2 tortillas (flour or corn) cut into 1 inch pieces
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Splash of Milk
• 1/4 cup grated cheese
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

In a frying pan, cook Turkey Bacon as directed on packaging. When fully cooked, remove from pan onto a paper towel lined plate. [I had 6 pieces of Turkey Bacon left, so I ended up just cooking all of them because they were about to expire, but only 4 are used in the Migas.]

In same pan heat 1 tablespoon of oil over medium-low heat. Add onions, salt and pepper to taste and cook until browned and translucent (about 4-5 minutes). When fully cooked, remove onions from pan and set aside.

 In same pan, add remaining olive oil and cook tortilla pieces until they are brown and crispy (about 4-5minutes). I used four tortillas, but you can use corn as well.

Whisk together eggs and the splash of milk into a separate bowl. If you don’t have milk, you can use water – both of these help make the eggs fluffier. Break the bacon into smaller pieces and add bacon pieces and onions to the egg mixture. Pour egg mixture over tortilla pieces and cook until the egg has set.

 Once eggs are done, divide onto two plates and top with shredded cheese. I also like to add salsa to the top of my Migas. Pace Picante is some of my favorite salsa to eat on eggs and that’s what I added! Add some hash browns or home fries and you’ve got a TexMex brunch!

I was only able to eat like 4 of my fries before I was just too full! These Migas are some of my favorite things to cook! They are so tasty and amazing! Try them out and you’ll love them!

Day 6: 100 calories of goodness

Before I begin talking about what I made for the Pinterest Project today, can I just say that I am 100% truly addicted to the Hunger Games series?? I started it over the weekend and finished the first book Sunday morning. Yesterday after work I went to Barnes and Noble and bought the other two books because I was so eager to find out what happened to Katniss and Peeta. I ended up staying up late and reading about 150 pages into the second book and it’s getting better with each twist and turn. I have to admit that when I woke up this morning, I was exhaust because I had one fo the worst sleeps ever. All I could dream about was the Hunger Games! Seriously it was amazing, but awful and all day at work, all I thought about was the book. On that note, one of my co-workers sent this to me and I thought it was hilarious, so I thought y’all might enjoy it as well. And don’t get me wrong, I love Twilight too, but the Hunger Games is just on a completely different level!

Now onto the real reason I wrote this post…

So, if you know me, then you know that one of the things I absolutely LOVE to eat is eggs! I can eat eggs for 2, even 3 meals a day…seriously I’m addicted. And I love all types of eggs…hard boiled, soft, scrambled…you name it, I’ll eat it. Eating eggs for dinner though is by far one of my favorite things in the world to do. I love breakfast for dinner! For day 6 of the Pinterest Project I decided to make 100 calories of goodness i.e. baked eggs! I repinned this from the ‘The Simple Delights’  blog, but I changed up the ingredients a little bit as I am not a big ham eater and I didn’t want to make 12 baked eggs. So, below is my recipe for baked eggs.

Baked eggs in a Turkey cup – 1 serving

Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• 1 thin slice of deli turkey meat
• 1 pinch of shredded cheese
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Spray a muffin tin with cooking spray or grease with olive oil. Lay piece of turkey into one of the holes creating a cup. Crack one egg onto the turkey slice and then salt and pepper to taste. Bake the egg in the oven for 12 minutes or until the egg white sets. Carefully remove the egg from the muffin tin and top with a pinch of shredded cheese. Serve immediately and enjoy!

I ended up making 2 baked egg cups for myself for dinner and then best part of this was that each cup I made was only about 100 calories! I used Sara Lee turkey which was only 12.5 calories per slice and natural eggs from Trader Joe’s. Those added with a pinch of cheese and I’m looking at about 100 calories of goodness! I loved this recipe so much and it was so easy to make, that I will definitely be making this on a regular basis for a quick breakfast or dinner! I actually even left my muffin tin out so I can make one again tomorrow for breakfast!!! Can we say already addicted? Yes.