Oatmeal & Banana Pancakes

So, I have been eating pretty healthy lately.  Although I have made a few mistakes (occasional pop being my weakness), I think I have been getting a hang of eating well! I will say, it does take extra time to pack your lunch in the morning and to make some of the food that you need to pack; but it is so worth it!  I have been allowing myself to one "whatever" meal per week and after that meal I usually don't feel all that great.  Eating well and eating good food will make a world of difference.
So, since I have been eating healthy, eggs and fruit has been my breakfast of choice for the past few weeks.  Eggs get old. Fast. Really fast! So I found this pancake recipe online and decided to give it a try - anything but eggs!

1/2 cup instant oatmeal
4 egg whites
1 really, really ripe banana, mashed
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 Tablespoons of applesauce
pinch of salt (I omitted this... kind of by accident) ha!
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 tablespoon of water, milk, or juice - I used milk

The directions are simple: Mix everything together in a bowl and cook up like a pancake!! I tried adding some frozen strawberries on the first pancake, but I was not a fan, probably because I generally do not like frozen strawberries unless they are in smoothie form!

I was a bit skeptical while I was standing there waiting for the batter to cook.  But it was worth a try! Anything but eggs. After about a 7 minute wait - these things are thick - I placed the hot pancake on my plate and dug in!

I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't all that bad!! It was actually pretty good, and a great change from eating eggs!! The only thing that I would tweak a little from last time is that I may add a bit more cinnamon or vanilla.  It was very tempting to put something on them, like syrup, just because that is the norm in eating pancakes.  So because I did not add syrup, I felt like it was lacking that extra kick!  But they were MUCH better than eggs! Ha.
I would love to hear what you think about them! Give them a try and let me know what you think!! Good luck!

Homemade Biscuits

Have you ever bought something prepackaged or frozen from the store, made it at home, and thought to yourself, "these are wayyyy better homemade!" Well, that is always the case with me and biscuits! There is nothing quite the same as homemade biscuits (as with just about anything prepackaged).
I love waking up in the morning and having fresh biscuits with various jellies, eggs, and bacon.... Although not extremely healthy by any means, it conquers the morning better than any fast food restaurant!
Here's my favorite recipe for biscuits that my mom has been making us for so many years!

Ingredients
2 Cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
6 Tablespoons shortening
2/3 cup of milk

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit
2. Combine all of the dry ingredients into a bowl and mix thoroughly.
3. Cut shortening into flour mixture until well-combined and crumbly (picture below).
4. Slowly add the milk into the mixture until it becomes a desired rolling consistency.
5. Flour counter surface and rolling pin; Then dumb out dough onto surface and roll out dough.  Roll out to about 1/2 inch thickness.  Then, using a circular shaped cookie cutter (or biscuit cutter), cut out biscuits and place on an ungreased cookie sheet or baking stone.
6. Bake for about 10-12 minutes in a 450 degree oven; Until the tops are brown.
7. Enjoy!

These are super simple to make and do not require a bunch of time!! I can tell you that they are way better than the prepackaged biscuits and maybe a bit healthier too!! I hope you enjoy them!!

The Egg & I - Breakfast and Lunch

Hello! So I'm curious, how many people actually go out to breakfast on a regular basis? I BARELY ever go out for breakfast. One, because it's too early and I don't like talking to people before 9am.  Two, because I generally eat the same thing for breakfast and don't like to break routine! Ha.
But, this past week I did break both of my rules and headed out to breakfast with a few people!  I really wanted to try out this new restaurant that popped up around my house and was excited to have somewhere else besides Village Inn.  So, my companions and I headed out to The Egg & I for breakfast!  I was excited to try out a new place!
As we walked in, I was a little surprised at how quickly we were able to get seated.  It was a Saturday morning and I thought it would be a long wait.  But I was pretty impressed that we got in right away!  As we sat down and began looking through the menu I realized two things: #1 - Almost everything on the menu had some form of an egg in its dish.... and #2 - The restaurant is called EGG & I.... So why wouldn't it?? (My cousin made fun of me for wondering why there wasn't much to choose from besides eggs.)  Anyways, there were probably literally only 5 dishes that did not contain eggs.  I was expecting them to offer cinnamon rolls, breakfast rolls, or crepes; but the only options without eggs were literally, two choices of pancakes and a few choices of waffles!
I guess after eating at Village Inn, IHop, and Panera, I was expecting their menu to offer more choices.  But, I have always heard that the less restaurants offer, the better they are at creating their dishes because there is less that they have to experts at!
So, I ordered the strawberry and banana waffle with whipped cream and bacon on the side! I know, no eggs for me!  I just feel like if I order eggs at a restaurant I could easily just make them myself at home! I know, I'm strange.



Needless to say, it was very delicious!!! I was pretty impressed.  I also like the fact that all of their waffles are whole wheat waffles! That makes it a bit more healthy for me, as the customer!
This restaurant has the nice homey feel that almost anyone would enjoy!  It is a very kid-friendly restaurant that is not quiet by any means.  It was busy on the Saturday morning that I went!
I will say that although the food was good, it was a bit pricey.  I think it was about $13 for my meal in total, with a water.  Although it was nice not to have to cook my own meal, it is something that I could have made at home without too much effort.
I will definitely go back here when I go out again for breakfast sometime!  I would like to try their lunch menu sometime because I have a feeling it would be good, quality food!  I would also like to see what the atmosphere is like on a non-weekend day.
If you have any questions or comments about this restaurant, lemme know!
Here's the link to their restaurant, enjoy!

http://www.theeggandirestaurants.com/

Cinnamon Swirl Pancakes

Good Morning people! Summer is BACK! Well, at least for a few days...
So usually I'm a routine-type person; I eat the same thing practically every morning for breakfast (soy milk with Bran cereal and a banana) and usually the same exact thing for lunch everyday as well (Tuna and Natural Cheetos with a greek yogurt), just in case you were wondering, Ha!  I know, it may sound boring to you; but dinner is my mix-up time! This morning however, I was craving something different.  So I decided to try a new recipe!

I originally found this recipe through Pinterest but did not use the whole recipe and tweaked it a bit.  Here is the original recipe that I found, note that their pictures look way better too!  
http://www.number-2-pencil.com/2012/06/25/sour-cream-cinnamon-roll-pancakes-with/ 

Here are the ingredients/directions if you want to try and make them yourself!

Cinnamon Sugar Filling

4 tablespoons of melted butter
1/4 cup of firmly packed dark brown sugar 

2 tablespoons of sugar
1 teaspoon of cinnamon

1. Combine all of the ingredients for the filling in a bowl and mix well.

2. After mixing, pour into a sealable plastic baggie and allow to sit a cool a bit while mixing up the pancake batter.

Pancakes

1 cup of all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons of sugar
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt
1 cup of sour cream
1/4 cup of milk
4 tablespoons of melted butter
1 egg, lightly beaten

1. Combine all ingredients for the pancakes in order of the list.

2. Mix very well together.

3. Heat a griddle or non-stick pan on the stove and begin to cook like you would regular pancakes.

4.  Before flipping the pancakes, cut one of the corners of off your cinnamon filling bag and swirl on top of the pancake.  

5.  When you flip over the pancake, the cinnamon filling will cook and harden a bit.

6. Finish cooking thoroughly and enjoy!

Mine definitely did not turn out as pretty as hoped.  But it was the first try and a test!  The flavor of these pancakes were really good, although they were very, very rich!! They were almost too buttery/sugary for me and I could only handle two.  The original recipe calls for a glaze on top, but I couldn't imagine putting anything else sweet on top of these pancakes.  

They were very good overall! I would probably make them again, or I would make the cinnamon glaze and put that into my regular pancake recipe next time I make it.

As for tomorrow's breakfast... Well, I'm sure you can guess what it's going to be! 

Happy Eating!

Favorite Pancakes

I bet every single one of you has a favorite pancake; you know what I'm talking about?... Either it was the time you went out for breakfast and you were absolutely STARVING and demolished a whole stack of pancakes; or maybe you still have those pancakes in mind that your grandmother used to make you when you were little.  Whatever the case, pancakes are next in line to eggs for the top spot on the breakfast food's list!

This is one of my favorite traditional pancake recipes; No weird ingredients are required, they are simple and quick; and pretty good too!  Give them a try and let me know what you think!

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 beaten egg

1 cup milk

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Directions:

1. Mix all of the ingredients together!

2. Cook in a hot, greased pan or pancake griddle as you would with any other pancake recipe!

3. Enjoy!

As I said, simple!  When I make myself pancakes, I like to add chocolate chips or blueberries in mine!  Sometimes I even add both together!  Who wouldn't want to start their day out with chocolate!?

Bon appetit!    

(As you can tell, there is a big blueberry right in the center!)