Blueberry Corn Pancakes

Over the weekend when I was doing an inventory of my freezer and fridge, I realized I still had some blueberries left over from when I went to Michigan in July!  When I texted Hannah a picture of my breakfast and said “I used some of the blueberries from Michigan” she said “mine were gone within two weeks!

Sunday morning when I made these pancakes, it was a complete coincidence that blog reader Annalisa sent me this link for a cornbread which she added some blueberries.  I saw on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives a recipe for corn meal blueberry pancakes and it sounded right up my alley.  I don’t particularly like overly sweet breakfasts, and this is the perfect balance of sweet and savory.

Blueberry Cornmeal Pancakes

• this made 8, 1/3 cup batter size pancakes
• 160 calories, .5 fat, 35 carbs, 1.4 fiber and 5 protein per pancake
• adapted from Food o del mundo!

Ingredients:

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl

• 1 Cup Flour
• 1 Cup Cornmeal
• 2 tsp Baking Powder
• 1 tsp Kosher Salt

Mix wet ingredients in another bowl

• 1 1/4 Cup Buttermilk (I used skim milk)
• 2 Eggs (I used 1/2cup of egg whites)
• 1/3 Cup Honey or Sugar (I used sugar)

Combine wet with dry and mix JUST until blended.

Cook in non-stick pan with cooking spray or a little oil over medium heat.

Drop batter by 1/3 spoonfuls – just before you are about to flip them sprinkle the blueberries. This keeps your batter nice and yellow and your blueberries from mucking up your pan too much. About 1 Pint of Blueberries will work for this size recipe.

My secret to fluffy pancakes is to let the batter sit at least 15 minutes to let the baking powder do its magic, you want to see lots of bubbles!

And I have to say, I was kind of skeptical about putting the blueberries on the pancake once I put it in the pan – I thought they would fall out during the flip, but it worked out great – thanks for a great recipe Mary!

My breakfast plate – 2 pancakes and 1/4 cup of sugar free pancake syrup – look at me being all artsy with the syrup bottle!   Breakfast comes in at 340 calories, 1 fat, 73 carbs, 2.8 fiber and 10 protein.

The other day when I was at the gym, I didn’t notice that they had an Expresso bike like they had at my old gym.  You basically choose your distance, you can see yourself on the trail, and there is a pace “ghost” rider who you have to try to beat.  I

t’s been a while since I did it, so I chose a 5.4 mile trail that was called “Moody Ambush.”  The first thing I noticed on the bike?

I was cool with that until I realized that four sections of this trail went on a 30% incline!  Holy cow, it was hard to have to sit the whole time while doing a hill climb!  My goal was to beat the pacer bike by 1 minute . . . I beat it my 3 minutes!

I ended up doing a cool down to bring me to 30 minutes on the bike.  Then I did 5 minutes of abs and 10 minutes of upper body on the machines. 

I loved my lunch yesterday – just a plate full of goodies!  2 ounces of leftover taco meat, mixed with 1 cup baby spinach (boy that really wilts down!), zucchini and red pepper, 1/2 ounce of cheddar cheese, with 1 ounce of chips, a carrot with 2 tablespoons of tzatziki sauce for dipping and grapes for dessert.  Lunch comes in at 432 calories, 15 fat, 51 carbs, 7.6 fiber, and 23 protein.

I texted Tony yesterday afternoon “does chicken parm and risotto sound good for dinner?”  I got the green light .  My MIL was the first one to teach me how to make risotto – and because she loves me, she made it with diced green apples instead of onions.   My spring time version of her risotto is here.

This time, I just went classic – at the end I added frozen peas to Tony’s serving, and I had mine with 1 cup of chopped baby spinach.

Classic Risotto

• makes 4 servings:  319 calories, 9.6 fat, 52 carbs, .1 fiber and 6 protein

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup of risotto rice
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan
• salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil over medium heat.  Add the wine and the rice and cook for 2 minutes.  Adding 1/2 cup of chicken broth at a time, slowly incorporate the liquids.  I heated my broth in the microwave so it was hot, I read somewhere that it makes it go faster, but this still took about 35 minutes from start to finish.  Once all the broth has been incorporated, taste it to make sure the rice is cooked through.  Remove from heat and add butter, Parmesan cheese and salt and pepper to taste.  The broth and cheese were both salty, so I ended up not adding any salt at all.

And believe it or not, Tony and I split one chicken breast for dinner!  This was a 6 ounce breast, but I cut it in half, then pounded it.  I had some extra chicken broth, so I just dipped the chicken in the broth, then into some bread crumbs with 1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese, then pan fried it in a pat of butter and a splash of olive oil.

Tony is always my taste tester for seasoning – the rice is super creamy!

My plate: 586 calories, 14 fat, 41 carbs, 2.8 fiber and 23 protein.

Yum, yum and yum.  This was pure comfort food on a plate.  I think I might make this the next time we have family over – its company worthy!

Stats for the Day:

• 1358 calories, 31 fat, 166 carbs, 13 fiber and 57 protein
• 45 minute total workout, kicked the pacer bikes ass!
• average blood sugar 152

Off to walk the dog before work – make it a great day!  And THANK YOU to everyone who stopped by my friend Mel’s blog to cheer her up – I sincerely appreciate it!