Blueberry Lemon Chobani Pancakes

While I normally stick to my eggs, egg whites, ham, cheese breakfasts because I prefer savory over sweet, but I still do get a jones for pancakes every once in a while.  The problem I have with pancakes and waffles is that I think they are too sweet once you add the syrup.  I think Damn Delicious’ Blueberry Pancakes has been pinned over 10k times – crazeballs!   But like most recipes I find online, I do sometimes adapt them to fit my tastes and what I have on hand.  My changes are in red below.   Each pancake is 159 calories and 24 grams of carbs.

• 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour – whole wheat flour
• 2/3 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup plain Greek yogurt – 6 oz. container of Chobani lemon yogurt
• 1 cup milk – 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted – left this out completely
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup blueberries
• Maple syrup, for serving – 1/4 cup sugar free pancake syrup

Mix the dry ingredients together, then add the wet ingredients (not the blueberries) and mix just until combined – it’s okay if it’s a bit lumpy.  Now leave the batter and go jump in the shower – the longer you let the batter sit the better it tastes and the fluffier your pancakes are.  I used Pam and cooked each pancake about 2 minutes a side until golden brown.  Once you pour the batter in the pan, press in the blueberries and then flip.  I cooked off two for work, and then last night cooked off the rest for later in the week.

These were just slightly sweet – almost tasted like a flat blueberry muffin but so good!  And these were so filling – I could only eat 3/4 of my plate, and I didn’t end up eating lunch until nearly 1:30!

It’s unusually cool here in Chicagoland – I think it was still only 68 degrees when I left for my walk at lunch.

I love to have a lot of food for my calories – and since I take insulin every time I eat, most of my meals are around the 500 calorie mark – less shots to take in the day!  My lunch was my leftover taco from the night before, that I reheated in my panini maker at work.  On the side: 100 calorie Aldi guacamole, 1/3 cup fat free refried beans, cucs, red pepper and salsa and a few of my homemade blue corn chips –  this literally took me just over 30 minutes to eat and again, super filling.

Guess what?  I had the house to myself for a few hours last night!  Both Hannah and Jacob were working, and since it was just me, I was thinking what I might like to fix for myself.  I have to tell you, when it’s just me I don’t really give my meal that much thought and I wanted something quick and easy, and decided to make a beef ramen soup for dinner.  Here’s why it’s so simple – I just hit up my grocery store salad bar for the veggies I wanted and half a hard boiled egg, and I had everything else at home.  Bring 2 cups of water to a boil and add a package of ramen noodles, without the seasoning packet.   In a separate pot, bring 2 cups of beef stock to a boil and add in your veggies to cook for 1-2 minutes.  Remove from heat and add 1/2 the noodles to the beef broth/veggie mix, add 1 tablespoon of sriracha, and then add 3 ounces of super thin sliced beef to the broth and cook for 1 minute.  Ladle the soup in a bowl and garnish with radish, hard boiled egg and chopped Thai basil and cilantro.  Enjoy!

Do you know what “choice” beef is?  It’s one step under prime beef and actually just doesn’t have as much marbling as prime beef does. While most people choose to braise or slow cook eye of round (which comes from the very hind of the steer) if you flash cook or pan fry at a high temp, it’s deliciously tender.  This beef cooked in the hot broth and was delicious.  I just seasoned it with a bit of salt and pepper, stuck it in the freezer for 5 minutes so that I could get really thin slices.  A delicious 10 minute dinner!

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Are you sick of my vacation pics yet?!  Ha, I promise, only a couple more days.

I loved the pictures of my brother Charlie with my cousins kids Rylee and Jamar.  Jamar LOVED Charlie and always asked to play with him.   Biggest achievement?  Charlie actually got Jamar to put his body in the water which was a first!  And he looks happy!  And I love the picture of Charlie and Rylee walking away from me.  The bottom left picture is my cousin Brian in the middle, my cousin Karen on the right and Karen’s daughter Natalie on the left – she’s going to be a senior in high school this year!

Every trip to my Aunt’s house means at one point or another, we get to eat her North Carolina pork bbq.  Tuesday night was the night, and yes, eating it with cole slaw and hot sauce is completely necessary to make it complete.  I also love to dig down in the bottom of the crock pot to get all that vinegary goodness so that my bun is all soggy.  Heaven on a plate if you ask me.  And surprisingly, my Aunt uses pork tenderloin and it wasn’t dry at all.  When I make it at home, I use a pork shoulder – I am lucky in that my local grocery store has pork shoulder on sale every few weeks for .99 cents a pound.

And for the record, waking up to this site every morning, and sipping my morning coffee, never got old.

And yes, I see the green dot – that Tony is still with me as I keep walking on this earth without him.  Kym, be sure to show your daughter this picture!   Tomorrow’s post will be a recap of my dinner that I cooked for everyone, and something about a tattoo. . . if you follow me on Instagram, you already know what I am talking about.

I got busy with doing stuff around the house when I got home last night, then it started to rain so I didn’t get my extra walk in, but still managed to get my 10k steps in:

I can’t believe it’s Thursday already!  Glad my days on vacation went by slowly.  Make it a great day!