3 Ingredient Protein Pancakes

• 3 Ingredients

• Packed with protein

• Oh so easy to make!

Ignore the fact that these are healthy, easy, and extremely simple. They're extremely yummy! You could easily switch things up and add fresh fruit, blueberries or even chocolate chips! These pancakes are a great base and great staple in any kitchen!

3 Ingredient Protein Pancakes

Ingredients
• 1 large egg
• 1 banana
• 1 serving of PB2

Directions
1. Place all three ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.
2. Cook pancakes in a large skillet on medium/high heat, 4 to 5 minutes on each side.
3. These pancakes take slightly longer to cook in order to make pancakes. Make sure that they are well cooked or you could end up with a pancake scramble when you flip them. It takes practice, but they are SO worth it. Good luck, and enjoy!

XO -B

Gingerbread Cinnamon Roll Protein Pancakes!

Sinfully delicious! The fact that these are healthy and packed with protein is just an added bonus! The cookie butter really adds something fantastic. Oh, wait. Fireworks. It adds fireworks of flavor and heaven and it is just everything. After buying a new jar I decided that I needed to make something with it. And so these pancakes were born. Ta-Da!

Gingerbread Cinnamon Roll Protein Pancakes
(Adapted from The Slender Student)

Ingredients:
• 1/3 C. instant oats, dry
• 1 scoop vanilla whey protein
• 1/4 C. liquid egg whites
• 1/4 C. + 1 T. fat-free Greek yogurt
• 1/2 small banana
• 1 t. vanilla extract
• 1/2 t. cinnamon
• 1 T. Trader Joe's Speculoos Cookie Butter
• 1-2 T. unsweetened almond milk
• 1 packet sweetener

Directions:
1. In a blender, combine oats, protein powder, egg whites, 1/4 cup Greek yogurt, banana, vanilla, and cinnamon. Blend until smooth.
2. In a large skillet coated with nonstick spray, begin cooking the pancakes over medium heat, 4-5 minutes on each side.
3. While the pancakes are cooking, spoon the remaining tablespoon of Greek yogurt and cookie butter into a small bowl. Microwave for 10 seconds to soften and stir until smooth. Add almond milk until your "icing" reaches the desired consistency and sweetener until it reaches desired sweetness.
4. Stack pancakes, and top with the "icing" mixture. Enjoy!

XO -B

Lemon Blueberry Waffle

Anyone else love Easter?

It's my fave. Everything is so lovely this time of the year. The sun stays out a little later, everyday is a little warmer, people just always seem happier, and everything just seems reborn and refreshed. And Easter has the best candy. So, that's a major plus.

It's starting to warm up here and I am really feeling the spring spirit. I was in the mood for something lemony. Fresh, crisp and tart.

What better way to balance lemon than with the time old tradition of lemon and blueberry. So, to harvest this beautiful combination, I came up with this Lemon Blueberry Waffle with a Blueberry Reduction Syrup. It was fantastic. It should be lemon, blueberry spring everyday of the year!

Lemon Blueberry Waffle

Ingredients

• 1/3 C. Whole Wheat Flour

• 1/2 tsp baking powder

• 1 stevia packet

• dash of salt

• 1/4 C. Liquid Egg Whites

• 1/8 tsp Vanilla extract

• 1/2 tsp Lemon extract

• zest of one lemon

• juice of one small lemon (1-2 Tbs to taste)

• 1/4 frozen blueberries

• water to thin batter (if needed)

Directions

Preheat waffle maker. In a large bowl mix flour, baking powder, stevia, salt, egg whites, and vanilla. Add the lemon extract, zest and juice to the bowl and mix. Adjust to taste. Fold in blueberries and pour batter into waffle iron. Cook. 

*note: when I made this waffle I just threw the lemon and blueberry portions in. Use the measurements as a guideline and make the batter to taste. Add more or less of anything to get it to your perfect waffle!

Blueberry Syrup

Ingredients

• 1/8 - 1/4 C. frozen blueberries

• 1/2 tsp honey

• water

Directions

Place blueberries in microwaveable bowl. Microwave in 10 second intervals until thawed. Mash blueberries and stir in honey.

*Optional (for thinner syrup): place mixture in blender and add a dash of water to thin the mixture to get syrup consistency. 

                 

XO -B

• S P R I N G • B R E A K • 2 0 1 4 • P A R T • O N E •

I have been SO excited to share this trip with you! Due to the length of the trip and the ghastly amount of photos I took, I have decided to break this trip up into multiple posts. Hence, part 1. 

Part one includes our flight, day 1 and day 2. So, now that the series is somewhat explained, lets dive right in!

My roommate is from San Diego, so for spring break (hereafter referred to as SB) we decided to go there. She wanted to see her family and friends and I wanted to go anywhere. It worked out magically. 

We did so much while we were there. Great fashion, great people, great food. It was great. In case you couldn't tell.

DAY 1

My mom and I have this inside joke. Well it isn't inside and I don't know if she thinks it's funny, but I think I'm a riot, so it's a joke. Anyhoo, I call my mom Ginger. Gingersnap, Gingermom, Gingerpeach, pretty much anything I can attach 'Ginger' to, I do. So when I was shopping for healthy (insanely overpriced) snacks in the airport and came across these lovely little gems, I was pretty damn excited. It took me 2.5 seconds to snap a picture and send it to my mom. She is my Ginge after all. :)

 Obviously I'm going to take a picture from the plane, add a filter and Instagram it.

We flew into LAX. It was major. It was warm, and sunny, and fabulous, and I never wanted to go back. But I'm back and it's sad. We were definitely in a shopping mood. I mean, we were in one of the largest shopping meccas in the world. Unfortunately I was extremely boggled and amazed and didn't get very many photos from this portion of the trip. 

Melrose.

'Cause why not. We went up and down the entire avenue, and in and out of tons of shops. There is some weird crap on that street. I love it. 

This chair was brilliant. I think every person on earth needs a chair like this. Everyone deserves a throne and this is a pretty dope one. The silver mannequins are quite fab too. The chair and the mannequins are a package deal, right?

THIS. This is/was/will forever be GOLD. My mom, and by default me, is obsessed with Bon Jovi. No shame. This little nugget of awesome was found in an old thrift shop. I mean, it's pretty self explanatory. How can you not just fall all over yourself with lust over this shirt? 

BTDubs. Totes got yelled at for taking this picture. But I'm a rebel so whatevs. :) 

DAY 2

So... I didn't have time for an OOTD (Outfit of the Day), but here's a quick selfie. Everyone loves a good selfie. And plaid. And lipstick. Plaid, lipstick and selfies. I think I was going somewhere with that... 

After I spent way too much time taking pictures of myself, we went shopping at Fashion Valley Mall. For those of you that follow me on Instagram, I posted the last photo on my account.

Food is the best, and there are so many great places to eat, but I wanted to try out True Food Kitchen, so we did and it was amazing!! Their food is clean, and healthy and nutrient dense and everything that I wanted it to be.

"Honest food that tastes really good." 

I ordered the 'Inside Out' Quinoa Burger with Sweet Potato Hash and Tuscan Kale Salad with a Pomegranate Limeade. Everything that we ordered was fantastic. The waitress told us that we should try the kale salad because that's what they're known for. I can see why. It was sort of life changing. The whole meal was absolutely amazing, but the kale salad was my favorite part. 

Since we've been home, we have made the kale salad and the quinoa burgers multiple times. The salad is so simple, and quick. It takes 10 minutes to whip up and you probably already have the ingredients in your kitchen. The burgers aren't the 'True Food Kitchen' burgers, but they are just as delicious. They are a little more complicated, but you can double the recipe and freeze them for later.

The recipes for both will be below. 

Tuscan Kale Salad

Ingredients

• 4-6 C. Kale, loosely packed

• Juice of 1 lemon

• 3-4 Tbs. Extra-Virgin Olive Oil

• 2 Cloves Garlic, mashed

• Salt & Pepper (to taste)

• Hot Red Pepper Flakes (to taste)

• 2/3 C. Grated Pecorino Toscano Cheese (Rosselino brand if you can find it)

• 1/2 C. freshly made bread crumbs from lightly toasted bread

Directions

1. Whisk together lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, and a generous pinch (or more to taste) or hot red pepper flakes

2. Pour over kale in serving bowl and toss well

3. Add 2/3 of the cheese and toss again

4. Let kale sit for at least 5 minutes. Add bread crumbs, toss again, and top with remaining cheese.

Quinoa Burger

(Adapted from this Quinoa Veggie Burger)

Ingredients

• 1 C. Water

• 1/2 C. Quinoa of choice

• 1 Tbs. Extra-Virgin Olive Oil

• 1 C. Diced Onion

• 2 C. finely chopped White Mushrooms

• 1 tsp. minced Garlic

• 3/4 tsp. dried Marjoram

• 1/4 tsp dried Oregano

• 1 Large Egg

• 2/3 C. shredded low-moisture Mozzarella 

• 1/2 C. whole Pecans, toasted and finely chopped

• 1/3 C. quick-cooking Rolled Oats

• 1 Tbs reduced-sodium Soy Sauce

• small whole-wheat burger buns (optional)

Directions

1. Combine water and quinoa in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover and   cook for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand, covered, for 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork and set aside. 

2. Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a baking sheet or line with parchment paper (or tin foil).

3. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring frequently, until starting

to soften, about 5 minutes. Add mushrooms, garlic, marjoram, and oregano. Cook, stirring, until the mushrooms are tender, about 5 minutes. Let cool for about 5 minutes.

4. Beat egg in a medium bowl. Add the quinoa, mushroom mixture, cheese, pecans, oats, and soy sauce. Stir to combine. Scoop scant 1/2 C. portions of the mixture onto the baking sheet and shape into 8 patties, about 3 inches wide, leaving about 1 inch of space between each patty. (The mixture will be crumbly. Tip: use a measuring cup and pack it firmly into the cup, like brown sugar. This helps the patty take and keep a patty shape when placed on baking sheet. The burgers hold together better once baked).

5. Bake the burgers until crispy, 28 to 30 minutes. Serve on buns, if you choose (lettuce wrap the burger for a lighter option) top with your favorite garnishes.

XO -B

Double Chocolatey Chip Banana Bread Muffins

Yummy yummy in my tummy. 

But lets get real. These are fantastic.

Double the chocolate, double the banana and fudgy. The best part? They're healthy. 

These are my new favorite "to-go" breakfast. Packed with banana-y goodness, portable and it's basically like having dessert for breakfast. That's sort of the bomb. This recipe is extremely simple and totally adjustable to whatever your heart desires. If you don't want the double chocolate portion, get rid of the cocoa (but why would you do that? these are fantastic). Simple food is great. These are great. I may have already eaten them all. Sorry, not sorry. :)

Try them! I dare you. Just don't blame me if you eat the whole pan. We've all been there. 

 Double Chocolatey Chip Banana Bread Muffins
(Adapted from The Smart Cookie Blog)

Ingredients:

2 bananas (I used 4)

2 C. flour of choice

¼ C. special dark cocoa powder

1 tsp. baking powder

1/3 C. honey

½ C. milk of choice

½ C. chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease cupcake pan, or line with cupcake liners. In a large bowl, mash bananas until smooth. Add flour, cocoa powder, honey, and milk. Mix until a smooth batter forms. If you have trouble mixing add some more milk by the tablespoon. Stir in the chocolate chips. Scoop batter into pan or liners. Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, until firm. Recipe yields 12 muffins. (Mine made 

16)

XO -B

'G' is for Pistachio

I have been M.I.A. for the last little while. Muh bad...

Honestly though? February and March are always insanely busy for me. My birthday is at the end of February, lots of friendsies with birthdays in March, Spring Break (!), midterms, work, blogging, Instagram. It's a wild time up in here.

Anyway! Not trying to make excuses, just explain my absence. I also have some great posts coming soon that I may or may not have developed while celebrating spring break/my roommates birthday in San Diego. It's going to be a good time coming up on the blog. I am also a little more active on my Instagram account when I am extremely busy (like right now), so head on over there for some quick delish recipes that I try to post daily!

Back to the Pancakes.
Because that's obvsies why you're reading this. Duh.

Kay. Here we go!

I'm OBSESSED with pancakes. They're easy delicious and when made right, can be nutrient dense and healthy. Hence why I love them.

I have two beautiful recipe's to share with y'all, but you only get one at this moment in time. But don't fret, the other one is on it's way.

To celebrate St. Patrick's Day (which, yes, I know was yesterday.) here are some bomb a**
Dark Chocolate Cherry Chip Pistachio Pancakes. Try saying that five times fast. You're Welcome.

Dark Chocolate Cherry Chip Pistachio Pancakes

Pancake Base (Adapted from Hungry Girl's "Perfect Pancakes")

Ingredients:

1/3 C. Whole Wheat Flour

½ tsp. Baking Powder

1 Stevia Packet

dash of salt

¼ C. Liquid Egg Whites

1/8 tsp. Vanilla Extract

dash of cinnamon

Directions:

Mix ingredients together in a large bowl.

To make Chocolate Cherry Chip Pistachio Pancakes

Ingredients:

2 tsp. SF/FF Jell-O Pistachio Pudding

1 Tbs. Dark Chocolate Chips

1 Tbs. Dried Cherries

Directions:

Add pistachio pudding to the pancake base and mix. You may need to add a little water here and there to 1) get the consistency of the batter right and 2) get the pudding to mix in completely. Once the pudding is entirely mixed in and the batter is at the desired consistency, stir in the cherries and the chocolate chips. 

Scoop (about) 1/4 C. of batter into a preheated pan and cook as normal.

Should yield between 4-6 pancakes.

 

Bittersweet Pancake Things

Do you ever have those moments in the kitchen where you are about to make a recipe that you have made a thousand times before, and you just KNOW that it is going to be good? It's a go-to recipe that you have stockpiled away for a rainy day. You know that you can always turn to it? That's what this recipe is to me. 

Well, most of the time.

Today was not one of those magical, "works every time" recipes. Don't get me wrong, it is! I just made a slight mistake when I was preparing it and everything went wrong from there. But wait! Don't get discouraged friends, I fell off of that pony, but I was able to get right back up and make a pretty darn delicious brunch from this disaster. Behold. An Apple Pie Frittata with a Cinnamon Apple Butter Syrup!

Originally intended to be Apple Pie Pancakes. But YOLO.

You win some, you lose some. This was both. 

Apart from my ingredient mishap, this was delish. But really though, it tasted exactly like the pancakes, it was just in a slightly different form. It really did taste like a warm slice of apple pie, just a little eggy-er. More frittata like (ha-ha). The best part is that it's clean, healthy and packed with protein to keep you fuller longer.

Apple Pie Frittata

Ingredients:

¼ C. Cottage Cheese

½ C. Apple Sauce

6 T. Liquid Egg Whites

1 t. Vanilla

½ Scoop Vanilla Whey Protein

½ t. Ground Cinnamon

½ t. Apple Pie Spice

3 t. Chia Seeds

1 Small Apple

2 T. Apple Butter

2 T. Sugar-Free Syrup

Directions:

Chop apple and set aside. Place cottage cheese, apple sauce, liquid egg whites, vanilla, protein, cinnamon and apple pie spice into a blender, or blender cup, and blend until smooth.  Stir in chia seeds and chopped apple into blended mixture.

Pour the entire mixture into a greased, preheated frying pan (set to low heat). Any size pan will work; just note that the smaller the pan the longer it will take the frittata to cook through. Once the mixture has been poured into the pan, let the frittata cook at a low to medium-low heat. There is no exact “cooking time” each frittata is going to cook at it’s own rate based on the depth of your pan and how hot your stove it. Just watch it. You will notice the egg beginning to cook and pull away from the edges of the pan. You will also be able to see that the frittata is cooked through.

While the frittata is cooking, take the apple butter, and syrup and mix together. Depending on how thick you want the syrup mixture, you can add a little water or more syrup to thin it out. Set aside.

When the frittata is between 90%-95% cooked, you have two choices, you can leave it on and let it finish cooking, or you can try what I did. Grab another frying pan, preferably one that is larger and flip the frittata into the larger frying pan. Allow that to cook for a few more minutes until complete.

When the frittata is finished, place on a pate and top with the apple butter syrup!  

Berry Bliss Fluffy Oats

SO. It was requested that I provide the recipe for these lovely oats that I posted on my Instagram page.  These Fluffy Oats are AMAZE and I use them as the base for all of my oatmeal recipes. You can mix and match your mix ins and create your own delicious work of art! If you do make these oats, post them to instagram and use the hastage #royalbrunch

Lovlies, the wait is over! Here I give to you, the recipe for my Berry Bliss Fluffy Oats.

Berry Bliss Fluffy Oats:

Adapted from Selena over at her blog Nom Nom Crunch who wrote about these oats here.

Ingredients:

Fluffy Oats:

¼ C. rolled oats

¼ C. milk of choice

¼ C. water

1 egg white (1 egg white = 2 T. if you’re using it from a carton)

Directions:

Whisk the egg until it gets a little fluffy/foamy. Combine with oats, water, and almond milk in a saucepan and bring heat to medium. Whisk the mixture until it starts to simmer. Raise the heat to high and continue whisking for a couple of minutes until it starts to thicken. Reduce heat back to medium and whisk until most of the liquid is soaked. Transfer to a bowl and enjoy with toppings!

Note: Be sure to whisk the egg before combining with other ingredients!

Berry Bliss:

When you are combining the oats, water and almond milk together:

+ 2 tsp of vanilla extract

+ 2 tsp of stevia

Top it off with a berry reduction:

Put a handful of mixed berries into a food processor or blender. (I used raspberries and strawberries.) Then pour into a sauce pan, add 1 tsp of stevia and bring your stove to high heat, slowly stirring the mixture consistently. When the sauce begins to bubble and the color darkens, reduce to medium heat and continue to stir to prevent burning. After about 2-3 minutes, it’s ready to pour onto your oats. The sauce will be the consistency of olive oil.

Note: Where the recipe calls for a handful of berries I used frozen and thinned slightly with water. This results in a thinner more syrupy consistency rather than a compote like reduction, but the flavor remains and it is just as delicious either way!