One Month

Is there a difference from one month ago? Maybe I'll wear the pink shirt and purple shorts for tomorrow's workout to get a better idea.

August 30, 2013

September 30, 2013

One Month

Had a super busy weekend, but I still got my workouts in!

Saturday we had a BBQ with a bunch of friends and watched the Texas A&M v. Arkansas game. I convinced the grill master to make BBQ chicken, and volunteered to bring all the side dishes, that way I would know exactly what I was eating. On the menu:  a huge bowl of watermelon, ginger and sriracha deviled eggs with greek yogurt instead of mayo, and pasta salad with whole grain pasta and TONS of veggies. Also, we made berry cobbler with a rolled oats and poppyseed topping. I meant to take pictures of everything to post on here, but I forgot :( Regardless, everyone loved our food, and Caroline and I liked that we weren't eating typically BBQ crap like chips and store bought potato salad.

Below is our breakfast Saturday morning. Homemade breakfast tacos with egg & potato on corn & whole what tortillas, and lots of yummy fruit. Way more healthy, and way more delicious than anything we might have bought at a mexican restaurant. And also faster might I point out?! So many things that normally people would go buy somewhere, Caroline and I have found that it is just as easy and quick if not faster to make those things ourselves. We haven't gone out for breakfast tacos, pizza, burgers, almost anything in a couple months now. And I haven't been craving any of it because I get my fix with healthier, cheaper options made at home!

I woke up today sad that it was time to get back into studying and looking for an internship mode. I am honestly having a hard time getting back in gear, hence why I am avoiding studying by writing this blog post! This fall season that is creeping up on us makes me want to decorate the apartment and bake pies all day (bad plan because then I will want to eat the pies). Maybe this week I can put up some decorations and enjoy a pumpkin pie scented candle, that should curb my cravings, right?

First Test as a Grad Student! Not too scary...

Today I had my very first grad school test. I was REALLY worried, so I spent all morning going over my notes and having small fits. What is the best solutions to my freak outs? A workout! So I threw on my gym clothes, grabbed Caroline and we went to the gym. I only had time for 30 minutes on the elliptical today, but I know it helped. If nothing else I needed that break from studying. I also found that my workout felt better today, just a little bit easier which is awesome. Maybe that means I am benefiting from these workouts!

On a totally random note, see all those windows behind me that are letting in so much lovely light? Every time we go to the gym all the blinds are closed, so I go around the entire gym and open all the blinds. I am starting to wonder if whoever has to close them all is getting frustrated that I'm opening them every day. Although I must say, it so much nicer, and I feel better with all those blinds open, so I will just keep opening them!

I decided this week that I needed to add some strength training to my workout. I really don't enjoy strength training, I think because I'm not burning many calories, so I feel like I'm not doing anything. My sore body the day after doing strength training should tell me that it is actually doing something. My arms are still a little sore from my workout on Wednesday! It will be back to the strength work tomorrow :(

Breakfast: egg sandwich with 2/3 less fat american cheese on a bagel thin, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and banana, coffee with chocolate mootopia

Workout: 30 minutes on the elliptical with a resistance pyramid

Dinner: homemade white pizza with ground turkey and low fat ricotta

Winter Quinoa Oatmeal

Breakfast today was my favorite breakfast item in the fall and winter, once the weather gets chilly. It's not quite chilly here yet, but it really sounded delicious, so I made it anyway!

Winter Quinoa Oatmeal

1/2 cup cooked quinoa
1 oz light coconut milk
Dash cinnamon
Dash salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 oz chopped walnut halves
1/2 cup nonfat greek vanilla yogurt
1/2 cup diced strawberries, blueberries and raspberries

(1) Cook quinoa according to package directions. Be sure to cook in water, not any sort of stock.
(2) In a small bowl, combine coconut milk, cinnamon, salt and vanilla extract.
(3) Place quinoa in a microwave safe bowl and drizzle coconut mixture over the quinoa. Warm in the microwave for 1-2 minutes.
(4) Fold greek yogurt in with the warmed quinoa mixture. Top with fruit and chopped walnuts.

I have found that I love this dish warm, room temperature and cold, so it's something I can make quickly in the morning and take with me when I'm running to class or work. If I am taking it with me, I put the fruit and walnuts in a separate container from the quinoa and yogurt. Then I add the fruit and walnuts when I'm ready to eat!

Also, to make things quick in the morning, I will cook a couple cups of quinoa (about 1 cup dry) the day before I want to eat it and store it in the fridge. That way all I have to do in the morning is scoop out 1/2 cup of the cooked quinoa and warm it with the coconut milk mixture.

Also got in two workouts today! Some cardio on the elliptical and yoga, my favorite.

Breakfast: Winter Quinoa Oatmeal

Workout: 30 minutes on the elliptical with a resistance incline and an hour of yoga

Lunch: turkey chili and cornbread

Dinner: chicken and veggie pho

Motivation

I find my motivation in many different places - stories of success, books and magazine articles, and simply from the way I feel when I'm living a healthy lifestyle, but my biggest motivation is friends and family that decide to make a change. I try my best not to push healthy habits onto those that I love, but it's really hard not to. When you know how good you are feeling, you want others to experience that too! So that's why, when I find out that someone close to me is making a change, it really motivates me and excites me to keep working at what I'm doing.

This weekend I found out that a very good friend of mine is a few weeks into her healthy lifestyle journey. I had the chance to see her this weekend, and experience for myself the change that has come from her hard work. I couldn't help but be energized by her excitement and attitude. I am beyond thrilled for her, and am looking forward to seeing her in the coming months. Her accomplishments made me want to keep working at this, to push myself every day to stay on track.

I had to take a picture with Caroline during our workout today. She bought us these awesome Texas A&M Under Armor work out shirts while she was in College Station for the football game last weekend! They were on sale, so she got one for me too :) She is a huge part of my motivation too. Since we are identical twins, I know about what I will look like if I keep this up. Maybe on day looking at her will be a little more like looking into a mirror.

I don't have nearly as much going on this week, so I should be visiting the gym every day - NO EXCUSES! And, with the exception of tonight, will have the time to cook dinner. On the menu this week - chicken roll-ups with prunes. I will have to let you know how that one goes!

Breakfast: egg sandwich on an english muffin with 2% american cheese, cantaloupe, strawberries, peaches & blueberries, and coffee with chocolate mootopia

Workout: 30 minutes on the elliptical with a resistance pyramid

Lunch: one of Caroline's awesome salads and half a ciabatta roll

Dinner: turkey chili and cornbread (I think)

A Crazy Week

Six days since my last post...I didn't mean for that to happen! I have had a crazy week - barely time to breath let alone get in a post. Lets see, what has happened since last Friday...

Saturday - Caroline and I had our first cupcake order. We started baking at 10:00 am, and had them done just in time to deliver at 4:00 pm. Then we spent the evening at home and watched our recording of the A&M vs. Alabama football game (still sad that we lost, but only by one touchdown!).

Sunday - Went to the Houston Metropolitan Cooking Show with Caroline. We got to see Sunny Anderson and Paula Deen do live cooking demonstrations. After Sunny Anderson's demonstration we had the chance to chat with her for a little bit, she was so sweet and down to earth. Also, she went to high school in San Antonio, so of course we had to get in some smack talk about each other's schools!

Monday - Catch up from my lack of studying on Sunday. I spent the whole dang day on my computer (and still couldn't find time for a blog post) working on homework, and then had class in the evening.

Tuesday - Got up early for the College of Technology Career Fair. I am happy to say that I got an interview for an internship out of that!

Wednesday - Caroline and I drove to College Station and back for the TAMU Mays Business Career Fair. No interviews, but some good leads out of that one.

Today - Lots of homework, cleaned the apartment and did laundry.

I am happy to say that I got in some sort of workout every day except Wednesday, that drive just wore me out, and of course I got in my healthy meals. Above is one of Caroline's awesome salads. We had a bunch of veggies to use up, so she has made a couple of good salads this week.

Time for bed, I have one more career fair tomorrow and then I'm done with them for a few weeks. And I promise, for myself that I will get back to my regular posting!

Friday the Thirteenth

I didn't realize until around noon that today was Friday the 13th - that definitely explains the day that I have had. My day started out just fine. I had a delicious breakfast, was getting some of my class work accomplished, and at 11:30 I had some time to head to the gym for a good workout. And then, the Friday the 13th-ness kicked in...

Long story short, I had the WORST interview of my life today. I didn't give myself enough time to prepare, so I wasn't in the right mental state for the meeting. On top of that I felt a bit like I was being interrogated at times, so overall it was just a mess. I think more than anything it just enhanced the stress that I already have about finding a job, so it probably seemed worse to me than it actually was. I am just getting so frustrated with this job search thing, I just want to find a job that I won't be miserable in!

Anybody, anybody? Does anyone have a job for the unemployed graduate student?!

In the meantime, I will just keep studying, working out, and cooking some awesome meals.

Oh, and I suppose the day did end on a good note. Caroline and I made the most awesome pizza for dinner. Whole wheat pizza crust with spicy tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese and basil.

Breakfast: egg sandwich on a plain bagel thin, a banana and coffee with mootopia

Workout: 30 mins on the elliptical

Dinner: that awesome pizza I described earlier

Puppy-Sitting

Doesn't this breakfast look delicious and healthy? Unfortunately it wasn't quite mine, this was Caroline's breakfast. My egg sandwich didn't have greens on it. For some reason I just can't get myself on the greens for breakfast bandwagon unless it's some spinach in an omelette or something like that. But, we decided hers looked a lot prettier than mine, so her's makes the blog!

Yesterday I met up with my group for Leadership and Team Building for the first time. It was really nice to be assigned to a random group and find that everyone was actually invested and interested in doing well in the class - not going to find that while working on your undergrad. More than anything I'm glad that things are getting going with my classes. It gives me something to do since I don't have a job to hurry off to.

Today Caroline and I went a picked up Bess to pet sit for the weekend. Bess is our brother's girlfriend's adorable greyhound. Bess seemed very sad to leave her puppy mom, but she is enjoying sneaking over to the cat's food bowl for little snacks. Maybe having her here will get me out for a couple extra walks!

Feelin' Good Day

Don't forget to check out what's new on my Instagram and Pinterest - links are along the right! 

I felt great today - sore, but great. It's days like today that keep me motivated to keep going. I love feeling good about myself, feeling good about my little bits of progress. Most importantly, good days get me excited about have more of them, so I'm already looking forward to my workout tomorrow.

 

I spent the morning fiddling around, recovering from my Monday night class - it runs until 9:00 pm and then I have to make the hour and a half drive back to Galveston, so I was exhausted. Around 12:30 I realized I needed to get my butt to the gym if I was going to get a workout in before yoga (a workout before my workout, my boyfriend says). I think my rushing to the gym made me feel the need to hurry during my workout. Since I stay on the elliptical 30 minutes anyway, this just made me pick up my pace a little bit and work harder, and the proof was in the sweat. It's kinda weird, but I know I'm working hard when I start to sweat around the outside my wrists. I had to keep wiping my wrists on my shirt today because they were so sweaty - TMI, I know!

Caroline and I left for yoga almost as soon as I got home. There was just enough time between the gym and yoga that my legs were really sore once we got into our practice. Lucky for my legs, and unlucky for my arms, we did a lot of planks, so I was able to make it through the practice without too much trouble.

I know it takes time to see and feel changes, but I can already see the mental benefits and mood benefits. I think I'm falling in love with working out all over again!

Breakfast: egg sandwich on a whole wheat english muffin, 1/2 of a peach, banana, coffee with chocolate mootopia

Workout: 30 minutes on the elliptical with a resistance mountain, 50 minutes of yoga

Lunch: two lightly salted rice cakes with peanut butter, tons of watermelon (yum!)

Dinner: chicken, butternut squash and roasted onion, peppers, carrots & parsnips

First Face-to-Face Class as a Grad Student

I finally had my first face-to-face class this semester! As nice as it is to take classes online, I really prefer being forced to go to class and pay attention. If nothing else it actually gives me something to go do during the day - a reason to get dressed in something besides my workout clothes. I am actually excited about this class. The instructor has a lot of experience in project management, so unlike most full-time professors, he has a lot of great stories to share with us. Also, he looks like Elvis, so that is always amusing!

I LOVE pancakes, so Caroline and I made some great whole wheat buttermilk pancakes from this awesome cookbook. We love that the author focuses on raw, natural food choices - everything we have tried has been really good. The pancakes this morning were delicious of course, and the recipe makes enough pancakes that we were able to freeze enough to pull out for another breakfast, yay!

Neither of us had class until this evening, so we both hit the gym. Caroline seemed a bit more tired than me after our respective workouts today - guess I'll have to work a little bit harder tomorrow. She ran through a great looking workout in Oxygen Magazine. I think I will have to borrow a few of her issues to get some workout ideas.

Lunch was easy and healthy today. If you haven't tried spaghetti squash you definitely have to. We love to eat it with a ground turkey meat sauce in place of spaghetti. I can honestly say I was skeptical before I tried it the first time, but it's remarkable how similar they are. Whenever I eat spaghetti squash I get this guilty feeling, and then it's like "Oh, yeah, this is good for me."

Breakfast: whole wheat buttermilk pancakes, turkey bacon, and coffee with mootopia

Workout: 30 minutes on the elliptical with a resistance mountain, abs

Lunch: ground turkey meat sauce, spaghetti squash

Dinner: cat shaped pasta, ground turkey meat sauce, peas

My 10th Post!

The workouts have continued through the weekend. I got in some good time on the elliptical on Friday before Caroline and I went to run some errands. I am still amazed at how a half hour of good cardio can make you feel great all day. I also had one of those "I think my clothes are fitting better" moments on Saturday morning - I pulled on my jeans and they just seemed to button a little bit easier. I love having those moments!

I also had my first non-fat latte with a pump of pumpkin spice of the season. Caroline told me it was entirely too early for fall flavors. I have to agree, but it is too difficult to resist. Getting a non-fat latte with a pump of flavor is the best way to get that flavor you are looking for without all the calories. A Grand Pumpkin Spice Latte sans whipped cream is 310 calories. A non-fat Caffe Latte with a pump of pumpkin spice, on the other hand, is only about 160 calories, and you still get TONS of pumpkin flavor.

Time to celebrate - this is my tenth post! I am well on my way toward keeping up with this blog, and more importantly, keeping up with a healthy lifestyle!

Seared Mahi Mahi with Lemon Basil Sauce

(adapted from the Deen Brother's Seared Mahi Mahi recipe on www.foodnetwork.com)

Ingredients:

2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 and 1/2 tsp fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 garlic clove, chopped
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 tbsp fresh basil leaves, chopped
1/2 tbsp olive oil
2 mahi mahi fillets

Directions:

1. Combine the butter, lemon juice, garlic, salt, pepper and basil leaves in a small saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring until butter melts. Let set covered over low heat to keep warm.

2. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Season mahi mahi with salt and pepper. Cook fish for 3-4 minutes. Then turn and cook for 4-5 more minutes. Serve with lemon basil sauce on top.

Next time we make this, we will probably cook the mahi mahi in the oven. Way easier, and probably a bit healthier.

Caroline and served this with some cooked grains, and put the extra lemon basil sauce over the grains - it was delicious!

And now, on to a post about my day...

I am really enjoying these lazy mornings with my sister. This morning we both slept in until the cat couldn't stand it anymore - he kept crawling on us, begging up to get up. We had a nice, relaxed breakfast, watched the news, and worked on some homework. Around one we got ready for yoga and packed up a lunch to take along.

Yoga felt great today. My body has been very sore, so it was nice to stretch out. The class we are part of is a beginner's level, so we are going through a lot of poses I am already familiar with. This was a good choice for getting back into yoga because my muscles have tightened up a lot since my last class.

After yoga, Caroline and I took care of some thing around campus. I say campus, TAMUG isn't actually my campus anymore, but I suppose it will always feel like home. It was nice to visit with some old professors, and I stopped by the office I worked in last year to say hi to everyone. Best part of stopping by campus was getting a job lead from one of my old professors. I am not getting my hopes up, they haven't been very high since my interview a week and a half ago, but it's still nice to have something to attempt to pursue.

Other highlight of the day, Caroline and I have our first official customer for our little cupcake business. I know, cupcakes aren't very conducive to living a healthy lifestyle, but we both really enjoy baking, and it makes it even better when I can give the cupcakes to someone else to consume the calories. We have been recruited to bake 50 lemon cupcakes with raspberry filling and white icing for a birthday party in a couple weeks. That means this weekend we will need to make a trial batch...and find someone to eat the trial batch for us!

I had to include a picture, Caroline and I had another really good dinner tonight.

Breakfast: omelette with shallots, bell peppers, tomatoes, turkey bacon and cheese; bananas and cantaloupe; Trop 50 orange juice; coffee with chocolate mootopia

Workout: 50 minutes of yoga

Lunch: not much of one - toasty peanut butter crackers and half an apple

Dinner: roasted mahi mahi with lemon basil sauce; cooked grains with lemon zest; roasted asparagus and cauliflower


Shout out to my bestie Rachelle Simon - Happy Rosh Hashana!

Recipes from Dinner on 9/4/2013

Chicken Roll-Ups with Asparagus with Lemon Dijon Pan Sauce

(modified from Rachael Ray's recipe on www.foodnetwork.com)

Ingredients:

1 boneless, skinless chicken breast

2 thin slices prosciutto

1 ounce goat cheese

8 thin asparagus spears

1/2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp flour

1/2 cup vegetable stock or chicken stock

1/2 tbsp dijon mustard

1/2 small lemon, zested and juiced

2 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley

Directions:

1. Halve the chicken breasts horizontally, spreading into two chicken cutlets. Place each chicken cutlet into an individual ziploc freezer bag, and pound to 1/8 inch thick.

2. Place pounded cutlets on a cutting board, and season the side facing up with pepper and salt. Cover each chicken cutlet with one piece of prosciutto, and crumble/spread on 1/2 an ounce of goat cheese. Starting on one side of the chicken cutlet, place four asparagus spears, and roll the chicken around the asparagus.

3. Heat 1/2 tbsp olive oil in an skillet over medium heat. Place the chicken rolls in the pan seam side down, season the top of the chicken roll-up with salt and pepper, cover pan with foil and cook for 4-5 minutes. Turn chicken roll-ups and cook for 4-5 more minutes. Remove from pan and place on serving plate.

*Tip: Once chicken roll-ups are turned and the seam side is facing up, use a toothpick to attach the end of the chicken cutlet to the chicken roll-up to prevent the roll-up from opening up.*

5. Add butter to the pan and stir in the flour. Stir in the vegetable stock and dijon mustard, and simmer for one minute. Remove from heat and add lemon zest, lemon juice and parsley. Serve over chicken roll-ups.

Parsnip and Cauliflower Puree

Ingredients:

1/2 head cauliflower, chopped

3 medium parsnips, peeled and chopped

2 cloves garlic, peeled

2 cups vegetable stock

1/4 cup plain greek yogurt

Directions:

1. Place cauliflower, parsnips, garlic and vegetable stock in a pan and bring to a simmer. Cook, uncovered for 25 - 30 minutes, or until vegetables are soft. 

2. Place colander in a bowl and drain vegetables, reserving the vegetable stock for later.

3. Transfer drained vegetables to a blender with the greek yogurt, and about half of the reserved vegetable stock. Pulse to break up the vegetables. Continue pulsing and add vegetable stock as needed until you reach your desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper. 

Wednesday, 9/4/2013

I am trying to figure out this whole linking up between my Pinterest, Instagram and my blog, so this is my attempt at embedding a pin into a post. Hopefully it works!


Now, assuming this worked correctly, above, is the walking workout that I am working up to. I tried running a couple years ago, and it wasn't as bad as I had remembered it being, but I am just not a runner! I really got into walking when I was in high school. On weekends my mom, sister, best friend from down the street and my best friend's mom would walk on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Once us girls left for college our mom's have continued walking with my parent's dogs. We always join them when we are home for the weekend.

I wore my favorite color for my workout today! I took it kinda easy with my walk because I was sore from yoga. I was also able to get quite a bit done today, which was great. Finished watching my lecture for my Leadership and Team Building class, got a couple chapters of reading done, and finished some laundry. I love productive days like today!

Thursday, 9/5/13

I didn't get my post finished before I went to sleep last night, darn.

Dinner last night ended up being the best part of the day. I didn't take a picture, but I will get the recipes posted later in case anyone is interested. Caroline and I made chicken roll-ups with prosciutto, goat cheese & asparagus, cauliflower & parsnip puree, and ciabatta rolls.

Breakfast: egg sandwich on a whole wheat bagel thin; cantaloupe, banana, and strawberries; Trop 50 orange juice; coffee with chocolate mootopia

Lunch: Toasty peanut butter crackers; watermelon; half an apple with string cheese; Healthy Choice 100 calorie frozen greek yogurt

Workout: walking on treadmill with incline hill; abs

Dinner: see above, it was amazing

Getting Back in Gear

I was finally able to get back to the gym, yay! I felt really great most of the day. Getting in a workout and making healthy food choices put me in a good mood.

Unfortunately I had to face some of the stresses of going to a new university today. If you have been through college recently you know that most schools have TONS of different systems that they use for e-mail, financial aid, student life and online learning just to name a few. Now, mastering these systems at one school is a challenge, but having to re-learn everything at a new school...even worse! I believe part of my problem is that I grew too accustomed to Texas A&M's systems, so now I expect every university to operate like they do. Unfortunately for me, UH is very different. Thus, I spent most of my evening working on how to navigate through the countless programs, and locking up my various accounts because I tried too many times to log on with the wrong username, user ID, password, what-have-you.

Now that I've done some venting, the best part of my day was yoga class! If you haven't tried yoga before I highly recommend it. It is amazing how much better you feel! I started taking yoga my junior year of my undergraduate degree, and was surprised at how much better my body felt. I continued with a yoga class for the two semesters after that, and then took a semester off. In that one semester that I wasn't practicing yoga I could feel my muscles tightening up, and I had some problems with a sore back. When I started my fourth yoga class during the fall of my super-senior year, I immediately began to feel the benefits. I decided then that yoga was something that would always be a part of my life. This year I was able to convince my sister to join me in yoga, and she is already feeling the benefits. I'm glad I was able to get her involved.

Breakfast: egg sandwich on a whole wheat bagel thin with 2/3 less fat american cheese and That Green Sauce; cantaloupe, raspberries, blueberries and banana slices

Workout: elliptical with a resistance mountain for 30 minutes; yoga for 50 minutes

Lunch: salad with romaine lettuce, power greens, bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, walnuts, turkey bacon and salad dressing (olive oil, apple cider vinegar and tomato paste)

Dinner: salmon, roasted asparagus and pasta with a power greens pesto

*Make sure you check out my Instagram and Pinterest with the links on the right!*

Labor Day Long Weekend

I have found a benefit to being an unemployed graduate student - actually having time to read the paper and enjoy a cup of coffee in the morning. I still don't think I will get through any more but the front page, but at least I get that!

My increase in spare time also meant I was able to get some inspiration for breakfast from my favorite cookbook instead of just having my usual. Today I made my rendition of "The Feed Zone's" chicken an bacon hash. Caroline and I made breakfast sausage, turkey bacon and veggie hash, and topped it with a couple eggs and HEB's That Green Sauce of course.

Today was a good day. My boyfriend was still in town for the long Labor Day weekend, so after breakfast we went for a walk on the beach, and then headed to the pool to relax with my brother and his girlfriend. I love three day weekends!

Having the boy in town has limited my exercise over the past three days, but we have been really good about cooking our own food, and have tried to get out of the apartment to do something every day. I try really hard not to get too upset about my workout and eating schedule when I have visitors are in town. I find that I just end up getting frustrated and upset when I'm not able to get in my planned workouts, or when I'm not eating like I should. At this time in my life it seems to stress me out even more because I know I need to stick to my healthy habits to get to my healthy self, but I remind myself that the visits never last too long, and I need to enjoy my friends and family while I can.

I am ready to hit the gym tomorrow, and get back to my regular, boring breakfast :)

Blueberry Ricotta Buttermilk Pancakes

Caroline (my twin sister) and I made these awesome pancakes for breakfast. The recipe is modified from Oxygen Magazine's 'Lemon Blueberry Ricotta Pancakes' in their June 2013 issue. Here is a picture of the scrumptious-ness!

Blueberry Ricotta Buttermilk Pancakes

Ingredients:

1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp ground flaxseed
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup non-fat ricotta cheese
1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk
1 tsp maple flavor agave syrup
1 cup blueberries
1 tbsp coconut oil

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients (whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, flaxseed and cinnamon).
2. In another bowl, combine all the wet ingredients (vanilla extract, ricotta cheese, buttermilk and agave syrup) and whisk to incorporate.
3. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients, and stir until smooth. Once combined, gently stir in blueberries.
4. Heat 1/2 tsp coconut oil in a non-stick pan over medium heat. Scoop 1/4 cup portions of batter onto hot pan.
5. Cook 2 - 3 minutes per side, or until golden brown. Repeat with remaining batter. Add more coconut oil to pan as needed.

*Tip:  Heat your oven to 200 - 250 degrees, and place a sheet pan in the oven. As batches of pancakes finish cooking, place them on the sheet pan in the oven to stay warm until you are ready to eat.*


Breakfast: blueberry ricotta buttermilk pancakes; turkey bacon; sliced bananas, peaches, strawberries, raspberries and blueberries; coffee with chocolate mootopia