My eating has been pretty boring lately. I’ve been eating turkey meatloaf muffins for lunch most days and oatmeal for breakfast most mornings!

A couple weeks ago I made up multiple packs of this oatmeal so my morning breakfast takes me all of 2 minutes now. It was a great idea.

In the oatmeal mix:

• 1/3 cup quick oats
• 50 raisins
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 scoop whey protein

I usually have 5 g of pumpkin seeds too but right now I’m out of them. I made half my oatmeal without so now I’m working through the bags without seeds.

It’s so easy. Pour bag into bowl. Boil water. Add boiling water.  Wait a couple minutes. Eat.

It’s such a good combo, cinnamon and raisin. It makes my morning oatmeal quite delicious. I’ve always been a fan of cinnamon raisin… toast, cookies, oatmeal!

So there ya have it. My breakfast of choice lately. :)

The other day I was browsing Pinterest as I occasionally do and I came across this:

There are few images or recipes that make me want to make them immediately. This one, however, made me drool almost instantly. I knew I wanted to make it the next morning.

So I did. With a few changes.

First, I didn’t make nearly as much of it. I used a small pan and just made enough for two servings, perfect for Kepa and myself.

Second, I changed the recipe by making it with bacon instead of sausage. I prefer bacon and it was just easier to make quickly than going out and buying sausage.

That’s all I changed to make it work for us and oh boy did it work. This was soooo delicious!

I am totally glad I made this even if it took forever compared to my normal breakfasts. It was a nice weekend treat and was thoroughly enjoyed. I might try making it again one morning when I have a bit of extra time and am craving a savory breakfast.

Rather delicious! Check out the original recipe on The Kitchn if you want to make it!

ps – This is my first post using Mars Edit blogging software on my mac. I’m trying to streamline the blogging process so I can save time. Fingers crossed for it working!

Since it’s summer here (though you would never guess that with the cold rainy weather we have) I’ve been drinking lots of smoothies.

For breakfast this morning I had a blueberry smoothie and 1 egg with 3 egg whites scrambled with ketchup.

This morning’s blueberry smoothie was rather simple and contained:

• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup blueberries
• 1/2 cup spinach
• 1/2 scoop protein powder

I normally put a banana in my smoothie to make it sweeter and creamier but I wanted to see what it was like without one. It wasn’t that bad so I might skip the banana sometimes.

Smoothies are awesome in a few ways:

• quick & healthy
• easy to take on the go and drink
• easy way to slip in extra fruits and vegetables

The major downside is the fact that you have to clean the blender and the cup after. Oh and blueberry seeds get stuck in my teeth. Oh well. Can’t be perfect!

I’ve been enjoying blueberry smoothies (and other berry/fruit smoothies) quite often this week. Since I’m trying to wean myself off bread and sugars/sweets smoothies has been a useful way to get nutrients and keep myself full thanks to the water.  I’m actually starting to look forward to drinking them now!

I think I’m going to start making pancakes every Sunday because it’s a great way to start the day.

Plus I love pancakes but it involves too much work for more than once a week or so. But today’s pancakes were totally worth the work.

I originally wanted to make pumpkin protein pancakes but the pumpkin I had went bad so I settled for an experimental cinnamon raisin batch of pancakes. They turned out great!

Here is the pancake mix recipe:

• 1/2 cup cottage cheese
• 3/4 oats
• 1 scoop protein powder
• 1 egg
• 2 egg whites
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 small box raisins (added to my pancakes only)

This made 8 small pancakes, 3 with raisins.

(I have a thing for making small pancakes. Maybe I should make bigger ones and save myself the work? Nah.)

Focus obviously was on the protein because I usually don’t get enough on the weekends. I think next time I’ll use two whole eggs instead and they might be a bit better and fluffier though the texture this time wasn’t bad at all.

Then you add syrup and toppings of your choice. I used the remaining maple syrup we had which Kepa used too along with some peanut butter.

Deliciousness! A tablespoon (or two) of syrup is more than enough. I tell myself every time I eat pancakes so I don’t revert back to my old ways of using like have a cup (yeah, I’m a sugar addict). The maple syrup perfectly complemented the cinnamon raisin flavors of the pancakes.

Loved these! Will definitely be making them again in a rotation of pancake sunday. I’ve never put any sort of mix-in to my pancakes before but I enjoyed it. Maybe now I’ll try blueberry and chocolate chip pancakes? I feel like the possibilities could be endless!

I never seem to get sick of the most basic breakfasts like eggs and toast with jam.

It’s something I can eat over and over for breakfast. I feel the same way about cereal but unfortunately I try not to eat cereal anymore. It makes me sad sense cereal is my most beloved food, but we had to break up. Now I just eat eggs and toast in the morning.

This morning I had 1 egg and 3 egg whites scrambled. (I took the photo after a few bites which is why it looks so scrawny.) I also had wheat toast with light apricot jam. I tend to stay away from light or diet products but made and exception with this jam. It tastes great and has way less sugar that the regular version which saves a lot of calories and carbs for me to enjoy later in the day.

Although I am happy eating eggs and toast every morning I’ve been craving some other things like oatmeal and omelets. I’m probably going to be switching up breakfasts soon because of that. I get tired of oatmeal quickly but it sounds great now!

Good breakfast, good start to the day!

My lovely husband made us protein pancakes this morning.

He also made the strawberry syrup on top. I loved that so much but unfortunately the pancakes weren’t the best. I know it sounds bad to say, but it made me feel better about my failed recipes and attempts at making things. I know I’ve made way more failed foods over the time we have been together. He is such a great cook that it makes me feel less inadequate to know that his food isn’t always perfect. Besides, they actually tasted great it was just the texture that was off because he skipped cottage cheese since we had none. But they looked yummy!

Apparently we need a new skillet.

My little brother ruined one of two that we had. The last one left is the worst and needs to be replaced. It doesn’t matter what you do with it – food sticks. Especially pancakes.

This was the result of cooking some protein pancakes in that skillet. And this isn’t even my handiwork (because we all know I can’t flip pancakes) – my mom made these.

Well, I made the batter. She did the cooking. She knows I can’t flip pancakes and thought she could do better. Shows what she knows… maybe I’ll blame the skillet everytime I can’t flip a pancake. Neither one of us had a whole pancake this time.

It didn’t matter though. This pancake recipe is so good that I don’t mind eating it in pieces.

And the syrup?

Well, apparently my mom makes awesome apple and brown sugar syrup. It’s delicious. DELICIOUS. I’ve got to learn how to make that. It’s super cheap and three ingredients: apples, butter, brown sugar.

Altogether an awesome breakfast. I love weekends. And pancakes.

On Friday my boss went out for an appointment and lunch and she back with a gift for me:

A jar of Justin’s Maple Almond Butter.

Yes, I have the best boss in the world.

She noticed that I had run out of almond butter and she replaced it for me. She bought me an even better replacement because Maple Almond Butter is so many millions time better than just plain almond butter (which is amazing to begin with). Justin is right – this is the world’s most perfect nut butter.

I decided to take it home so I could try it out on pancakes. This weekend I decided to practice my pancake making skills by making a stack of little pancakes. I think my pancakes skills are improving because they turned out decently shaped.

I think I also found the most perfect breakfast combination ever: Janetha’s protein pancakes topped with Justin’s maple almond butter and a mashed banana.

Perfect. Yes. It was.

In the tragedy to end all tragedies, I ran out of almond butter this morning.

I keep a jar at work for snacks and breakfasts when I run out of time at home in the morning. It’s pretty convenient to keep things at work to eat since we have a kitchen area. I also had an overly ripe banana and two rice cakes on hand this morning when I got to work.

The owl just supervised my breakfast making. He actually supervises all my work since he sits on my desk.

I put the last of my almond butter on the rice cake and then layered it with mashed banana. I love how easy it is to mash up a really ripe banana!

This was yummy and easy and a decent fix for breakfast although really I could have used more protein. One of these days I will actually wake up and get ready early enough to make eggs or something better for breakfast. One of these days. Maybe. Eventually. Maybe.

These are good in the meantime.

:)

I had a great start to the morning.

Finally broke out my fruit blend for smoothies.

It had yummy fruit in it.

And made a great smoothies when combined with V8 fruit, spinach, blueberries, and vanilla protein powder. Fruity and delicious!

Pretty filling breakfast in only a couple minutes. :)

I also wore a shirt a reader sent me. I love it.

Great start to the morning! Back to work since I have a ton to do! :)