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Perfectly Sweet With a Little Heat

Posted on September 12, 2011 by kissmybroccoli

Hey guys!

Thank you all so SO much for all the sweet comments on my
first 10 miler!

Yesterday was definitely a rocking day for sure! After my “celebratory” pancake brunch, I drove into Nashville to meet up with my good friend Heather…

aka HEAB 🙂

After nearly five months of not seeing each other, with her just getting back from a long vacation in Michigan and me not far removed from the California shore, we knew there would be a lot to catch each other up on. And what better way to do it than over a nice big ~~trough~~ bowl of fro-yo?

My very first bowl of Sweet CeCe’s fro-yo!

At first I was impressed by the variety of the flavors (nice change of pace to the boring rotation here in Clarksville), but then…then I had a sample, and…

Oh my gosh, it was the thickest, densest, BEST frozen yogurt I’ve ever had!

After I tried about half of the flavors and was pretty disappointed in the cake batter flavor (totally just tasted like an extra sweet vanilla), we both decided to go with a mix of the
Original Tart and Strawberry Banana.

Topped with granola, almonds, and shredded coconut!

Then we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and enjoyed our fro-yo/chit chat al fresco!

Wow, is it just me or does my hair look really red in this pic?

And Heather, being the sweetheart that she is, also brought a little “present” for me:

Her favorite jam

Which I already put to good use in tonight’s dinner!

Whole wheat toast with scrambled cheesy eggs and hot pepper preserves

And you better believe those pieces of toast came together to make one of the best sweet/savory and smooth/spicy sandwiches yet!

Oh and FYI, I made these eggs with a little tip from one of mine and Heather’s favorite bloggers! If you want perfectly light and fluffy scrambled eggs, hop on over and see Sarena’s secret!

Posted in Breakfast, Desserts, Entree | Tagged blogger meet up, cheese, eggs, fro-yo, whole wheat bread | 23 Comments

Victory Pancakes

Posted on September 11, 2011 by kissmybroccoli

Good afternoon lovelies!

I hope you are all enjoying your weekend so far. The weather here in Tennessee was FANTASTIC yesterday and it looks like we’re gonna have another gorgeous day today! We had quite the storm roll in late last night, but I think it was just what we needed to level out the humidity. Low humidity in the South…now THAT’S an oxymoron!

I laid low and had a good “chill” day yesterday because I decided on my last run (Friday) that I was gonna set a new goal…

10 miles for Sunday!

Eh, sometimes a girl just has to have something to shoot for.

And guess what…

I did it!!

In an hour and a half!

I was afraid I made a mistake when I didn’t end up getting out there until around 7:30am, but the weather was absolutely PERFECT…65-70 degrees, sun behind the clouds, light breeze in the air…plus, I discovered a new station to run to on Pandora:

The perfect blend of singing and screaming to push me those extra miles! 😉

After my run, I downed a protein shake (a blend of this and this given to me by a friend which now I’m thinking about buying) on my way back to the casa and started day dreaming of ~~won~~ one thing…

Victory Pancakes!

Since my French toast breakfast earlier this week, I have NOT been able to get the combo of peach and coconut out of my head, so I knew exactly where I wanted to go with this Pancake Sunday’s recipe.

Obviously, I was in some sort of recipe-creating daze because as I started throwing ingredients into a bowl, I suddenly realized I was out of milk. Luckily, I opened the fridge and found a good stand in:

And what a coincidence…my Chobani just happens to be PEACH flavored! 😉

Coconut-Peach Yogurt Pancakes

By: Heather @ Kiss My Broccoli

Prep Time: 5-10 minutes

Cook Time: 8-10 minutes

Keywords: stovetop breakfast oat flour coconut flour greek yogurt peaches Pancake Sunday

Ingredients (Serves 1)

1/3 cup oat flour (rolled oats ground in a food processor)
1 Tablespoon coconut flour (optional)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 modified flax egg (1/2 Tablespoon flax + 1 1/2 Tablespoons water)
1 teaspoon coconut (or vanilla) extract
1 6oz container peach flavored Chobani yogurt
2 Tablespoons water ONLY if using coconut flour

Instructions

1. Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat and coat with cooking spray.
2. Combine flax and water for your flax egg and allow 2-3 minutes to set.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together all of the dry ingredients to work out any clumps.
4. In a separate bowl, combine flax egg, vanilla extract, yogurt, and water
5. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until flour is incorporated. Spoon batter onto skillet, forming 3 small-medium sized pancakes.
6. Cook for about 4-5 minutes per side or until the edges of the cakes start to turn crisp (batter will not bubble).
7. Plate and layer with freshly diced peaches, unsweetened shredded coconut, and a little coconut cream (coconut flour + milk + sweetener).

Winner, winner, pancake ~~dinner~~ breakfast!

Hey, no one finished ahead of me, therefore I get a blue ribbon, right? We’ll just pretend that there were actually other people present at the time! 😉

I topped AND layered my cakes with freshly diced peaches, unsweetened shredded coconut, and a little coconut cream.

Coconut-peachy perfection!

But the REAL magic happened after my plate just happened to “bump into” my bottle of maple syrup!

Check out that maple drip hanging over the edge!

Yep, best way to celebrate a new PDR!

Let me know when they start serving up pancakes after races…maybe then I’ll finally sign up for one! 😉

What was your last “victory”? How did you celebrate it?
Life is too short not to appreciate the little things…no matter how small, if it makes you well up with pride, do a “happy dance”, or whip up some celebratory pancakes, it deserves recognition!

Posted in Breakfast, Pancake Sunday, Running, Vegetarian | Tagged coconut, coconut cream, flax, maple syrup, oat flour, pancakes, peaches, recipe, running | 30 Comments

California Friday #2

Posted on September 9, 2011 by kissmybroccoli

Hey guys! I hope everyone had a great Friday!

Woo hoo, welcome to the weekend!

I thought I’d pick up where I left off last Friday with the “Flashback to California” series I’ve started here to recap my Santa Cruz vacation to see the one and only Emilia!

California Friday #2: Toasty Tootsies!

After our (literally) blistering 10 mile jaunt through the forests of Nisene Marks, we devoured some lunch and then set out for some pampering for our tired toes!

Enter China Foot Massage!

We went in and arranged for the
“Special”
…a 30 minute back and foot massage…

Now I have to admit, when I first saw the open arrangement of all the “sofas”, I was a little skeptical…

As I sat in the room awaiting instruction, surrounded by people getting pounded on like they were chicken tenders for that night’s dinner, I was a little skeptical…

When, finally, a small Asian man came up to me, rubbed my shoulders and then pulled (I mean, really pulled) both my arms straight above my head, I was a little skeptical…

But then, about halfway through our massage session/dinner prep, as I looked over at Emilia through perfectly relaxed and heavy eyelids, all the skepticism rolled off my shoulders, down the candy cane-esque sofa, and far, far away from my mind!

Emilia and I post rub down!
Don’t we look so nice and relaxed? 😉

Afterwards, we headed down to Capitola beach for some fun in the sun!

Where I dug my nice and relaxed toes into the sand

And then dipped them into the Pacific for the very first time!

And this was my face after that dip!

Yeah, the Pacific Ocean? It’s COLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLD!

Brrr!

After that ~~rude awakening~~ refreshing realization, I decided to settle myself on the beach and just snap a few pics…

By the end of my vacation, my appreciation for seagulls went to the same place that that skepticism went earlier…

Nasty little birds tried to steal my towel! Haha!

As we headed back to the car to end our relaxing day at home, I couldn’t help but snap a few more shots of downtown Capitola. None of which ended up looking like much…

that is, except for this one:

I am in love with this photo!

The angle, the lines, the sunlight coming through the door…almost makes me feel like a real photographer! 😉

Where have your “tootsies” been this summer? Any dips in new waters?

Have you ever had a professional massage? What did you think?
My first massage was horrible. The lady basically spent 60 minutes rubbing her palms over my skin…there was no “massaging” whatsoever! It took me a while to give it another go, but now I love indulging in a good spa day once every few months!