| Page 287

Kiss My Mama!

Posted on May 9, 2011 by kissmybroccoli

Wow! Sounds like you guys really liked the plate–o–love pancakes yesterday! I assure you they were absolutely delicious! I may or may not have had dreams about them last night! But don’t take my word for it, go make them already!

So, as I told you guys yesterday, I spent Saturday with my family celebrating Mother’s Day. All my mom wanted this year was to spend time together as a family. I’ve mentioned before that it’s quite difficult to align our schedules so we’re ALL in the same place at the same time, but on Saturday, we made it happen AND we had a great time!

As beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside! 🙂

It didn’t take me long to come up with the perfect gift for my mom. Weatherman predicted sunny and seventy and I predicted satisfied taste buds and full tummies! Luckily, we were both right!

My ~~shopping cart~~ buggy full of “plans” 🙂

If there is one thing I know about my family, it is this: they will never turn down my baked potato salad. I got the original recipe years ago from a neighbor and have “tweaked” and “twucked” (oh yeah, new word alert!) until I made it my own. This time, I struck gold!

Baked Potato Salad: (makes one 8×8 casserole dish)

2 pounds red potatoes
1 cup plain yogurt (I used nonfat Greek, but you can also use regular yogurt)
1/2 cup reduced fat mayonnaise
S&P to taste
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (I used sharp cheddar)*
6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
3 green onions, diced (green and white parts)

1. Wash and dry unpeeled potatoes and cut into 1 inch pieces.
2. Combine potatoes in a large pot of water and boil until fork tender (about 10-12 minutes).
3. Pre-heat oven to 350 °F.
4. Drain potatoes, transfer to a mixing bowl and stir in yogurt, mayonnaise, salt and pepper. As you’re stirring, feel free to “rough up” the taters a bit so you get a mix of mashed and chunky.
5. Stir in bacon, cheese, and green onions, reserving a little of each to sprinkle on top.
6. Once combined, transfer to a casserole dish and top with your reserved bacon, cheese, and green onions.
7. Place dish in 350 °F oven until the cheese gets nice and melty.

Vegetarian note: This recipe would be great with soy yogurt, Nayonaise, Daiya, and some tempeh Fakin’ Bacon!

*I also stirred in about 1 1/2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast, but shh, that’s our little secret…oh HI, MOM! 😉

Pre-oven lovin’

I whipped this up and took it with me to my parent’s to pop in their oven once the rest of dinner was ready. Oh, and wanna see what was for dinner?

Lean ground beef burgers with green leaf lettuce, tomato, avocado, and bread ‘n butter pickles (the best pickles ever created), fresh corn on the cob, and steamed asparagus…all of my mom’s favorites!

As dinner was being prepared, we all nibbled our way through this ginormous bowl of goodness:

Oh yeah, killer fruit salad baby! Chopped fresh by moi!
No overpriced pre-made grocery store fruit salads here!

♥ Pineapple, cantaloupe, honey-dew, grapes, and steebies ♥

Seriously, I wish you guys could’ve seen my mom’s face when I pulled all these goodies out of my car, especially with the asparagus (since we’re the only ones that like it)!

For dessert, there was also chocolate cake, but I opted to ~~dive head first into~~ enjoy more of the fruit salad!

And just when I thought I had bagged the Daughter of the Year Award after Saturday’s dinner, my sister just had to 1-up me with breakfast!

That’s it! You’re on Tori…mom’s birthday is only a few short months away!

Mwahahaha!

What dish do you make that your family can never pass up?

Be sure to check out Peas & Crayons for my very first guest post!

Posted in Entree, Holiday | Tagged family, fruits, grilling out, recipe, veggies | 27 Comments

Strawberry-Almond Buckwheat Pancakes

Posted on May 8, 2011 by kissmybroccoli

Hello friends! Did you miss me yesterday? I was celebrating Mother’s Day with my fam a day early since I’m on call for the next 24 hours…nothing like dropping everything and having to high-tail it to the hospital IF I get that call! I’ll be posting a little MD recap tomorrow to show you guys all the tasty eats! I was definitely reminded of where my foodie genes come from that’s for sure! 😉

I want to wish all the bloggy mamas out there a HUGE Happy Mother’s Day and if you haven’t done so already…call your madre and tell her that you love her! It’s ok…I’ll wait!

For this Pancake Sunday, I couldn’t help but have love on the brain. Why is it that anytime “love” is associated with a food, strawberries are the first thing to come to mind? Am I the only one who does this??

Anywho, these babies turned out to be some of the BEST pancakes ever (I’m sure I’ve said that like a dozen times at least…but seriously, you HAVE to try this recipe)!

Strawberry-Almond Buckwheat Pancakes: (serves 1)

1/4 cup buckwheat flour (ground from raw buckwheat groats)
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup milk (I used unsweetened almond milk)
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 egg white (I used 3 tablespoons liquid egg whites)
1/4 cup diced strawberries

1. Heat a skillet to medium heat and spray with cooking spray.

2. Stir flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon with a whisk to combine.

3. Whisk egg white until doubled in size and white and fluffy (I used my Magic Bullet)

4. Stir milk and almond extract into the flour mixture until just combined.

5. Fold in the egg whites and then gently stir in the diced strawberries.

6. Pour batter into greased skillet (I made three smallish cakes)and allow to cook 4-5 minutes or until the tops start to bubble.

7. Flip pancakes and continue cooking for 2-3 minutes until done.

8. Top with desired toppings!

I topped my strawberry ~~shortcakes~~ pancakes with “whipped cream” (Greek yogurt sweetened with a couple of drops of stevia), slivered almonds, unsweetened coconut…because coconut goes good on EVERYTHING, and a bit of maple syrup (the real stuff…don’t skimp!)

The warm bits of gooey strawberry scattered throughout with the hint of almond extract was the perfect combo for my plate–o–love!

Oh yeah, if I was a real mama (sadly, the adoption of a feline doesn’t qualify me for tax deductions), this is what I’d want to wake up to the morning of Mother’s Day. Hmm, if only Tiger had opposable thumbs…

How are you/did you show your mama love for Mother’s Day this year?

Posted in Breakfast, Pancake Sunday | Tagged coconut, hospital, pancakes, strawberries, Tiger | 35 Comments

My Friday Favorites

Posted on May 6, 2011 by kissmybroccoli

Hey guys! So I’ve seen a lot of bloggers doing the “Friday Favorites” posts lately and I thought I’d do one of my own! I am seriously loving so many things right now, but for the sake of the length of this post (and your attention span), I’ll try my best to narrow it down to five, mkay?

Annnnnnnnd go!

1. Leftovers for breakfast!

Mexican Breakfast Pizza anyone?

Mexican Breakfast Pizza: (serves 1)

1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1 handful of fresh spinach
1/2 cup mixed veggies (I used leftover bell peps and onions from last night’s dinner)
1 whole egg + 2 egg whites
splash of milk
more veggies + cheese for toppin’
plain Greek yogurt and ketchup for swirlin’
and finally a fork for eatin’ 😉

1. Heat a small skillet (mine is 8″) over medium heat and drizzle in olive oil.
2. Once hot, add spinach and veggies and saute just until they start to get tender.
3. Whisk egg + egg whites and milk in a small bowl and pour over veggie mixture.

4. Cover skillet with a lid or aluminum foil and allow to cook until egg is set (about 8-10 minutes).

I topped my breakfast pizza with a couple of tiny purple potatoes that I steamed in the microwave, tomatoes, and Daiya cheese. If you want melty cheese, just transfer your skillet (oven-proof of course) to the oven and broil for a couple of minutes. Then swirl on whatever sauces call to you in the wee hours of the morning…in this case, it HAD to be ketchup and “sour cream” (Greek yogurt)!

2. Adding veggies AND fruits to my salad!

And enjoying with a drizzle of warm coconut butter! Emilia, you are a GENIUS!