Recipe Review: Whole wheat Pancakes

I found this recipe on allrecipes, and even tho I modified the recipe, they were very good and so so filling! This recipe has many great reviews on allrecipes, and if you read some of them you will find some good variations! There is also a photo posted on the original site. Here is the original recipe, and below is my variation. I believe the nutrition is a little off as well as the servings on allrecipes, because I scaled it down to serve 4 and it served 5 instead, making 10 pancakes, 2 for each person. My nutrition is calculated using sparkrecipes recipe calculator. I tried to be as exact as I could. These are very filling and will keep you going all morning! My recipe contains flax, which is high in fiber and omega-3's. The whole wheat flour will help your body to digest these slowly.

Ingredients

1 c whole wheat flour
2/3 c all-purpose flour
1/3 c rolled oats (I used quick cooking oats)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 c flax seeds, ground
1 c skim yogurt, plain
1 1/2 cups 2% milk
2 large eggs


Directions

In a large bowl, mix together first 7 ingredients. In a smaller bowl, Combine the yogurt, milk, and eggs. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add wet mixture. Stir until just combined. If you stir too much they will be tougher. Pour 1/4 cup of batter onto a non-stick griddle or skillet, heated to optimal pancake cooking temperature. (When a drop of water 'dances' on the surface, without quickly evaporating) Cook until starts to bubble, and flip, making sure pancake heats through before taking off griddle. These pancakes will be darker than white flour pancakes. Recipe makes 10 pancakes. A serving is 2 pancakes.

Number of Servings: 5

Nutritional Info

* Servings Per Recipe: 5
* Amount Per Serving
* Calories: 375.5
* Total Fat: 11.5 g
* Cholesterol: 91.8 mg
* Sodium: 537.4 mg
* Total Carbs: 52.9 g
* Dietary Fiber: 8.1 g
* Protein: 17.7 g

Recipe: Spicy V8 filler

I found a recipe like this and it sounded too good, but I couldn't remember where I had seen it at. I never get my daily intake of vegetables, and to tell you the truth, when your on a budget it is hard to buy a whole lot of veggies. I usually buy v8, or store brand tomato juice cocktail to get more veggies, plus it is really filling for a snack! This recipe is like drinking a thick gazpacho shake, and it's so good and filling, and just under 100 calories and less than 1g of fat. If you are watching your sodium as well, you will need to substitute some ingredients, they are included in parenthesis. I hope you enjoy this drink as much as I do!

Spicy V8 filler, makes 1 serving

Ingredients:
8 oz of V8 (or use v8 low sodium)
1/4 cup fat free sour cream
1 tsp soy sauce (or low sodium soy sauce)
1-2 tsp hot sauce

Blend all ingredients until smooth and poor into a cold glass or mug. Drink and enjoy!

Sorry no pictures, of course, my camera is still broken, but hey, we all know what v8 looks like right?

Especially for cysters Product review: Lane Bryant's Cacique Bra's

Ok, so if you are uncomfortable talking about bra's, please don't read on, ha ha. I have never shelled out a whole lot of money for bra's before. I delusion myself all the time that I can find a good supportive bra for my big bust with bra's from Wal-Mart. Last year with our tax money, I finally went clothes shopping and bought me two really good bra's, I am a DD, nearly DDD, but I didn't know where to start! I had gotten one bra from Victoria secrets a few months before, it was good, but to tell ya the truth, the straps were just too thin to be any good. I decided to go into Lane Bryant, and I tried on this brand called 'Cacique' It has been a whole year and to tell you the truth, it is well time to buy some more! I am in love with these bra's. My girls were finally up where they should be, and the straps are wide and don't stretch out as fast. I bought a padded one, and a non-padded one. They have a variety of styles, colors, and Lane Bryant carries a variety of other brands as well. I have done a google search, and you can find Cacique in most plus size stores, and many sellers on ebay as well. I don't think I will be buying my bras from anywhere else, even if I lose weight, I will still go to Lane Bryant for bra's, as they come in smaller cup sizes as well. I had been a C all through high school, and even then you still need good support. If you have never paid a whole lot for bra's before, I would suggest doing so, you will never go back to cheap undergarments again!

Vinegar for Insulin Resistance/ vinegar tea recipe

So I have been reading so many articles how vinegar has been proven to help diabetics process sugars and such, so I decided to try eating more vinegar. The main article I read was this post found at soulcysters.com Had some good information. I hear about so many people taking a shot of apple cidar vinegar in some water every morning or before meals, but this just didn't sound too good to me, but I like sour things and love salad dressing made from apple cidar vinegar, so I found this recipe and gave it a try. It was sweet yet tangy, and I found it to be pretty good. It wasn't bad at all and I actually enjoyed the tangy, warm taste as I sipped my morning 'tea'. I think next time I will reduce the vinegar by half, it was pretty tangy. I have had good results eating low gi, so I figured, why not add some vinegar to my routine, if it helps my body to absorb sugars so I can lose weight easier, than I would give it a try.

Hot Vinegar Tea:

1 cup or mug of hot water
1-2 pkgs Splenda or other sugar sub.
1 Tbsp vinegar

Stir in the sugar substitute into the hot water, then stir in the vinegar. Sip and enjoy!

Extremely frugal Cooking tip: Saving veggi scraps

I am on an extreme budget for groceries, so I never buy more vegetables than what I need, and I am always looking for ways to stretch my food for recipes. I came up with this tip:

Save your vegetable scraps. Save the tops and ends of carrots, save the tops of onions or bell peppers, and save the tops of celery, and those tiny soft sticks in the center you never eat. Keep them in a zip top bag through the week or two weeks, if your veggies will keep that long. At the end of the week, toss this bag in some water to make a veggie broth for soups. Broths are so low maintenance! I through mine in a crock pot over night with some chicken bones (from chicken breast that I took the bones out myself) add seasonings, and tada! You have a broth to freeze for later or use for a healthy lunch or dinner. Broths don't have to be just for soup! Use them in the place of water when making rice or other savory recipes.

I also like to save the tops of my tomatoes for an at home tomato scrub I saw on youtube!

Recipe Review: Lime and Garlic Chicken Fajitas

This is my own recipe as well. I made my own corn tortillas too, but that was frustrating ha ha, but they turned out yummy! You can just buy any healthy flour tortillas as well, which is what I will do next time cause I'm not too fond of corn tortillas, I am more of a bread person. If you need a recipe for simplicity and taste, this will saute up quick. Pre-marinading the chicken is the key to the flavor, so you can simply chop and saute. This made enough to fill 10-12 6in tortillas, and the left overs were just as good!

Ingredients:
Corn or flour tortillas
2 chicken breast, cubed
2 onions, sliced thin
6-8 button mushrooms, sliced
1 large tomato, diced
1/4 c marinade with lime and garlic
(optional: 1/2 tsp of cumin and 1 tbsp lime juice)

Marinade the cubed chicken either overnight, or at least 1-3 hours. Just place the chicken with the marinade (doesn't have to be lime and garlic, pic something you like) in a ziplock bag in the fridge. When you are ready to cook, place a large skillet and turn on the stove to medium heat. Chop your veggies while the skillet is heating up. Toss in the chicken and cook until no longer pink, tossing with a spatula or spoon occationally. Add in your onions first. Let them saute for about 3-5 mins, then add in your mushrooms. When the mushrooms begin to soften, about 3 mins, add in your tomato, and if desired, season with additional lime juice, cumin, salt and pepper. When the tomatoes look good and roasted and yummy, serve over warm tortillas! To finish off serve with sour cream or guacamole. I have pictures of the whole process below if you want to see!

And the last two photos are my pain-in-the-rear tortillas! Hope you enjoyed the recipe, I had fun with this one!

Recipe Review, Crockpot onion soup

I just kinda winged this one after reading several recipes, so here we go! This recipe fits in a large crockpot, but I am sure you could scale it down. I made mine with tons of onions, so reduce the amount to have more broth and less onions. Sorry the photo of this one is not so good, but it was delicious I promise! It is really low budget, you can buy a bag of onions and beef broth, add seasonings, and tada!

Ingredients:
2 lbs of onions (about 5-6?)
6-8 cups of beef broth
1 stick butter or margarine
(or 6-8 c water with 6-8 beef bouillon cubes)
1-2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
minced garlic or garlic pwdr, to taste
Salt, pepper to taste
(Tip: the best bouillon I have ever tried is called better than bouillon
and it is way better than using beef broth or bouillon cubes, I love it!

Directions:
Slice onions thinly to make nice rings, and place in crock pot on top of butter. Add broth and seasonings and stir lightly just to combine. Cook all day on low heat or for 4-5 hours on high heat, until the onions are soft.

Serving suggestions:
Serve with garlic bread or to really wow the crowd, place soup in an oven proof bowl. Place a thick slice of bread on top, and cover with shredded cheese. Place in an oven on 250-300 deg F just until the cheese melts. This way is delicious, and my favorite way to serve this! If you are worried about health, use whole grain bread and low fat cheese.