There's a first time for everything.

I did it! I made my first ever successful omelet.

I'm not sure why I've had so much trouble making a successful omelet, but I have.

They fall apart, they burn, they don't cook in the middle, etc. If it can wrong, it probably has at some point.

I usually give up end up with a scramble. But not anymore.

Whole Wheat Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes

I found this photo of blueberry pancakes floating around in my Flickr photostream and I realized I never shared these. It's a shame, too, because these were really good!

Probably one of the better blueberry pancakes I've made so far.. and I've made a lot. I've made buttermilk oatmeal blueberry pancakes, blueberry buttermilk pancakes, and way back in 2007 I made regular old blueberry pancakes.

I guess by the look of it, it seems like I make a lot of pancakes. That's not really true, though. Most pancake recipes make a zillion servings and it's sometimes hard to halve a recipe if it calls for an odd number of eggs.

So, when I saw Mark Bittman's recipe in How to Cook Everything could be easily split in two, I was in love. Then, I started going wild with the variations and I loved it even more.

Whole Wheat Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes
Serves 4.
Adapated from How to Cook Everything

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour or regular whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon sugar
2 cups buttermilk
2 eggs
1 cup blueberries
1 tablespoon butter for the griddle

Mix together the dry ingredients in a large bowl.

In a small bowl, beat together the buttermilk and eggs. Slowly add the mixture to the dry ingredients, stirring just enough to combine. There will be a few lumps. Gently stir in the blueberries.

Preheat a griddle pan over medium heat. Put the tablespoon of butter in a paper towel. When the pan is hot, swipe the butter over the pan just to create a thin layer. You could just add the butter to the pan a bit at a time, but you use tons less butter this way.

Drop the batter on the griddle, about a 1/4 cup at a time. Cook until bubbles form and the outer edges appear cooked. Flip and cook until lightly browned. Between each batch, wipe the pan out and add more butter.

You can keep the cooked pancakes warm in a 200° oven for about 30 minutes.

Oatmeal for dinner? Yes, please.

Last night's dinner was completely random. But I didn't mind.

For lunch, my friend and I took our dads (who work at the same company we do) to the minor league ballpark near our office. It was a day game and somehow we ended up with free tickets. I ended up eating a Rooster's buffalo chicken wrap and splitting some fries with my dad. In other words, lunch was not the healthiest.

After work I let my friend beat me up at the gym. Not literally of course, but she's used to strength training and I'm not.. so I often make mean faces at her as I try to keep up the best I can.

By the time I actually made it home, I didn't feel like cooking and I wanted something light. So oatmeal it was.

Because I was super lazy I chose a packet of Kashi GoLean Hearty Honey & Cinnamon hot cereal. Not bad for an "Instant" oatmeal, actually! I topped it with fresh blueberries and some ground flaxseeds.



Next, I sliced up an apple topped it with a couple tablespoons of shart cheddar and popped it under the broiler to melt the cheese. It was melty goodness, I'm telling you.



Not shown, but I also had Ciao Bella Blood Orange Sorbet for dessert. If it wasn't so pricey I could see it becoming an obsession. DELICIOUS! If you haven't had it, I highly recommend it!

How do you balance a not so healthy lunch?

Let's Talk Toast

I first signed up for Weight Watchers back in college after having gained the Frosh 35. I was a sophomore at the time, so I was stuck eating cafeteria food. I didn't have to think too much about meal planning beyond finding the a healthier option for lunch and dinner.

It wasn't until senior year when I finally moved out of the dorms and had a full kitchen for the first time. I struggled with what to make. I didn't have the cafeteria to fall back on when I didn't feel like making something and as a 20-something who had never cooked a day in my life, my options were limited. When my weight started creeping up, I headed back to Weight Watchers. And that's when I discovered the weekly meal plans on their website.

They were nothing fancy. Wraps, canned soups and the like -- but it incorporated all of the healthy guidelines and were simple to prepare. Not much cooking required. It also helped me realize a side to a sandwich should be fruit and veggies -- not a bag of chips.

I've mostly given up the meal plan ideas in favor of something a little more interesting, but a few things stuck. For one -- toast with cream cheese.

I love bagels and cream cheese. I sometimes cave and get one from the cafeteria at work when I forget my breakfast. But before Weight Watchers, I never thought of toast. This week I used up all of my usual 7 grain cereal, so I decided to fall back on one of my college classics.

This time, though, I added a touch of sweetness with the last of the Trader Joe's Pumpkin Butter and 1/2 a grapefruit cut up on the side. It was perfection.

What's your favorite breakast? Do you always eat the same thing or do you like to mix it up?

French Toast with Fried Apples

This was the view from my window this afternoon. Much better than a beige cubicle wall. It's not the brilliant red it was a few days ago and the leaves are thinning, but it's still pretty.

The only thing about working from home? I feel like such a slug. I haven't left all day. How do people do this day in an out? If I maybe had a significant other it might not be so bad because someone would be at least around at some point, but I definitely don't think I could do this every day. But every once and a while (especially on a Friday) it's nice to work outside of the office.

The temperature was a lot easier to deal with, that's for sure. We're having an Indian summer kind of day.. near 80 degrees. I had the apartment all opened up it. It was beautiful. This is exactly why fall is my favorite season.

Unfortunately, my dinner plans didn't work out. I intended to make a slow cooker beef stew, with the warmer temps it didn't sound good at all. Time for plan B.

Breakfast for dinner.

A few days ago or so I came across this recipe for fried apples. The pictures were drool-worthy and I knew I had to make these as soon as humanly possible.

I was tossing around the idea of making French toast with the last of the 12-grain bread from Nature's Pride that Foodbuzz sent me.



This was softer and nuttier than the whole grain, but has less fiber. Usually I buy bread that has at least 3 grams of fiber per slice, but this was probably tastier than the whole grain. And it made a really great French toast. The nuttiness was perfect. Especially topped with these amazingly good apples. I love apple pie and these are basically the filling of the pie (i.e., the best part). There's not even maple syrup on these.. just the delicious syrupy apples. Perfection.

See for yourself:

Roasted Pork with Root Vegetables

Busy busy day. I got back into the gym for the first time in like two weeks. Work has been so busy I haven't had a chance to work out in the afternoon. It was a tough run today.. funny how two weeks off seem to really make a difference.

I also did a ton of cooking. I made meatballs and marinara to throw in the slow cooker tomorrow morning, made pumpkin ice cream and even roasted pork and root vegetables for dinner. I started with the recipe but changed it up some. I used parsnips, carrots, potatoes and garlic for the vegetables, for one. And, the vegetables could really go 30-40 minutes in my opinion. Mine went close-ish to 30 and they were quite done. Next time I may start the veg when I brown the meat, and then throw the meat in the pan with the vegetables. After 20 minutes or so I'd take the meat out, whenever it gets to about 155 in the center, and let it rest while the vegetables keep cooking.

Breakfast was a little less successful. I tried to make the stuffed french toast with toaster waffles. BIG FAIL. I used pumpkin butter in between two waffles and soaked in a egg mixture of 2 egg whites and an egg with cinnamon and vanilla soy milk. Definitely works better with cinnamon bread like I used a while back. The pumpkin butter on waffles was good, though. Just a little too soggy with the egg.



Almost looked good. Oh well, can't win every time, right?

What did you all cook this weekend?

Staycation Blueberry Pancakes

Yesterday started off rough. I woke up at 4 a.m. sweating, with all the covers kicked off, and it was really stuffy in my bedroom. The air conditioning was on because my allergies have been bothering me, so I was really confused. Why was it so freaking hot? And you know that smell when you first turn on the furnace for the first time in the fall? That hot smell? Well, that's what it smelled like.

At first I thought I was dumb and switched on the heat instead of the A/C. That's something I would totally do. It did said it was on cool, but the thermostat also said it was above 85 degrees in the apartment even though it was set to 85. To make matters worse, hot air was blowing from my vents. Ugh. The A/C broke and because it was so hot, I couldn't fall back to sleep.

Luckily, maintenance fixed it yesterday while I was at work, but work was torture for my sleep deprived body. The good thing about being up so early, though, was that I got a yoga workout in. I guess when life hands you lemons, you make lemonade.

I wanted to get another workout in after work, but I was way too tired. Instead, I grilled up the hamburgers I put out in the morning. I wanted something I could grill without having to turn the stove or oven on — since I wasn't sure when they'd be able to fix my A/C.



It's nothing out of the ordinary.. just a burger with lettuce, ketchup, mustard and pickle relish. Just the way I like them. I also had a beer, because a.) I had a rough day and b.) I was on VACATION.

I woke up this morning with the sun streaming through my window. It really felt like I was on a vacation instead of just hanging out around town. To celebrate, I made buttermilk oatmeal blueberry pancakes. I used a Weight Watcher's recipe, but I'm not sure why I did. I never have much luck. These were OK, but not something I'd make again. Might be my fault because I only had old-fashioned oats. I ground them up, though, to make up for the fact they weren't quick cooking. It could have affected the outcome, truthfully. But in general, WW recipes don't usually work for me, and it's rare for me to make on of their recipes more than once.

I also altered the recipe by skipping the cherries and low cal syrup, threw blueberries in the batter and topped with real syrup.

Now, I'm off to wash my car and get a workout in. Then, I'm picking up the cupcakes my sister ordered for a tasting (she's having cupcakes at her wedding instead of wedding cake), going with her to meet with the florist, and spending time with my family while she's in town.

Question: Did you take a vacation this year? Where did you go?

Roasted Beet Salad

Roasted beet salad

What's up with this weather in the Midwest? I've heard this is the coldest July in history, and I can believe it. Yesterday morning, er, afternoon by the time I woke up, was so cold I was actually wearing a sweatshirt while I had my windows open.

Funny how just a few days ago I was saying it was too hot for oatmeal and now it's cold enough I'm craving it again. This bowl was made with water then topped with soy milk, agave nectar, cinnamon, peaches and blueberries.


Oatmeal with summer fruit

For dinner I finished off the beets with this roasted beet salad. To make it a main dish salad I added grilled chicken. The only other change I made was using a salad greens mix instead of arugula because that's what I had. Overall, it wasn't bad. Not sure I'll make it again, but it was a good use of the beets. It would definitely be tastier as a starter rather than a main dish, but it was too labor intensive for an every day meal.

Looking back on my food intake today it's pretty scattered — starting off with a cold weather dish and finishing off with a cool salad. Ha. I had weird dreams all last night and felt "off" today in general.. so I think my scattered food choices and even this post reflect that.

I'm off to bed. Hopefully I'll sleep better than I did last night!

Perfect Smoothie

To bring back a phrase from my middle school years, it's hot like a mug out there. I walked out the door this morning, and I was instantly bombarded with stifling humidity. It was suprisingly hot out for 7:30 a.m. It's 9 a.m. now and it's already 74°.

When it's this hot, my usual oatmeal doesn't sound very appetizing. That's when I pull out the blender and whip up a smoothie.

In general, I'm not a huge fan of drinking my breakfast. It just doesn't hold me over well. But my coworker suggested the Perfect Smoothie. It sounded kind of weird to me and I wasn't sure my blender could handle fruit with the peels. But I gave it a go. And it wasn't bad! A little tart, so sometimes I use a little orange and a little lemon. It has spinach, which seems to be all the rage. It that scary shade of green thanks to the blueberries and it doesn't take mounds of spinach to make one drink.

I chop up the ingredients the night before and my breakfast is ready in a flash. It holds me over better than the average smoothie, but I need a small mid-morning snack so I'm not starving going into lunch.

See? Not a scary green :)



Do you have a favorite hot-weather breakfast?

Coffee-Break Muffins

These are probably in my top five favorite muffins ever. And if you like coffee-flavored treats, I'm positive they'll be at the top of your list, too. I first made them more than a year ago back when I worked at my last company. Every month we had a staff meeting and each meeting someone was charged with bringing a snack.

I brought these.

In the middle of going over the table of contents for the upcoming issue my boss interrupted himself. "Oh man, these are good."

I made them again for a birthday breakfast at my current company and they were devoured. Since my blueberry muffins didn't go over as well at the last birthday celebration, (might have been because I left out the honey on accident) I made these again.

Not only do they taste great, I have all the ingredients in my pantry. Instant espresso might be a unique ingredient, but other than that, you probably have the ingredients on hand. And considering crappy danish at the grocery store goes for $5 or more, if it's something I can whip up without spending any extra money, I'm in.

Did I mention they are delicious?

Unfortunately the glut of baked goods people brought in today meant not all of muffins were eaten, but my dad seemed more than willing to take them off my hands. It was either that or they'd get tossed. I had one last night— you know.. to make sure I was serving something edible. But that's all I really wanted. I'm not one who can "casually" snack on baked goods.

And these aren't low cal. Sure, you could probably mess it by cutting back on butter.. using some milk.. maybe some unsweetened applesauce. But why mess with perfection?

The recipe for the beauties can be found online straight from the source: Baking: From My Home to Yours.

Italian Ravioli Casserole

Italian Ravioli Casserole

Today got off to a rough start. I was running late dropping my car off at the dealership for service. I had my dad meet me there so we could go to work, but they gave me a rental car. So we were later getting to work than I wanted to be because I had to drop off the rental car at home.

Right before leaving for work, I slurped a strawberry-orange smoothie and poured the rest into a to-go container. I added some whey powder in this time, which was awful tasting. Lesson learned. It didn't keep me any more full, either.


Strawberry-Orange Smoothie

I get to work to find out I accidentally scheduled a meeting for next Monday that I intended to schedule for today. Luckily, the day turned itself around mid-morning and things were looking up. And when all else fails, have some carbs. My mid-morning snack ended up being a Trader Joe's whole wheat mini bagel and almond butter.

Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to work out in the gym downstairs. I had a short window of time after lunch where my food had digested enough and I would still have time to make it back upstairs and compose myself so I didn't go to my 3 o'clock as a sweaty mess. But I got a phone call from a guy I was waiting to hear back from for like a week, and I missed my window. Oh well. If there's one thing I learned as a journalist — when a source calls you back you'd better take the call and get the info while you can.. or you face waiting another week for them to call you back.

After my 3 o'clock I grabbed the only form of artificial sweetener you'll probably ever see me eat. Yoplait Light and some low fat granola. I especially love the raspberry flavor because it reminds me of being a kid. My mom used to buy the raspberry custard style Yoplait occasionally. Do they even still make that? I don't think so. Closest they have are the whipped light cups, which aren't quite the same.


Tastes like childhood — but with artificial sugar

When I finally made it home this evening I realized I didn't put out the tortillas for the tacos I planned to make and part of it was supposed to marinade for an hour. So, I found the Italian Ravioli Casserole recipe on myrecipes.com to use up the last of the frozen cheese ravioli I found in the freezer. The portion was small, but I liked it. Especially since I made the tomato sauce rather than getting it from a jar. I even used fresh basil from my "garden" aka railing planters. When using only a handful of ingredients, it's best to use the best tasting ones you can find! Looking forward to the leftovers tomorrow.

Tonight's snack will probably be a Skinny Cow knock-off from Aldi. Ice cream treats are another diet-y food I sometimes buy, although rarely. I just can't be trusted with the real deal. And I have yet to find a great low fat ice cream recipe and I'm craving it this week. Next week I'll probably go back to homemade or store bought sorbets, which are my usual summer treat.

Ok — now off to do some yoga before catching up on a little TV. Night!

Orange-Berry Muffins

I love my apartment. For one, it's cheap considering it's a large-ish one bedroom apartment in a good area. Plus, it's an older building that's built the way it should be. I've lived in a few newer complexes with absolutely no sound proofing and it was AWFUL. But most of all, I love, love, love my balcony that faces east. It gets a ton of morning sunlight. Now that I've bought a table and chairs for outside, I can read a book in the sun while eating my breakfast. It's a weekend luxury I really enjoy.

This morning I had one of these leftover little beauties from my co-worker's birthday breakfast yesterday. I made Orange-Berry Muffins from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours. These turned out a smidge dryer than I would have liked. I didn't have to use quite 3/4 cup of buttermilk and while finding an online version of the recipe I realized I accidentally left out the honey. So maybe that's my issue. Any one with any baking experience know why they were dry-ish? Not really dry, just sort of.

I also had some scrambled eggs and a couple slices of center cut bacon because the pickings at my household are slim. I'm out of bread, out of fruit and out of cereal. Once I get a few loads of laundry out of the way I'm definitely hitting up the grocery store.

Have a great Saturday!

Basic Pancakes with Strawberries and Bananas

Excuse me while I share a boring meal. Basic pancakes topped with strawberries and 1/2 a ripe banana with a little maple syrup. My weekends sometimes are "use it up" kind of meals, and this one was definitely one of those!

Last weekend I made a batch of basic pancakes. I always split the recipe in two, then freeze the other portion. Because the recipe calls for 1 egg and it's hard to split an egg, I use fat free egg substitute in this case. It also has a lot of oil in the batter so next time I make them I might substitute unsweetened applesauce for half the oil. In Weight Watchers world, that saves a point per serving, or about 30 calories and 3.5 grams of fat. It isn't much, considering I use canola oil instead of butter for its healthier fats, but that's extra calories I could use for more syrup, which is the best part if you ask me.

To freeze, I let them cool, then lay them out flat on a cookie sheet and freeze. Once frozen I transfer them to a freezer bag. To reheat, run them through the toaster on a low setting for a couple of cycles, or pop them in the oven. Put them flat on a cookie sheet, cover with foil, and bake about 8 to 10 minutes at 350 until hot.

I topped these with bananas and strawberries because both were on their last days. Sometimes produce goes bad before I have a chance to eat it. So this was an excellent way to avoid waste.

For activity today, I burned 500 calories according to my heart rate monitor for 30 minutes or so on the elliptical and lower body strength training. I also did my normal Sunday deep clean in my apartment. I suppose if I truly kept up with it through the week, it wouldn't take so much time on the weekends, but that would require me to do something other than crashing after work. :)

Here's the eats for today:

Breakfast: Three basic pancakes topped with a couple of strawberries and 1/2 a banana, 2 tbsp grade A maple syrup, 2 tbsp 1/2 and 1/2 in my coffee

Lunch: Giant sandwich with 4 slices of deli turkey, lettuce, tomato, red onion, slice of 2% cheddar and deli mustard on a whole wheat bun with 1/2 a grapefruit on the side

Snack: 1 cup fresh pineapple leftover from last night's dinner

Dinner: Zucchini and cheddar soup and a grilled cheese sandwich

Snack: chocolate pudding while I watch Desperate Housewives. It's finally new!

Cinnamon Raisin French Toast

I know I've mentioned many, many times how much I love breakfast. And though my weekday breakfasts are pretty boring (oats made with milk and topped with dried or fresh fruit and walnuts), my weekend breakfasts always vary.

I went to Costco on Wednesday to show my mom around, and while I was there I picked up some blueberries. Instead of making blueberry pancakes like I usually do, I opted to use them for a topping on Cinnamon Raisin French Toast.

It's nothing fancy. Just regular French toast made with cinnamon raisin bread. But it's really good, I swear. It has a lot of flavor and sweetness in the French toast, so you only need a little bit of syrup, which makes it healthier than some recipes, I suppose.

Cinnamon Raisin French Toast
Serves 4 (6 points per serving)

2 large eggs
1 cup of milk
a dash or two of cinnamon (to taste)
8 slices of cinnamon raisin bread
butter or neutral oil (like canola) for the pan (I used 1 tbsp)

Beat the eggs, milk, and cinnamon together in 9x13 inch baking dish. Add the bread and let the bread soak 3 to 5 minutes; flip over. Soak the bread 3 to 5 minutes more.

Meanwhile, melt some butter or oil in the pan over medium-low heat.

When the bread is ready, cook until browned on both side, turning once after 3 to 5 minutes.

Serve immediately or keep warm in a 200° oven for up to 30 minutes.

Stuffed French Toast

I found a new "butter" at Trader Joe's: Cranberry Apple Butter. This might not be new to some, but it's new in my store and it's wonderful. I might even like it more than the pumpkin butter. Unlike the pumpkin butter, I could eat this stuff by the spoonful. But I won't.

If you like cranberry sauce you'll love it as much I do. This week I'm stirring it into my cream of wheat, but I also made Stuffed French Toast with it. This french toast from Vegetarian Times, is low enough in calories and fat that it's not breaking the bank to have two servings drizzeled in plenty of warm maple syrup with a sprinkling of powdered sugar.

I've tried the recipe twice now, once with cinnamon bread and pumpkin butter and the second time with cinnamon raisin bread and cranberry apple butter. I like both of the fillings, but I think I prefer the cinnamon bread over the cinnamon raisin. Or maybe it's because the raisins and the cranberry together are just a little too much for my tastebuds.

And if you don't have vanilla soy milk you could use regular milk. I might add just a smidge of vanilla, though, if you use cow's milk. What's french toast without a hint of vanilla in the background?

Hot Cereal with Pumpkin Butter and Walnuts

I am in love with Trader Joe's Pumpkin Butter. I was unsure it first. I thought it would taste more pumpkin pie-like. But it definitely grew on me. And I bought it only because I couldn't find an affordable, smallish jar of apple butter.

I have a couple of recipes that called for apple butter I wanted to try and when I went to my usual grocery store all I could find where these behemoth jars that cost no less than $5. And generally speaking, we don't go through a lot of jam or jelly at our house. And if losing power for more than 24 hours last month taught me anything it's buy only what you can honestly use.

I thought for sure Trader Joe's would have a small jar of apple butter, but they didn't. They only had the pumpkin butter. It was "butter" afterall, and I'd heard good things about it so I decided to give it a try.

I stirred a bit into my whole grain Cream of Wheat and added chopped toasted walnuts for 6 points per serving. Wonderful. I'm already planning a trip to pick up another jar.

Hot Cereal with Pumpkin Butter and Walnuts

Adapted from Everday Food

1 cup skim milk

3 tbsp cream of wheat (not instant) (I used the new whole grain variety)

2 tbsp pumpkin butter

1 tbsp chopped walnuts, toasted

Bring the milk to a boil in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in cream of wheat, reduce heat and and follow the package's directions for cooking time. Mine was about 2 minutes.

Remove from heat, stir in pumpkin butter and top with walnuts.

Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal

Today's a grey, yucky day. And it's these kinds of morning where I really crave a hot breakfast. I often will settle for a bowl of cold cereal and milk on most days, but sometimes there's nothing more comforting than a big bowl of oats.

I could buy the flavored instant oatmeal from the grocery store. They sell all kinds including reduced sugar, but I really to make my own. It's about 100 times more satisfying. Here, I made Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal I adapted from Clean Eating magazine, but I have made a bunch of different combinations. This one has been one of my favorites. At first, I was weary of the protein powder, but it turned out much tastier than I expected. Points will vary depending on how much sweetener and what kind you use, but my recipe comes out to 5 points per bowl. It's a small bowl...but has more staying power than I expected.

If you make a bowl of oats in the morning, what's your typical recipe?

Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal
1/4 cup light vanilla soymilk (you could use regular milk if you prefer)
6 tbsp water
1/4 cup quick oats (old-fashioned is fine)
A pinch of cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger
sweetener to taste
2 tbsp canned pumpkin
1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder dissolved in 2 tbsp water
2 tbsp chopped nuts

Bring the water and milk to a boil over medium heat. Add the oats, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook until oatmeal has thickened, about 2 minutes.

Stir in the sweetener (I use 1/2 tbsp agave syrup), pumpkin, and dissolved protein powder. Add chopped nuts such as walnuts, almonds or pecans and serve.

Breakfast for dinner

I don’t know what was with me last week. I was seriously dragging.

I came home Thursday fully intending to change into my workout clothes and do a round of the Firm’s Cardio Sculpt. One thing I failed to remember was that they were painting our porch and its entire contents were hanging out my living room. That includes two andridonak chairs with a side table, two mountain bikes, a grill, a large empty flower pot (because I killed the plant that was in it) and a fake hanging basket of flowers (It looks real.. it even fooled our 90-year-old neighbor who was surprisingly still “with it.”)

To fit all of that junk, the boyfriend moved the chair and ottman usually in the living room closer to the center, making it hard for me to move the coffee table out of the way. And because I was already crabby and not really wanting to do anything but veg, I gave up.

And then we had breakfast for dinner. Pancakes from a box, oh yeah. I usually make pancakes from scratch. But I just couldn’t muster the energy and we were out of sugar.

We did have a box of the Hodgsons Mill whole wheat buttermilk pancake mix in the pantry so that’s what we had with scrambled eggs and a couple slices of center cut bacon.

I’m going to choose a mix, this is one I like. It has no weird ingredients and has a good amount of fiber per serving. Make them even tastier by adding a dash of cinnamon to batter. It just bumps the flavor up a notch, and by adding that unexpected flavor they taste homemade even though they aren’t. I bet your friends and family wouldn’t even be able to tell the difference.

What’s your favorite lazy-night meal?

Southwestern Hash

Every night the boyfriend and I sit down to dinner together. And while we're not married or have children yet, a nightly family dinner is something we want to continue. It's not often easy to coordinate dinner plans. I'm done with work at 4:30 p.m. and he's done at 6 p.m. I'm starving when I hit the door around 5-ish, and I've still got an hour and a half before dinner — sometimes more if he ends up working late.

But dinner together is always a priority. Sometimes dinner lasts for hours — we'll open a bottle of wine and get lost in our conversation. And a lot of our conversations revolve around family traditions we remember from childhood. Most recently we found ourselves discussing our favorite dinners from our childhood. I remember loving my grandma's steamed buttered carrots (I was an odd child) and picking the broccoli out of meals my mom made (she refused to be a short order cook.. if we didn't like something we had eat around it). Although I'm not so sure any one meal stands out.

The boyfriend remembers breakfast for dinner. The full spread — pancakes, eggs, bacon — the works. I don't often make breakfast for dinner. Which is suprising because I heart breakfast foods. When I do make breakfast for dinner it's something like this Southwestern Hash. It's usually something spicier because spice is usually not something my stomach likes first thing in the a.m. But at dinner time, I'm all for it.

Taking a cue from my mother, I didn't leave out the black beans (although the boyfriend won't eat beans of any kind). He can eat around them. Plus, I'm not-so-secretly hoping that if he tries enough meals with beans they'll grow on him.

After all, the tactic worked for my broccoli aversion. I still can't say I crave broccoli, but at least I can eat it without gagging.

Vanilla Granola

Almost every day I eat a cup of plain fat-free yogurt with some blueberries. Sometimes I add a bit of honey for sweetness, but lately I've been adding a little bit of fiber one for crunch. I'm honestly, not a fan of Fiber One, though. Reminds me of All-Bran twigs my grandma ate when I was a little girl.

It makes perfect sense to add granola. (Duh, Jen.) And why not make my own? Looks easy enough.

It was harder than I thought to find a recipe that would have some flavor without having tons of seeds, nuts, or dried fruits. The Vanilla-Scented Granola from Bon Appetit seemed perfect. While not a "light" recipe, if I'm only using a tbsp or two in my yogurt, it can't be too bad.

It was easy and pretty good, too. It's not as vanilla-y as I would have thought. And I think it didn't need to go the full 30 minutes in my oven. Other than that, it's definitely better than the bran sticks I was eating.

Nutritional Info (for 2 tbsp): 53 calories, 3 grams of fat, 1 gram fiber