Pancakes and Apple Butter

This Sunday I made whole wheat pancakes for brunch and cooked up some apple butter to have on my morning “gruel”…….

The recipe for my pancakes that I use is this(I may have posted it before):

In a large bowl, whisk together:  2 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp sea salt.  Divide this equally into two ziplock baggies.  When you are ready to make a batch of cakes, take one baggie and put into a medium-size bowl and whisk in 1/3 cup ground flax meal.  In a 2 or 4  cup measuring cup, add 2 cups low-fat buttermilk and two eggs.  Blend together and add to dry ingredients in bowl and mix.  May leave a few lumps or you can mix smooth.  Cook on hot griddle or in waffle maker.

Side one cooking.

Side two cooking!

Larry and the pancake!

Larry's pancake.

As you can see, my hubby like a little pancake with his syrup!

I like mine with a little molasses! (apple butter was not done, yet!)

Now for the apple butter!

I chopped three organic Gold apples into small pieces, yes I left the peeling on them!  In a medium pan, in went the apples and I added 1/2 cup water.

Apples ready to cook!

Cook this on medium until it starts cooking good and then turn heat down to low to medium low.  This should stew for about an hour.

Apples cooking.

Add 1/4 cup turbinado sugar and 1 1/2 tsp of your favorite gingerbread spice mix or you can add 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1/2 tsp. allspice, 1/2 tsp. ground ginger, and 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg.

1/4 cup Turbinado sugar.

Stir all together and cook on low another 30 minutes or so.  I took my hand mixer and mixed the apple butter as well as it would do, and then put into clean quart jar.

MY HOME-MADE APPLE BUTTER!!!!!!

It turned out wonderful!!!  Low sugar and high flavor!  Yes, I will do this again!

Tomorrow is Wednesday!  I plan to go to the fitness center and put in about a good hour of working out, come home, shower and eat me a hot bowl of my “gruel” topped with my apple butter!!!  I can hardly wait!  Yeah, I will have to eat supper, shower, go to bed, sleep, and then wake up in the morning to get there!!!!!  You think that is something to look forward to in the morning???!!!!!  I think so!!!!  LOL  Hugs!  Vicky D

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Cook day!

I designated to day to be a cook day! Pork and Pepper Stew, Quinoa Salad with black beans, baked chicken legs with house seasoning and sprinkle of the Spicy Fish/Chicken Seasoning! Romain Lettuce cut and vac packed to be eaten with Quinoa Salad mixture with added avocado and radishes! Can’t wait to have a good food week!

Hope you all have a good week too! Hugs! Vicky

Spicy Fish & Chicken Seasoning Mix

Hi All! Just wanted to share a quick seasoning recipe that I mixed up to use for cooking pan fish and chicken!  It DOES have a kick to it but it is really good!  You may want to keep this one by your stove so that you can use it on anything!

Here it is!

In a cereal bowl, mix together 1 tsp. of the following spices:

paprika

ground ginger

fine black pepper

ground mustard

oregano flakes

chili powder

garlic powder

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

When mixed, put into a spice shaker bottle and use as any other seasoning!  This does not contain salt, so you would need to sea salt lightly whatever you are using this with!  You can make a paste of EVOO and this seasoning to make a coating if you so desired!

Hope everyone is doing fine!  I am still on my resolution plan and doing well with it!  How are you doing with your resolutions????!!!!!!!  I am available to help you with your clean eating/cooking if this is part of your resolution plan! My phone number 830-997-7918 or 830-889-5577!  Give me a call or contact me via e-mail (simpledinners@verizon.net)

Hugs!  Vicky

Starting a New Year

Starting a New Year.

Hay all!

This is the blog that my daughter, Alex, is doing!  Hope you read this because she is doing an amazing job of writing and sharing of her food experience too!  Hugs!  Vicky

Back on track!

Hi all!

Today is the first day after all the holiday binges and that means for me to get back on track with healthy eating!  We were at my mom’s house yesterday celebrating her birthday and exchanging gifts for the grand kids in the family.  All four sisters were there and that doesn’t always happen at the same time like that!  We were sitting around the table with mom & dad having a pow wow about dad needing to have knee surgery.Edlena, my youngest sister, leaned over to Kim, next to oldest sister, and whispered something.  Juanice, oldest sister said “No whispering at this table.  It is an open conversation table.”  Edlena was telling Kim about her sugar levels…….she is diabetic and taking meds and checking her blood levels.  We did not know that.  Then we got to talking about diet, food, and things we/she should be eating, as those conversations go, you know!

Well, I always carry my Oxygen, Eat Clean mags with me to read, along with my healthy cookbooks to read, and I showed Edlena the rules of Clean Eating from the “Stripped” book I had! She started balking because she said she doesn’t cook and there is no way she could do this.  I offered her my Personal Chef services to come to her house, in Buda, and do some cooking for her so she would have healthy, clean food to eat when she went to work and when she was at home.  I got her e-mail address and I e-mailed her the rules plus other great information I had on my computer for healthy eating and then I asked if the weekend of January 21st would be ok to come to her house for the weekend to shop, and cook for her!  She took me up on it! (she has the excuse to have to clean house now too! LOL!  LOL!)  I am so excited to be doing this for my “baby” sister!  We have been out of touch for quite some time and this is great for me and for her too plus her health!

She called me this evening around 6:15, she was at the store wanting to know what she should get for lunches this week and I was so surprised and excited that she did!  I just started rattling stuff off to her so fast that she said “STOP!! BRAIN OVERLOAD!”  I am so glad for her that she is trying to clean up her diet and do herself a BIG favor!

Pics of today’s food:

Breakfast plus vites!

Smoothie consisted of 1 ripe banana, scoop of ground roasted almonds, scoop of quick oats,scoop of protein powder and home-made almond milk for liquid!  Hand-made coffee (this was my second cup-half decaf&half regular) along with my slurry of vitamins!

Lunch for lunch box.

Left-over chicken fajita meat, carrots, 3 radishes, garbanzo beans, Romain lettuce in a jar, two Campari tomatoes(not shown-nearly forgot to put them in my bag!) and an apple to eat for snack if I was hungry with peanut butter.  I also had one more cup of coffee at work and then water after lunch!  This evening’s meal is left-over grilled pork loin chop, 1/2 baked potato, carrots, radishes and peeled japs!  Yes, it will be a late suppper/dinner……we have been cutting up deer meat…….

Hope you all will stick to your resolutions!  I have had a good start so far!  Hugs!  Vicky

 

 

New Years Resolutions??!!!!!

As we all know, we have resolutions at the beginning of each new year!  What is yours??!!

Mine is to get back on the Eat Clean plan by doing the “Stripped” plan from Tosca Reno’s book “Stripped”!  It is the 28 day plan to shed 5-10 pounds in 28 days by eating clean and exercising!  I have joined “Anytime Fitness” here in Fredericksburg and I plan to go there at least every other day if not every day if possible.  My food plan is to cut out milk products for the 28 days, and to cut off alcohol in the evenings like I have had in the past months (I have gotten hooked on bloody mary’s with potato vodka in the evenings…1 or 2)…….PLUS!  Larry had agreed to eat like I need to eat in the evenings with me!!!!  Pan fish, oven fish, grilled meats, steamed veggies, fresh veggies, soups, and I/we will not be doing fried foods during this time!!!!!!! (Dear Lord, please give me the strength to say NO! when he wants to do fried fish…)

Hope y’all will stick to your resolutions!  Team support will get you there!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!!!!!

Hugs!  Vicky D

sorry….no pics this time……