Veggie Lasagna

 

 

 I know I am such a slacker!  Where have I been?  Well making some cake, working out, and loosing track of time.  I have no real good excuses.  I have been working out hard and so far I'm down 32 pounds since Jan. 1st of this year!  Yay me!  Is it easy?  Heck no!  Do I miss feeling tired, sluggish, sore joints?  Heck no!  Just by working out I feel much better.  Is it crazy that just getting your heart rate up and if nothing else than walking fast on a treadmill 3 to 4 days a week can make you feel 50lbs lighter?  Seriously!  I told my husband after the first month, I know I haven't lost a lot of weight but is it crazy I "feel" like I'm thin again?  Seriously a little moving, breaking a sweat can do a lot!  I started running on the treadmill just for short distances at a time.  I would count my steps as I ran and let myself take a breather after hitting my goal.  My first goal was 100 steps at a jogging/running pace.  For me, that was a good start.  Then I would walk it out, and when I say walk I mean at a brisk pace 4.0.  Then I would do it again, but increase my goal steps. 

I love the elliptical machines, but they didn't love me at first.  It used to be my go to work out plan.  This year when I started back on the get healthy campaign, I tried my old trusty friend.  It hated me!  Seriously!  I couldn't do five minutes without being sore.  That is why I started on the treadmill.  Now after 2 1/2 months, I run a mile on the treadmill (first 2 minutes are the warm up) in 9 1/2 minutes.  Then, I go talk to my old friend.  I do the elliptical hill climb, yea buddy, for an hour.  Yes I said an hour.  I like to sweat.  I like to feel the burn.  And what can I say, I'm liking my results.

I thought I should change it up after awhile.  I started hitting that plateau of loosing weight. No one wants that, especially not me.  So I began doing aqua bootcamp.  Let me just say it is a love/hate relationship.  I love that it's in the water, and I can do this after work.  I love the fact that the instructor makes it different each class.  I hate the fact I am not a good swimmer.  Not that we do a lot of actual swimming, but it may make treading the water easier when your passing orange cones to your partner.  Oh yea!  I definitely feel the burn in that class.  Anyway, enough about sweating and running, and nearly dying for lack of breath.  How about that lasagna?  This is for my vegetarian and my healthy eating.  I made the very full fat unhealthy version for my husband.  Why would I do such a thing?  Because he won't eat veggies.  And like little kids, sometimes I have to hide them, and he saw me chopping the broccoli and zucchini in this.  So I really had no choice!

 

 

Be glad, I actually measured for this recipe, but slacked on cooking times.  At least I'm getting better!  Don't be discouraged by all of the ingredients.  Of course you can cut it down if you like.  This recipe makes a 9x13 pan.  A family sized pan with enough leftovers to freeze.  And it was delicious with a salad!  I could have licked my plate clean, it was that good.

 

*preheat oven to 350*     

 

All of the veggies are chopped very small, all roughly the same size to even cooking time.

 

1 3/4 cup chopped broccoli

2 1/2 cups chopped zucchini

1 cup chopped green pepper

1 cup chopped red, orange, or yellow peppers

1/2 cup chopped carrots

2 cups chopped baby bella mushrooms (I think they are meatier than button)

1 large onion chopped

1 10 oz box chopped spinach, thawed squeezed dry and chopped

1 can chopped tomatoes (mine had added garlic)

4 garlic cloves minced (or pushed thru a garlic press)

1 box Healthy harvest whole wheat lasagna noodles (or your favorite)

1 8oz block fat free cream cheese

1 cup fat free cottage cheese

1 cup low fat mozzarella

1 egg

1 cup fresh parsley, roughly chopped

2 tsp dried basil

1 tsp garlic salt

1 1/2 cups Ragu light sauce

 

 

Cook noodles according to package, drain, and rinse.  Meanwhile while the noodles are cooking, preheat a large saute pan with nonstick spray.  Place the first 10 ingredients in the saute pan.  Stirring occasionally cook until the veggies start to soften.  Place the cream cheese, cottage cheese, mozzarella, egg, basil, parsley and garlic salt in a food processor and process until smooth.  When the veggies are ready start layering.  Place 1/2 cup sauce in bottom of lasagna pan.  Spread around until the bottom is covered with the light layer.  Place 1/3 of the noodles in the bottom, overlapping the edges.  Spread 1/3 of the cheese mixture of the noodles.  Spread half the veggie mix over the cheese layer.  Repeat the steps with 1/3 noodles,1/3 cheese, and rest of the veggie mix.  Top the veggie layer with the noodles that are left.  Spread the rest of the cheese mixture over the noodles.  Top with the 1 cup of Ragu, spreading evenly over the cheese.  Place in oven for 20-30 minutes, or until heated thru and cheese and sauce on top are bubbly.  Let lasagna stand for at least 10 minutes before cutting.  Cutting the lasagna too early will result in a runny mess.  It has to have time to set up.  So go eat a salad!  Enjoy! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now....do you want dessert?  I made a chocolate cupcake, adapting a recipe I found on spark people.

Here is my version:  preheat oven to 350*

 

1 c cake flour (all purpose will work)

1 c white wheat flour

1/2 cup cocoa

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 c granulated sugar

1/2 splenda

3/4 cup fat free mayonaise

1 cup cooled coffee(or water)

1 tsp vanilla

 

Sift together flours, cocoa, baking soda and salt.  In a separate bowl beat together mayo, sugar, splenda, coffee, and vanilla until smooth.  Stir the liquid mayo mixture into the dry ingredients.  Only stir until blended.  Do not over mix.  Scoop into cupcake liners (18) evenly.  Bake for 7-8 minutes.  Check. They are done when toothpick inserted in the center almost comes out clean.  You want just a few crumbs on the toothpick.  Cool in pans for 5 minutes then remove from pans.  Cool completely.  ***I baked mine for 10-11 minutes and they were over baked slightly. 

Top with fat free cool whip and fresh fruit or just fruit!

 

 

 

 

And for those who wanted to see the cakes I've worked on here goes~ AND DON"T STEAL PHOTOS FELLOW CAKERS!

 

 

 

Have a good day all!

 



Flavors of the Sea...or something

Well, since I slacked off the last two weeks, I suppose I owe it to you, and me, to post a pic and some food.  I really didn't mean to slack off, I just wound up having things to do and so I let this slip.  I know, bad girl (hand slap), I won't do it again.  Or at least I'll try not to.  I really do like posting my recipes, although I haven't heard anything back yet if someone has tried them or not.  I hope you have, and I hope you like them.  Now what I am about to post, the two recipes below, I have actual amounts on one, the swordfish, but I regressed on the shrimp, on my measurements.  So I am telling you right now, they are all approximate, but I am pretty sure I am darn close to the exact amounts.  like I said I had been slacking...I wasn't lying.
This is the first time I have eaten swordfish.  So naturally, it is also the first time I cooked it.  I must say, I was very pleased.  It was very tasty!  I bought the fish from my local Hy-vee meat counter.  I know, it's not a fish mongrel and we don't live close to the coast, so this is as fresh as I can get.  My husband wanted steak but I wanted fish, not only for flavors but also because of my keeping it healthy this year.  I first eyed a nice piece of tuna, but after seeing the price, I opted for the swordfish, and accepted my own challenge (in my head) to try something new.  I am glad the tuna was too pricey!  I made a pesto, more like a puree, of parsley, lemon, and garlic for the top of the fish.  I ws surprised when I tasted the fish and realized I didn't need the puree.  Sometimes I think things may be better with a sauce, but this wasn't one of them.  The puree was pretty good on my baked potato though, using it instead of butter.  So here's the swordfish!

Now the recipe is for the marinade, in which I only used it for 1 piece of fish.  You may double it if you have 3-4 fish portions you are cooking, but it will be enough for 2.

    Grilled Swordfish

 

1 6 to 8 oz swordfish fillet

1 orange, zested and juiced

2 cloves garlic, minced(I used my garlic press)

1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary

salt and pepper

 

In a shallow dish, place the juice and zest from the orange, the minced rosemary and the minced garlic.  Sprinkle a little salt and pepper.  Stir.  Add the fish fillet and cover.  Refrigerate for at least an hour.  I refrigerated for about 2 and 1/2.  When you are ready, take the fish in the marinade out of the frig about 20 to 30 minutes before you are going to cook it.  I used my stove top grill pan to cook this, but you can use a saute pan.  I preheated my grill pan, and when it was hot, I placed the fish in the pan.  I did not time how long it took to actually cook, I'd say close to 15 minutes total.  I mainly looked at the fish to let me know when it was ready.  the swordfish is a nice thick piece of meat, and you can see the color change from an opaque color to a real white.  When I noticed the color change had spread halfway up the side of the fish, I knew it was ready to flip.  It only took a few more minutes and it was ready for my plate.  Please excuse the horrible picture, and typos, but I did want to share this.  I tried getting my husband to try it.  Let me just say, he's not a fish fan and he even said it wasn't bad.  For him eating something he doesn't like, and saying that, it's like getting 4 stars out of 5.  For someone who likes "white meat" pork or chicken, but not keen on fish, this is the one to try!  You will not be disappointed.

 

Now on to my Caribbean flared dinner.  I had to make it friendly for the pescitarian, so I chose shrimp.  Now, since I'm cheap, but like lots of flavors, my local Aldi's came in handy.  I made a mango, pineapple, strawberry salsa to add a little extra pizazz.  Mango salsa is one of our favorite things, and this time I had to add other fruits because I didn't have enough mango's.  So good!  I also made red lentils, but I know from experience I overcooked those.  They were kinda mush.  But at least they had some flavor.  I also baked some plantain chips in the oven.  Not bad, but I am sure the real fried ones would have been slightly better.  It was nice to use those to "dip" into the fruit salsa.

 

Red lentils~I fallowed the directions on the bag, EXCEPT I add 1 tsp gram marsala seasoning to the 4 servings I made.  That and did I mention I cooked them to mush.  Oh well.   I also cut up some fresh veggies and slightly cooked them in a saute pan, no butter just a tablespoon of olive oil, and a sprinkle of red pepper flakes.  I just wanted a little heat, but it's not necessary.

 

Shrimp-now we are getting to the good stuff!

 

1 lb jumbo shrimp, raw and shell on

1/2 to 3/4 cup pineapple juice (from canned)

1/2 tsp minced jalapeno

1 garlic clove minced

zest from 1 lime

2 tbs chopped cilantro

1/2 to 1 tsp blackened seasoning

 

In a shallow dish mix together the juice, jalapeno, garlic, lime zest, cilantro and seasoning.  I skewered the shrimp onto bamboo skewers, 4 and 5 to a skewer and then placed the skewer in the mixture, turn to coat, cover and refrigerate for at least an hour.  I used a dish with a tight lid, and after about a half an hour I turned it upside down so that all the shrimp could be submerged,  if that makes sense.  Again, I used my grill pan on this.  When your grill is hot, place the shrimp on the pan.  Let cook only a few minutes (when they start to turn pink on the underside) then turn them. Cook until pink all the way around.  These cook quickly so don't overcook or they will be pretty little rubber shrimp on your plate. 

 

For the fruit salsa you can use any combo of fruit or just one.

 

1 mango, peeled and diced

1/2 cup crushed pineapple(canned that has been drained)

1 jalapeno, mined finely

2 roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped

1 tbs minced red onion

1/4 cilantro, chopped

juice from 1 lime

zest from 1 lime

1/2 large orange(or red or yellow) pepper, chopped finely

8 oz strawberries, stems removed and chopped

 

 

I tried to keep everything similar in size except the jalapeno and red onion.  Since they pack a lot of flavor and some heat, smaller is better.  I mixed all the ingredients in a bowl, added just a pinch of salt.  Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

 

Plantain Chips

 

2 plantains

1tbs olive oil

gram marsala seasoning

 

preheat oven to 425.  Slice the plantains very thin, like 1/16 to 1/8 of an inch.  Toss in the olive oil, and sprinkle just a light dusting of the seasoning on the plantains.  Lay in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake, checking after 8 minutes.  You want them light brown, and crisp. 

 

Oh, i forgot the picture!  So here it is! Enjoy!

 

Turkey Meat Loaf

 

You know how I said awhile back, I was letting my husband choose the flavors for dinner.  Well, this time he chose even though I had a plan.  So much for my plan.  I ws really craving chili.  He decided he wanted meat loaf.  I am a believer that you need fresh beef (or turkey) to make meat loaf.  Thawing out frozen ground whatever, never seems to work as well.   Meat loaf was really not in my head, my plan, or my fridge.  So because I am a good wife, sometimes, I allow him to have his way.  This meant a trip to the store.  Although I love shopping, when you are trying to stick to a budget and use coupons and still spend almost a weeks pay between  3 separate stores, you get a little depressed.   Did I absolutely HAVE to have everything I bought?  No.  However, it will save me a trip to the store later and I got some good deals, so why pass them up.  Usually I spend more when I have others accompany me to the store.  This time I was all by my lonesome and I still bought a BUNCH!  My trunk was full and so was my back seat.  Why did I buy so much?  Oh yea, I did the unthinkable.  I went to the store hungry.  I hadn't eaten a single thing and it was after noon.  Don't do that.  Let my mistake be a lesson to you!  Don't go shopping (for food) hungry!  I dn't buy "bad stuff", just too much stuff period.  I could tell my husband was real happy with me when I came home and said I needed help carrying in the groceries because there is a lot!

Well, it's Super Bowl Sunday, and my husband is yelling at the t.v. as I'm typing.  Does your husband do that?  Do they really think the players can hear all the people at home yelling at their t.v.'s?  I mean the only football my husband watches is the Super Bowl.  You would think, after hearing his hollering, that he would be a coach on the field, or maybe he was a owner of the team.  Seriously, this is the last game of the season and it's the first one he has watched.  He's acting like me, when I watch chopped.  I yell at the t.v.  Remind them not to forget the basket items.  Or I try to tell them what they are doing wrong.  I love it when the judges eat the food and agree with me.  I didn't get to eat it, but I knew.  Oh yea!  Anyway, getting back to the dish at hand.  This is another I "eyeball" every time I make it.  Normally I use ground beef, like I did for my husbands version, but for me it was lean ground turkey (93% lean) and a small amount of lean ground pork.  I tried to measure out everything for his too, but I asked them if it tasted "normal" and my daughter said something tasted different, but it was still good.  Maybe the different was that I used a little spag sauce I had left in the jar in the fridge, instead of ketchup.  Or maybe it was instead of sprinkling in stuff as I go until it "looks good", I actually tried to measure out ingredients and hoped it looked right.  Either way, they ate it.  I ate mine.  Mine was healthy compared to theirs.  And, mine was good too!  So without further delay, here's my recipe!

 

Turkey Meat Loaf

 

1 pkg 19.2 oz Lean ground turkey (93%lean)

8 oz ground lean pork

1/2 cup mixed red and green pepper chopped

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup oats (not instant)

2 TBS thick Worcestershire sauce

1 TBS minced garlic

3 TBS spaghetti sauce (I used Ragu light basil)

1/2 tsp EACH dried basil, dried oregano, dried thyme, season salt, and black pepper

1/4 quinoa (uncooked)

1 egg white

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  I have a pan that has separators for 8 mini loaves and that is what I used.  Mix all the ingredients gently in a large bowl until combined.  Dived between the mini loaf pans or you can bake in a larger pan.  Bake for 40 minutes, or until center is done.  You can use a meat thermometer to check the internal temp if you like.  It should read 180 degrees.  Let rest a few minutes before serving. 

 

I made a side dish of fresh trimmed green beans, that I simmered for just a few minutes in some water, dried lavender, lemon juice, and dried shallots.  They were Delicious too.

My minnie loaf pan.  This recipe serves 8, and each has approximately  238 calories, 11.5 grams of fat, and 23 grams of protein.  I used the spark people recipe calculator, but not all of my ingredients, by brand, were in their system.  I just went with what was.  So these are pretty close to being on target, I did drizzle a little ketchup on top, that was not calculated in.

Reduced Fat Chicken Pot Pie

                                                                            

                                             





O.k. so I feel I've been slacking a little this week.  I made this recipe days ago, and promised my FB peeps I'd share.  Well I am finally getting around to it.  I've worked, worked out, been to the doc's, hmm what else can I use as an excuse.  Oh well, I must say it is a devine recipe.  I've had these little ramekins for almost a year now, still in the box!  I bought them so I could make individual desserts and such, but I kept not having any time to do that.  Sound familiar dosen't it!  I had 8 ramekins, so everyone was allowed 2 pot pies each.  They had their choice to eat them both for dinner, OR eat one with some other veggies as dinner and saveor the other one for lunch or dinner.  My oldest daughter, the pescitarian, and I saved our second dish for the next day.  My husband and youngest daughter could not.  Destiny said, it's so good, I just want to lick the bowl.   And she did.  The recipe I made is for those of us who ate chicken, and for Miss Hailey who had a seperate pot simmering made with tofu.  I used vegetable broth on hers, whereas with ours I used organic free range chicken stock, from Aldi.  Now if we could ever get a Trader Joe in our neighbor hood, I would be there everyday shopping!  The veggies, I split up, giving her some and then some for us.  So in essence you can add all the veggies in here to make one pot, you may just need a tad more broth, and 2 more biscuits and you would have 8 CHICKEN pot pies.

Chicken Pot Pie, Reduced Fat

          6 pilsbury reduced fat grands biscuits

1 TBS Knorr Chicken Bouillon

32 oz Chicken Broth  Fat Free

           3 med- large Russet Potato, cubed

                   2 large  Carrots,(7-1/4" to 8-1/2" long), chopped

                   2 large stalks celery(11"-12" long), chopped

                    1/4 cup Corn Starch,

                    1 cup cubed Butternut Squash

          2 bay leaves

                 1 tsp dried Basil

                    1 tsp dried Thyme

                      1 tsp Pepper, black

        1 tsp Salt,

                   Olive Oil, 1 tbsp

                       4 small Chicken Thigh, bone and skin removed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place ramekins on baking sheet. Take 3 biscuits and gently pull in half, seperating layers. With fingers gently pull the biscuit out twords the edges. You are trying to make the biscuit thinner, but enlarge the circle. Place each biscuit half in the bottom of the ramekins. Poke a few times with a fork. Bake for about 15-20 minutes, or until lightly golden brown. This ensures no soggy bottom. Heat 1tbs of olive oil in a large stock pot, or dutch oven. Add chopped chicken thighs, and cook until outside is done, but inside slightly pink.I tried to chop eveything into the same bite sized pieces. When the chicken is half cooked, add the veggies, and bay leaves. And pepper.Cook for a few minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the stock, salt, thyme, basil and bouillion. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat. Cook for about 10-15 minutes or until potatos are almost tender. You don't want them too soft, or they will be mushy. Bring back to a boil, mix cornstarch with 1/4 cup of cold water until smooth. Slowly add to the chicken and veggies, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens. Turn off. With the ramekins out of the oven, ladel chicken miture in on top of baked biscuit bottom. Ladel to the top. When all ramekins are full, take the other 3 biscuits and seperate in half, pulling as you did before. Poke with a fork a few times, and place over the ramekins, pressing slightly on the edges to hold shape. Bake 10 minutes, until the biscuits are golden on top. REMOVE, AND LET STAND 3-5 minutes before serving.

 

And enjoy reduced fat, comfort food heavan.  Based on the 6 biscuits, but using all the veggies tallied in the recipe, it comes out to:

Nutrition Facts
Servings Per Recipe: 6
Serving Size: 1 serving
Amount Per Serving
Calories		435.0
Total Fat		9.5 g
	Saturated Fat	2.8 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	2.3 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	3.2 g
Cholesterol		41.5 mg
Sodium		1,965.6 mg
Potassium		1,149.7 mg
Total Carbohydrate		71.1 g
	Dietary Fiber	6.3 g
	Sugars	6.7 g
Protein		17.2 g

Vitamin A	107.3 %
Vitamin B-12	5.4 %
Vitamin B-6	40.3 %
Vitamin C	74.5 %
Vitamin D	0.0 %
Vitamin E	3.3 %
Calcium	6.8 %
Copper	14.7 %
Folate	13.2 %
Iron	21.9 %
Magnesium	17.7 %
Manganese	23.3 %
Niacin	29.7 %
Pantothenic Acid	14.4 %
Phosphorus	21.6 %
Riboflavin	11.4 %
Selenium	12.8 %
Thiamin	16.1 %
Zinc	10.7 %



Not So Healthy, but Quite Tasty!

 

 

"Poke Cake"

 

I was asked by a friend to make a jello cake, or poke cake, for her because her oven was broken.  So I said of course I would.  And then I told her don't laugh, but I've never made one.  So I guessed and she confirmed my assumptions were pretty spot on.  And for a second reference I googled it.  Everyone has their own versions that are the best out there of course, so why not include mine?  I don't make cakes from boxes, anymore.  I used to do an altered version of box cakes, but it was too tiresome explaining to people that yes I use a box mix, but that was one ingredient out of 12 in the recipe I used.  So I switched to all scratch recipes.  The downfall?  Cakes backed from scratch don't include all of those preservatives in box mixes and so the cake won't be as "fresh" for as long.  The good thing is scratch cakes don't contain all those chemical preservatives!  It's a catch twenty-two but what are you going to do?  The only thing I don't love about the vanilla cake recipe that I use is, I can't get my cupcakes to dome nicely.  You know, puff up and stay rounded.  It's a science really.  I just haven't found a way for it to work with that recipe.  My white cake recipe will.  Vanilla cake, nope.  Oh well, moving on, as that is an entire other topic.  So here's the recipe and what I did for the poke cup-cake in the picture.

 

Poke Cup-Cake

1-box your favorite cake mix

(baked according to directions on box and cooled)

OR

your favorite cake recipe baked in cupcakes or 9x13 pan, cooled

 

1 box Jello, strawberry (I used sugar free on mine)

1 cup boiling water

1 cup liquid bettercreme (or 1 tub cool whip)

1 orange

 

 

While the cake/cupcakes are cooling, boil the water.  Place the package of jello mix and whisk in the boiling water.  Whisk until the jello is dissolved.  Let cool slightly, about 3-5 minutes.  Poke holes into the cake/cupcakes using a fork, chopstick, or bamboo skewer.  Pour the slightly cooled gelatin over the cake/cupcakes evenly so the liquid flows into the holes and there are no empty spots.  Refrigerate until completely cooled, about 2 hours.  Remove from the refrigerator.  In a bowl add the bettercreme, the zest from the orange, and the juice from half the orange.  Whisk until soft peaks form.  Ice your cake/cupcakes with the bettercreme.  Garnish with an orange wedge.  If you are using cool whip, stir in the zest and as much of the orange juice as you can while keeping the cool whip consistency.  You don't want it too thin. 

*bettercreme is a whipped icing that is stabilized and doesn't require refrigeration if kept under 75 degrees.  I found it in the freezer section at my whole saler. 

 

Enjoy this version of poke cake.  I only had one bite.  Just a bite because of my whole eating healthy thing I've got going on.  I ended up with a few jumbo cupcakes out of my recipe, and so naturally I don't want them around as temptation.  So I gave them away on facebook.  I have my own cake page, for when I used to be able to make cakes for others, but you know, city wants their cut and I can't meet the required criteria of have an entire separate kitchen in my house with 5, yes I said 5, sinks!  So now it's just for fun times.

Starting the day out right

Healthy pancakes can sometimes be hard to find.  Well at least tasty ones, that is.  I made these this morning with bananas as a tasting point, but that's just because my family likes nanner pancakes, and I had some very spotted nanners I needed to find a use for.  Normally I would toss them in the freezer and save them for later, but right now I have over a dozen bananas in there and I felt I should actually use these now.  The freezer's a little crowded.  I did not use oil or butter in this recipe.  Gasp now! Yes there were light and fluffy!  How did I manage to do that without using a fatty substance?  Dun ta Dun....pumpkin and Greek yogurt!  They saved the day, the healthy way!  You can substitute either one for oil, but not always equal amounts.  You may have to google to see whats recommended or do like I do, and just guestimate.  It usually works for me, but not always.  I tired to brighten up the picture using some great colorful towels my sister got me for Christmas.  My other sister gave the the coffee mug!  I couldn't put one in the picture without the other, I would never hear then end of it!  Love ya girls!  My little fruit compote I made, can be served on the side as I had in the picture, or you can do as I did after the picture.  I dumped it on my pancakes.  Why not?  I didn't want to use syrup and the fruit just added even more flavor with the banana in the pancakes.  It was a great mix!  If you want more protein without fat, you could add 1/2 cup of fat free cottage cheese topped with some juice from the fruit.  I came so close to adding it, but I hadn't figured out the nutrition info at the time.  I didn't want to go overboard.

Ready for the recipe?

Fruit compote

1 mango, peeled and chopped

1 cup frozen or fresh raspberries (I used frozen, thawed which is why everything turned pink)

1 cup chopped fresh pineapple, or canned in juice (not syrup)

1 large lime, zested

In a small bowl combine fruit and zest.  Cut lime in half and squeeze the juice from on half of the lime over the fruit and stir.  Cover with saran wrap, and let sit.

 

 

Whole wheat Banana Pancakes

 

1 3/4 cup PLUS 2 TBS ultra grain 100% whole wheat white flour
Flax Seed, 1 tbsp
1 TBS Wheat germ
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
3 large egg whites
3 TBS Pumpkin, canned
2 TBS Fage - 0%,Greek yogurt
1 TBS Granulated Sugar
Scant 2 cups Milk, nonfat (skim milk)
2 TBS Lemon juice
1 cup mashed ripe Banana

 

Directions

In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients and whisk together. In a separate bowl add pumpkin, egg whites, yogurt, and banana. In a measuring cup put in the lemon juice, then fill the rest of the way up to the 2 cup mark with skim milk. Add to the banana mixture. whisk until combined. *Will be slightly lumpy due to bananas. Pour wet ingredients into the dry and stir until combined. Preheat a griddle or nonstick pan, sprayed lightly with nonstick cooking spray. Using a 1/4 cup per pancake, cook on griddle until edges start to look dry and pancake bubbles, flip and cook a few more minutes. Serve with fruit or lo cal syrup.

Serving Size: Makes 5 servings of 3 pancakes, each pancake is 1/4 cup batter (nutrition is for pancakes only)

 

Amount Per Serving
Calories		286.2
Total Fat		2.1 g
	Saturated Fat	0.4 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	0.7 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	0.3 g
Cholesterol		2.0 mg
Sodium		642.7 mg
Potassium		395.5 mg
Total Carbohydrate		55.8 g
	Dietary Fiber	8.2 g
	Sugars	13.4 g
Protein		13.7 g

Vitamin A	33.2 %
Vitamin B-12	6.2 %
Vitamin B-6	16.3 %
Vitamin C	11.6 %
Vitamin D	10.0 %
Vitamin E	1.3 %
Calcium	24.5 %
Copper	4.1 %
Folate	4.8 %
Iron	16.2 %

Again, I used the recipe calculator on Spark People to find the nutrition info on my recipe.  I love that tool!  Enjoy these pancakes!  Just remember, you want the griddle hot for the pancakes (about 350) but make sure you cook them all the way through.  They will have moist banana pieces in them, but you don't want gooey flour mixture!