Greek Yogurt Pancakes

Sometimes nothing tastes better than some breakfast for dinner. Last night was definitely one of those nights and I was craving pancakes bad. The problem is they are low in protein high in carbs and a lot of the recipes for the high protein pancakes are just face it not that good and not fluffy and I love fluffy pancakes! Now to be fair I have tried a couple of recipes that were ok but this is by far my favorite. Not the most low carb on the planet but a bit healthier with the added yogurt so I wasn't feeling to bad.

Greek Yogurt Pancakes
Serves 8 generous sized pancakes
156 Cals
7.7g Protein

2 (5.3 fl.oz.) containers of Greek yogurt I used strawberry banana because that's what I had and it was a large tub
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
6 TBS + extra if batter is to thin
2 cups bisquick

Whisk all the wet ingredients together. Then mix in the bisquick. Add extra milk if to thick.
Cook as normal.

Now if you want the best pancake ever I recommend adding peanut butter and syrup for toppings!

To much hate and sadness

I keep seeing on the news all of this sad stuff with ISIS and people dying and being mutilated and them all doing it in the name of faith and it just breaks my heart, makes me furious, so angry, and scared all at the same time. Jesus is coming soon folks.
I keep reading so much information because it's everywhere on the TV,  news, your news feed on Facebook, and all of your other social media outlets are so full of reports and articles you just can't seem to get away from it and some of it has so much conflicting information about Islam and what it teaches that it makes me question what is real and what is an extremist view. Let's face it each religion has their extremist wacko nut jobs. My husband was raised you as a Muslim being from Morocco and I know that so much of what they're saying about his faith is not what he believes or was taught. Being a Christian not knowing much about his faith other than what I was taught or read leads me to asking questions and he is so patient and answers all of them without being angry at me because I get curious about his faith and how we are both similar and different. (This gives us an interesting dynamic for our marriage that's for sure but I get to learn a lot which is cool.) And lately if what I keep reading, seeing, or hearing is what he was taught to believe or as a general rule belief even if he doesn't believe something himself.
Of course all of this terrible stuff that they're saying my husband says it's not really what is taught but it makes me scared that someone is going to be ignorant and believe that and not be nice to my husband which makes me angry very angry; and it makes me angry that people are twisting faith to justify killing all of these people and it just makes me sick. My husband is a big boy and can of course take care of himself and he is super smart but I don't like the idea of people taking out on him what some terrorist fanatics are doing on the other side of the world.
I figure my blog I can rant for a minute about this stuff...It's the point of one right.

Getting back on track

During this trip back home I have fallen off the wagon so to speak. I just can't seem to crawl back on! Luckily I haven't gained or anything but I keep bouncing around in this same 1 pound instead of loosing. I think to myself ok. Today is the day to be good and get back on track and then BAM night hits and I fail. I am not sure why this is happening but it's ticking me off big time as I need to get with it and do what I am supposed to.  And I need to get better with getting my water in too. I wonder if that has anything to do with the night time snacking. Well today is the day I will do my best to make wise choices and STICK WITH THEM and starting next week when my burn is better I will be back to water aerobics so I am hoping that will help too.

Darn extended vacations messing a girl up!

As close as it gets to a farmers market in Clarkston, WA

Was helping my mum by doing the grocery shopping and I thought ooo Hays Produce! It's a little local fruit and veg market they have here. Kinda spendy but always really great produce. I went in to pick up some giant cantaloupes and some peaches/apples for the week. Well not only did I leave with that but 2 of the cutest baskets ever! (I have a basket obsession) and some raw local honey. My hubs loves the honey from here so when I can get it I (aka remember when I visit too) I pick some up. It really wasn't bad at all 2lb 8oz jug for about 19 bucks. We won't talk about how much the baskets were...shhhh! If I don't speak of it, it never happened! Here is the yummy goodness. OOO and see my cute new grey bag in the background! Yes!

Picked up the mail too and I got a wild crazy hair up my tookus that I was going to see what I looked like in an old 1950's high waisted bikini. NO I am not that lady that looses 100+ pounds and hits the beach in her new wrinkly skin. I don't think there is anything wrong with doing that I just happen to be Really REALLY self conscious and it would stop me from having a good time. Those who can rock that confidence I am actually envious of. Anyway I digress. I saw this suit for 10 bucks online and thought what the heck! There are free returns right. And I could wear this for my hubs in the backyard running through the sprinkler or something. So I get it yesterday and try it on. Epic fail! It fits great. But it is definitely not what I had imagined. Why did the bottoms come up higher on the model I kept sighing to myself. And oh my gosh the whiteness and extra fluff I still have! Of course I show it to my mom who thinks I look like Minnie Mouse! But she likes it for the backyard. I sent the hubs a picture of me in my new glorious suit and he liked it too. Maybe it's me. You see so much this time of year about people being made fun of for not being that hot sexy tight 20 y/o with a body fat % of 10 in a bikini that I don't dare hit the beach. My hubby thinks I am a hot sexy 31 y/o with a well bit more body fat % so I am going with that. I'm bringing fluffy sexy back...All you haters don't know how to act...kickem to the curb...or however that song bringing sexy back goes.   ;)

 

This weekend my cousin WD came down as I mentioned in an earlier post. Well her grandma and my grandma are sisters. They are BFF's to the core. Well they were on vacation on a sisters holiday that they do every so often and one of my second cousins V (WD's aunt) photo bombed their picture they took of their feet with some matching sandals they had bought. So to be funny we picked up some matching sandals and had my second cousin who came down with WD photo bomb us so that we could print the picture out and give it to them as a funny matching picture for their fridges since we are BFF's too. These are some sexy feet right here let me tell you! I am rocking those flip flops with red toes haha!

 

Another funny story from this weekend my grandmother invited us to dinner last night and I had to laugh so hard. I am thinking great I can't wait zucchini lasagna! I love zucc lasagna! Especially since it's the zucc from her garden. I get up there and she gives me a disclaimer about how this was her first try at this recipe and how it's not quite like she had imagined it would turn out. It was a giant pot of sauce, cheese, and meat with a few noodles floating here and there. She goes um...Let's dip our bread in it that will fix it! I dubbed it inside out lasagna stew! Man was it good though. I gave her a few hints for the zucc for next time.

 

I also had to stop the baking for a while which is why I haven't posted any new recipes. I have been going hog wild crazy and falling off my meal strategy/plan and am wanting to get back on that ASAP. My hubs sent me a pic and he has lost SOOO much weight while at school. by the time he gets back I will be able to do laundry on his abs the sucker!

 

Well I am off to make some turkey gyro sammies for lunch with lots of veggies!



My long lost gorgeous cousin visits

Two of my cousins from Montana drove down to see me for the weekend.  It has been 7 years since I had seen WD. It was so amazing to see her.  I didn't realize how much I had missed and now do miss her again. We had so much fun despite some sad circumstances that feel on our poor family the day before they arrived. We shopped and shopped. And found her a new kitty she adopted! Boy was she a cutie.  We stayed up late and had a chance to catch up. I am really really going to be better at keeping in touch. She has such a beautiful heart and I miss her tons! It's too bad we don't live closer but there is a chance in 5 years we might so that is something to look forward too.

Deployment Poem from militaryspouse.com

http://militaryspouse.com/articles/dear-deployment/?utm_content=buffer9336a&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Godzilla

I grew up on godzilla.  The old awesome godzilla before itwas coolto be a fan... I knew the original gojira and godzilla the king of the monsters we The same Don basically how awesome check this link out!

http://realmofryan.blogspot.com/2013/12/a-history-of-godzilla-on-film-part-1.html?m=1

Craftyness with my Mom

So now that my mom is beginning to feel better we have been being a bit more active around here. She is walking so much better and getting more energy as we go. So while she is unable to lift or carry things she decided to just say from her little bench "Hey put this there or here" like a queen from her chair. We re organized her entire front yard and I found this old old box on the side of their house that was my grandfathers so I thought hey lets make a planter with some plate flowers! So off to goodwill we went 2.28 later and 5 Dinner/salad plates and 5 small saucer sized plates we were ready to begin the adventure! My mom had some old medicine bottles she found at the property that were just perfect for the back of the flowers for the random wood we found around. You could use a thick sturdy wood dowel rod as well but we were going for cheap and awesome! For the filler in the box my dad had some extra gravel hanging about as well so we used that to hold the wood poles up.

It took us two tries to get this right...It is so hot here on our first try we used hot glue to stick the flowers together when the sun melted them apart! Our second try we picked up some ceramic super glue and that did the trick!!!

Her three in the yard...

Later I went on a ride with my dad on his Harley and like an idiot burnt my leg on the bottom pipes...Note to self...even in summer wear pants! So today we thought lets pick an easier craft and made some cute hair bands. We have some cloth ones to make still we bought fabric for but we started with a simple button hair band. You just simply take a giant awesome button, some elastic about 1/2 inch thick sized to your head snuggly and a needle with a bit of thread. Thread the button through. Sew the end and walah a new headband! So darn cute too! Here are my two.

Lazy Tamales

Waste not want not. You will probably hear me say this a lot in this blog. I hate waste. Makes me feel as though I am just throwing away hard earned money. We had tons of corn tortillas left over from a taco night in the end of June! I kept them in the fridge so they were still good but I figured I had better use them. I had heard about people running them through a food processor and using as a topping for a tamale pie...I thought why couldn't I do that but add some liquid and make it a paste and just do a tamale?! So this recipe was born....My dad liked it so much he asked me for the recipe 3xs before we were finished eating yesterday.

Lazy Tamales

Left over corn tortillas (we had about 25 or so)
Tapatio (or hot sauce of choice) spice to taste
Ketchup (in case you add to much Tapatio like I did!)
Grilled chicken deboned or meat of choice beef, pork, sweet potato (we just grilled extra from the night before and I seasoned it with a Mexican flare with cumin, chili powder etc) apx. 1 pound.
small bag of frozen mixed vegetables. I used the corn, carrot, and green bean one
chicken stalk or water

1. Boil up your vegetables until soft and strain. Set aside.
2. Tear up the tortillas and pulse in the food processor until sandy. Place in bowl and set aside.
3. Take left over chicken and pulse in the food processor until its just chopped up.
4. Mix the chicken and the vegetables together for the filling.
5. With the processed tortillas add chicken stalk until it begins to get to the consistency of oatmeal cookie dough. squirt in some tapatio/Ketchup to taste.
6. Take a piece of tinfoil and smooth out a blob of your tortilla masa mixture with the back of your spoon into a rectangle about 1/4 inch thick.
7. Spoon your filling in the center smooshing/ packing it down. Make sure to leave enough room on the long sides for when you fold them up.
8. Lift the tinfoil and pull the sides up like you are going to put the long ends flat against each other and press the filling closed into a little tube. fold the top down sealing the top all the way tight to the rolled tamale and twist the ends closed.
9. Bake with a water bath underneath at 350 for 30-45 min depending how large you made them. Mine are quite large so they took 45-50min.
10. Let rest 20 or so min so they don't fall apart from being to hot when you open them. But even if they do they are still super.

Here are pics of the process

Run go now and make this!

http://blog.hostthetoast.com/three-cheese-crock-pot-macaroni-cheese/

Everyone should run and make this. The woman is a genius. Oh my gosh.  The only thing I did different was I am out of cyanne so I used crushed red pepper flakes and doubled the pepper. The mustard and nutmeg make a wonderful compliment.

My Birthday Dinner Celebration

So I was preparing for this dinner for 2 days. So much cooking to get everything all complete but so so worth it! Check out this spread!

We had sourdough bread, Jben (farmers cheese from scratch!Link here to my recipe earlier), Moroccan 5 salad, salad (carrot, green bean, beet, cucumber and tomato salad, and a tuna/rice salad), I forgot to put them on for the pic but there are also supposed to be a line of halved hard boiled eggs , and the main dish with the white spoon on it is Seffa Medfouna. Seffa Medfouna is chicken with vermicelli domed over with a sauce and some fancy nuts and dried fruit on top with cinnamon and ground fried almonds and powdered sugar. Its a play on sweet and savory. Then for dessert there are coconut almond truffles and we bought a red velvet cake. Oh and Bavarian buttermilk to wash it all down with. There was so much food and it was amazing! For the Seffa Medfouna I followed a YouTube video since my hubby wasn't here to help me (or make me my traditional German chocolate cake...sigh....I missed him on my birthday but he would have been proud of my dinner!) The link is here for her video Seffa Medfouna, Cooking with Alia . I love her channel! While the hubs and I use his moms recipes sometimes it is nice to see someone doing the recipe. For the other salad recipes I will post them below.

Here was my completed Seffa Medfouna

Carrot Salad

1 1/2 lb. or so of carrots

1 1/2 tbs lemon juice

1 1/2 tbs vegetable oil

1 tbs chopped fresh parsley

1 tsp cumin

salt

pepper

 

Peal the carrots and dice them into small little squares. In a medium pot cook the carrots until tender. Strain and in a large bowl add all the rest of ingredients. Salt and pepper to taste. Keep chilled until ready to serve.

 

Green Bean Salad

 

2 cans green beans chopped into 1/2 in pieces

1 small roasted red pepper, seeded and finely chopped or sprinkle some crushed red pepper flakes if making the salad the night before and you are out of the roasted red pepper

2 tbs finely chopped parsley

2 tbs vegetable oil

1 1/2- 2 tbs lemon juice

salt

paprika

black pepper

 

Rinse the beans and chop them accordingly. Add the red pepper, parsley, oil, and lemon juice, salt, pepper, and paprika. Mix and keep chilled until ready to serve.

 

Cold Beet Salad (not the mayo one)

 

2 cans diced beets, drained and rinsed

2 tbs chopped fresh parsley

2 1/2 tbs lemon juice

2 tbs vegetable oil

salt

pepper

 

Mix everything together. Salt and pepper to taste. Chill until ready to serve.

Cucumber Tomato Salad

5 Roma Tomatoes, Diced and Seeded
4 Med cucumbers, Pealed and Diced
1 part oil
2 parts vinegar
Salt
Pepper

Mix all together. Chill until ready to serve.

 

Tuna Rice Salad

 

3 cups cooked white rice

1 can corn nibblets

2/3-1c cubed sharp cheddar cheese

1 can albacore tuna in water Kirkland brand if generic use 2 cans the Kirkland ones are larger

3/4-1c mayo + vinegar for some tang or I like to use Miracle whip and don't need the vinegar then

Salt

Pepper

 

Mix it all together. Add more miracle whip to desired wetness. Chill until ready to serve.

 

 

Almond Coconut Balls

 

2 1/2c medium/course unsweetened shredded coconut + more if needed.

1c fine shredded unsweetened coconut

1 can sweetened condensed milk

15-20 or so dry roasted almonds

 

pour the sweetened condensed milk over the medium unsweetened coconut. If lots of extra milk left over put a bit more in. Let sit for 5-10 min. Roll into little balls and insert an almond inside and re roll into a circle to cover the opening from the almond. Roll the ball into the fine coconut and set aside. continue for the rest of the coconut. Refrigerate for 4 hours.

 

My uncle ate half the pan by himself of these!

 

 

My amazing hubby even though being away didn't forget me. He got me the most beautiful 2 dozens roses, candies, a birthday sign, and chocolates all delivered that afternoon. But first I got a birthday morning phone call at 430am so he could be the first to tell me he loved me and to have a happy birthday along with another surprise when we are back together. It's a while to wait but I can't wait! What an amazing day. Hubby to call and almost all my family for dinner. Only thing that would have made it better was if he was there in person. But I will be making this spread again since he informed me that I am a cruel cruel wife for making it without him haha.