Reset

Lately, TW and I have been healthing it up over here. I know that's a familiar theme in that I've mentioned it before in more than one of the twenty or so posts on this blog, but that's how it tends to go. Indulge, restrain, repeat. I will say that maybe this time I went a little too long between gym visits, as at my first spin class back I legit thought I might lose it Biggest Loser style for the first time ever in my life. Or maybe it was just a really hard class. Totally...

Anyhow, as I was saying to a friend of mine last week, this time I'm really going in, whole hog. I've watched 'Forks Over Knives' and 'Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead,' and while I'm not going vegan or on a juice fast (and I dislike their approach of 'standard American diet' vs 'twigs and salad'), I am aiming for a more unprocessed, whole foods approach. I even made plane snacks for our recent family vacation, and got my dad to eat a lentil summer roll, and he liked it. Score.

I consider myself lucky that TW is relatively un-picky (besides a few food allergies) and doesn't have strong opinions about what I put in front of her for dinner. It can be a tiny bit frustrating to ask for help with planning the weekly menu/shopping list and get little to no input, but in general I like total control in the kitchen. I consider food preferences to be a major compatibility issue. It is probably more important to me since I like to cook so much, but I would have a hard time being with someone who, say, thought dinner wasn't complete without meat. Or someone who wouldn't eat certain vegetables just because. I digress.

When she does ask for something specific, I do my best to give it to her. This past week, while in St. John, she discovered a love for coconut. Specifically in the form of piña colada pancakes. She had them a couple of times for breakfast at the resort, and requested that I figure out how to make them at home. So in an effort to keep vacation alive, encourage menu participation, *and* in keeping with our health goals (which were partially tossed aside on vacation) I created a 'healthed up' version for breakfast this morning. The recipe was inspired by Smitten Kitchen's upside down sour cream peach pancakes from her cookbook (so. much. love. for that cookbook) but I actually did enough modifying that I can almost call it my own. Almost.

PS New goal: go back to using a regular camera for blog pictures. Sick of the unappetizing green filter from the iPhone. Too bad the last several things I made were instagrammed/hipstamaticked/regular iPhone pictured. I'll try to phase it out.

Piña Colada Pancakes

1 large egg
1/4 tsp vanilla
1 cup low fat or fat free greek yogurt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup oat flour
1/4 cup spelt flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1/8-1/4 cup finely chopped pineapple
2 tablespoons unsweetened, shredded coconut
1-2 tablespoons pineapple juice
Several chunks pineapple, thinly sliced, or you could use pineapple rings
More coconut to sprinkle on top
Butter

Combine egg, vanilla and yogurt in a medium bowl. Add dry ingredients, stir gently until just combined. Add finely chopped pineapple and coconut and fold into batter. If batter is very stiff, add 1-2 tablespoons pineapple juice (it's ok to add more, just do it slowly) to thin it out a bit.

Heat a small amount of butter in a nonstick skillet over medium heat. When butter is sizzling, use a 1/4 cup measure to pour pancake batter into the skillet. Arrange pineapple slices on top of batter. When the pancakes begin to have bubbles in their surface, flip. Cook until golden brown on both sides.

While pancakes are cooking, toast a small amount of coconut in a dry skillet (this is the point where TW popped in, told me it should be toasted, and then asked if I wasn't toasting it too much, and was promptly kicked out of the kitchen).

Top pancakes with coconut, and butter and powdered sugar, if desired. You could also do syrup. I wish I got a good pictured of how nicely browned the pineapple chunks looked. Actually, and just in general, I wish I got a good picture of the pancakes. Oh well. It's good to have goals.

PPS I am starting tennis lessons tomorrow. Stay tuned.