Quinoa Banana Nut Pancakes

I've been trying some healthy recipes lately, and this one is so unique, I had to share it! 

I adapted this recipe from Self Magazine's Drop 10 diet.  I've been getting a lot of great recipes from there lately. 

Quinoa Banana Nut Pancakes (Serves 2)

Ingredients:
1 cup cooked Quinoa
2 egg whites
1 whole egg
2 T brown sugar
1/2 t vanilla
1/2 banana
Handful chopped walnuts

Directions:
Wisk the Quinoa, Eggs, brown sugar and vanilla together.  Add the sliced banana and chopped walnuts and stir.
Cook on a griddle about 3 minutes on each side.  These babies are FRAGILE, but as with any pancake, meat or egg, it starts to release a little when it's ready to be flipped.

A few notes...

When planning to blog a pancake recipe before ever trying it, make sure to make at least 2 batches...  This is what the first one will look like.

Set your griddle to "fish pancakes" setting.  Wait, what?  EW! 

Serve this with some eggs scrambled with onions and peppers and a little cheese.  

On another note, look at this awesome quickie lunch I made today...  Roasted veggie pizza.

I roasted all the veggies the other day, so I can use them for anything and everything all week.  I just took a tortilla, topped it with some pizza sauce, the veggies and some mozzarella cheese.  Baked it on my pizza stone and there it is. 

Delish. 

Sweet Potato Lentil Burritos

Don't know if you're a magazine junky like I am, but I'm always excited to get one of my new mags in the mail, and I troll their websites for great meal ideas. 

A lot of the time I find complicated recipes to make with lots of ingredients, but lately I've just been looking for something easy and delicious to fill my belly. 

So Friday, when I was looking for some recipes before going grocery shopping, I found the "Drop 10" Challenge on Self Magazine's website. 

There were a ton of easy recipes for every meal, and I copied down at least 10 of them. 

One recipe I was super excited about was the Bueno Burritos.  So I adapted them to my currently-simple life. 

Ingredients:
1 sweet potato, peeled and diced
1/4 cup chopped onions
1 cup cooked lentils
Mrs. Dash Fiesta Lime Seasoning
4 tortillas
Greek Yogurt, shredded cheese, salsa as garnish

Sautee the sweet potatoes and onions in some olive oil until tender.   Sprinkle with Fiesta Lime Seasoning.
Smash the sweet potatoes up, layer some greek yogurt, cheese, the sweet potatoes and lentils on a tortilla and wrap it up like a yummy burrito.  

I used my Foreman Grill to finish it off with some grill marks to crisp it up. 

Yeah, my pics are bad...  Meh.

NOW EAT IT!

Yum. 

Creamy Taco Soup

I have been away from blogger for a while, but this recipe, and the next one I'm going to post, convinced me to come back.  They are SO STINKIN' GOOD, I had to share them. 

Having already emailed the recipe for this soup to my girl, Autumn because I figured her and her hubs would love this rich-tasting, low-cal twist on a cream-based soup, I had to share it with the rest of yous. 

I got the recipe from Pinterest, and it's directly from Muscle Fitness Hers (find the link here).

I followed it pretty closely, with a few changes.  And for me, it served 4 as a main course.  Maybe 7 as a soup/salad combo

Doesn't it look creamy????

"Creamy" Chicken Taco Soup

3/4 cup nonfat Greek yogurt
1 15-oz can 50% less sodium white beans, rinsed and drained
1 15-oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 15-oz can diced tomatoes with lime and green chiles
1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 cup frozen or fresh corn
1 1/2 pounds shredded precooked chicken breast
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp onion powder
1 tbsp fresh oregano, chopped
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
2 tsp Mrs. Dash Fiesta Lime Seasoning Blend
1/ Place 1/2 cup broth and white beans in a blender and puree. Add yogurt and blend again. Pour liquid into slow cooker.
2/ Add remaining ingredients and stir well.
3/ Cover and cook on high for 2 hours or on low for 4-5 hours.
Note: Be sure to rinse and drain black beans and chicken well before adding to slow cooker.

This turned out to be kinda spicy! I have no idea where the spice came from, but I'm not mad atcha. 

Another note, this took me 10 minutes to throw together in the crock pot.  If the chicken is already made, it's a cinch.