It's September and we've had one night cool enough to sleep with the windows open. Within 12 hours of this, I already switched out my Scentsy air freshener to "Mulled Cider" and was looking up fall baking recipes and planning a week full of soups, crock pots, and pasta. I think it's supposed to be in the 80's again on Tuesday. I may have to re-visit the meal plan.

But seriously:
Baked Raspberry Cheesecake Oatmeal?
Cauliflower Chowder?
Gnocchi a la Sorentina?
Maple Apple Granola?
I'll be back for you all.

I have about 7 weeks left until my due date, and am still trying to load up on protein. This shake is easy, packs some fall flavor, and is infinitely more guilt-free than yesterday's pumpkin spice latte. Sorry about that, baby.



Coconut Cinnamon Ginger Protein Shake

1 cup coconut milk
2 T shredded coconut, I used unsweetened
1 T coconut oil
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp almond flavoring
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
2 scoops protein powder (I used Body by Vi ViShape Sweet Cream)
Ice to thicken (8-10 cubes, or whatever you like)

Blend in blender until smooth. Makes 1 serving.

I found a new favorite snack! These apple nachos are quick to make and more fun than just eating an apple.

Slice your apple thinly and cover it with whatever you think sounds good on an apple. I melted some peanut butter with coconut oil and sprinkled on some chopped chocolate, pecans, and coconut.

I made a later batch with strawberry rhubarb jam, chopped strawberries, marshmallows, and crushed pretzels.

All the options remind me of a caramel apple store in Long Beach ... I think I can eat these all summer!

There is sort of no such thing as a smoothie recipe. Add what you have until you can drink it through a straw. Hope for the best.

6 slices frozen peaches
1/2 cup crushed ice
1 cup orange juice (or Trop50 for low cal)
2 scoops protein shake mix - I used Visalus/Body by Vi Sweet Cream flavor
Optional: 2 spoonfuls of greek yogurt - I used Chobani Vanilla

Blend in blender. Adjust thickness of shake by increasing or decreasing amount of ice.

If you like your smoothies sweeter, try using milk or coconut milk instead of orange juice. I like my fruit smoothies tart and as fruity as possible, so I stuck with orange juice.

This was the perfect lunch after garden planting, which I'm proud to report is FINISHED except for onions and basil.

I no longer sell Body by Vi products, but still love their protein shake mix! You can buy it online at Amazon if you don't know anybody who sells it. Adding some greek yogurt gives this smoothie an additional boost of protein. I'm aiming for 75g of protein a day, and this smoothie has about 17g. Good thing we hit up a local BBQ place for supper and I at a mountain of pulled pork.

I'm trying new things lately. I'm trying not to eat string cheese, peanut butter, and leftover cheesecake for breakfast.

A friend from work asked me to do a 10-day cleanse (Advocare) with her, so I'm only supposed to be eating vegetables, fruits, lean protein, and complex carbs. No sugar. No dairy. And unfortunately, no peanut butter. I had to go to the store yesterday and buy a mountain of produce. I'm on day 2 and haven't cheated!


I came home from the store with Chia seeds, SUPERFOOD OF THE AZTECS. Why not. Chia seeds have several nutritional benefits. According to the back of my bag, 3 tablespoons of the seeds contain 5g of protein, 48% of your daily fiber (12g), 20% of your daily calcium, and 20% of your daily iron.

The recipe I used fits in an 8 ounce canning jar with some room left on the top to add fruit or other toppings. I made a couple of jars at once to store in the fridge, since I had already made a mess. I hate those tear-to-open "resealable" zip top bags. THE WORST. One thousand chia seeds on my kitchen floor.


Overnight Coconut Chia Seed Pudding
1/2 c. + 2 T unsweetened coconut milk (not the kind from a can - I used So Delicious)
2 T chia seeds
1 (small) Tablespoon agave

Add ingredients to an 8 oz. canning jar. Shake to mix. Store, covered, in refrigerator overnight until seeds have softened. Makes 1 serving. Top with fruit, nuts ... hot fudge ... before eating.


Have you tried chia seeds before? How else can I eat them?

It's a great way to use up produce I have on hand that we can't eat before it goes bad. It's a smoothie, so the ingredient list is pretty flexible. Just remember, green and red make brown.

Lately I've liked:

Kale (2-4 cups)
Bananas (1-2)
Lemon Juice (~1 T)
Peaches (1-2)

Blend until smooth and pour into muffin tins or ice cube trays to freeze. It's a little tough to get these back OUT of the muffin tin if you freeze them all the way. I have the best luck when I wait until the cups are JUST frozen and then pop them out with a knife or small spatula. If you have a silicone muffin pan, you are in luck!

I keep a bag of the smoothie cups in the freezer so I have some breakfast options on the mornings when I really needed to go to the store 3 days ago. Just add some liquid and re-blend! Fruit juice, milk, and coconut milk all work well, or a little water if you have a really empty kitchen :)

Today is my second day off in a row. It's beautiful. On my first day off I do things like sleep in and catch up on laundry and chores. On my second day off I have less direction... Or multiple directions...

Today I sewed, played piano, accepted a PRN job at a nearby nursing home, weeded in the garden, shopped for deals on toilet paper on Amazon, ate strawberry ice cream, and organized the sewing closet and linen closet. When my organizing spree led me to the pantry I found a jar of these:

via

Wow I am never going to use these up. And I wondered ... can I make sunflower butter?

I have watched enough infomercials to know that if you have a powerful food processor or blender, you can even blend up roasted almonds. I don't have a food processor, but I have this Kitchenaid blender (except I got it on a sale for $49). Amazon says it has .9 horsepower -- which I figured should be enough to blend up some sunflower seeds.

Into my blender I poured in about 1.5 cups of dry roasted sunflower seeds. They turned into a "flour" consistency right away, but looked very dry.

A quick google search led me to Detoxinista, who shows in her post how to make almond butter. First the flour stage -- keep blending! The nuts have to heat up for the oil to come out and create the butter texture.

I blended for one minute on, half a minute off so I didn't overheat my blender. Repeating this for several cycles, the mixture started to get warm and less dry as the oil started coming out of the sunflower seeds.

I added 1 T. coconut oil because I was impatient waiting for the sunflower butter to smooth out.

I put the final product in a glass jelly jar and am storing it in the refrigerator. 1.5 cups of sunflower seeds turned into about 1 cup of sunflower butter.

Since my original seeds were salted, the nut butter tastes significantly saltier than normal peanut butter, but I like it with apples or celery. Before eating, I warm the nut butter in the microwave until it softens up. Next I want to try almond butter!

I have this cooking dream.

In the dream, I am no longer continuously experimenting with Internet recipes (or magazine recipes or even cookbook recipes). I am not scrutinizing photos and trying to decide if food.com or a Mormon stranger's mommy blog seems like a more legit gamble. I am no longer crossing my fingers and hoping I don't embarrass myself serving the "never made this before" version of whatever I am serving, because I have a tried and true recipe that is DELICIOUS and I would not think of altering it.

In the cooking dream, I do not always bring watermelon to the potluck.

Friends, I have come one step closer to the dream. Meet snickerdoodles. Heirloom snickerdoodles if you will.

Best ever. Stop making other snickerdoodle recipes. Save this recipe. Make it every Christmas.

via

Are snickerdoodles a seasonal cookie? I never liked them because they're always puffy and dry. And let's be real, there's not even any chocolate.

THESE snickerdoodles though are thin and chewy and melt in your mouth. The recipe is from Our Best Bites and is going into my recipe box on an actual I'm-keeping-this recipe card.

1 3/4 cups sugar, divided
1 T cinnamon
2 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
8 T butter (not margarine) at room temperature
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.  Mix 1/4 cup sugar and cinnamon in a shallow bowl and save for later.  Combine flour, cream of tartar, and baking soda in a bowl. If you are using unsalted butter, add 1/2 tsp salt.

My in laws were coming for a cookout this past weekend, so I needed a gluten-free dairy-free menu. I found this recipe from A House In the Hills via Pinterest and thought I'd try something similar.

Always experiment on your guests.

Look how beautiful her pictures are!


For this recipe I used:

4 white peaches + extra for toppings
1/4 c. pistachios, chopped
1 can coconut milk
7 Tablespoons of sugar

In a blender, combine the can of coconut milk, 4 chopped peaches, and the sugar. Blend until smooth.

Chill the mixture for 2+ hours in the refrigerator.

Pour into your ice cream maker and follow the instructions to make ice cream. (I'm happy with KitchenAid's ice cream maker attachment). Eat IMMEDIATELY as soft serve! Top with pistachios and additional fresh peaches.

Do you believe I'd never eaten a pistachio? They didn't taste anything like the pudding! I used roasted  and salted pistachios, which were perfect against the sweet ice cream.


The overall results were delicious! I altered a few things from the original recipe and have some serving suggestions:

The white peaches were on sale this week, but you can absolutely use normal peaches too. In fact, using normal peaches would probably give you a prettier color of ice cream.

The leftover ice cream can be stored in a freezer, but the texture will never be the same. Even after sitting out 15-20 minutes, the hard-frozen ice cream was never fluffy again. It broke apart into frozen chunks instead of being light and silky. You really need to eat this right out of the ice cream maker :)

The original recipe called for a 5th peach to be chopped and added to the ice cream liquid, along with the pistachios. I found that this clogged up my ice cream maker. Additionally, if you plan to ignore my first advice and put leftover ice cream for the freezer, you'll end up with frozen peach chunks in your ice cream. I didn't like that. My favorite way to make the ice cream is smooth soft serve, topped with fresh fruit and nuts.

The original recipe called for using succanat sugar ... I just used normal sugar.

The best way to eat this ice cream from the freezer is to blend up a milkshake. Add a little coconut milk and aim for as close to soft serve consistency as you can. I think I'll go make one now!

My pinterest boards are mostly caramel and carbs ... but for the summer I am trying to lighten things up.

Disclaimer: anything without chocolate or a cheese sauce generally counts as "light" in our house.

These ten recipes are on my "to try" list this swimsuit season, and feature summery ingredients like berries and garden vegetables.

1. Coconut Almond Breakfast Quinoa from Our Best Bites


2. Raw Broccoli Salad from Stone Soup


3. Apple and Grape Lettuce Wrap from Iovine Brothers


4. Mango Salsa and Salmon from Ripped Recipes - I might try this with chicken.


5. Chicken, Bacon, and Avocado Chopped Salad from Gimme Some Oven


6. . Green Smoothie Cups from Muffin Tin Mania



7. Blueberry Blackberry Rustic Tart from Taste of Home.



8. Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes by Annie's Eats


9. Lemon Frozen Yogurt with Raspberries by Dessert First Girl


10. Strawberries and Cream Angel Food Cake Roll by Brown Eyed Baker


What summertime recipes and flavors are you craving? Has anyone tried any of these recipes before and can give me a review? Let me know if you test any of these 10!

More of our favorite summertime recipes:
Brussels Sprouts with Apples and Bacon
Cranberry Almond Granola
Greek Quinoa and Avocados
Honeycrisp Salad
Mango Salsa
Red Velvet Strawberry Shortcake

You know, this stuff! Magic Shell ice cream topping! Except peanut butter.

photo via

Lately I'm into fruity shakes more than sweet. Anything with orange juice is always a winner! This is one of my all time favorite combos.


If you make this shake thick enough (try freezing your sliced banana or bumping up the amount of frozen strawberries) you can eat it like a soft sherbet! This makes a pretty large smoothie or 2 smaller ones.

1 c. Orange Juice (or Trop50 if you are counting calories)
2 scoops Visalus shake mix (or another protein powder. Visalus is flavored "sweet cream")
1 banana
8-10 frozen strawberries

Blend until smooth. Adjust the amount of orange juice or strawberries to get your preferred consistency. Looks like in the picture I may have used frozen raspberries, which was also great! Raspberry Banana Julius was a good variation :)

Total calories with strawberries and real orange juice: 330.
Total calories with Trop50: 270

Check out some of my other favorite shake recipes including Almond Joy, Chocolate Avocado, and Orange Mango Pineapple.

See more recipe ideas from my kitchen in the recipe tab up top!

Feeling fancy for breakfast? This is a favorite at our house on Saturday mornings when I wake up a little later and have time to spend in the kitchen making breakfast instead of rushing out the door smoothie-in-hand.

Typically I make a big batch and then save it in single-serve pyrex containers so I can rush out the door oatmeal-in-hand the coming Monday. If you've never tried steel cut oats, they're a little chewier than the rolled kind.

Here's what you'll need:

1/4 tsp salt
1 c. steel cut oats
1 T + 1 tsp butter
1/2 c. pecans
2 tsp sugar
2 pears (peeled, cored, sliced into chunks). If you don't have or don't like pears, try this recipe with apples instead.
3 T honey
1/4 tsp cinnamon
Half and half

In a medium size sauce pan, boil 4 c. water and salt. Add steel cut oats and wait for it to boil again. Turn the heat down to medium-low. Simmer (uncovered) for 25-35 minutes, stirring often.

In a frying pan, melt 1 tsp butter. Add pecans and sugar. Stir 1 minute: the sugar should melt and coat the toasty pecans. Move them to a cutting board and chop coarsely when cooled.

Right before your oatmeal is done, melt a tablespoon of butter in the frying pan again. Add the pears and stir occasionally for 3 minutes. The juice should come out of them and they should be hot all the way through. Add honey and cinnamon.

Split the oatmeal into 4-5 bowls (depending on how hungry you are). If you don't have enough people to eat it all immediately, portion some into individual pyrex bowls for reheating later. I have a pyrex obsession. Store leftover pears and pecans separately so the pears stay juicy and the pecans stay crunchy. When I reheat the oats in the microwave, I add a little milk to keep them from getting sticky.

Serve hot oatmeal topped with pears, sprinkled with pecans, drizzled with cold half and half. Not room temperature, not skim milk.


I always run out of pears and pecans by the time I get to the last of the oatmeal cups, but then I eat it with coconut or maple syrup or blueberries ... etc. What's your favorite way to eat oatmeal? Are you more of a steel-cut or a rolled oats family?

See more recipes I've been trying in the recipe tab up top!

Winter means I crave carbs and hot chocolate for about 5 months straight. Pasta, homemade bread, maybe pasta served with homemade bread ... It was time to add a lighter layer to my food pyramid.



Adapted from this recipe at Fitnessmagazine.com

Makes: 2 meals or 4 side salads

Ingredients:

1/2 c. uncooked quinoa
1 c. water
1/4 c. chopped red bell pepper
1/2 c. shredded fresh spinach
1/3 c. finely chopped red onion
2 T lemon juice
2 T olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1-2 avocados, pitted, peeled, and sliced (each person gets half an avocado)
1/3 c. crumbled feta cheese

Directions

Boil quinoa and water in a small saucepan. Cover and simmer at reduced heat for 15 minutes, or until liquid is absorbed.

Remove from heat. Pour in lemon juice, oil, and salt and fluff with fork. Stir in red bell pepper, spinach, and onion.

Place avocado slices on plates. Preferably, get fancy and fan them out. Scoop quinoa mixture on top. Sprinkle with feta.


For more recipes from our table, check out the "recipes" tab up top.

1/2 c. Trop50 Pomegranate Blueberry juice
1/2 c. Coconut Milk
2 scoops Visalus shake mix
1/2 tsp Vanilla
1/4 tsp Coconut extract
1 T flaked coconut
Ice

Blend in blender. Adjust thickness of shake by increasing or decreasing amount of ice. Garnish with additional coconut. If I make this again, I'm going to throw in a few frozen blueberries to up the "real food" content in this shake.

Let me know if you try this one!

I'm promoting the Body by Visalus 90-day challenge! This is for you if you have healthy nutrition, weight loss, or fitness goals! Check out my website at http://heathervroom.myvi.net/ for information about the challenge, the products, and how you can get your product for FREE by getting 3 friends to sign up with you. You can order online.

It's Christmas goodie plate time! Similar to "Gooey Butter Cake" a la Paula Deen, these easy bars have a buttery cheesecake flavor and take less than 10 minutes to get into the oven. Plenty of sweet. I got the filling recipe from Kevin and Amanda and the crust recipe uses a homemade yellow cake mix recipe from Chickens in the Road.

Crust:
1 egg
1 stick butter, melted
2 c. flour

1 1/2 c. sugar
1 T baking powder
1/2 c. non-fat dry milk
1 tsp vanilla

**Note: Crust can also be made using egg, butter, and a boxed cake mix (yellow, white, or get adventurous with chocolate or red velvet or carrot ...)

Filling:
2 eggs
4 c. powdered sugar (1 lb)
1 8 oz. block cream cheese, softened (I did about 30 seconds in the microwave)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Mix crust ingredients. Press into greased 9x13 pan.

Using stand mixer, beat together filling ingredients for 3-4 minutes. Pour over crust.

Bake at 300 degrees for 40-50 minutes, until top is golden brown.


Jon ate his with caramel sauce ... because obviously there is not enough sugar in these.

Source

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine shredded brussels sprouts and carrots with apple, celery, sunflower seeds, and raisins.

3. Sprinkle with lemon juice to prevent apples from browning. Then add salt and thyme to taste. Add maple syrup to balance the acidity of the lemon juice.

I couldn't get over how crunchy this was! (In a delicious way). Even as leftovers it was still extremely crunchy! I am really not a sunflower seed or raisin person, but I was surprised at how much I liked them in this salad. Let me know if you try it!

I love to bake. I love to cook. Just as much, I love to look at pictures of food in cookbooks or online and marking them as "to try." One of my vague kitchen goals is to have a recipe box filled with recipes that I KNOW are good. Especially for standard foods like chicken noodle soup or chocolate chip cookies. My typical disclaimer when people are over to eat is "I've never made this before..." Somehow it seems like I make most recipes only once.


Caramel Pecan Rolls - Makes 12

1/4 c. butter (or shortening or coconut oil) + 6 T melted butter
1 3/4 c. milk (whole if you have it)
1/3 c. honey
1 package or 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1 egg
5-6 c. flour
2 tsp salt
2 1/2 c. heavy cream
2 1/2 c. + 1/3 c. brown sugar
2/3 c. sugar
1 T cinnamon

Salted Pecans:

2 T butter
1 1/2 c. chopped pecans
1 tsp salt

Instructions:

In a saucepan, melt 1/4 c. butter/shortening/coconut oil over low heat. Add milk and honey and heat to 105-115 degrees F. Pour into the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle with yeast. Let stand for 5 minutes. Stir to dissolve.

Stir in the egg. Add salt and 5 cups of flour. Using the paddle attachment on low spead, add enough of the remaining flour to make a soft dough that does not stick to the bowl (remember you're going to have to roll this out). Switch the paddle attachment for the dough hook and knead for 5-7 minutes on medium-low speed, adding more flour if needed.

Divide dough in half and shape each half into a ball. Place them on a floured surface in a warm spot and cover with a moistened kitchen towel. Let rise until double in size, which will take about 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a saucepan (medium to large -- needs room to boil) whisk together cream and 2 1/2 c. brown sugar. Bring to boil over medium heat, stirring frequently. Reduce to medium-low heat for 9 minutes, whisking frequently, until slightly reduced. Remove from heat.

Butter a 10x15 baking dish with some of the melted butter. Spread 1 1/2 c. of caramel sauce on the bottom of the pan.

In a bowl, mix together the sugar, 1/3 c. brown sugar, and cinnamon. Roll out 1 ball of dough on a floured work surface into a 9x15" rectangle. Brush with 1 1/2 T melted butter, leaving a 1" stripe at the top dry for when you roll it up. Spread with half the cinnamon sugar mixture. Roll up the dough into a log and pinch the seam closed. Cut into 6 rolls. Arrange the rolls cut side up in the baking dish. Repeat with the second half.

Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place until double, about 45 minutes. OR, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. I did the overnight method and took my dough out in the morning to rise until double.

To make salted pecans: in a frying pan, melt butter over medium heat. Add pecans and salt. Stir frequently until toasted (about 3 minutes). Drain on paper towels.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake about 35 minutes, or until rolls are golden. Remove from oven and brush with remaining butter. Let stand 3 minutes. Place a large rimmed baking sheet over the pan and invert the rolls onto the sheet.

In a saucepan, reheat the remaining caramel sauce over low heat until just warm enough to pour. Pour over rolls. Sprinkle with pecans.

For the month of October I'm doing one thing a day that is a step towards a simpler way of living -- less cluttered, less wasteful, less distracted. My goal through this month of less is that by taking a new step every day, I will be able to live in a way that is more organized, more stewardly, more purposeful. Read more about it here, and let me know if you're joining in!

This is my go-to granola recipe. I wonder if it could be made using coconut oil instead of butter for an even stronger coconut taste? I am on this huge coconut kick lately. Coconut greek yogurt. Coconut cookies. Coconut brownie frosting. Coconut Cold Stone. Coconut smoothies. There's a place between here and Omaha that sells coconut ice cream.

For Jon and I, breakfast is the meal where we tend to eat the most pre-packaged and processed foods. Mainly cereal. Lately we have been leeching fresh eggs out of his parents' egg basket, but I like my eggs cooked until they are all the way dead and I don't always have that much time in the morning. Maybe when I have a kitchen I'll try a month of homemade breakfasts...

Ingredients:
4 c. oats
2/3 c. honey
4 T butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
1 c. sliced almonds
1 c. sweetened flake coconut
1/2 c. wheat germ
1 c. dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread oats on a large jelly roll pan and bake 18-20 minutes, stirring halfway through.
In large bowl, stir honey, butter, vanilla, and salt. Add oats, almonds, coconut, and wheat germ.


Spray jelly roll pan with non-stick spray, spread with granola and bake 12-14 minutes or until golden brown, stirring halfway.

Transfer to large bowl. Stir in cranberries or add them before eating.

Store in an airtight container. For maximum crunch, you could keep the dried cranberries separate and add them right before eating. I don't bother since the batch always disappears so quickly.

For more recipes from my kitchen, click here.

For the month of October I'm doing one thing a day that is a step towards a simpler way of living -- less cluttered, less wasteful, less distracted. My goal through this month of less is that by taking a new step every day, I will be able to live in a way that is more organized, more stewardly, more purposeful. Read more about it here, and let me know if you're joining in!

How convenient that taco seasoning comes pre-mixed in a packet... But have you read the ingredient list?

The Tastespotting blog was talking about taco seasoning and how the ingredient list includes several non-food ingredients also found in pet food and pesticides. Their easy-to-follow recipe (sans pesicides) includes the following spices:


4 parts chili powder
2 parts ground cumin
1 part paprika
1 part crushed red pepper or cayenne pepper
1 part dried oregano
1 part onion powder
1 part garlic powder
1 part salt
½ part black pepper
Directions: Throw spices and herbs in a bowl and combine.

Not only do I know what's going in my tacos, but I tend to always have these spices on hand anyway (unlike the pre-mixed envelopes).

For the month of October I'm doing one thing a day that is a step towards a simpler way of living -- less cluttered, less wasteful, less distracted. My goal through this month of less is that by taking a new step every day, I will be able to live in a way that is more organized, more stewardly, more purposeful. Read more about it here, and let me know if you're joining in!

(picture from recipe.com)

Every so often we end up with a lazy weekend morning that requires a so-late-it-hardly-counts-as-breakfast meal. Cereal doesn't cut it. Since we're still living in my inlaws' basement and lately have startlingly few responsibilities, we've had time for pancakes.

We tried a new recipe that makes extra fluffy pancakes; The secret is to beat the egg whites, like you do with waffle batter. If you're a boxed panake mix kind of person (are there those kind of people?), you won't be anymore.

Anything from scratch counts for my month of less (less packaging, less non-food "ingredients", less transport) even though it may be more work.

Buttermilk Pancakes: (serves 6)

2 c. flour
2 T sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 1/3 c. buttermilk (or make your own with milk and lemon juice... google it.)
3 large eggs, separated
1/4 c. butter, melted
Canola oil or butter for cooking

In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In a medium bowl, whisk together buttermilk, egg yolks, and melted butter. Pour this into the flour mixture and stir until just combined -- the batter will be lumpy.

Using a mixer on high speed, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Stir about 1/3 of the whites into the batter, then fold in the remaining 2/3.  There will still be lumps.

Lightly butter/oil the griddle and turn the burner to high heat. Pour 1/3 c. batter for each pancake and spread it out with the back of the measuring cup. Cook about 1 1/2 minutes (until bubbles form and break on the surface). Flip the pancakes and cook another minute.

If the batter is too thick, you can add more buttermilk to thin it.

Serve hot, and preferably with bacon.

Optional: Add to the batter 2 c. fresh/frozen blueberries or rasperries, or try diced ripe bananas.

For the month of October I'm doing one thing a day that is a step towards a simpler way of living -- less cluttered, less wasteful, less distracted. My goal through this month of less is that by taking a new step every day, I will be able to live in a way that is more organized, more stewardly, more purposeful. Read more about it here, and let me know if you're joining in!