Happy Valentines Day! The pancake philosophy

Happy valentines day guys! I hope your day's so far have been wonderful! This February 14th, for breakfast I made maple bacon pancakes and strawberry butterscotch pancakes. I decided that after my man was off to work that I was going to make the rest of the pancakes and eat them too! (Instead of freezing them, as per usual)

I've been pretty good this month food wise, I've only eaten take away twice! So I threw caution to the wind, and set about doing these pancakes right! What's valentines day without a little gluttony? I created butterscotch chip pancakes and topped them with grilled strawberries, maple syrup and a generous serving of chocolate sundae syrup. They we're divine!

I used a simple recipe for pancakes, I made a few adjustments to make them healthier, i.e: lactose free 1% instead of whole buttermilk, gluten free flour instead of all purpose, etc. I cited Martha Stewart's simple pancake recipe for reference, added some delicious bacon, grilled up a bunch of strawberry slices, an topped with delicious golden syrup.

Xxstay cheeky

Exorcise that Exercise!

I find it too, too tricky to find the motivation to get up off the couch and do some exercise; I dislike sweating, I dislike muscle spasms, I dislike exercise in general.

When push comes to shove, eating right just doesn't cut it when you are trying to feel fantastic in that bikini on the beach or even naked in the shower. I hate exercising. Strength training, running, and circuits just seem so impossible to motivate myself for. I've been known to sleep in workout gear, so that I don't have an excuse to go running the next day. Every second of exercising sucks, that is until you are done and feel that surge of endorphins that make all the suck worth it. I can't find the motivation to go for a run every day (not for lack of trying) but I have however,taken up a quick morning yoga routine that helps me stretch out, I've made the effort to walk for about 30 minutes at least 3 times a week, as well, I've decided to do the 30 day ab challenge. Even if I don't get a six pack out of it, what can it hurt?

You guys can find all the info here
30 day/300 ultimate ab and core challenge
I've just completed day 1 and I already feel stronger:)
xxstay cheeky;)

Recipe Roundup no. 1-meatloaf muffins!

Sometimes, you just want comfort food, even when you're trying to be healthier; and what is more satisfying than meatloaf? more specifically Paula Dean's most delicious meatloaf ever! "BUT" you say "Cassie, we're trying to eat lighter, and ground beef is not the way to go!" I got you covered, on pretty much, all the bases. I made Paula Dean's Old Fashioned Meatloaf with a few tweaks, and then I baked them in a muffin tin. They turned out moist and delicious, just like I'd expect Paula's to be. But with one change...PORTION CONTROL! each muffin is about 180 calories, so you can go off that as a guideline for your lighter eating selves.

I started by mixing: a pound of lean ground beef, 1 1/4 tsp of salt, 1/4 tsp black pepper, 1/2-whole chopped onion, 1 egg lightly beaten and 1/2 cup large flake oats together in a medium mixing bowl, I used my hands to mix this part, you could also use a spoon, but it's more fun with your hands! For the topping I combined approximately: 2/3 cup of ketchup, 4 tbsp of brown sugar and about 2 tbsp of my favorite mustard President's Choice, sweet with heat.

Then i preset my oven to 400 farenheit, and greased my muffin tin, and added a bread crumb coating on the bottom, so they wouldn't stick and be easier to remove from the pan, this recipe yields about 12 mid size muffins, so don't overfill your muffin cups, just to about the half way-2/3 full mark. Then you can top the muffins with a heaping tsp of the topping and pop them in the oven for about 20 minutes on until you believe them done, you can check the status of them by cutting into one and checking to see if it's done (I checked mine by eating some :)) Voila! they are done and you have a very easy, delicious, meatloaf, made in about a fifth of the time it would take for a huge one, plus! These neatloaf muffins look way cute on the plate, and they have valuable portion control, for those like me who love food! Do you guys like these recipes Ive been posting? let me know, Ive got tonnes!

Sweet potato scramble bundles

I am a huge lover of Pinterest.com and whilst pinning the other day I stumbled across a recipe that I thought looked delicious but, that needed some nutrition. The recipe was for breakfast bird's nests, made from store bought hashbrown's and had a whole egg in each cup, I decided to healthify the recipe.

I shredded a medium sweet potato, added 1/2 a roughly chopped onion as well as 1 small carrot, shredded. I sprinkled 1-2 tbsp of gluten free all purpose flour and added 1 egg, whisked. I mixed it all together in a medium bowl until it was all coated in a floury, eggy mixture. I then plopped this into a well greased muffin tin, creating little cups with the mixture. Before popping it in the oven, I drizzled vegetable oil over them and lightly sprinkled some sea salt on top thenI put it all in the oven at 425 for about 12-17 minutes. 

While my bundles got nice and toasty I made the scramble for the inside of the cups. I cracked 4 eggs in a small bowl added some daiya and shredded ham, some pepper, salt and a little cayenne pepper.

My bundles were toasty after about 15 minutes, I lowered the oven temperature to 350, and poured the scramble into the bundles about 3/4 of the muffin cup full. I then popped them back in the oven for another 20-25 minutes, until the egg whites were solid. Take them out of the oven and let them stand for about 5-10 minutes. Serve with ketchup, tomato sauce, gravy etc. They are super delicious!

I love quick and easy breakfasts

Where's Waldo?

So...the saga continues; I'm not sure what it is that has me, every few months, without fail neglecting this blog. I have to apologize to you, my readers; from the bottom of my keyboard, I, really am sorry. I go through these stages, of Depression, Hopelessness, Chaos, and procrastination. I'm not at fault for the depression, that's in my chemical makeup; But I am, However in charge of the others. I get so hopeless, its tough keeping the Sunny side up all-the-freakin'-time. That's no excuse, but it is a coping mechanism for me. I like to get myself into an extremely dark place, filled with pessimism; and I justify those thoughts by saying to myself "Cassie, you're so damn happy, all-the-freakin'-time, you can be negative sometimes too, its okay". Only it's not, I know how toxic that negative thinking can be, especially to myself. Then, when the busy time comes, I'm so miserable, I just completely cave in and disconnect from both; friends and social networks alike. That too is terrible, but the procrastination is by far, the worst! I just convince myself that no one wants to read what I have to write, and that no one wants to watch my videos, so I can put it off for another day. and then we end up here...4 months later, 4 FREAKIN' MONTHS!!! again, I'm sorry. In the past 4 months, I've dyed my hair 6 times, seen Marilyn Manson, taken Sunny to the vets (for a checkup), begun being healthy again, started drawing extended studies of the venal and cardiovascular systems, and picked up and started learning to play the Ukelele. If I have the willpower to go running, then I have the willpower to update this blog! stay tunedxx