Single Serving Protein Pancake.

FLUFFY

Hey everyone :) I know it's been a while, but this blog is no longer a tip top priority! Med school has me busy busy, along with all the typical life stuff that has to happen. Talk about a balancing act!

Today I bring you a recipe for a single serving pancake. I've been eyeing pancake recipes lately, especially the "single lady" ones, but I was never quite happy with the ingredients that were used, so I chose my own.

Banana slices hiding on the bottom, with greek yogurt and cooked strawberries and raspberries.

This pancake is everything I could ever want in a pancake :) It's fluffy, has a nice nutty flavor from the flaxseed, it's full of protein, and isn't too sweet, so it's easy to top it with things like a touch of maple syrup, butter or some yummy berries and yogurt.

The secret to success in this recipe is measuring the ingredients, and also using a non-stick pan. I know that non-stick pans are not at all the best choice health-wise, but there's really no alternative when you want to make some awesome pancakes.

Single Serving Protein Pancake.
    serves one or two

    15 grams / one serving of brown rice protein powder - I use Nutribiotic plain, you could use brown rice flour here also
    50 grams / ~1/2 one normal sized banana, mashed
    8 grams / 1 heaping Tbsp  ground brown flaxseed
    3 grams / 1 scant Tbsp  ground chia seed
    12 grams / ~1 tsp  runny honey
    2 eggs / about 100 grams  give or take depending on your egg size
    1 gram  baking soda (this is a very small amount)
    15 drops  vanilla extract (I used a dropper)
    pinch each: salt, ground cardamom

To make your pancake:
  1)  Combine all ingredients into a bowl and whisk well, scraping off the sides with a spatula and getting everything incorporated. The only lumps present should be a little bit of mashed banana. The batter will appear thin, and shiny from the eggs, resist adding more dry ingredients.
  2)  Preheat your nonstick pan on medium-low heat (#4 on my stove, point at small hand on the 7 in 7 o'clock).
  3)  Pour batter onto the pan. Do two batches, or pour it all in for one pancake (this is what I do).  Cook on one side for about 5 minutes. Pancake is ready when there are some bubbles on top and you can see the edges are beginning to set. Work your rubber spatual around the edges of the pancake and also the bottom. One pancake requires one massive or two normal sized spatulas to flip it.
  4)  Flip pancake and wait another 1-2 minutes.
  5)  Remove pancake to a plate with banana slices already on it. Place pancake on top of sliced bananas. Drizzle with maple syrup or whatever is desired. I like to put some butter on top, berries and homemade yogurt. ENJOY!

My first attempt; not quite right but topped with yum!

Because someone will want the stats ;) Thanks to myfitnesspal.com

I hope you are staying both warm and well this holiday season :) Love to all my readers :)
Merry Christmas!

PS - And no, this recipe will not work if you substitute the egg for something else.

Almond Butter Banana Blueberry Muffins.

My mother introduced me to the idea of making muffins with almond butter after she had made some yummy muffins from one of our favorite bloggers, Megan, The Detoxinista. My sister in law is currently on a special diet and she was able to have these muffins; and she loved them! Both ladies spoke so highly of them that I knew I wanted to try making them myself. So the night before our family Christmas Eve celebration, I whipped some of these up, while making a few of my own changes ;)

I really like this recipe because it's so flavorful and so easy! It takes about 5 minutes to whip up, and about 20-25 minutes to bake, so within the hour you can have warm, cooled, ready to eat muffins for your friends and family! I highly suggest you wait for these muffins to cool. When they first come out of the oven the bottoms will feel a little "soggy" but they firm up as they cool. The texture of these muffins is fabulous!


Almond Butter Banana Blueberry Muffins.
     makes one dozen muffins
     inspired by this recipe

    1 cup  almond butter (mine was raw, but you can also use roasted, store-bought, or made at home)
    1/2 cup  mashed ripe banana (mine took 1 whole banana)
    1/4 cup (or even 2 Tbsp)  maple syrup (or runny honey)
    2  happy eggs
    1/2 tsp  baking soda
    1/4 tsp  unrefined sea salt
    1 Tbsp  cinnamon
    1 cup  frozen blueberries

To make your muffins:
  1)  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, convection; line a muffin tin with paper liners.
  2)  In a large bowl, combine almond butter, banana, maple syrup, and eggs. Mix well. Add soda, salt, cinnamon, and mix again. Lastly, fold in the frozen blueberries. Do not overmix.
  3)  Using a 1/4 cup measuring scoop, transfer batter to muffin tin. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes, depending on your oven, and remove muffins when tops are slightly springy to the touch. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool more. Store in the fridge to keep for longer, or outside the fridge if eaten in 2-3 days.


These will freeze well also, and are a great "make ahead" option. They are also very portable, and will no doubt please a crowd. Kids and adults alike loved these muffins when I brought them to our Christmas Eve gathering. You can feel good about giving these muffins to your loved ones, as they are low in sugar, and high in fat and protein, which makes for a great snack, or side dish to eggs for breakfast.

Enjoy! I know I will be making these way more often from now on.

Grain-free Sweet Potato French Toast.

Growing up I have a lot of fond memories of my mom's cooking.  On the weekends, she would make a special breakfast for us, and my brother and I would get to choose between either pancakes, french toast, or waffles.  French toast was my brother's particular favorite.  It always came out the same, (tasty), and it was the faster of the three options for my mother to prepare, which always meant breakfast would be sooner!

To be honest I haven't had regular french toast in a long time. Last summer I spontaneously took some left over sweet potato, combined it with some eggs and warm spices, and this recipe was born! I didn't write it down, however, and this last year of medical school has stopped virtually all my recipe development time. Since I am free this summer, I have more time, and so one morning last week I spent time in the kitchen whipping this up! It feels good to be cooking again :)

If you're paleo, primal, grain-free or just wish to avoid unecessary carbs, this recipe is for you. It doesn't actually contain any bread, just some delicious orange sweet potatoes. The eggs and warm spices combine to make the french-toast taste. The texture isn't like bread, but it's moist and melts in your mouth!! Yum!

Grain-free Sweet Potato French Toast.
    makes one 9x13 pan

    1 Tbsp  cinnamon
    1/2 tsp  fresh ground nutmeg
    3 dashes  ground cloves
    1/4 tsp  black pepper
    1/2 tsp  unrefined sea salt
    2 tsp  vanilla extract
    2 Tbsp  raw honey - source
    2 Tbsp  organic coconut oil, melted - source
    1/2 cup  organic raw milk
    6  happy pastured eggs

    3 large sweet potatoes, washed and peeled

    Toppings: (optional, choose your favorites!)
      pecans
      sunflower seeds
      coconut chips
      maple-cinnamon sugar - source

To make your french toast:
  1.  Wash and peel your sweet potatoes. Cut lengthwise in half, then cut each half into half moon shapes about a half inch thick. Arrange on a cookie sheet and roast at 425 degrees until just fork tender.
  2. In a large bowl, combine all spices, honey, oil, milk and eggs. Be sure coconut oil is not hot. Whisk until well combined and there are no lumps of spices or egg.
  3. Grease a 9x13 glass casserole dish with about 1 tablespoon of butter.
  4. Arrange pre-baked sweet potatoes on the bottom of the dish. Pour egg and spice mixture on top. Sprinkle with toppings of choice! I used pecans, sunflower seeds, coconut chips and a maple sugar-cinnamon mixture. Other good choices would be whole walnuts, shredded coconut, ground pecans, and raisins.
  5. Bake at 400 degrees convection, covered in foil, for a total of 45 minutes. At 30 minutes check to see how it's doing. For the last 5 minutes, remove foil. Let cool to set before serving warm with plain yogurt, thick greek yogurt or maple syrup. This will freeze very well and is also great for the next few days straight from the fridge. Enjoy!

This recipe would be a great brunch option, since you can easily make the sweet potatoes and egg mixture the day before and store it in the fridge. Then in the morning before guests arrive, grease the baking dish, add the sweet potatoes, pour in the egg mixture, add the toppings, and in an hour you'll have some delicious paleo french toast baked, cooled, and ready to be devoured! I'd serve it topped with your favorite greek yogurt and fresh blueberries or strawberries, with sizzling bacon on the side, and warm green tea in your mug!

I'd eat this up within a week after you make it, but then again I don't think that will be a problem :)

Grain-free Zucchini Bread

Every once and a while I find a recipe that just tastes SO good! A recipe that you just can not stop eating. It happened especially with my original banana cake, nourishing protein bars, chocolate chunk bark, the best cornbread, gluten-free gingerbread men, and now it's happening again. I'll admit, while this phenomenon of finding an excellent recipe is preferable, it is a problem. Recipes that are just too good are a problem simply because it's extremely tempting to eat the final product in one sitting. Eating a whole batch of baked goods in one sitting (while it may be delicious) is not recommended for good digestion or my girl-ish figure. May this be your warning that this grain-free zucchini bread is quite good :)

Great texture!

Summer means zucchini, zucchini means zucchini bread, and zucchini bread means happy stomach. But only if you're baking with real fresh eggs, health fats and simple ingredients. This bread has all of that! For lack of a better word (augh here it comes) this bread is moist, sweet, and nutritious. Anyone else not like using the word "moist"? Bananas, eggs, and zucchini make the bread moist/soft/creamy; the banana, coconut sugar and maple syrup make the bread sweet (I am going to cut back next time); and the zucchini, eggs, and cinnamon make this bread super nutritious.

Grain-free Zucchini Bread
     Makes one standard loaf 

     4  real eggs

     38 g  coconut sugar (palm sugar)

     4.1 oz  maple syrup (I use grade B)  
     70 g  organic coconut oil - softened
      2 g  cinnamon

      4 g  vanilla

      2 g  sea salt

     88 g  organic coconut flour
     81 g  natural almond flour (unblanched - I use Honeyville)
     35 g  arrowroot flour
     4 g  baking powder
     50 g  organic coconut flakes
     176 g  ripe banana (2 medium)
     12.2 oz  organic farmer's market zucchini - shredded (weighed after draining)
     80 g  organic raisins
     chopped walnuts for topping

To make your zucchini bread:
  1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees convection.
  2.  In your food processor, grate zucchini. Turn zucchini into a tea towel and squeeze out the natural water of the zucchini. Let sit while preparing other ingredients, and squeeze hard once more before adding to bowl.
  3.  Place first three ingredients in a small bowl and whisk vigorously together by hand one minute.
  4.  To that bowl, add next four ingredients and whisk until combined. Small lumps are ok.
  5.  To the same bowl, add next six ingredients and mash together.
  6.   Finally, fold in zucchini and raisins. Pour batter into a greased (with old butter wrappers or coconut oil) standard loaf pan. Top with ground walnuts if desired.
  7.   Bake in oven until bread rises, cracks slightly on top, walnuts are browned, sides have pulled away from pan and a stick inserted in the middle comes out clean; about an hour.

These measurements are given in grams or ounces, and I do not know the cup or metric conversions. I have found that baking with a food scale, not only is easier, but takes much less time. After my experience baking and in food service, it's hard for me to use measuring utensils, as I am used to "scaling out" every ingredient.

Yummy walnut topping!

Also, as I mentioned earlier, this bread is very sweet. I included my original measurements in this recipe, but next time I know I will use less coconut sugar and maple syrup. I enjoy the sweetness, but it makes this bread just too good and a bit too sweet for my taste. Enjoy this grain-free version of zucchini bread :) I sure did!

Chocolate Date Bars

As promised in my last post, here is the triangle mystery bar. These are Chocolate Date Bars! I used a triangle scone pan to get their interesting shape, but I think they are actually better suited to be scooped with a cookie scoop and rolled into tiny bite-sized balls!

Chocolate Date Bars

    1 small (6-7") baked plantain
    2 T cocoa powder
    1 T maple butter
    3/4 cup walnuts
    4 medjool dates - pitted
    1/4 cup organic coconut flakes
    1/2 tsp sea salt
    cacoa nibs - as topping

To make your bars:
1.  Place dates, walnuts, coconut flakes in food processor and process until it is a course mixture.
2.  Add cocoa powder, maple butter, sea salt and the baked plantain and process until the mixture comes together and is cohesive.
3.  Pat down into desired type of pan (I used a scone pan!) or scoop out little balls of the "dough" of the processor onto a cookie sheet.
4. Press cacao nibs onto the top or roll balls in cocoa nibs.
5. Freeze until set. Eat and enjoy!

I would highly suggest keeping these in the freezer or the refrigerator before consuming, their texture is rather soft and tends to get even more soft if left out at room temperature.

Yumm, cacoa nibs :D

Since I know that I will probably get asked this, can you substitute a banana for the plantain? The answer is yes and no. Both types of "fruit" are related, but bananas are considerably LESS starchy and are more wet in consistency than a plantain. If you plan to use bananas either dehydrate the final product for a few hours, or you can add some coconut flour to the mix to help hold everything together.

P.S. - These taste like brownies! :D

Nourishing Protein Bars 1.1.

Remember these? They got great feedback when I posted them back in June 2010. This past year they've been nothing but the absolute best go-to recipe when I need to make something for friends, a gift, parties or events. No one I know has said anything less than, "those bars you made were so awesome." They truly are delicious! While most protein bar recipes out there seem to be loaded with sugar, grains, or other questionable ingredients, these bars have none of that. 

At one of my favorite stores, I recently found a square pan on sale. I bought it because I knew it would work PERFECTLY for making these protein bars, because I could just pop them out. And it did! There was no mess, and no cracking due to cutting like I encountered with the previous method. These bars look "professionally" uniform and totally better than store-bought.

Most recently, I have started my Spring semester at school. I made up two different batches of protein bars (second recipe to come next week!) and brought them both back with me to California. These are a perfect breakfast option for me since I am constantly on the go! They are easy to make up and freeze very well. For easy packaging, cut up into squares and place in snack baggies, or use a square pan and pop them into plastic wrap and then aluminum foil.

Look at all the goodness inside :)

This is a WARNING. These bars are quite tasty. It takes great amounts of self control to make these bars and not go over board sampling them!

Nourishing Protein Bars 1.1.

    adapted from Passionate homemaking

    2 cups  whole almonds
    1/4 cup  ground golden flaxseed
    1/2 cup  organic dates  (about 6 whole pitted dates)
    1/2 cup  organic unsweetened coconut flakes
    1/2 cup  organic raw almond butter
    1/2 tsp  unrefined sea salt
    1/2 cup  organic coconut oil, melted
    1-2 Tbsp  organic maple syrup
    2-3 tsp  vanilla
    1 handful 100% baking chips, or 3-4 unsweetened chocolate baking squares, melted
    6 drops  vanilla creme liquid stevia (optional)
    *Use more chocolate for a thicker coating

To make your protein bars:
  1.  Place almonds, flaxseed, dates, coconut, almond butter and salt in a food processor. Pulse to combine.
  2.  In a small sauce pan, melt coconut oil using LOW heat. Remove from heat and add vanilla and maple syrup.
  3.  Add melted oil mixture to the food processor and pulse/grind ingredients until it forms a coarse paste.
  4.  Scoop out the mixture and press down hard into an square bar pan.
  5.  Melt chocolate in a double boiler, add stevia last when finally melted. Pour the chocolate mixture on top of the already pressed down bars. Smooth out and place into the fridge or freezer until chocolate has hardened. To serve, take bars out of fridge/freezer for at least 30 minutes. Work a knife around the edges gently and pop out bar onto pieces of plastic wrap. Wrap and freeze for later or munch right away :)

Yum - chocolate layer!

I suggest keeping this in the fridge or freezer until eating, or the chocolate will soften or melt (depending on the current temperature in your climate). You may need to hide these in the back of the fridge or freezer to keep everyone in the house from demolishing them all at once. They are just too good. Or you can be nice and share :)

Enjoy!

Grain-free Pumpkin Muffins.

My mom found this recipe over at Amy's Simply Sugar & Gluten-free blog sometime before Thanksgiving. The original recipe was submitted in her Slightly Indulgent Tuesday's carnival by another blogger. Unfortunately when my mom printed out the recipe, it didn't say who made them! My mom was adventurous and made some edits to the recipe (go Mom!) which were spot on. So here is her lovely delicious creation.

I cannot say enough of these muffins! They are incredibly moist and have great flavor and texture. She was kind enough to ship me a whole package of these muffins when I was away at school over Thanksgiving. I shared them with all my "not gluten-free" friends and they LOVED them. They couldn't even tell they were gluten-free, and EVERY SINGLE person asked for the recipe. After much waiting, here it is! My mom also served them at her own Thanksgiving feast she hosted and NO ONE knew that they were gluten-free. The plate disappeared. Obviously people enjoyed them :)

We currently have a whole bag of these at our house in the freezer. Whenever we need a muffin fix we take one out and pop it into the toaster oven to warm up. All it takes is ten minutes and you have a warm yummy muffin.  These freeze very well! This will definitely be my new "to-go-to" recipe when I need to make muffins. Which reminds me, I need to remake my Morning Glory Muffin recipe without the grains and the sugar!

Grain-free Pumpkin Muffins
    makes about 2 dozen muffins

    2 cups  blanched almond flour
    1 tsp  baking soda
    1/2 tsp  sea salt
    1/2 tsp  each: nutmeg, allspice, cloves
    1 cup  pumpkin puree
    3 real eggs - ours were large!
    1/4 cup  organic extra virgin olive oil
    1/2 cup  honey/maple syrup
    1 cup  chopped nuts (for topping)
    Optional add ins: raisins, coconut, chocolate chips for topping

To make your muffins:
  1.  Preheat oven to 350. Prepare muffin tins with muffin liners.
  2.  Mix dry ingredients together in a medium bowl, be sure to remove lumps.
  3.  Mix wet ingredients together in a large bowl.
  4.  Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.
  5.  Pour batter into muffin tin, about 3/4 cup full for each.
  6.  Bake for 22-24 minutes or until a tester inserted in the middle comes out clean.

You simply MUST try these muffins! They will change your life they are so delicious! They are certain some nutritious muffins :) These also make a great protein filled snack and breakfast topping!

Grain-free Waffles.

Waffles have always been something I enjoy.  Although since going gluten-free (and now paleo/primal), I never had another waffle again... That is until this Christmas, nearly 3 years later!  My wonderful Aunt gave me a great waffle maker for Christmas.  I had been eye-ing some grain-free waffle goodness for a while now, and I was delighted to finally be able to make some.

I topped mine with a happy pastured fried egg!

My first try came from Cara's recipe, here.  The recipe was good, but not quite right for my waffle maker.  My waffle maker is huge! My second try, using this recipe, was much better.  And then with a few edits, I came up with this.  Next time I will double the recipe and have more left overs.  Coconut flour is very dense and filling, so I can usually eat 1/4 of one large Belgian waffle, including various toppings, and be perfectly satisfied.  The remaining waffles I slice in halves and fourths and freeze for later.  They also make a great sandwich bread option.  Who needs gluten-free bread when you can have gluten-free waffle sandwiches?

Grain-free Waffles.

    adapted from this recipe

    makes 3 large waffles in my waffler, approx. 1 cup (a bit over) batter each

    4 Tbsp melted coconut oil

    6 real eggs, from happy pastured chickens

    1/3 cup + 1 heaping Tbsp coconut flour, more as needed

    1/2 tsp sea salt

    1/2 tsp baking powder

    1 tsp vanilla, optional

    1-2 tsp cinnamon, optional

    water

To make your waffles:

  1.  Turn on your waffle maker to medium heat. Spray it with olive oil - we don't want stickies!

  2.  Crack eggs and beat until glossy yellow.

  3.  Mix dry ingredients together. Mix eggs and coconut oil and whisk this into the bowl with the dry mixture. (Or you can be lazy like me and put it all into one big bowl and whisk together). It's better for egg incorporation to do it separately, and I think the "lazy" way might have actually taken longer! Add water to thin to right consistency, not too runny and not too thick.

  4.  Pour batter into your waffle maker, mine took over a whole cup of batter to fill. Depending on your maker you will get more or less waffles, and require less or more batter, or require more or less heat.

  5.  When done, gently remove to a hot sheet pan in a 200 degree oven to keep warm as the other waffles are being made.

I topped my waffle with a fried egg for protein, warm blueberries, fresh goat yogurt, strawberries, walnuts, bananas, chocolate chips and of course, grassfed butter.  There was also some grade B maple syrup on the side for dipping if desired.  The pictures didn't turn out as good as I hoped, so I will save you from them :)  My whole family really enjoyed these, and they were requested again and again on other mornings! 

Photo credit: Healthhomehappy.com

Enjoy your nourishing grain-free waffles, as well as your waffle sandwiches for lunch!  This is the best photo I've found of a waffle-sandwich so far.  Have fun waffling ;)

Grain-free Cranberry Orange Muffins.

I have to admit that I've always been kind of afraid of cranberries. As long as I can remember the only thing I've ever known about cranberries has been in the form of sugar-overload canned cranberry sauce and equally sweet cran-raspberry juice we used to drink as kids. Only now that I am older did I learn that cranberrries are actually a real thing, and there is such thing as cranberry sauce NOT from a can. Through doing lots of reading, I learned that cranberries are a nutritional powerhouse, full of wicked strong anti-oxidants, but they are very tart. Since they are tart, food companies load all forms of cranberries with sugar (try buying plain cranberries, it's nearly impossible). But around Thanksgiving and Christmas, you can find these berries in their raw natural state in the local grocery stores. 

Yesterday was my first day home, which of course involved a trip to the farm, the grocery store and the natural food store with my mom. It was such fun :) To say that I like the grocery store is a bit of an understatement! As I was walking through the produce section, I spotted some organic cranberries. So I took a risk, bought them, and brought them home. My main motivation for the purchase was my dad, who is currently under the weather with a bit of a cold. He's been busy and his immune system is tired, so it caught him. What better to help him fight the icky germs than to make him a superfood muffin and brew him a cup homemade immune boosting tea? (Which I made myself at the health food store :D) So I set to work on these muffins.

Dark chocolate chips, plain, and sugar crystals!

Grain-free Cranberry Orange Muffins.

    3/4 cup  coconut flour – sifted

    1/2 cup  blanched almond flour – sifted
    1/2 tsp  celtic sea salt

    1/2 tsp  baking soda

    1/2 one  large (7”) organic vanilla bean pod seeds

    1/4 tsp  cloves

    1/2 cup  maple syrup (grade B is best for flavor)

    1/2 cup  organic coconut oil – melted

    2  real eggs

    1 cup  soured raw cow’s milk - buttermilk would work too

    juice  of one clementine orange

    zest  of one clementine orange

    1 cup  ground walnuts

    1 cup  organic fresh cranberries

   

To make your muffins:

  1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees convection. Place muffin papers in muffin tins.

  2) Combine milk, vanilla bean seeds, orange juice and zest in a large bowl. Mix well to make sure the vanilla seeds are distributed, and pour in cranberries.

  3) In another bowl, combine coconut flour, almond flour, salt, cloves and baking soda, making sure there are no lumps.

  5) In a small sauce pan, combine coconut oil and maple syrup. Gently heat until coconut oil melts. To not let mixture get very hot.

  6) In a small bowl, crack the eggs and whisk until bright yellow.

  7) Whisk eggs and coconut oil mixture into the large bowl with the dry ingredients. Pour in milk, and lastly, add the cranberries and walnuts. Mix until just combined.

  9) Scoop batter into standard muffin sized tins with a 1/3 cup measure.

 10) Sprinkle the tops with dark unsweetened chocolate chips or large sugar crystals, if desired.

 11) Bake for about 30-35 minutes (mine took exactly 33) and remove when a test inserted in the middle comes out clean, the tops are set and golden brown. 
  12) Let cool in the muffin tins for about 10 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack. This lets the bottoms of the muffins firm up and not become soggy. Enjoy!

Dark chocolate chips

These are a great dessert or breakfast option. My family and I each had one after our dinner last night. They are not overly sweet, which I like. The liquids, eggs and coconut flour makes this muffin super moist and not the least bit dry. And the combination of immune boosting coconut oil, cranberries, nourishing eggs and mineral rich maple syrup pack a nutrition punch against these foreign invaders...

A bacteriophase (form of virus), infecting a cell!
Photo credit: USC

This is a human rhinovirus - the cause
of the common cold! Photo credit: Virusworld

I couldn't resist showing some science pictures. ;) 

Merry Christmas! 

^ It's after finals and I am finally beginning to believe that it's Christmas time. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and enjoyed the time with family, friends and good food. Many of you mentioned how happy you were for all the Thanksgiving ideas I shared. I'm so glad that I helped! Since I heard such a great response from my Thanksgiving post, I will definitely be compiling a Christmas recipe post. I hope to do this soon so you readers will be able to plan ahead! My Thanksgiving was great, and I only have ONE picture to show for it. I enjoyed the day and wasn't taking pictures. I do wish I had taken more, but it was nice to spend the day relaxing (and cooking). N's family was so nice to host me again, since I have too far to fly home.

Also, for all of you who would like to know, I survived finals. Survived is the word to describe it because that's just what happened. Since I am a human biology major, I have alot of work to do. I am not complaining. I love it. That being said, it is very hard to study for tests for three science classes as well as a Theology class, as well as complete other miscellaneous homework that has to be done. I believe that I did alright on all my finals, which is definitely a praise.. but I won't know what my grades are like until January! I don't like the suspense!! Overall, I've had a very emotional week, and I can easily say my limbic system is exhausted. I still feel joyful, blessed and happy to be home. We don't even have snow yet! :( Cross your fingers for a white Christmas!!

See the muffin? = Yummy topping!

It's so nice to be back! Enjoy making these muffins! They also make a GREAT breakfast topping!