Back in the Kitchen...

So after an 11th hour decision to hit Issac Newton's on Friday night for dinner (had an arugula salad with london broil...yum!  I'll take pics of that next time because it might just be my new favorite meal from there!), and a Saturday filled with a friend's son's birthday party & leftover broccoli cheese soup....we were ready to get back in the kitchen on Sunday morning:)      

And it was quite a return, as I gathered up all of my ingredients to make...........

PINA COLADA PANCAKES! :)

We mixed:

• 2 cups pancake mix
• 1 can light coconut milk
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 pineapple

Mix all of the ingredients together, thinning out with water until you have a batter-like consistency.  Pour 1/4 cup of batter on the griddle.  After the under side is cooked, top batter with shredded coconut before flipping to finish cooking on the other side.

We don't know if it was the ricotta cheese or the coconut milk, but the batter was super thick in the bowl, but once it hit the griddle it became almost crepe-like thin....WEIRD.  The pancakes were a little tough to flip, BUT they came out light, creamy & dreamy;)   ...Made even more dreamy by a recipe I remembered I had that I knew would go PERFECT with Pina Colada 'cakes:  Coconut Syrup!!!!  (Thanks, Medianka sisters;)

Coconut Syrup for 2

Based on this recipe

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons buttermilk
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• Dash of coconut extract

Mix the butter, buttermilk & sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring frequently.  Remove from heat and stir in the baking soda & coconut extract.  The mixture will bubble like a strange science experiment:

Once the smoke clears;), stir and drizzle onto the 'cakes...

Talk about sweet coconut goodness;)  I am a CLASS A fan of this breakfast;)  LOOVED IT!:)  Especially the syrup mixed in with the pineapple studded pancakes:)

Scott was even a good sport and we rounded out our coconut pancakes with a little: 

A good way to start the day, for sure:)

And since I thought it might be just a littttttttle overkill....I skipped my WORLD'S BEST PINA COLADA SMOOTHIE for a pretty pink one for lunch instead;)  I do love these too;) 

• 1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 5 frozen strawberries
• 1 scoop protein powder
• Strawberry Chobani yogurt
• 1 tablespoon chia seeds

And for a snack, I grabbed one of these bad bears:

Trader Joe's just put out this new line of granola bars and this was the first that we tried...DE-LICIOUS!  It was almost like a peanut butter/chocolate rice krispies treat;)  Can't wait to try the "extra" peanut butter bars next;)

For dinner, I think I still had a little "Spring" on the brain (told you those 65 degree temps would ruin us;), because even though it was back to the 40's yesterday, I was craving a "summery vegetable" type dinner and nothing sounded as good as Roasted Corn Tostadas.  And, despite being COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY out of season at the moment, I just hadddd to get this 'fresh corn' from the market for this dinner;) 

And after an "Opps" moment of realizing that the corn was suppose to go on the grill, we made a quick 'winter time' swap and tossed em in a saute pan with a little garlic & olive oil... 

I left the corn in a single layer and let it cook up for a few minutes without stirring it.  Once it was time to toss the corn, they had gotten a nice little char on the bottoms...perfect! 

Once the corn was toasted, we added some red & green pepper and a diced onion to cook for a few minutes...

While the peppers & onions were cooking up, I toasted up the tortillas on the stove top....always a treat because these can go from fine to flaming in SECONDS! :)  But that fired charred taste just COMPLETES the meal;) 

And now:  Time to assemble!  Layer 1-Mashed Black Beans: 

While we were at the market, I tried to find some refried beans WITHOUT any LARD.  (A difficult task unless your at Trader Joe's)  Since the market was fresh out of lard-free beans, I went with the next best thing:  I toasted up a can of black beans with a little garlic, olive oil, chili powder & cumin and mashed em up.  These took about 3 minutes to make but spared us all those nasty ingredients = Score! 

Annnyway, Layer #2- Roasted Corn, Peppers & Onions....

And finally:  A little cheese, shredded lettuce, cilantro, guacamole and Fage sour cream yogurt... 

A little guacamole & chips on the side and we were in business;) 

You just can't get over how much FLAVOR you get from all the veggies.  Each bite was an explosion of peppers, roasted corn, black beans...oh yeah, and that lovely little charred tortilla;)  We looooved these....plus, even though it seemed like a lot of 'prep' from all the chopping, everything cooked up so quick that dinner was all ready before we knew it.  Good deal, right?? :)

And since it's been a few days, I thought I'd catch you up on my workouts:

Friday Morning:  Jillian Yoga Level 1

Friday Afternoon:  45 minute walk  (Mooore sunshine!)

Sunday Morning:  1 hour Zumba class  (can you say HOT MESS??)

And sighhhhhhhh...I'm happy to say we had ANOTHER round of Pina Colada pancakes this morning because we both have off today!  Glorious:)  So it's breakfast blogging with Regis & Kelly this morning;)

I'm also going to try to catch up on "Glee", try to crawl toward the end of my book ("Impossible to put down Da Vinci Code" this was NOT) and hit the gym for a back-to-back class.  Oh yeah...and try out a new "take out/make at home" recipe!  Hope you guys have off today and have some good plans too! 

Either way-Happy Monday!