Saturday, April 27, 2013

California to Arizona to California



One of my favorite road trips is the drive from Los Angeles to Phoenix.  I don't know what it is about the drive but it puts me in a different state of mind.  I love getting up at 2am-ish and leaving by 3 or 4am to make the trip.  With that being said, here are some pictures from my too short trip.  While there, we went to the Desert Botanical Garden, I saw my friend, El Badgedor in Tempe and caught The XX while there.

Sunrise
Sunrise

Sunrise
At the family's
A neighborhood quail
Cactus pear flower

A bee in a cactus flower in the front yard

Backyard yellow back spiny lizard
Desert Botanical Garden

Cactus Wren
Cactus wren mama feeding her babies
The only hummingbird pic I was able to get and it came out fantastic
 

Tempe
Took a really short hike up to Hole in the Rock

The view on the other side is spectacular
The XX at The Marquee Theater, April 15, 2013
The XX at The Marquee Theater, April 15 2013

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Thursday, April 4, 2013

Healthy Chocolate Quinoa Pancakes



I was starving this morning and decided to make pancakes from scratch.  For the first time.  Actually, decided to make pancakes for the first time ever.  This is coming from someone who never craves pancakes and used to be an expert at cooking with a microwave or ordering takeout (I was spoiled by my mama with her cooking when I lived at home).  But since I had most of the ingredients, I decided to play around some.  I found a pretty easy recipe here that did not call for buttermilk.  I tweaked it based on what I had on hand and ended up making this delicious dark chocolate quinoa pancake using dark chocolate almond milk.

I sprinkled cinnamon and drizzled honey on my pancakes instead of regular syrup and the sweetness was just perfect for my taste.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (or gluten free flour if you have intolerances)
1 1/4 Silk dark chocolate almond milk
1/2 cup cooked quinoa
1 egg
2 teaspoons baking powder
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon salt (omit if using salted butter)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons agave sweetene
cooking spray
 
Directions:
Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a large bowl.
Whisk in melted butter, egg, almond milk and quinoa until combined. Let the batter sit for 5 minutes to thicken up.
Preheat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Spray with cooking spray. Pour batter into the hot skillet, about 1/4 cup of batter for each pancake. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until bubbles appear on the sides and center of each pancake. Flip and cook about 1 to 2 minutes.

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