Whole Wheat Greek Yogurt Pancakes

I finally jumped into the deep end of running. I signed up for a half marathon! In four weeks from today, I will be joining 2,000 other runners and running (jogging for me) 13.1 miles through St. Cloud, MN, starting at the college I graduated from, St. Cloud State University. I thought why not make my first half marathon benefit a great school that I studied at for four years?

This morning I have to complete an eight mile training run. Up until today, all of my training runs have been done on the treadmill. But, spending one hour and twenty minutes running on the dreadmill doesn't sound so appealing. So, I'm heading outside. Cold weather is fine running for short runs, I don't mind it...but 8 miles? In 35 degrees?

Here's the view from my back window...doesn't look very welcoming does it?

This morning to fuel up for my eight miler we had pancakes. These pancakes are loaded with protein and whole wheat. I have one with a banana and one with blueberries, the kids usually have peanut butter or chocolate chips in theirs. Little do they know they are also low in sugar and high in protein. :)

Whole Wheat Greek Yogurt Pancakes

adapted from The Pioneer Woman's Sour Cream Pancake recipe

2 cups nonfat Greek yogurt (I use Chobani)
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup egg whites (or 2 eggs)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract


Combine yogurt, flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a large bowl and whisk until combined. In a smaller bowl, whisk together eggs and extracts and add to the large bowl. Stir until just combined.


Heat a skillet to medium high heat and add 1/2 cup of batter. Spread it out a little bit with the back of a spoon (the batter is a little thick). Cook about 2 to 3 minutes per side until nice and golden brown.


I like to use Trader Joe's Maple Agave Syrup Blend over the top of my pancakes, along with some more fresh fruit to top it!


Enjoy!!

Jamacian Beef Patties

I celebrated the new year in San Diego, CA with my brother, whom I haven't seen in 2 years. He is a Marine, stationed at Camp Pendelton. We spent 5 days accomplishing a whole lot of nothing, something neither of us are accustomed to doing. Each morning we woke up and he complained about how cold the 50 degree weather was (HA! Back in Minnesota it was 10 degrees!!) Then we went for a nice long jog that involved either ridiculously steep hills (Escondido, where he lives, happens to be in the bottom of a valley so no matter where we went it was always up hill) or running along the serene but ferocious ocean. We ran across rivers in our (expensive) running shoes, we sprinted up steep hills until our thighs burned, then we went back to his apartment and ate until we couldn't move. On my last day there, we indulged in a frozen yogurt buffet at the mall and a 10 minute chair massage by some lovely gentlemen that didn't speak a speck of English.

Here is my brother and I (photo above) at Bernardo Winery outside of San Diego. It isn't a running winery anymore but they have tons of crazy stuff just laying around. Below is my brother and his wife. They are so in love it makes you nauseous, but in a good way.

We visited some lovely wineries and saw some beautiful artwork by various street vendors. The whole time I was there I only spent 4 hours actually within the city limits of San Diego. My poor camera only made an appearance one time. I was enjoying my freedom from everyday responsibilities...far to relaxed to think about pulling out the camera to document every moment of our time together. But now that I think about it, it sure would be nice to have a few pictures to remember my trip. Oh well!

Jamaican Beef Patties
Slightly adapted from EatingWell

Crust
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
5 tablespoons canola oil
1/3 cup ice water
1 large egg yolk

Filling
1 pound 93% lean ground beef
4 green onions, minced
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
1/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/4 teaspoon salt

For Crust:
Add flours, turmeric, salt, baking powder in a large bowl and whisk to combine. Cut butter into small pieces and cut butter into flour mixture with a pastry cutter or fork until butter pieces are small, but still visible. Add oil and toss with a fork to combine. In a small bowl, whisk together water and egg yolk and add to flour mixture and stir until dough comes together. Knead for about a minute until dough comes together in a ball, then wrap in parchment paper and refrigerate for 1 hour.

For Filling:
Add ground beef, green onion and cayenne pepper and cook over medium heat until beef is no longer pink and is cooked through. Stir in breadcrumbs, water, thyme, turmeric and salt, mix well and let cool.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

To make patties roll out dough until about 3/8" thick, and using a 3" biscuit cutter, cut circles out of dough. Add 1 tablespoon of beef mixture onto dough and add another dough circle on top. Pinch sides tightly together with a fork and poke a hole in top of patty. Repeat until all dough or beef if gone. (I had quite a bit of meat left over, which we used for nachos the next night.) I ended up with 14 patties.

Bake patties until golden brown, 35 to 40 minutes. I served my patties sour cream. Enjoy!!