Sweet and Healthy Cream Cheese Pancakes and Dark Chocolate Trail Mix Balls

Here are two more recipes that I added to my Pinterest boards. (If you're on Pinterest, you can find me at Kathleen Read Richardson.) Both of these offerings are sweet, but not too sweet, and both are guaranteed healthy.


CREAM CHEESE PANCAKES
You’ll find the complete recipe at the I BREATH... I’M HUNGRY... blog.

Cream Cheese Pancakes are low carb, gluten-free and require only four ingredients: eggs, cream cheese, stevia and cinnamon. Instead of buying stevia, I used 1 teaspoon Organic Blue Agave Maple Flavored Syrup which I had on hand after using some of it in Sweet Potato Veggie Burgers. I also topped my Cream Cheese Pancakes with the syrup.

My picture is terrible, but don’t judge the taste by my ability to flip these thin, delicate pancakes. I have yet to master the skill of gingerly sliding the spatula under them preparatory to turning them over. May be that I’m making them too big, or my “batter” is TOO thin. Anyways, the original blog has an absolutely gorgeous photo of them plated and ready to serve. I did like this AM dish, just a matter of remembering to allow time for the bubbles to die down after blending the batter and to soften some cream cheese.

As my blogging friend BAM would say, this recipe will feed two adults, or one hungry teenage boy.


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DARK CHOCOLATE TRAIL MIX BALLS


This one’s for you, CCU (Chocolate Chip Uru at GO BAKE YOURSELF) -- 16-year old queen of chocolate creations -- and was concocted by another of my favorite bloggers, Cory at THE ZESTY COOK

I spotted it and thought to myself that these might be a solution for my daughter, who has a 5-year old and a 9-year old playing ball up to three nights a week. They either have to eat a very early or a very late supper on practice and game nights. Dark Chocolate Trail Mix Balls might be the easy-to-prep, eat-anywhere, highly nutritious food that would get them through Little League season, or any other life-consuming sports season.

One of the ingredients called for is protein powder. My son, my daughter and my SIL are all familiar with protein powder and anyone of them may have it on hand right now. I, however, do not, so off to Wegmans I went, to check out the protein powders in Nature’s Marketplace.

So many choices! Most in huge canisters, with prices ranging from $11.99 to $29.99. With assistance from a Wegmans employee, I chose a 1.1 oz. package of Organic Hemp Protein Superfood Protein Powder at $.99. From Nutiva. I’m not promoting it; just giving you information.

Two scoops of protein powder, according to a search on the Internet, is equivalent to two tablespoons.

Quinoa... This recipe also includes quinoa. I have the hardest time remembering how to pronounce that word. It’s “keen-oh-ah”, or if you say it fast, it comes out “keen-wah”, or so I’ve been told.

Love it, love it, love it! They taste so good!

My substitutions -
Agave Maple Syrup for Honey
Raisins for Cherries (Next time I HAVE to try it with cherries!)

Remember, you’ll find the recipe for Dark Chocolate Trail Mix Balls at The Zesty Cook.


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HERBS FOR MY GARDEN

I bought the parsley and the thyme for my Chicken Kiev and who doesn’t need basil in their garden! While I may not use much of the sage in my kitchen, my grandsons and I love to pick leaves to rub between our fingers and breathe in the rich aroma. I also have a huge chive plant and a brand new cluster of lemon balm.

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Sweet Potato Veggie Burgers

I came across this delectable looking veggie burger on Pinterest.

All credit to Kathy Patalksy and her Healthy Happy Life blog. You'll find the full recipe there.

It haunted me -- in a good way, of course -- for days, and today I had to make it!

Only a few photos this time because I really didn’t think about posting on this blog. I was in too much of a hurry to mix it up, cook it and taste it. Here it is after cooking...


Such an easy recipe, too. A few notes on what I found out in prepping them:

*I recommend talking with your supermarket expert in natural foods, or go to a natural foods store to find out about Agave, a natural sweetener. The manager of our Wegmans’ Natures Market Place was certainly knowledgeable. I ended up purchasing Wholesome Organic Blue Agave Maple Flavored Syrup.

*I didn’t pick the largest sweet potato -- yam. The one I used weighed in at 1.11 pounds. Turned out to be the perfect size. I microwaved it, then split the top and let it cool for a few minutes to make it easier to handle.

*I drained and rinsed the canned cannellini beans. Next time (and there will be a next time), I’ll only drain them. Could have used some of the saltiness I washed away.

*Boy, was I glad I bought a hand masher a few weeks ago. It worked beautifully mashing everything together.

*Next time I’ll taste the mixture before cooking it to get the seasonings exactly right for my tastes.

*Since my bottle of vegetable oil was almost empty, I mixed the remainder with sesame oil. It doesn’t take much oil at all for cooking these burgers.

*I used all the suggested toppings -- avocado, Dijon mustard, grain buns, romaine, pepper -- except the olive oil and onion.


There aren’t enough words to describe how I feel about these Sweet Potato Veggie Burgers, so I’ll settle for an elongated “yum-m-m-m-m”!

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Step by Step in the Kitchen is on Facebook. Take a look and "Like" the page. I'll be posting extra notes and photos there.