Pancake Breakfast

While I tend to get a case of the grumpies on Sundays, I love Sunday morning breakfast. The day is usually wide open to relax, wander around or do a bit of shopping (I bought all 4 seasons of Mad Men on DVD for $40 bucks…SCORE!) so we get out of bed a little later than usual and take our time making something tasty. This week was gluten-free pancakes, made with almond flour (which was used in this previous recipe).
I was excited to try something new with the almond flour (we don’t do a lot of baking, and I didn’t want the rather expensive item to go to waste!), and also indulge in some pancakes. Brad tried a different pancake alternative before and…I’m not a fan. At all.

Facing the facts, nothing will ever be as good as a stack of traditional, yummy, buttery pancakes. These pancakes have a dryer, nuttier (obviously) flavor/texture. However, the almond meal was a good gluten-free alternative for those that simply cannot eat gluten/wheat.
I drizzled mine in syrup, of course. Brad mashed a couple of fresh berries and made himself an interesting jam/syrup.
All in all, it was a great breakfast and a successful recipe!

Super simple ingredients. Vanilla Extract, Cinnamon, the flour, and 3 eggs.

Batter up! (Oh, cheesy….)

Another Week Ends…

It has been a strange week. First, there was the necessary adjustments in remembering what day of the week it is. Work-free Mondays will do that to you. Then, we had non-stop rain for the last three days. And, unfortunately, there has been flooding and evacuations occurring in NEPA, so my workplace closed early yesterday. It felt weird to leave, but I was thankful to be in one of the safer towns. Now I only have one more work shift between me and the weekend. It almost doesn’t seem right.

But, of course, I am beyond pleased! If all goes well, and the weather doesn’t continue to pose a threat, I’m off to Philadelphia with my dad, sister, and our boyfriends to take a tour of Yards Brewery and check out some bars and eat some good food with good people.
Regardless, any weekend is usually a good weekend.
Hope you have a great one!!

I’m on such a Fiona Apple kick these days. Tidal is an excellent album.

Some Things I Love at the Moment…

Some of my ASOS purchases, waiting to be worn.

Two new beauty products I love. OPI’s Shatter nail polish and Pacifica Tuscan Blood Orange perfume.

My latest book and Fiona Apple’s classic, perfect for Fall album Tidal.

My latest camera purchase, a Speedlite external flash. Gary Fong cloud diffuser was a gift from Brad.

Outfit: Prep

Shirt – H&M/Shorts – Vero Moda (ASOS)/Shoes – Urban Outfitters

I’ve been waiting for the right moment to wear these shorts I bought from ASOS back in July. Do you do that? I’ll buy something and let it sit in my closet FOREVER, which is completely ridiculous. ASOS has become an addiction/obsession for me. For starters, they have amazing deals on some really great stuff. Ok, so I definitely mostly just shop the Clearance section of the website. But everything is so excellent. I have yet to be disappointed. As in, expect to see quite a bit more ASOS-bought items popping up on here. In fact, I’m waiting for a new package, which will hopefully arrive here by next week… (I told you…OBSESSION. ADDICTION. Free shipping, y’all. Hello.)

Anyway, I feel a bit Ezra Koenig in this outfit. It’s quite preppy and tomboy-ish. I’m totally okay with that, as I’m pretty sure I bought this shirt from H&M last year with that mindset (I call it the “Mansard Roof” look, something I was all about during a strong Vampire Weekend phase, though they are always a favorite). I like it, it’s very comfortable. But maybe I should’ve worn a necklace or something, just to differentiate it. I love these shorts. They are slinky and comfortable (though easy to wrinkle), and the scallops are what made me buy them in the first place. As for the sandals, I have had them since 2007. My mom bought them for me from Urban Outfitters for my birthday, and I remember worrying about it because they weren’t really that cheap. They have last 4 years and have been worn so many times.
So there’s nothing to worry about, Michal Lynn of 2007. They will be worth it.

P.S. I finally used OPI’s Shatter! I am obsessed and have no idea why I waited so long.

A Day at the Park

I spent my Labor Day at Knoebels Amusement Park with Brad and his family. It wasn’t a gorgeous, sunny day, but the weather was nice and the gray skies and on-and-off drizzling kept the crowds away so we wouldn’t have to wait in long lines for our favorite rides.

All photos taken with the Hipstamatic app.

Knoebels has been around for a long time, and the rides and surroundings are adorably old school. I like to try and go at least once a year, but it’s so hard to find the time. I’m glad I was able to squeeze it in. It was a fun, though exhausting, day.

Friday Again

Long weekend, guys!!! I have to work tomorrow, but I have Monday off, and a 4 day week after that! Hell yes! This weekend, I get to catch up with one of my best friends, cuddle lots with my boyfriend, and go to Knoebels! Yay!

And yes, I had to post this song. It’s just too damn catchy. SUE ME.

Dinner Last Night: “Primal” Pizza

I’ve mentioned in previous posts that my boyfriend Brad has been following a “primal” diet. I’m not a diet gal, but it’s been interesting to try new foods, and discovering wheat/gluten-free alternatives to foods we all know and love. Enter “Primal” pizza. When Brad first mentioned the idea to me, I was a little…freaked out. He couldn’t remember the ingredients off hand and mentioned something about pumpkin seeds. I automatically thought of these crackers he makes to snack on made of seeds and nuts and, while they are decent crackers, it wouldn’t have been a good pizza crust. But once I took a gander at the recipe, I decided I would be up to giving it a go.

My nervousness died down when I saw we would still be making the pizza crust with some sort of flour. When we picked up the almond flour from the grocery store, I found out that there are so many gluten-free flour alternatives I never would’ve thought of! Coconut and Hazelnut are just a couple of the bunch. Seeing a bag of “flour” eased a bit of my worries.

The dough isn’t obviously as doughy as your average pizza dough (SO MUCH DOUGH). It was a little complicated to spread out, but with lots of patting and pulling, Brad eventually got it into a decent size pizza shape. We had to bake the crust first, before putting anything else on it. As the crust baked, Brad also made the pizza sauce. We knew every ingredient going into the pizza, which is always a comforting thing.

We topped the pizza with fresh grated mozzarella, onions, and not-so-diet-friendly pepperoni. And I have to say, the pizza was quite tasty! The almond flour makes for an interesting consistency on the crust. It’s not your average chewy, pull-y pizza crust. It was a bit richer than I’m used to, but still tasty none of the less. The sauce was to die for and everything melted and meshed together perfectly.

Don’t get me wrong, I won’t be leaving good ol’ fashioned pizza in the dust. But this was a tasty, organic substitute that was fairly easy to make and absolutely fun to eat! Not all gluten-free substitute recipes turn out so well. This one is a keeper.