breakfast, lunch, and dinner

We have had an unusually quiet weekend so far, and I've been taking advantage of all of this down time to cook up a storm!

Breakfast today:

Lemon-Ricotta Blueberry Pancakes! Dan has been taking a Spanish class on Saturday mornings through community ed for the past seven weeks, so leisurely weekend breakfasts had been a thing of the past . . . until the class ended last week! Pancake time! I slightly modified the basic pancake recipe in Betty Crocker to include some lemon zest and ricotta cheese blended with the wet ingredients, and sprinkled the last of the hand-picked frozen blueberries over the top of each pancake before flipping. Recipe:

Blend together until very smooth:
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp canola oil
1/3 cup ricotta cheese
zest of one lemon

Stir together, then blend into above:
1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

(I used my Bamix to blend up the pancake batter, but I'm sure you could use a regular blender or even a whisk instead.)

After running errands on foot downtown, Dan and I came home hungry for lunch. I threw together a bunch of leftovers for a colorful, nutrient-packed meal:

I LOVE sweet potatoes, and although Dan's not a huge fan, he will eat them as long as they aren't used in a sugary application. I topped baked sweet potatoes with a dash each of salt and chili powder, black beans, steamed broccoli, a little shredded cheese, and a big scoop of salsa. Yum! I know this sounds like a really weird combination of foods and flavors, but it's one of my all-time favorite things to do with sweet potatoes.

After an afternoon of kitchen projects and laundry, it was time for dinner!

Whole-wheat pasta and a green salad never fail to satisfy! I have been on a huge fire-roasted tomatoes kick lately, and I love the smoky flavor they bring to my basic homemade pasta sauce. MMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!

Off to finish the laundry and watch a movie! Happy Saturday night, all.