What I Ate Wednesday! (And a New Lemon Poppy Seed Pancake Recipe!)

Hey everyone! I'd like to share with you guys another What I Ate Wednesday! I ended up having a lot of wonderful recipes to share so I'm glad I took pictures of it all :)


I started off the day with some lemon poppy seed pancakes with blueberries. Lemon and blueberries are my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE combination so this is always a winner.

I actually make these pancakes a lot. I first made and shared about them in this post but each time I change a few ingredients up a bit and have finally come upon the perfect recipe! I just did a couple minor changes this time but OHMYGOD these pancakes were the most delicious, moist, and fluffiest yet!

These pancakes are honestly better than any chocolate chip pancake. And that means a lot because I devour anything that has chocolate in it. I would choose these ones hands down. And yes, I have the recipe memorized :P

Whole Wheat Lemon Poppy seed Pancakes
Makes 8 pancakes

3/4 cup almond milk
1 heaping tablespoon vinegar
1 heaping tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 1/4 teaspoon poppy seeds
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (4.5 ounces)
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:
Add the vinegar and lemon juice to the almond milk and give it a good stir. Let the milk mixture sit for a few minutes (it will start to curdle).
Combine all of the dry ingredients in one bowl and all the wet ingredients in another. Combine.
Spoon onto a hot greased griddle using a 1/4 cup measure, flip when nicely browned on one side. Transfer to a cooling rack while you finish the rest (they don't get soggy this way!)

These pancakes are best with a large handful of blueberries (or any other berry), a huge dollop of Greek yogurt, and a little drizzle of pure maple syrup.

Pancakes that are light and fresh! Perfect way to start they day (:

After sitting around and running a bunch of errands it was time for lunch! I had leftovers; don't you love leftovers? I didn't take a picture, but I have pictures from dinner when I first made it!

That would be Brown Eyed Baker's soba noodle stir fry. Minus the soba.

I've actually made it twice in the past couple days. Its a delicious stir fry that has broccoli, cabbage, bell pepper, scallions, ginger, and a bunch of other goodies all wrapped up in the most amazing almond butter sauce! The first time I made it I added chicken:

And the second time I added tofu!

This is a great vegetarian dish; it's so satisfying! I didn't really make any changes to the recipe besides using whole wheat linguini instead of soba noodles (and adding chicken/tofu to make it more of a "meal"). The first time I made it with peanuts and the second time I made it with almonds but I kind of liked the peanuts better! Either way, they need to be decreased from the original recipe. Half a cup was just a bit too much the first time I made it; so the second time I used 1/4 cup of nuts and it was perfect.

And by "perfect" I really DO mean perfect! The almond butter sauce is to die for! Restaurant quality :D

For dessert I had another one of my zucchini brownies. I made a small test batch the other day because I wanted to try out a couple of changes.

This was the last brownie of that batch )':
I'm going to just repost the recipe here since, between this batch and my first batch, I've made quite a few changes and it would just be easier to repost the recipe instead of listing them all! I made a half batch both times but I'll post the full recipe on here.

Zucchini Brownies
adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod
Makes 16 thick brownies

1 heaping cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
2 teaspoons instant coffee
1/4 cup natural cocoa (not dutch processed)
2 cups shredded zucchini
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
cocoa nibs (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8 x 8 inch baking pan with cooking spray, set aside.

2. In a stand mixer, combine sugar, canola oil, applesauce, and both flours, combine until mixture resembles wet sand. While mixing, on low, add cocoa, coffee powder, zucchini, vanilla extract, salt and baking soda. Mix until well combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
3. Pour brownie batter into prepared pan and sprinkle with a handful of cocoa nibs. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean and the brownies are set.
4. Cool on a wire rack. Cut brownies into squares and serve.

 Remember how I said I loved the cocoa nibs on top last time I made them? Well this time I put them on top of the batter before baking. I love that bitter crunch!

I also used natural cocoa instead of dark and liked how they turned out much better. Just adds a different level of flavor. Unfortunately I over-baked them (or rather, baked them properly but I wanted them under baked!) so they weren't as fudgy as I wanted. I'm going to try them one more time and take the pan out early; I know they will perfect then! They really do taste just like "brownie mix" brownies.

Soon enough, dinner came around. I was lazy tonight, and since it was just the two us I decided to heat up an Amy's frozen pizza that I bought on sale at Sprouts a few weeks ago. In regards to "healthy" frozen pizzas I have only tried Kashi ones, so I was excited to try out a new brand!
I chose the "Pesto" flavor because the picture on the box looked delectable. However, when I took it out of the box it looked rather sad and small.

See what I mean by "small"?

I popped it into the oven and roasted some broccoli along with it to have on the side. Boy was I surprised when I peered into the oven to see this! What a transformation; it actually looks like the picture on the box!

This could honestly pass as a homemade pizza. In fact, it kind of looks a lot like the margherita pizza I made a couple of days ago!

The taste? Wow this pizza tasted better then any of the Kashi pizzas I've ever had. The crust was perfect. Crispy and chewy. The toppings tasted SO fresh. Those tomatoes tasted like they were just cut and bursting with juicy goodness. Amy's, you beat Kashi hands down.

After dinner I was in a baking mood (okay, when am I not in a baking mood?) so I decided to tackle a lemon bar recipe I've been eyeing for a while over at Smitten Kitchen. I figured since I was already on a lemon kick today with those pancakes I might as well keep the ball rolling!
A couple changes I made:
-halved the recipe and used my Brownie Perfect pan
-used whole wheat pastry flour in the crust
-used 1/3 cup AP flour in the filling instead of 1/2 cup

Since I used the brownie perfect pan and halved the recipe, I think I may have over-baked them because the filling was a bit dry and not as "gooey" as I would have liked. Other than that little flaw these things are the bomb! If you love lemon like I do you'll FLIP over these!
And I got 18 perfect little squares (:

I've eaten way too many of these already! Ahhh stop me! But really, don't because I WANT that lemon bar.

Do you like lemon or sour things? I'm a sucker for anything sour or pickled! I love to eat lemon wedges plain, pith and all!