Instagram Outfits

Paleo Banana Pancakes

I don't follow the Paleo Diet, but it's pretty popular amount derby skaters and other athletes right now. Paleo and vegetarian don't really go together, but I love the idea of clean eating and preparing even more of my meals from fruits, veggies and natural proteins.

When someone posted these flourless pancakes, I was immediately possessed to make and try them as soon as possible. If you don't like the taste of bananas, you probably won't like these. If you eat pancakes often and have a specific expectation of their flavor and texture, you will be disappointed. But if you're open-minded or at all used to diet-modified versions of foods, these are incredible. They're easy and delicious and filling, and I want to eat them every single day.

Mash a banana. I prefer organic bananas and eat about a million a month, but whatever bananas you have will do. The older the better, but I used pretty fresh bananas here and they worked great.

Crack and egg (preferably local/organic/free-range) and add a little cinnamon.

Mix it up. It kind of looks like pancake batter, doesn't it?

Dump the batter into a warmed, oiled pan.

Make sure it's pretty well set before you flip it. It kind of looks like a mix between a pancake and an omelet.

Once it's done on both sides and set all the way through, slide it onto a plate.

I've been topping mine with a little cashew butter, coconut flakes, and a drizzle of local honey.

These definitely taste like banana pancakes, not buttermilk pancakes. But they're natural, gluten-free, dairy-free, Paleo, vegetarian, and frickin' delicious.

Let me know how you like these if you try them! I bet a little vanilla in the batter would be delicious. Or some chopped nuts for a banana-nut combo. So many tasty options! Maybe sliced strawberries? I don't like strawberries and bananas together, but I know most of the rest of the world does.

DGD Picture Night

Last night, Dead Girl Derby did team and league photos for our programs.

Dear uniform: How I've missed you!

I tried to do a similar look and color scheme with makeup as last year.

And I took with me only the essentials: my skates and two Boulevard Wheats.

Now check out some of my fabulous coaches and teammates!

Weirdest Omelet: Cinnamon Apple Cheddar

Yet again, you're going to think I'm crazy. Or pregnant. But I promise you, I'm neither. This is the weirdest omelet and one of the weirdest foods I make, but it's so tasty. Even better, it's filling and comes in at just over 400 calories.

Dice two small apples. Put them in a skillet with half a tablespoon of butter and about a teaspoon of cinnamon.

While those are cooking, take out two eggs.

Crack them into a cup and mix them up.

Stir the apples occasionally. When they're softened and starting to brown, put them on a plate.

Throw another half tablespoon of butter into the pan.

Let it melt.

Shred an ounce of sharp cheddar cheese.

Pour the eggs into the pan and cook until set enough to flip.

Then flip it.

Spread the cheese on top of the egg.

Cover with the apples.

Fold in half.

Transfer to a plate.

I know you're skeptical, but just try it. I fed this to a friend a couple years ago, and she reluctantly fell in love. I stole the idea from another website, but now I can't remember where. Apparently some people also put cheese on apple pie, but that's a bit much even for me.

What are your favorite omelet toppings? Cream cheese, anyone?


Cinnamon Apple Cheddar Omelet
(makes one omelet; serves one person)

2 small apples, diced
1 tbsp butter, divided in half
1 tsp cinnamon
2 eggs, beaten
1 oz sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

1. Cook the apples in a skillet over medium heat with half of the butter and all of the cinnamon. Remove from pan.
2. Melt the rest of the butter. Add the eggs and cook, undisturbed, until solid enough to flip. Flip eggs.
3. Turn off heat. Cover eggs with shredded cheese. Add cooked apples. Fold in half and transfer to plate.

Stuffed French Toast Cupcakes

Hands down, no question, these are without a doubt the tastiest cupcakes I have ever made. Mr. Breakdown is systematically destroying them for me, so I can take nibbles of his here and there to avoid the full calories of a whole one. Everybody wins!

It's a pretty simple cupcake recipe.

I only had 10 liners, which worked out well because the cupcakes puffed up more.

They don't rise a whole awful lot, so you can fill the liners pretty full.

The original recipe had maple buttercream frosting, at right. I modified it slightly for the ingredients I had in the house, and it's pretty good. The real story of deliciousness is the cinnamon cream cheese frosting on the left. Whew.

Look how preety!

Mr. Breakdown says they look like boobs, but he sees boobs everywhere. What do you think?

The concept for these was inspired by Cupcake a la Mode. Hubby wanted snacks from there; I wanted to save money and bake something. This particular recipe is modified from Bakingdom.

Stuffed French Toast Cupcakes
(makes 10 cupcakes)

Cupcakes
1.5 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1.5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup plain yogurt
2 eggs
1.5 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix all dry ingredients lightly in a stand mixer.
3. Add all wet ingredients to the dry ingredients in the mixer. Mix on low until slightly combined. Then turn up the mixer speed and beat until well combined.
4. Fill 10 muffin liners equally.
5. Bake until set in the middle, about 12 minutes.
6. While the cupcakes are baking, clean the stand mixer to make frostings in.

Maple Buttercream Frosting
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup

1. Beat all ingredients in a stand mixer until smooth. Set aside.
(You don't really need to clean the mixer before the next frosting if you don't want to.)

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
2 tbsp cream cheese
2 tbsp butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

1. Beat all ingredients in a stand mixer until smooth.
2. Once all the cupcakes are cool and frostings are made, stab each cupcake most of the way through in the center with a sharp knife. Use a pastry bag to pipe cream cheese frosting in the center.
3. Cover all the filled cupcakes with the maple frosting.
4. Pipe a little more cream cheese frosting onto the top, if desired.

I have no patience when it comes to baking fancy things, and these were no trouble at all. They sound like a little extra effort, but they're worth it!

More Outfits

I have been trying to buy less clothing, but it's hard when Hot Topic has a cute little skirt like this for less than $15.

I wore this to an Ugly Sweater Party. I refuse to spend money on a sweater I think is ugly, so I decided it was a good time to take a risk with an outfit. If it turned out well, I looked cute. If it didn't, everyone else was wearing ugly things anyway. The consensus seemed to be that this was cute, though. Score!

I bought this shirt at the Hard Rock Hotel in Vegas a few years ago. Then it was way too big, so I lent it to my friend who had been on the trip with me. She just brought it back, and I'd be sad that it fits well again, but look how cute!