His and hers pasta salad lunch...

I love to eat food, my boyfriend loves to eat food.  I'm trying to lose weight; my boyfriend is trying to gain weight.  Boyfriend eats many meals a day, I [want to] eat many meals a day.  It's a struggle for me not to eat pasta when it's right there in front of me.  I'm starting to figure out and learn how to adjust our meals and not create 2 completely different meals for the both of us.

His pasta salad

Her shiritaki noodle salad

Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts
1 red pepper, sliced into strips
1 zucchini, halved and sliced
1 bunch sugar snap peas
1/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled
1 handful of basil, chopped
champagne vinaigrette 
1/2 box of bow tie pasta (for him)
1 package of shiritaki noodles (for her)

Directions:
1. Chop the chicken breasts into bite size pieces, and saute on a skillet, using the champagne vinaigrette as the oil source (and marinade).
2. Place the sliced red pepper, zucchini, and sugar snap peas on a tray and bake at 350 for about 10 min, flipping once, (or saute on a skillet if you prefer)
3. Cook the bow tie pasta per the directions on the box.
4. Wash the shiritaki noodles and place in a bow.
5. Split each of the following items and place half in the pasta bowl, and half in the shiritaki bowl: chicken, veggies, chopped basil, and feta cheese.
6. Add about a tablespoon of champagne vinaigrette to each bowl and toss.
7. Enjoy his and hers.

Buckwheat Pancakes

Buckwheat Pancakes

Weekends are special, and because of that I always have a breakfast that I wouldn't normally have during the work week (aka loaded with carbs mmmmmm).  I bought some buckwheat flour that's a lot healthier than regular white flour, added some blueberries and bananas, and my regular pancake treat was off the charts delicious! 

I wasn't sure what to expect with the buckwheat...the pancakes were grainy, which is a texture I wasn't used to or expecting...but they were still really good.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup unbleached white flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 large egg
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 really ripe banana chopped up into little chunks
1/2 cup blueberries

Combine the first 6 ingredients in a bowl.  Combine the milk and vinegar and let stand for 5 min (my pho buttermilk).  Add the egg and vanilla extract to the liquids, mix it up and pour all the liquids into the dry ingredients, stirring till the batter doesn't have any chunks.  Stir in the banana and blueberries to the batter.

Heat a skillet on medium to low heat so the pancakes have time to cook and not be soggy on the inside.  Spray with PAM and once the skillet is warm enough pour the pancake batter into the skillet.  Pour out as much or as little batter as you want the pancake to be.  Give it about 2 min before the first flip.  You can judge if it's ready to flip when the pancake starts bubbling.  Once you flip, should be about another 2 min.

I always make at least one signature heart. :)

Enjoy!