Do you bike.run.yoga.eat?

I love to eat.  LOVE TO EAT!!!

I really love good food - the kind that makes you want to stay at the table and savor each bite.  I love something gooey with a cup of hot coffee.  I love a crusty pizza with a glass of good, red wine.  I love a cut of meat from the grill with some roasted veggies and a sweet potato.  And I only cook with and eat real food....no mac and cheese from a box, no store bought cookies, no white flour or sugar.  Just good stuff.

Thankfully, I also love to exercise, although I don't think of my active lifestyle as exercise.  I bike, I run, I do yoga.  And I do all three a lot.  I've run several half marathons, lots of shorter races, and I'm currently training for a century ride (that's 100 miles).  I do yoga seven days a week, whether its a class or my home practice.  I also walk around town, we hike as a family, and now that's its summer, I want to start playing tennis.

This blog will be about my favorite recipes, and my favorite running and biking tips.  I'll also share my favorite yoga asanas (poses) and breathing exercises.  Yoga has enhanced every aspect of my life, from running to sleeping to eating to my family.

To kick things off, I'm going to share my favorite pancake recipe.  On weekends, I enjoy making a big breakfast for my family.  We are all off on our various ways during the week and breakfast is pretty much an on your own affair.  We will have smoothies, or I'll bake a batch of muffins to grab, or maybe we will heat up leftovers from dinner.  But on weekends....we go all out and have a big, sit down, family breakfast.  My family loves these pancakes with real maple syrup, fresh fruit, and bacon.  I hope you like them, too......

Perfect Pancakes:

1 1/2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour                             1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 1/2 T. sweetener (honey, palm sugar                         2 eggs
        (coconut sugar, or maple syrup)
few grains salt                                                               3 T. butter or coconut oil, melted
1 t. baking soda                                                            1 1/2 c. buttermilk
2 t. baking powder                                                       1 t. vanilla

Mix dry ingredients in one bowl.  In another bowl, beat the eggs and add the butter or oil, buttermilk, and vanilla.  Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and stir just enough to combine.

Heat a skillet or griddle over medium-high heat.  Add butter to the pan and fry pancakes (about 1/4 c. of batter per pancake) until bubbles appear.  Flip over and cook until brown on the second side.  Serve immediately or keep warm in a 200 degree oven.  Serve with butter (preferably grass fed), real maple syrup, fruit, or almond butter.