Pecans

Mom’s Favorite Whole Wheat Banana Nut Pancakes

Whole Wheat Banana Nut Pancakes

For as long as I can remember, every time my family and I went to IHOP, my mom always swapped out the plain old buttermilk pancakes for harvest grain and nut and topped them off with pecan syrup. That’s just the way it was. IHOP = Harvest Grain and Nut Pancakes. We don’t, however, go to IHOP regularly. Mostly because mom and I are usually on a diet or health kick, and walking into any IHOP means we’re definitely overeating. How can you not overeat when you can get a whole omelet with crispy hash browns and a side of pancakes?! It’s almost impossible. So we reserve IHOP for rare occasions. (more…)

Baked Apples

Baked-Apples

Every year it seems like the seasons change too quickly for me to keep up. It had to be late July when everyone seemed to be excited for the fall. I hadn’t even had my fill of the summer when I started getting pre-fall sale emails featuring sweaters and jackets. And then, once September rolls around, the pools close and kids go back to school and all of a sudden we’ve skipped August altogether and moved straight into pumpkin-everything season.

It’s early September and it’s still 80 degrees out in DC – warm enough for the pools to stay open, but who am I to make the rules. And yet, Starbucks has already started selling their pumpkin spice lattes! There we go skipping all of September and jumping straight into October. Some of my friends have already started picking up said pumpkin spice lattes on their way to work … but I refuse to let go of the summer and indulge in my favorite fall coffee until it’s at least cool enough to strut a sweater and my boots. (more…)