Pancakes & Shoes

Apparently my shoe addiction has made its way into my cooking.

So when Nemo came through last weekend, I got a little stir-crazy. The weather reports kept saying that we had to stay off the roads, we’d be buried in foot after foot of snow, and there might be power outages. Looking back on it, that was a little bit of overkill. Especially since our power didn’t flicker, our roads were clear until about 7 p.m. on Friday night, and my car miraculously had no snow on it in the morning. I apparently have a snow-repellent car. Everyone else on the street had to shovel out their buried cars.

So on Saturday morning I had two choices, either forego breakfast because I was lazy, or make pancakes. The later would require me to be creative since, heck, I just can’t make a simple meal. Also, my friend L bought me the most adorable cookie cutter for my birthday that had fashion shapes – a ballgown, a sheath dress, handbag, and high heeled shoes. They gave me an idea – peanut butter chocolate chip pancakes!

Snow-repellent cars. Can’t live without them.

Need (This makes 4 servings, cut in a quarter for a morning breakfast for yourself):
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 egg
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon of smooth peanut butter
1/4 cup chocolate chip morsels
&
Any cookie cutters you have to make shaped pancakes

Mix milk, butter, peanut butter, and egg. Slowly add in the dry ingredients. Fold in chocolate chips.

Heat a skillet on the stove and keep on medium-high heat. Spray pan with Pam or coat lightly with vegetable oil so the pancakes won’t stick. Place cookie cutter on the pan and spoon in pancake batter into the mold. You’ll want to fill it just a quarter of the way up. It’s because the pancake will rise.

Cook until small bubbles appear, flip pancakes. I keep it in the cookie cutter, but that’s your call if you can get it out without ruining it. Cook for another minute or two.

Pull off the pan and push the pancake out of the cutter. This might take a few tries to get it right, but if you have a cutter that has smooth edges (shapes like hearts, squares, gingerbread men work best), you shouldn’t have a problem.

Serve with maple syrup. Yum!

Run It III

Ohhhh, my legs hurt. Yeah, I’m gonna whine. However, I can’t whine too much, and that’s because I’m losing weight and getting toned from all this running. (9 wholes pounds lost from the first of January to now!!) I can’t believe focusing on running and not on weight loss is actually paying off. Go figure. For all those years I worried about what the scale said, all I had to do was not worry and get on the treadmill.

To be fair, it’s not just the running, I have changed my diet a lot and am actually tracking everything I eat. If you’re one of those people that think back on your day and go “I have no idea how much I’ve eaten today,” then you need to download the MyFitnessPal app in the Apple store. Some days I can’t believe I’ve eaten so much, and others I’m struggling to eat enough. But using the app and tracking what I eat and how much I work out has helped a ton to keep me on track. If you don’t eat enough calories, your body actually goes into starvation mode (or so I’m told), which is why those Don’t-Eat-Diets don’t work. Your body needs sustenance. Feed the cravings! I think I’ll go snack now…

Update:

Jan. 24 – 3.75 miles
Jan. 25 – 4.25 miles (While listening to Macklemore’s Thift Store the entire time on repeat.)
Jan. 26 – 0 miles tracked, went snowboarding instead – snow was calling to me
Jan. 27 – 1.75 miles
Jan. 28 – 0 miles
Jan. 29 – 2 miles
Jan. 30 – 2.25 miles
Jan. 31 – 3.25 miles

Feb. 1 – 3.85 miles (New month, new attitude!)
Feb. 2 – 2.34 miles
Feb. 3 – 0 miles
Feb. 4 – 2.25 miles
Feb. 5 – 1.52 miles
Feb. 6 – 2.80 miles
Feb. 7 – 0 miles
Feb. 8 – 0 miles (We had a blizzard, darn that Nemo from keeping me from the gym…)
Feb. 9 – 5.20 miles
Feb. 10 – 3.60 miles

Subtotal for this set = 38.81 miles + 46.26 (previous subtotal for 2013) = 85.07 miles in 2013 so far! Meaning I’m almost a quarter to my goal of going 365 miles in 2013 and it’s only February.

From One to Horse – Bacon Ham Egg Scramble

We went a little overboard with the breakfast scramble.

“How hungry are you, from one to horse?”

Yup, that’s how we were determining how much breakfast to make. If you’re wondering, I responded with “cat.” It seemed logical at the time, but we still ended up with too much food. I’m wondering what we would have made if I had said “horse.” I’m thinking we would have needed more than a quarter pound of bacon.

I also learned this morning about Epic Meal Time – an absurdly high-caloric online show. I’m not going to lie, I was half between disgusted and half wanted to eat the huge mounds of food they were making. It’s slightly ridiculous… okay, it’s absolutely ridiculous. I heard there may be an epic meal night in the future, and I’ll tell you, I’m terrified.

On that note, we made a less than heart-attack-inducing breakfast. Started by prepping the veggies -diced one whole red pepper and a small sweet onion.

Rule one, find a sous chef to prepare all the vegetables.

I also may have gone a little off my regular meal plan when we opted to cook the veggies in bacon grease, but seriously, who is going to say no to bacon? It’s bacon! First cooked up a quarter pound of bacon and drained most of the grease from the pan, but left enough to saute the onions and red pepper. I also added about a teaspoon of ground black pepper. Probably could have added more.

Cook up bacon, because it’s good.

Cooked down the veggies, trying to carmelize them. That took about 8 minutes. Then we added some diced up ham, I think it was three thin slices. Gave that a bit of a a cook through and added back the bacon into the pan. Then came the eggs. Tried to be healthy with only putting egg whites in for half the eggs and keeping the rest whole. Topped it with a handful of shredded “fancy” cheese and we had ourselves a mini epic meal.

Ended up with a handful of pictures from the morning chaos:

Chopped up way too much onion for the scramble.

Oh hey, just ignore the unwashed hair and ridiculous grin. I was having too much fun.

So much goodness in one pan.

 

Gather
1 medium red pepper, diced
1 small sweet onion, diced
1/4 pound bacon
3 slices of ham, diced
3 whole eggs
4 egg whites
1/4 cup shredded cheese (we used “fancy” cheddar mix, because, well… we’re fancy)
ground pepper to taste

Cook bacon until crispy. Remove from pan and drain almost all of the bacon fat, leaving enough to saute vegetables. Cook onions and red peppers down until carmelized. Add ham until heated through. Add back in bacon, as well as all the eggs. Add pepper to taste and cook scramble. At the end, fold in cheese. Serve.

In love with One Kings Lane

There’s something about vintage cookbooks, owl-shaped candle holders, and colorful scarfs that really gets me. I can’t help myself. I will scour the Internet looking for quirky things (many of which I end up pinning and just pine for later). And lately, I have found the BEST site, OneKingsLane.com. They discount home and kitchen items. The site is great and always has changing items, anything from vintage finds to the latest gadgets. One of my friends even bought a cookbook that normally retails for $28 for $10.

I’m currently obsessing over the following, and it appears I have a yellow/orange theme going. I must be thinking spring.

If you’re interested in the site and haven’t signed up, use this link. It will get you $15 off your first purchase: http://tinyurl.com/cc2u3d3. Share with me what you love, buy, or gift to others. I’d love to hear your favorite items!

Fruit Cravings

I was drawn to the berries.

I’ve been dreaming of strawberries, kiwis, pineapple, and grapes. I’d say there is something wrong with me, but honestly, that’s just stating the obvious. Don’t you think? Those daydreamings of a rainbow’d plates of herbivorous goodness are something I’ve decided I need to give into, and fast.

It’s caused me to head straight for the grocery store and scour through the winter produce and see what’s what. Luckily with modern farm technology strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries still line the shelves. And a sale doesn’t hurt at all. Caused me to buy a pound of strawberries and a bag of kiwis, which resulted in the following dinner:

What a wonderful dinner.

 

Yes, when you look at that plate, there are no carbs. Surprise! The carb-loving queen has been able to make more meals without bread and grains. And it was colorful at that. The strawberries and kiwis are self-explanatory, just washed and cut them up. For that surprise portion on the plate I’m pretty sure you can’t figure out, that’s a beef-veggie … ummm.. not quite a scramble… ummm … tortilla-less tacos?

I took a half a quarter cup of diced onion and a quarter cup of diced green peppers, sauteed them in olive oil. Add a teaspoon of each ground black pepper, garlic powder, and cayenne powder. Continue to saute on medium-high until the onions are caramelized  Then I added a little less than a quarter pound of diced beef in the pan. When it was cooked almost through, increase the heat to high and add a splash of white wine to deglaze the pan. Cook off the alcohol and serve.

I have to say, it would taste mighty good in a tortilla with some shredded cheddar. Maybe next time.

Afternoon Egg Scramble

A quarter cup of fresh salsa, chicken sausage link, and one egg.

I have to admit, sometimes I just like having breakfast for dinner. I dream of waffles, omelettes, and bacon. Okay, bacon is okay all hours of the day, but I still like to cook some up in the morning. The fresh smell of bacon and maple syrup filling the house is a glorious, glorious thing. I think most of you will agree.

So pairing up my love for breakfast with my new diet helped me whip up this plate. I’m not cutting out carbs, just trying to monitor the amount I’m eating and replacing my usual bread and crackers with veggies and protein. Protein fills me up and keeps me full.

So I sauteed a  quarter cup of fresh salsa. That’s just diced sweet onions, Roma tomatoes, and green peppers with a dash of ground black pepper, garlic powder, and cayenne. I then added in some diced chicken sausage. The kind I bought was the new Johnsonville chicken sausage with apple flavor. It’s sweet, but not too bad.

Once that’s browned up, you can either deglaze the pan with a little less than a quarter cup of pink moscato wine, or put the egg in now. If you deglaze, make sure you cook off the alcohol before adding the egg in. Cook it through and you’re done. Just enough sweet and savory to satisfy a breakfast for dinner craving.

Threw in the kiwi for some color and vitamins.

Vegetarian Pizza

You know it’s just as good as sausage pizza.

I know I’ve made a similar pizza before, but I have some updated tips. I really like the way this pizza comes out. First off, you’re going to have to buy some ready-made dough, get some cornmeal, and preheat that oven to 400. Sprinkle some cornmeal on the cookie sheet, and then placed your rolled out dough on top of that. I found this helps keep my pizza from sticking to the pan and burning. Bake that for 10 to 12 minutes so it’s very barely cooked.

Pull that out dough and place some thinly sliced Roma tomatoes on top of it. Put back in the oven. I think it lets the tomatoes cook though a bit so that it’s not so runny and “saucy” like. Bake that for another 8 minutes or so.

In a saucepan, you’ll be cooking up some diced onions, green peppers, a few jalapenos, and button mushrooms. Cook that in a tablespoon of olive oil, some ground pepper, garlic powder, cayenne, and saute down until the onions are translucent. When the pan has a bit of brown “burned bits” on the bottom of the pan (I honestly don’t know what to call them), add a quarter cup of white wine and deglaze the pan.

Put on top of pizza with a quarter cup to a half cup of mixed shredded cheddar cheese and pop back into the oven until the cheese is melted. I’d say about another 10 minutes.

Now this pizza is a bit labor intensive, but it’s worth it. Delicious!

nom nom

Run It II

New shoes!!

My shoes were starting to fall apart. (Okay, not really, but good enough of a fake excuse to warrant a shoe shopping adventure.) Seeing as I used them heavily last year and am using them every day in 2013 so far, falling apart wouldn’t be a bad thing. So as a birthday/Christmas/New Year present to myself, I found another pair. I can’t wait to break them in! Hoping to do so on the next round of running. Until then, I’m cruising along in my other pair, which are still in pretty good condition. Mixing my shoe obsession with my running project . . . I’d say that’s a good thing.

In other news, I’m well on my way to 365 miles in 2013. I’m so excited that I haven’t given up yet. Not running a 5K per day anymore, but still at least a mile a day.

Jan. 11 – 1.36 miles
Jan. 12 – 4.75 miles (walking around Boston)
Jan. 13 – 1.30 miles
Jan. 14 – 3.45 miles
Jan. 15 – 2.20 miles
Jan. 16 – 1 miles
Jan. 17 – 0 miles
Jan. 18 – 0 miles
Jan. 19 – 2.27 miles
Jan. 20 – 1 mile
Jan. 21 – 3.5 miles

This subtotal is 20.83, plus the previous 25.43 miles.. .brings me up to 46.26 miles in 2013 so far! That’s about 2.20 miles a day!

Birthday Love

Paired my favorite boots with my favorite scarf. Gotta dress nice on a weekend like this!

I have the best friends ever! Okay, let me back up a bit. This weekend is my birthday weekend. I love celebrating everyone else’s birthday, but when it comes to me, I some times I don’t make a big deal about my birth or getting older. This year, my closest friends went way above and beyond what I was expecting.

It started with a surprise luncheon on Saturday, which kills me, because I’ve never had a surprise like this before. I was told we were going out to lunch, my friend, L, and I. She told me that it was just going to be the two of us, but when we got to the Blue Mermaid in Portsmouth, she told the waitress she had a reservation… for six people! What?!? And to surprise me more, she had gotten together a group of girls that normally don’t hang out together. What a great Facebook snoop she is! So proud and the lunch was delicious! I had this amazing Fire and Ice margarita with jalapeno (yes, you read that right) tequila, a bowl of coconut curry sweet potato soup, and a spicy chicken wrap that I believe had pineapple salsa in it. Yum!

Surprise lunches are the best!!

And to make it even more special, I got spoiled with gifts. I got this awesome sparkly wallet/clutch that I can take when going out and it holds my phone perfectly as well as these amazing cookie cutters. The cookie cutters are all in these fashion shapes. Don’t worry, I’ll make cookies soon so you can better understand. And then I got this tea set from a friend. You have no idea how excited I was. We were talking about loose leaf tea the night before and SURPRISE! she got me a mug, loose leaf tea, and a tea ball so I can steep the tea right in the mug. Can’t wait to get more loose leaf tea.

New tea mug!

All said, including the awesome night out with another group of friends to play pool, I’d say this was probably the best birthday I could have asked for. Hands down.

Tutus For All

Materials: tulle and ribbon

So I’ll admit this post is a bit delayed. It kinda got shoved under the bed and lost for a while. I found the pictures the other day and realized I didn’t post anything on my witch costume from Halloween. Lucky for you, you can use this blog post all year round. Change colors to make a ballerina tutu for your little girl or just if you want a tutu for romping around the house on a Saturday (I don’t judge).

Anyway, you’ll need a ribbon that is long enough to go around your waist and then have extra ribbon to tie it into a bow. Make a knot on each end of the ribbon where it meets when you put it around your waist. That way you’ll know where to put the tulle.

Once that’s done, roll your tulle up (the way they do it when you get it from the fabric store). so that it’s rolled up. Cut 2-inch strips and then unroll them. This will save you a ton of time.

Doesn’t have to be cut perfect.. unless you’re particular like that.

Decide how long you want your tutu to be by measuring from your waist to where you want it to fall. Cut a strip of fabric a little more than double that length. Do the same with all other strips. You’ll then begin tying the strips to the ribbon, making the knot fall in the middle of your strip (so now when it’s tied on, it’s the length you wanted. The more strips you add, the fluffier it will get. I used a total of about 5 to 6 yards of tulle.

Just tie it on and you’re all set.

Almost complete.

So fluffy!