You can take the Fat out of the Girl…but cheese still tastes good.

My Grandfather grows tomatoes in his backyard. Yes, an 89 year old man is still raising food for his family. He amazes me everyday. I could write a book about that man, but for now, tomatoes. So he needed to take out the tomato plants as season is pretty much over. Yay South Florida! So we wound up with around 20 tomatoes. No bigs, right? Now to figure how to use them without just making marinara sauce.

Here are 13 of the lovelies!

I cut the beauties into wedges – I totally used my Steve Irwin voice as I said this. Put a small amt of olive oil into a pan and then wiped the pan with a paper towel so there was just a light coating. I do this when I make pancakes too. Cuts down on the oil and avoids greasy pockets. I threw the maters on in there over medium high, a little sea salt and pepper then I added torn spinach leaves. I know what you’re thinking, “didn’t she say something about cheese?” I did. In a separate pot I took SmartBalance and a little oat flour – oatmeal I put in the blender and made a roux that I added unsweetened almond milk to. Then some pecorino romano cheese, jalapeno powder, garlic cloves and a tablespoon of pesto. Maybe a cup to a cup and a 1/2 of sauce total. I felt guilty for this, but everyone has their day and the Gods of Hormones have decided today was my day. Some whole grain Barilla, mixed in the veggies and the sauce, baked for 15-20 min then broiled the top for crunch and voila!

I refuse to feel guilty for my meal. Before I would have been regular pasta and alfredo pesto with mozzarella on top and made with cream and blah blah blah. I have to be proud of the small steps for that is what keeps us moving.

Exploring the Realm of Protein Pancakes

So..I have a son who is quite picky in his food choices. Thankfully he did not get my metabolism or this may be a way very different life. I am guilty of hiding vegetables and healthy goodness in his food though. Grated zucchini and apple whole grain waffles, mashed cauliflower grilled cheese. I can be pretty crafty when it comes to these things. To think I started by using baby food in his pancakes and now he’s willing to eat homemade chicken nuggets. (That will be a whole other post.) Inspired by I decided to embrace this whole protein pancake thing. Her ingredients seemed simple and were things I had in the house. **Note to self, take pictures of this as you are doing it – helps enhance the whole blog thing.
This is what I made:
Vanilla Protein Oat Pancakes
makes 1 6 small pancakes

1/4 C of oatmeal – the old fashioned oats that I put into my food chopper thingy and pulverized
1/4 C Garden of Life Raw Vanilla Protein Powder
1 tsp Vietnamese cinnamon
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 C unsweetened almond milk
1/4 C plain, non-fat Chobani Greek
3 T egg whites
1/2 C of the leftover apple pulp from my juicer – we didn’t have any applesauce and I had used the last of my apples for juice

Mixed all my wet ingredients, mixed all the dry and then mixed together. Medium high and voila! If you use a 1/4 measuring spoon it will give you 6 pancakes.

Ok, ok so the real reason I made these?!? It was my dog’s birthday and I forgot to make him a “pupcake!” However the whole family enjoyed! Thanks to all!

So it begins…

I am on a journey towards a different lifestyle and am trying to take my family with me. This blog will explore my trials, tribulations, successes and celebrations. I started at 285lbs and as of today I am 278. I cringe as I type these numbers but realize I should have been cringing as I was putting the extra food in my mouth or flipping the channel one more time. Every change will have a result. It’s like the butterfly effect. You know. Do you not know about the butterfly effect? “Chaos theory attempts to explain the fact that complex and unpredictable results can and will occur in systems that are sensitive to their initial conditions. A common example of this is known as the Butterfly Effect. It states that, in theory, the flutter of a butterfly’s wings in China could, in fact, actually effect weather patterns in New York City, thousands of miles away. In other words, it is possible that a very small occurrence can produce unpredictable and sometimes drastic results by triggering a series of increasingly significant events.” This was brilliantly summed up by http://library.thinkquest.org/ So long story short, what you think may be an insignificant change may cause significant changes. By just moving 20 minutes a day I am changing my body. By bringing my own food to work I saved upwards of $70 in one week. Thanks $140 in 2 weeks, $280 a month. I mean come on $3360 a year?!?!? That’s a vacation or two depending on location. I have put a jar on top of my refrigerator and in it I put the money I save from dining out. That jar will be taking us to SeaWorld, Universal Studios and LEGOLAND. That jar is putting me one step closer to better clothes. That jar is making my goals and progress tangible things. We have to start somewhere. I’m starting here.