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!

Pitfalls, Successes and Side Salads

I had a stressful weekend. This is a usual thing, I work 40 hours in 4 days (Friday thru Monday) where what is expected of us is more than our best. Scratch that, they want our best, our first born, our spirit and a contract signed in blood. Yeah, stressful. Even as a big girl my blood pressure has been good, never over 125/80ish. I felt the need to check it while on the slave ship…141/98. I mostly maintained my eating. I behaved Friday, Saturday and Monday. Sunday was a baby shower. The way I felt after consuming such “non-clean, carb heavy” things was bloated, tired, sluggish and my body physically hurt. Even the small steps I have taken have instituted change in my body. One day will not destroy me, just like one day did not make me. I will prevail. I will overcome this. I did have to put some money in the vacation jar. Wendy’s side salad. At least it was a salad.