Recipe: 2 ingredient pancakes.

This has been circulating all over the internet but being the skeptic that I am I had to try it for myself.  It's called 2 ingredient pancakes and the are the ingredients:

1. 2 Eggs
2. 1 very ripe banana

Yup, that's it. 

Step 1:  Beat up 2 eggs in a bowl.  I added some Cinnamon to mine.

 

Step 2:  Mash up your banana using a fork and put it in egg mixture.

Step 3:  Combine well - some people use a electric blender, but I got it smooth just using a fork.

  

Step 4:   Drop as many pancakes as you want onto a medium hot pan - WELL GREASED.  You want these pancakes pretty thin or the egg will curdle.  

Step 5:  Wait until the pancakes start to brown at the edges and then flip. 

 They look almost like real pancakes!

And that's it - wait until the other side cooks and add any toppings you want - I used 2 different peanut butters (Dark Chocolate Dreams and The Bee's Knees) and 2 different jam spreads (Spiced apple butter and Welsh's Natural Strawberry Spread) here to show what you can do .

I then added a little bit of Mrs. Butterworth's Sugar Free Syrup.  There's some turkey bacon on the side.

Some thoughts:  These DO NOT taste like regular pancakes.  You can taste the egg pretty strongly.  They are SWEETER and more dense then regular pancakes.  But they were fracking GOOD!  MUCH better for you then regular pancakes.  For me, they satisfied this CRAVING I've been having for pancakes.

A lot of people have played around with adding some things to the mixture like flax seed and protein powder.  I plan to try adding PB2 to the mixture rather then topping it with peanut butter next time, especially if I need to save on calories.  If you're feeling naughty you could add some mini chocolate chips or nuts, too!  I would only add dry ingredients, and not too much.

Give it a try and let me know what you think!

Reviewing a wonderful day!

Ahhhhhh... what a great day yesterday! Finally felt like a real vacation day!

It started out humid and wayyyy overcast. I headed out for my run - my achilles continues to bother me some, but after I got warmed up it felt okay. Went just over 7 miles.

I got home and jumped in the shower and we had an early lunch. I made 2 ingredient pancakes for the first time (recipe to come). Then we headed out.

Mother Nature must be feeling really bad about how she's been treating us. Because we headed out to the beach - it was warm but still overcast. We walked the short 1.5 miles down to the water and the sun came out brilliantly!

We spent the next few hours playing with the dogs and in the water. Have I mentioned that Boxers supposedly hate the water? Neither of my boys got the memo on that one!

I wore the same bikini as last year so I pulled out the pic. Now, granted, I was still swollen post surgery last year but there's only a few pounds difference in the pics and I think I look much different...

May 2012

Yesterday...

We headed home and made a quick stop for some groceries. That included some steak and fresh mushrooms for dinner. Yum! We've cut way back on red meat in the course of this journey, but I still enjoy a nice steak once and a while!! Just as Marc was finishing the steak on the grill the skies opened up and it poured - so I didn't even have to water the flowers - it was done for me!!! I'm not high maintenance - a day spent hanging in the sun with all my guys - that's enough to recharge my batteries and make me smile!!!

All work and no play...

Damn - that's what I feel like since we've gotten back from camping.  Over the last few days, all I've done is WORK, WORK, WORK!

Now these are things that I've been wanting to get done, and it feel good to have them completed.  But on the other hand I'm on VACATION, people!!!

We weeded and weed wacked around the veggie garden.  Then we painted all of the garage.  Then we painted the house trim.  Yesterday I spent the entire day in the flower beds - weeding out and mulching and yet I only got like half my beds done!!

 They look good, though, right?

This is my newest bed, and it needed a LOT of work having only been put in last year.

So today, I don't want to work.  I want to go play!  This is a little anxiety provoking because I want to get everything done and I'm not sure that I can accomplish it.  On Saturday we are hosting a party for my father's side of the family at our house and I want to have everything look good.

But if the flower beds all don't get mulched, so be it.  Today we're going to the beach!

By the way, I have become FULLY CONVINCED that if I didn't have to go to work every day that I would never have to worry about my weight again!  After all the HOURS spent digging and reaching and sweating, I must have burned off HUNDREDS of calories!

Does anyone know the winning lottery numbers??

Sorry Fat Jen, you LOSE!

I try not to be so hard on Fat Jen.  After all, she was completely in charge for a long, long time.  Then out of nowhere, this Thin Jen comes along and takes over.  She starts taking things away from Fat Jen.  Like Mountain Dew, and Doritos, and Wendy's hamburgers and fries. 

Then Thin Jen starts to eat things like tomatoes and mustard and kale.  These foreign objects took Fat Jen a LONG time to get used to.

Poor Fat Jen was bewildered and scared.  And then, if that wasn't enough, Thin Jen starts doing things to the body - like running and jumping and sweating.

As the pounds went away, and Thin Jen started to take over completely, Fat Jen went into a corner.  She became silent and slept.  She came out only on rare occasions - like Thanksgiving and Christmas.  And Fat Jen was happy on those days.  And Thin Jen tolerated her and then quickly drove her back into her corner.

Then goal weight was hit.  And certain privileges were granted.  And Fat Jen woke up and came back to life.  But I'm telling you - you give that BITCH an INCH and she'll take a MILE.  Which is what she did when we were camping.  Thin Jen was pretty tolerant.  She let Fat Jen eat a S'More - actually more then one.  And then she let her have a muffin and trail mix and she put very few demands on her as far as intense exercise.

So Fat Jen did not want to go back in her corner once camping was over.  She kept yelling that we are still on vacation and that it is only fair that we continue to indulge.  And she pointed out all kinds of yummy things that we should eat. 

And when it comes to exercise, Fat Jen is pretty happy to just chill out and not exert herself.  And Thin Jen got a little scared - this is the first time that Fat Jen has been so persistent and strong in a very, very long time.

But then Thin Jen found her footing.  And for the last few days, Thin Jen has been winning the war.  We've gotten into healthy eating again with ZERO over-indulgences.  And this morning, Thin Jen said that it was time for a run.  And Fat Jen reminded everyone that on Friday we couldn't run at all because of a severe flare up of Achilles Tendonitis.  And she said that we risked injury if we decided to run.  So Thin Jen told her that we wouldn't run too far if there was pain.  And Fat Jen pouted.  During the run Fat Jen said that even though the Achilles was feeling pretty good it could go bad at any time and we should turn around.  So Thin Jen had no choice but to punch her in the face - and ran 13.1 miles.

Our weight this morning was 120.6.  Still a little high, but it's coming down as my system gets back to normal, and I'm confident that it will continue to drop in the next few days.

So I'm sorry Fat Jen.  You can come out and play once and a while, but never again will you control us.  

   

This post has gone to the dogs!

Today's post is going to be all about my Boxer Boys!  If you have no interest in hearing me talk up my dogs, well, you should skip today's post!

I was so proud of my boys while we were camping.  We have done a good job training them, I know, but I think that they are just good dogs because we love and care for them and they want to please us.  

When we got there, we saw that the campsite next to us had some very wound up and barky Brittany Spaniels.  As the spaniels barked and stared at our dogs, Chakotay and Archer both just laid there and watched them.  They joined us by the fire at night, laying at our feet without us worrying at all that they would mis-behave. 

That first day full that we were there and it rained so hard.  They ran along with us without reservation or complaint.  We had them off leash with their backpacks on and they stayed right near us and braved out the miserable weather.  That night, all of us were squished in the tent together and they laid on their beds and didn't even bother us as we sat there trying the eat our dinner balanced on the air mattress.

The next day, when we were hiking in Taughannock State Park we didn't have to worry about them walking around all the people and little kids.  They were even sweet to all the kids that came up and wanted to pet them.

 Here there are on a concrete resting bench amongst about 150 stairs that you climb.

 

Here we are about 1/2 through the hike.

Tuesday, July 2, was Chakotay's 4th birthday.  So while we ate dinner the boys got marrow bones as Chakotay's birthday treat.

And that night when it started pouring?  We took them off their tie-outs and said "Head for the tent!"  And they did - without wandering off!

Since we had to make stops they had to spend some time in the car alone, and they were so well behaved - they just laid there and patiently waited for us.

 The final day, they got to wander around Howland's Island.

 Even when they saw a deer - they started to take off, but as soon as we called them back, they came. 

Their reward for such good behavior?  A nice long period of playtime in the canal!

Most dogs wouldn't cross this type of bridge with the lattice work metal.  Although it couldn't have felt great on their paws, they crossed it with us!

As a side note, you may or may not be able to tell from these pics, but Chakotay is continuing to lose weight.  I'll post some updated photos later.

But, anyway, I just had to take some time - like any proud parent - to brag about my wonderful boys!

The Grand Return of Fat Jen

So as I've mentioned, I was really looking forward to going camping.  I've really needed a break from work, and always look forward to our annual trip to the Finger Lakes.  I've also continued to be upset since the doctor's appointment and wanted to just get away.

Unfortunately, this trip did NOT go as planned.  First off, I reserved the wrong camping site.  It ended up that the one we got was still pretty good, but it wasn't the super "prime" spot we always get.  While most of the country has been mired in HOT weather, we got rain and cold.  This trip saw the spectacular return of "FAT JEN".  Fat Jen makes an appearance here and there, but she is usually beaten down pretty well by "Thin Jen".  Not this time - Fat Jen was ever present and ready to win this war. 

We did have a good trip down - stopped as we usually do at Montezuma Wildlife Refuge.  We got some AWESOME pics.  Must be the cooler weather and wet season we've been having brought out the birds more.  We saw DOZENS of blue herons.  

We got our site all set up and  had a pretty good evening.  Fat Jen even got to have a couple of S'mores by the fire and was happy.

The first full day we were there, we had picked out a hiking trail and were planning on a long full day hike.  We drove down to Watkins Glen and it started raining.  Well, I was bound and determined that we were going to hike anyway.  We ended up getting SOAKED to the bone and had to turn around.  Where I had hoped to hike many miles we got back to the Edge at 6.66 miles - fitting, huh?  We had to head over to Walmart to buy a couple of towels and some dry clothes.  We ate lunch out and headed back to the campsite where it continued to pour.  We spent the evening huddled in the tent where I began feeling more and more sorry for myself.  Fat Jen seized the opportunity.

At this point I was teetering on depression and said "Fuck it!" and ate everything I could get my hands on.  Even after having a large lunch, I was stuffing food in my mouth even though I wasn't hungry at all.

Tuesday dawned and the sun refused to come out, leaving everything wet and muddy.  We headed down to Ithaca, stopping to hike the rim gorge of Taughannock State Park.  We've done that before and it's a challenging, but nice hike.  It was also incredibly muddy and we all ended up covered in mud up our legs.  

From there we headed down to the city of Ithaca where we found a nice park along the water to have lunch.  So the morning ended up pretty good.  Again, though, I ended up just EATING like crazy!  For the most part, the food itself was healthy.  But when you EAT TONS of healthy food, it's still not good.

Ithaca has a nice walking trail that we had read about that is just on the edge of the city, but cuts through woods, so you feel like you are in the middle of nowhere.  We started that trail and all of a sudden dark clouds came over and we started hearing the ominous sound of thunder.  We were able to take a shortcut and got back to the Edge JUST before the rain started coming down in SHEETS.  Once again, our hike cut short by the fucking rain!

Ithaca streets soon got FLOODED - it was crazy.  I've never seen anything like it.  We drove north back to our camp and Marc checked the weather and saw that the storm was pretty localized to Ithaca so our camping area looked clear.  Because the hike had gotten cut short, Thin Jen said that a run would be a good idea when we got back.  Fat Jen opined that she did not want to go for a run.  And so, for several miles, Thin Jen and Fat Jen had a spirited discussion about whether or not "we" would run when we got back.  

Fat Jen is often silenced easily, but not this time.  She put on a HELL of a fight.  Back at the campground, it was indeed dry.  Miraculously, Thin Jen won the battle and "we" ran 6 miles while Marc started a fire for dinner.  YAY!  A small victory - which was then completely undone by me STUFFING MY FACE at dinner.

But I was starting to feel relaxed - we had a ton of wood and the fire was - by far - the best fire we've ever had while camping. So here I was, chilling by the fire when - almost without warning - you guessed it - A DELUGE OF RAIN.  Are you fucking kidding me??!!  More reasons for me to feel sorry for myself.  Again we ended up stuck in the tent with nothing to do.  It cleared up, but by then the fire was out and the wood was soaked.

The next day it was already time to leave, so we ate breakfast, packed up and headed out.  Of course this was the best weather we had seen.  We decided to head to a place called Howland's Island, which is part of the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge.  We hiked some of the trails and then let the dogs swim in the canal for a while.  They loved it.

Mid-afternoon we arrived in Syracuse and went to Applebees.  Did you know that Applebees has a lunch special - all you can eat soup, salad and breadsticks?  A healthy lunch of spinach and shrimp salad with no dressing - that's a victory for Thin Jen, right?  Not when you have it with multiple servings of breadsticks and broccoli and cheese soup!  Fat Jen was thrilled!

We arrived home and began unpacking and I still wanted to eat.  My stomach actually hurt and I was still eating trail mix.  What. The. FUCK?  I started to feel out of control, especially when I stepped on the scale (which was stupid) and saw that my weight was up 12 FREAKING POUNDS from when we left.

I was able to beat Fat Jen back that evening.  So, let's hope the rest of my vacation goes much better then how it started.  And let's hope that Thin Jen gets back in control.  Yesterday was a good - not perfect, but good - day.  Today?  So far so good.

Happy 4th of July!

Hi everyone!  I didn't drop off the face of the Earth!  Actually I was camping!  We got back late yesterday.  

Lots to report and I need to organize my thoughts.  So just a short post today and I'll be catching up the next few days.

Since I've been gone, we entered July!  Wow - halfway through 2013 already!  Where does time go?

I'll be going to a barbecue today and my plan is to make healthy choices - something that has been sorely missing the past few day.

Hope everyone has a fantastic day!