Pumpkin Pancakes

My in-laws are in town for Easter. They drive all the way down from Winnipeg, and I like to think it’s just for my pumpkin pancakes.

I’m allowing myself to call them “mine” because I make a couple tweaks to the original recipe. It’s actually a recipe from Diane Sanfilippo, from the book entitled Practical Paleo.

Since everyone was still sleeping, I had the entire first floor to myself. Step one: turn on some tunes.

Now that you’re bopping around to some good tunes, you should realize that you’re starving.  Eat a can of pears while getting your ingredients together!

As you’re getting your ingredients together, question the freshness of your eggs since you can’t remember when you bought them.  The Float Test works really well!  If you’re questioning your eggs, give it a try.

Ruh roh… One of them is bad. Two are alright, and one is fresh.  Toss the baddie and swap in another fresh egg!

All set? You should have 4 eggs, 1/2 cup pumpkin puree, 2* TBLS vanilla extract, 2 TBLS maple syrup, 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp baking soda, and 2 TBLS coconut floor*.

*quantities or ingredients vary from original recipe.

All set?? K, let’s mix the wet ingredients first.

Whip that up–I use an electric beater, but a whisk would work too.  Next, get together the dry ingredients. Make sure to get your cook book all messy… This is required. 😛

K, mix the dry ingredients together so that we can sift them into the wet ingredients next.

Mix these together, then set it aside for a moment. Now is going to be a great time to clean up your dishes and get the skillet or griddle pre-heated.

That’s one of the things that I learned from my grandma.  If you clean as you go, the end clean up won’t be so bad.

Now, if you’re using a nonstick skillet, you shouldn’t need the coconut oil that’s called for in the original recipe. I normally prefer to leave it out, but I used a little this time just to stick a little closer to the original recipe.

These cook up a little differently than normal pancakes. Depending on how hot your griddle is, these might cook up in a couple minutes, but it could take longer.  Our griddle is starting to lose heat in some areas, so I had a couple false starts.  You can watch for the bubbles to burst, but it could be a little while before you see that.

Flip! These are a bit wet, even with the added coconut flour, so I like to press them after they’re flipped to get them to cook through. I also flip them again to make sure both sides of the batter that ooozes out (yummy!) is cooked.

Slice up some fruit to have with your meal, and you’re all set. These pancakes are so flavorful that you won’t need butter or syrup to go with them.  By all means, feel free to dress them up!

Enjoy!

MegsFitness on Nerd Fitness – Battle Logs!

I’ve blogged in the past about how much happier and more content I feel when I am following the core strengths of health and wellness – including eating well, sleeping well, exercising, and making time for personal goals.  So, it stands to reason that now, more than ever, I need to get back into the patterns of healthy eating, getting enough (and higher quality) rest, exercising, and making time for personal goals. 

This blog has become more of a personal journal for me, which will definitely incorporate health and wellness, but it’s always been about more than that.  For me, it’s been about recognizing the fact that my journey — whether it’s to weight loss, muscle gain, social changes, or family life — is going to be completely different from someone else’s journey, even if we share many of the same characteristics.  To that end, I still have every intention of maintaining this blog and getting back into writing about things that are fun, interesting, or relative to my personal narrative.  

My day-to-day fitness narrative is going to be captured at Nerd Fitness.  It’s a community of fitness-minded individuals and I really feel like that’s the sort of encouragement I could use at the moment.  What that means for the MegsFitness blog is that I’ll be cross-posting my weekly summaries here, so that at least part of this journal can resonate with the “-Fitness” part of the name 😀

I’m ready to get back to good.  I’m ready to lose weight, gain muscle, find my confidence, and conquer the world.  If you’re interested in joining The Rebellion, my “battle log” is found here: http://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/topic/52946-amis-last-first-post/

[Begin Crosspost]:

Name: Aminarra, aka “MegsFitness”

Occupation: Corporate Fleet Management Resolution

Previous Fitness Experience: 2 years on SparkPeople, 3 years with Weight Loss Warriors, 3 attempts at Weight Watchers, 1 attempt at Herbalife; 4 years high school strength training, 1 obstacle 5k, 10+ regular 5k Races, greatest weight loss 42lbs.

Current Level of Fitness: Sedentary.  It’s been 2 years since I’ve worked out consistently due to a severe back injury after the Warrior Dash.

“End Game” Goal: Working out 4+x/week, Settling at a healthy weight, ideally ~180, but more importantly having functional strength and physical health.

Short-term Goal: Begin working out 1-3x/week, at a beginner level to become re-acclimated to the fitness world. Begin reintegrating Paleo Lifestyle into eating plan  

Plan of Action:  Use Nerd Fitness to launch new fitness goals; integrate fitness guild with gamer guild for inspiration.  Generate weekly goals in the areas of nutrition, exercise, and personal.  Update status on goals at least weekly.

Outside of NF: 
https://megsfitness.wordpress.com/
http://www.vexxgaming.com/

Step by step guide to building a standing station

Last year, I posted a very high level overview about building an Ikea standing station conversion. This year, I’m showing you:

1: Read this guide
2: go to Ikea

3: Daydream about making some of the rooms yours:

4: Find and purchase the following:
~Lack side table (21×21″)
~Antonius shelf (31×11″)
~brackets of your choice

5. Gather your materials.  You will need

– side table
– shelf
– brackets
– power drill with 1/16″ bit and Phillips had screw driver bit
– screws of appropriate dimensions.( I raided our junk drawer to find some. You want at least two that are just under 1/2″, and about four more that are about 1″)
– a pencil
– a buddy

6. Assemble the table according to the included instructions (recruiting a buddy helps save fatigue in your forearms)

7. Figure out where you want your keyboard to be by putting the table on your existing desk. Bend your elbows to mimic typing comfortably at a keyboard (usually around 90°) and mark off this height discretely with a pencil on the inside of the table leg.

8. Measure and mark the holes for the brackets on the bottom of the shelf

I couldn’t find my measuring tape, so I just eyeballed it.
9. Drill a shallow pilot hole for each of the screws using a 1/16″ bit. Only go deep enough to get through the veneer

10. Line the brackets up as planned, then screw them down. Your screw should just fit:

11. Referencing your pencil marks from step 7, mark where you’ll be attaching the other side of the bracket to the table

12. Drill pilot holes *just* through the veneer, and use the smallest bit (1/16″ is what I used).  Get your buddy to brace the table so it doesn’t fall over on you. He or she can hang out and lend some leverage through the next steps.

13. Mount the shelf to the table using 1″ screws.

14. Place standing station conversion on your existing desk, move your monitor, keyboard, and mouse as needed and Ta da: standing station

* if you use too big of a bit, drill too far, or use screws that are too short, you might experience the painful conclusion of your shelf falling off when you place your table upright

Don’t worry, if plan “A” fails, there are 25 more letters in the alphabet. Plan “B” for me was to spin the table around and correct for my mistakes. The damaged part faces the wall anyway, so no one will see.

My trip to Ikea included the parts shown above, crafting beads, and lint roller refills. My bill came to $33.  The table itself should be around $7-9, the shelf around $6-7, and the brackets around $6-7.  Not a bad deal for $20!

I talked to someone there who had already made his version and he was helping a friend build one. This was #2 for me. Are you going to tackle it? Comment below with your thoughts.

Live-Blogging while reading a blog: Gretchen Powell’s “Body Love vs. The Desire to be Thin”

As many of you might know, Gretchen Powell is one of my favorite bloggers. She’s down to earth, approachable, totally non-judgmental, and a great writer as well (true story: her first book was published last year and her next one is upcoming).  She writes about a variety of subjects, much like this blog, but she’s getting back to the basics about weight loss, gain, loss, and what she wants to gain.  I thought I’d try something different this time around and rather than leaving my commentary in a bubble where only a select few can see it, I wanted to “live blog” my reaction to her blog.  With the author’s permission, I present to you a reaction story to “Body Love vs. The Desire to be Thin.”

Oh! Hi, there. (Ohaithere!)

It wasn’t until I saw that my previous post was entitled “Enter, enter, the first of November” that I realized how long it’s actually been since I’ve blogged.  “Busy” doesn’t begin  to describe it.

One thing I’ve been busy with recently is getting the apartment ready for Christmas 🙂

I’ve got a load of dishes in the washer right now, and once I’m done blogging, I’m prepared to go make cookies for a couple of hours.  In the mean time, though, here are some pictures of the Christmas festivities around our place:

We love our coffee enough to hang our love on a tree. Caribou when we’re in the states and Tim Horton’s when we’re not 🙂

Detail of our Tree

Our tree, 2013

Snowman with his extra large double double

Large chai latte with a shot of cinnamon and a shot of espresso. yum.

In memory of Damon

We stayed at the Nicolin Mansion for our Honeymoon ❤

We toured the Coors brewery with Lori and Ross when we went to visit them 🙂

Monogrammed ornament 🙂 It was originally to celebrate Jeff’s first Christmas in the states, but now his initial is mine too! (Our 1st Christmas as a married couple, awe)

In memory of Otis, our duh-dog who was half pit, half bull, all awesome.

In memory of Dutch, my favorite Rottie.

I love the photo ornaments we have on our tree. Get ’em at Snapfish.com

Our tree is topped by a serene angel this year. Her head is just shy of our ceiling.

The paper ones preceded the real ones

Candycanes in the snow

View from the balcony

Skinny Santa

Bowl of Balls w/ Bow

Bowl of Balls 2

Zen Box Izakaya

deep fried buckwheat cracker/stick

Takoyaki!

Takoyaki uncovered 😀

Tuna Poké

Chicken Yakisoba

It was a great night in Minneapolis.

I’m back!

I had a great time in the wild blue yonder (aka Canada).  The Mister and I drove up there on Thursday and arrived just in time for pizza.  We were greeted in the driveway by Auntie Janet… It was just too funny the way she was just sitting there so I rolled down the window, shouted a warning “Flattering photo time!” and snapped the pic:

The shame is that when we were just over 120 miles from our destination, we realized that we completely forgot all of the party decorations for the Canada reception. D’oh!

 

On Friday, we ran around spending time and money replacing the forgotten items and picking up the rest of the supplies.  We were so spend-happy, in fact, that my bank got all uppity on my behalf and locked down my credit card right as we were checking out at the liquor store.  Yeah, that $220 bill is just gonna have to wait until I call my bank and verify a list the length of my arm to prove that I am who I say I am.

“Can I tell you about our products and promotions that might help you?”
“No, I’d like to get back to buying the liquor for our WEDDING RECEPTION! kthx.”

The fun thing about having a 2nd party is that you can still be a bridezilla after the wedding 😉  Future brides make note.  Hehe..

Friday was also the day that the tents, tables, chairs, and portable washrooms were delivered.  Whee!! The shirtless dude seriously needs someone to show him how to swing a sledge, though.  He was reducing all of the momentum just before he made contact with the spike–probably because he was afraid of hitting himself.  Anyway, he did all the work with his own body instead of letting the hammer do the job.  Silly kid. *shakes head*

Once the tent was up, we set to work doing all of the decorating.  Omigosh, hahaha!  Jeff and I had the hardest time getting the paper poofs and the lanterns to stay on the fishing line.  He kept saying “This idea is good on paper..but..it’s just not working.”  We must’ve used a quarter roll of tape trying to get the stupid things to stay put.

It eventually worked out, though.

The rest of the night, we hung out and just kept crossing our fingers that there wouldn’t be rain.  Don’t rain, don’t rain, don’t rain… What we didn’t count on, though, was Mother Nature’s counter-offer: WIND!  AUGH!  We had finally gotten the decorations to stay put, but when we went out on Saturday, the wind had made shambles of our efforts, lol.  We decided it just wasn’t meant to be “perfect” but that it would be good enough the way it was.  No one would even know we didn’t mean for it to be the way it was =P Pssh.

It was a ton of fun to just hang out with extended family and friends from Jeff’s side of the family.  We couldn’t have asked for a better day.  I think one of the funnest details was the candy buffet that our friends Anne and Errol gifted to us:

It was Mario-Themed and everything!

We couldn’t believe it.  The guests all loved it, too!  If you’re in the Winnipeg area, I highly suggest that you check out http://www.landonssweets.com

On Sunday, we took a (much-needed) day of rest.  I think I was still in and out of sleep until at least 3pm @_@;

Today we made the long trek home and we’re happy to be here 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Too big for the space; too cute not to use

Too big for the space

too cute not to use

Our friends, Anne and Errol, were inundated with crock pots at their wedding.  Well, Jeff and I were inundated with party platters and serving ware.  We love ’em but Jeff and I are quickly realizing we don’t host enough parties nor have enough cupboard space (currently) for all that we got.  Well, this one was super cute and I wanted to put it it use so I set it up tonight as a make-up/beauty stand in our “guest” (read: main) bathroom.  It’s entirely too large for the space (it overhangs the sink by about an inch!) but I love how it neatly organizes my things.  

When we move, the bathroom counter will be even smaller, which bums me out, but I also have a plan to keep my dresser cleaner* so hopefully this can live on my dresser in the new place.

*My mom taught me not to wash clothes until they’re dirty, so, since I work in an office environment, I’ll wear clothes 2-3x before I wash them but I won’t put them back in the closet.  I fold them** and lay them neatly** on my dresser.

**They get tossed however they land and I just hope they don’t wrinkle.

The plan for the new place is to hang towel racks or jacket hooks on the wall near the dressers so that I can hang the clothes up without hanging them in the closet.  I’m *really* hopeful this plan works out so that our bedroom can be tidy 🙂

Do you have any creative cleaning/organizing tips? Feel free to share in the comments below.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

For the crust:
2 cups flour (not packed)
1/2 cup oil (canola or vegetable oil)
1/4 cup milk

Mix flour and oil together with a fork, then add milk and mix. Dough should hold its shape.  Roll half out between two sheets of wax paper, this forms the bottom crust. Carefully remove the top sheet of wax paper (can use a butter knife to coax it). Put your pie tin on top of the crust then slip your hand under the bottom sheet of wax paper and turn the whole thing over. Now you can coax the wax paper off the top and the crust should be in the tin.

For the filling:
2 cups strawberries cut into bite sized pieces
2 cups rhubarb cut into bite sized pieces
2 cups sugar

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and toss/mix together, then pour into the prepared crust.  Add 3-4 rounded tablespoons sprinkled on top, to absorb some of the juice as it bakes.

Follow the directions above to roll out the second crust. This time, though, take of the top later of wax paper, then carefully flip/place the crust over the pie. Remove the last bit of wax paper, then press the edges of the crusts together.

Cut slits for vents, then bake at 350°F for about an hour.

Soup-y pie is still pie…

Are you bored?

 

AH! I still sort of have ‘wedding brain.’  I go home at night and still feel like we should be planning a wedding.  If you’re interested in mini updates and food photos then you can subscribe to follow me at http://megsfitnessphototracker.wordpress.com.  I upload pics of my daily eats and lately I’ve been updating on the day’s goings on too.  I still intend to update here, but I feel like I owe you better content and right now I just don’t have it.  You deserve better!! So, if you’d like to wait for better, I’ll have it soonish.  If you’d like to settle for good-enough, check out my alt blog where I just update from my phone and call it good.

From MegsFitnessPhotoTracker: “I found a sammich in my fridge thus morning and decided it was breakfast. Nom nom nom.. Oh! And my plan of eating when I’m hungry and stopping when I’m full works.. I weighed in at 217 this morning. I’m pretty sure it was a fluke.”