Thursday, June 5, 2014

Veggie pancakes

I'm not a fan of most vegetables - especially green veggies like broccoli and spinach.  But I am trying to broaden my horizons so my son can try more of these things too.  I've been reading a ton of blogs and am intrigued by many of the things I've found on weelicious.com :)

Last night, I tried her green veggie pancakes recipe, with some modifications (of course!) - and it was great!  Naturally, I forgot to take photos... but I did like this recipe so much that I made two more batches of it immediately.  Here's what I did:

Shannon's Veggie Pancakes
(inspired by weelicious.com's green veggie pancakes)

Ingredients

  • 1 cup zucchini, broccoli, and/or cauliflower (I used 3/4 broccoli to 1/4 carrots - see note)
  • 1/4 cup flour 
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 
  • 1 large egg 
  • 1 teaspoon dried basil 
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder 
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • canola or vegetable oil 


Preparation

  1. Place the vegetables in a food processor and pulse to chop fine. (I measured the 1 cup of veggies after this step.)
  2. Add the chopped vegetables into a bowl along with the flour, salt, egg, basil, garlic powder and onion powder. Mix to combine. 
  3. Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat and place 1 tbsp of the batter into the pan for each pancake. 
  4. Cook for 2-3 minutes on each side. (First batch cooked 4-5 minutes each side)


Notes:

  • I measured the 1 cup of veggies after pulsing them in the food processor.  I don't know how much it was pre-processed.
  • I used a nonstick skillet and only had oil in for the first batch - I would skip this entirely next time given this skillet.
  • As a special treat, for the last batch to go in the skillet, I mixed in 2 tablespoons of grated Asiago cheese -- added a wonderful depth to the flavor!
  • I used all-purpose flour this time but would definitely try whole wheat next time, maybe even toss in a tablespoon of ground flax in there as well.
  • This recipe easily doubles ;)  
  • My two-year-old DEVOURED these and kept asking for more!
  • I plan to pop the leftovers in the toaster oven for lunch tomorrow :)

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Woah! Five months!

Woah, time really, really is flying by these days.  I can't believe I haven't posted in five months! Oops.

So... yeah, nothing much new, honestly.  I'm not losing weight.  Did carb cycling for two weeks a few months ago and lost approximately nothing.  I got frustrated with my bathroom scale in April and kept meaning to replace it and I still haven't - so I went well over a month without weighing in.  This morning, I weighed myself, stepped off the scale and picked up a bottle of shampoo, weighed myself, stepped off the scale and put down the bottle, and weighed myself again... gaining 0.8 pounds.  What the heck!?  I really hate unreliable measurements.  I did similar tests with scales at Costco and Bed Bath and Beyond this past month and all those scales reacted similarly. Very frustrating. :(  I am the type who is definitely motivated by seeing the scale go down, and it's maddening if that scale isn't working reliably.  Any suggestions? ;)

I need to refocus on the weight loss by moving more and eating less.  Moving more is a big problem as I am still dealing with the pelvic separation and hip issues from pregnancy (and my son is two years old now...).  I hurt my back on Mother's Day but thankfully it is mostly recovered by now.  I am pondering joining the YMCA but haven't had the chance to go visit it yet to see their facilities in person.  It's more expensive than 24 Hour Fitness (where I had a membership for 2 years from a Costco deal, but that ended a year ago), but they include child care while you're working out, and have a kids' tumbling class that would potentially be great for my son.  Hopefully I can check it out sometime over the next week.

I'm hoping to hold myself accountable more with this blog - and if you're reading this, feel free to say hi so I know I'm not doing this alone. :)