Pineapple Pancakes

Looking for something a little different for breakfast?  Do you have summer-fever and/or the Monday blues?  Then this breakfast may be just what you are looking for!

Whole pineapples were on sale for $1.99 on Friday and I just couldn't pass it up!  However, I hate cleaning them up and I ended up leaving it on the counter until it developed a soft spot.  I cut it up this morning and was going to throw some in my yogurt this morning but decided to make pancakes instead!  I am attempting to use up as many pantry items as possible over the next month and a half before I move so getting rid of pancake mix was on my mind.

Therefore, I present to you:

Pineapple Pancakes with Coconut Greek Yogurt

Makes 5 medium-sized pancakes, enough for about 1.5 large servings
Ingredients:
Pancakes:
1/2 cup (~100g) fresh or frozen/thawed pineapple, chopped
1.5 servings pancake mix (I used a combo of Bisquick GF and Bob's Red Mills GF)
1 egg white
1/3 cup milk of choice
1/8 cup rolled oats
Cinnamon (optional)

Topping:
2 oz plain Greek yogurt
1 tsp honey
1 Tbsp unsweetened coconut

Preheat skillet over medium-low.  Meanwhile, mix the pancake ingredients, the batter will be thin and lumpy.  Pour batter into hot skillet in 1/4 cup servings.  Cook on the first side until the edges are dry.  Flip.  Cook for another couple minutes (until golden brown).  Mix all topping ingredients together and top the pancakes with the coconut-yogurt mixture.  Enjoy your trip to the tropics!

Homemade Larabars and HM Training Updates

Good evening and happy Easter!  I have been traveling so much lately that I decided not to head up to my parent's house for Easter this year so my super awesome parents came down to see me! 


After eating out, my parents were good sports and climbed up the "M" (i.e. the world's largest M painted on a hillside that is located at the edge of the town I live in):

When you get to the top, you are rewarded with a great view of SW Wisconsin:

And your mom makes you pose for photos:

As you can see, it was very windy!  My feet were blown out from under me quite a few times! 

Moving along, my half training has been going pretty well and I walked a 12.1-miler yesterday in 2 hours, 39 mins, 17 seconds.  I have 6 weeks until my Half so I would say that I'm in pretty good shape!  :)

I purposely trained early for several reasons.  First, I wanted the extra time in case I got sick or injured.  Second, I wanted the extra time in case it took a little longer for me personally to work up to the distance.  Third, I wanted to be confident that I could complete the distance relatively easily.  And finally, fourth, this spring is absolutely insane.  There's no other way to put it.  It's crazy. 

I can't disclose all the details yet (hopefully soon!), but let's just say that I don't want to worry about intense training when I stressed to the max.  Some things I can share are: the week before my half, I am moving.  The night of my half, I am flying to Denver to join in on teaching a field course that will already be 2 days underway.  A few days after my half, I have every plan to hike a good distance at Arches NP, Zion NP, and then down and then back up the Grand Canyon.  This will be followed up by many hikes throughout the nearly three weeks of the field course.  Oh yes, I will do it!  Hopefully.  :)

Needless to say, building endurance, sleep, and proper nutrition will be needed over the next 6 weeks which is why I'm so grateful to be this far along in my half training!

While earlier today, thanks to having the stomach flu this weekend (or dehydration followed by water logging - still not sure which), I didn't feel like cooking.  I am feeling much better tonight and decided to work on the nutrition part!  First, I made Super Granola to help me fuel up!  I have a tendency to take the easy way out and just eat raw oatmeal on my yogurt in the morning (try it - it is so good!  Just don't use instant or steel-cut oats).  However, I like the benefits that the quinoa, flax, and chias provide.

I also thought I'd try my hand at homemade Lara Bars!  I enjoy these bars but to be honest, they are pretty pricey and many of them are made with almonds (I'm allergic).  I found this recipe that helped me get a good idea of where to start.  I decided to make a few small changes - including swapping out cashews for the almonds.  As this is my first time making these, I went with the banana bread flavor first and then decided to make the chocolate coconut chew!  I have found a huge amount of recipes (just Google 'homemade larabars' and you'll see what I mean) that I am itching to try.  Should have boughten more dates...

Homemade Mini-Banana Larabars

Makes 8 bars, 98 calories each
Ingredients:
1 banana, sliced and dehydrated or baked for 2 hours on 200F in the oven, flipping half way through* 
6 Medjool dates, pitted and roughly chopped
1/4 cup raw cashews
Cinnamon

Combine banana chips, dates, and cinnamon in a food processor and grind until finely chopped.  Remove and empty into a bowl.  Add cashews to food processor and grind until finely chopped.  Add to the date mixture.  Mix thoroughly and press into bars.  Wrap individually and refrigerate.

*As per the recipe I based this off of, make sure you place the bananas on parchment paper or at least spray the pan before baking to avoid major sticking!


Homemade Mini-Chocolate Coconut Larabar

Makes 10 balls, 95 calories each
Ingredients:
5 Medjool dates, pitted and roughly chopped
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut
2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup raw cashews

Combine dates, coconut, and cocoa powder in a food processor and process until finely ground.  Empty into a bowl.  Add the cashews to the food processor and process until finely chopped.  Add to the date mixture.  Stir well and press into 10 balls.  Wrap and refrigerate.
__

Note - these are not the cutest of foods but both had an intensely amazing flavor!  On the downside, they are very high in calories and I made a colossal mess out of my kitchen making the chocolate-coconut ones (I think I needed more dates to hold the coconut and cocoa powder together better and/or a regular sized food processor - not the baby one that I got for $7 at Target - thus why these are balls instead of bars).  The chocolate ones will be headed to the freezer to eat on special occasions or chocolate cravings!  The banana mini's are headed to the fridge for after work/preworkout snacks.

Zucchini Pizza and a New Camera

Good evening folks!  Two really great things happened today:  1. my new camera arrived; and 2. I made zucchini pizzas.  But first:

I thought I had killed my orchid, but it is looking like it might produce flowers again!  Maybe I don't have as brown of a thumb as I thought!

Back to the real purpose of this post.  After having issues for about a year and a half with my old Canon Rebel, I decided to splurge for my 30th bday and buy a new DSLR.  After all the issues I have had with my old Canon and looking at the prices on Nikons, I decided to listen to all the recommendations that my friends and coworkers have been giving me and I bought a Sony a35.  I decided that since I tend to be hard on my cameras, I didn't want to go the high end route and went with an entry-level camera to avoid the complete devastation that tends to come with getting sand in the electronics or dropping it in a river.

The box came tonight and I ripped it open immediately to get the battery on the charger!  I was super impatient though and decided to try out my new camera before the battery was fully charged.  This camera is amazing.  Of course, this is based on about an hour of use, but I am very, very impressed with this little guy.  He is so lightweight and small and is very easy to use.  I can finally take photos again!  This is a very good thing because I have another 3-week field course coming up at the end of May!

With a long workout after work and the excitement of my new camera, I didn't end up making supper until about 8pm.  I needed something simple and decided to make mushroom pizzas...except that I didn't have any whole mushrooms.  I did have a large zucchini though so I though I would try to make a zucchini pizza.  I think I liked these better than mushroom pizzas!  Very quick and very good (oh, and healthy too!).

Zucchini Pizza
Serves one
Ingredients:
1 medium zucchini
1/4 cups marinara sauce
1/4 cup reduced fat cheese (I only had sharp cheddar and parm, but I am an equal opportunity cheese eater so I was cool with that combo)

Step one:  cut zucchini on an angle and hollow out the centers of each piece.  Spray lightly with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Bake for 10 minutes at 350.

Step 2:  fill in the hollow areas with the sauce and then add the cheese.  Bake for another 5-10 minutes to melt the cheese.

Step 3:  Eat!  (Note - I cooked these on foil as it was getting late - I do realize the issues associated with eating on foil - and I didn't want to fool around with dishes.  I also did not care about presentation...it's late.)

Time for bed!