Category Archives: blueberry sauce

Out of the comfort zone

First day of the 3-day weekend!  I decided to get up and run in the cold.  It actually wasn’t bad.  There was no wind, it was just 31 degrees.  With gloves and my turtleneck on, I was fine.  Actually a little sweaty after 2.5 miles.  Funny how I realized that I could have just gone to the gym and run on the treadmill  (that’s what happens pre-coffee, though!).  However, I wanted to get prepped for Sunday’s conditions and be in the cold and out of my comfort zone.

Had some layered blueberry cream of wheat for brekkie when I got back in:

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My parents have a new addition at their house as of today!

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This is Lizzie – the new lab puppy!  She was pretty sleepy.  My mom bought Lizzie a bankie that she said would be perfect for a pink picture!

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Regarding the comfort zone:

The comfort zone is a great place to be, isn’t it?  We feel safe and secure and know what’s coming up.  But the only way to progress in anything is to step outside of those boundaries.  Otherwise it is just treading water.  You don’t need to take a flying leap, but step outside and stay there for a little while.  The interesting thing is, you can expand your comfort zone.  Back in the day (last year…), the thought of running for more than 15 minutes during my C25K training sent me into worry and nervousness, but I also knew that the only way to be able to run that far was to do it and do it again.  Now I can do 15 minutes without even batting an eyelash!

The end result of where I am today was a series of steps outside my comfort zone.  These were steps like the Great Veggie Experiment, which has helped expand my horizon of healthy eating; or buying clothes that fit properly and actually wearing them out in public and getting used to being looked at (this is still a little hard); or deciding on a triathlon.  The duathlon this weekend is another event that is outside of my comfort zone, but I am looking forward to seeing what I can do.  So go out there and challenge yourself a little bit – you are probably capable of way more than you think!

Mom and I did a little consignment shopping today.  I dropped some things off, and had to come home with a couple items – then it was off to the cafe!

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Plus this raspberry goodness:

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Dinner was one of those fun experiments that turned out good!  I picked up some chicken at the smokehouse today, and we had some andouille sausage.  I also had cubed up a sweet potato, and we ended up sauteeing it all with some cajun spice and added a bit of broth.  Cooked until it thickened up into a stew and it was soooo good!

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It’s like fall in a bowl 😀

I am enjoying my weekend so far.  Might see if I can twist John’s arm to do some raspberry picking tomorrow!

Question:  How often do you step outside your comfort zone?

Tour de France and blueberries

Watching a bit of the Tour de France on TV.  Those athletes are freaking amazing!  Did you know that the average age of a tour rider is 40???  I am not sure I heard that right.  The average age of the winners is about 30.

The riders were just entering the feed zone ( a term which I find quite hilarious for some reason).  They were all taking bags full of food (not stopping of course).  The commentators were talking about how the riders need to make sure they get the bag in the feed zone or they are at the risk of using more calories than they can take in and will bonk on the ride.  Here I worry about that with my 30 mile rides!  Makes me feel like a wimp 😀

Don’t have many food pics today, as it was one of those weird days where I forgot photos because I got off schedule.

I was out looking at some houses as possible flip candidates today.  Not sure how I will fit that into my schedule (just to do the work), but you can always find a solution, right?

Munched on the last of these today:

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Regarding the recipe on the pancakes – had a couple questions on those again.

Here it is!

Protein pancakes:

Ingredients:
1/3 cup of cottage cheese (1%)
1/3 cup of rolled oats
1/3 cup of egg substitute, or 1 egg + one white
dash of vanilla
dash of cinnamon

1/4 tsp baking powder

(I do not use sweeteners, but most people probably would want to add some splenda or something to this.)

Blend in a blender and cook like regular pancakes.  I love my Magic Bullet for this! You must blend this, otherwise the oats will be too chunky. The batter should be nice and smooth. Makes 3 big pancakes!
Lots of protein and fiber!

Blueberry Sauce

1 cup (40 grams) frozen blueberries (My favorite brand is Wymans wild blueberries).

1 tsp cornstarch

1 tablespoon cold water

In a small saucepan or microwave, heat the berries to a simmer.  Mix the water and cornstarch and stir into the blueberries.  Heat gently until thickened.  Super easy!  The Wyman’s blueberries do not need any sweetener added, these wild ones are naturally sweeter and have more blueberry flavor.

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Breakfast of Champions

On the straight and narrow today after the Chinese food debacle of yesterday. Made my good protein pancakes for brekkie. I get a lot of questions about what these look like, so here are the pics (recipes below pics):

Naked right out of the pan. Look just like regular pancakes, no?

And topped with my favorite blueberry sauce:

Protein pancakes

1/3 cup lowfat cottage cheese
1/3 cup rolled oats

1/3 cup egg substitute *or* 1 whole egg

1/8 tsp baking powder

dash of cinnamon
dash of vanilla

Blend all ingredients together in a blender until smooth. Then cook as you would normal pancakes.

Blueberry Topping

1 cup of frozen blueberries (I like Wymans wild blueberries)
1 tsp of cornstarch
1 tbsp of cold water.
Heat the frozen blueberries in a small saucepan over medium heat until hot and just simmering. There will be juice in the bottom of the pan. Don’t boil them! In a small bowl mix the cold water and cornstarch. Add to the pan and stir until the mixture thickens up – about 30 seconds. This is a great topping over pancakes, or use as the base of a crumble.

Stats for this breakfast are:

291 calories 7 grams of fat 40 grams of carbs 9 grams of fiber 19 grams of protein