Every now and then, you get to the point where you WANT to go grocery shopping but you KNOW that you have enough stuff in the fridge/freezer to make something tasty. I have no idea where all my reluctance comes from but I finally went for it and used my instant oats, my Bisquick pancake mix, my frozen blueberries and my egg whites. Blueberry pancakes! I made 2 batches, one for me, one for Boyfriend. He prefers the regular pancakes and I prefer the oatmeal ones (they are less sweet, but more filling) so why not hit two birds with one stone. After all, I didn't use another bowl and really it was just an extra 5 minutes of mixing.
1 cup instant oats 1 cup Egg Beaters 1.5tsp baking powder 1.5tsp vanilla 1 packet sweetener
This recipe is under 400 calories (about 380) and makes 4 large oatmeal pancakes. | Keeping a bowl of microwaved berries on the side. This was probably about 1.5-2 cups frozen berries, microwaved for about 1.5 minutes. They release all their juices that way =)
These lasted their way through 4 oatmeal pancakes and 2 servings regular pancakes (2 pancakes each) |
Spray a pan with cooking spray and ladle in 2/3 of a ladle of the oatmeal/egg whites mixture. Sprinkle the heated berries on top and drizzle some of the juices around. | Once it starts to move by itself...FLIP!
**The dough really looks like it will NOT form a pancake. It kind of spills over the sides and sizzles but...trust me, it totally works!** |
The underside of this thing is not pretty =( But the top looks nice and toasty and they're not greasy in any way, so go ahead, use your hands to grab one in the morning. Eat it on your way, take a paper towel and eat it at work...super easy.
But that wasn't all! For lunch, I started to dig around my freezer. I took this frozen steamer vegetable pack (2.5 servings at 50cals/serving) that had veggies in a tomato basil sauce to work. I volumized it by getting some lettuce from the salad bar in the cafeteria (what's cheaper at a pay/per/lb salad bar than lettuce?!?), grabbed some crackers and vinegar (free) and made this really really satisfying salad.
Very unfortunately, I also finished lunch with something else that was free.
These are the bane of my existence. Free pastries in "mini" sizes. Because then I feel ok with having a whole one but this "mini" pastry packs a caloric WHALLOP. Arg.
And now, I'm upstate, skiing with the fam. I managed to eat a VERY reasonable breakfast, a rather small lunch (with a beer) and blew it all hard core with a huge, buffet, russian-style dinner with at least 1 main course per person. I didn't eat a lot of anything but I ate a little of everything. This tends to be the worst for me, portion control totally takes a backseat when I can taste endless things. Grrr.
Check out that ski chair!! I want one for my future patio! (Yes, it's tacky, I know)
Hopefully I can refrain from eating all the crazy breakfast things we have here and stick to my oatmeal and apple!