A Smaller Target

Yummy High Protein / Low Carb Pancakes!

Pancakes are a total favorite of mine, but were always a problem (even as a DS pre-op) because I have an allergy to wheat flour in large quantities.  This is a recipe my mom and I came up with that works really well, especially post-op because, as you can see, there's hardly any flour in them.  The cottage cheese sounds gross, but they really do taste great -- I've served them for brunches lots of times and everyone eats them without guessing there's any cottage cheese in them or that they're somehow diet.  They taste like sourdough pancakes.

Ezpy's Cottage Cheese Pancakes:

Ingredients:
1 cup of cottage cheese (any kind -- I like Knudsen small curd)
4 eggs (3 if they're really jumbo)
1/4 cup of flour (this can be almond, but is best with wheat)
2 tbsps of butter melted (can be salted)
Cinnamon and salt to taste  (I like LOTS of cinnamon)
Milk to thin (optional)

Scoop the cottage cheese into a blender.  Add 2 eggs and blend for like 30 seconds.  Scrape the sides of the blender.  Add flour and 2 more eggs, blend for another 30 secs or so until pretty smooth.  Add cinnamon and salt to taste.  If batter is too thick and thinner is preferred, or to use as crepes, blend in milk to thin.

They cook just like regular pancakes on a oiled skillet.  I use real maple syrup heated very hot so as to make it very thin and use less.  That way I don't add too much sugar but to get the taste.  Besides, ain't nothin' like the real thing. 

Hope you like them.  Extras freeze pretty well and reheat in the microwave. 

A Chocolate Treat

Weight 240

It's been a rough day for a  lot of reasons.  The office is still a very tense and fraught place.  It rained hard this morning while I was walking to the bus stop.  I have my period.  Plus, I'm terrified I've lost a beloved and irreplaceable bracelet (it was my great-grandmother's) and kept waking up all night thinking of places it might be and then getting up to search them.  Sadly it's still missing.  :(  I'm so worried that it somehow caught on something and fell off when I wore it Thursday.   Ironically, it was safe before I lost weight because I never wore it.  It was a little too small. 

It should go without saying that tonight I wanted warm comfort food. Chocolate especially.  But I am trying to be good and not eat sugar. So what to do?

I made up a yummy hot chocolate drink!

1 heaping tbsp of unsweetened Ghirardelli chocolate mixed dry with 3 packs of Splenda and 1/2 tsp of cinnamon then mixed with an ounce or two of soy milk until it turned to chocolate paste.  Then I heated a cup of soy milk and stirred it with the chocolate paste until it was almost boiling.   And that was it.  I poured it into a large mug and drank about 3/4 of it.  I think it had about 10 grams of protein plus it definitely took care of chocolate jones. 

I'm still sad about the missing bracelet and still trying to be hopeful that it's just misplaced rather than lost, but also feel a bit comforted too.  I know some time I'm going to need to find a way to comfort myself without food, but for tonight I'll just be happy for my sugar free hot chocolate.

Old Faithful: IDS Cinnamon Vanilla

Weight: 254.4 (it keeps going down! Yay!)

I've tried a lot of different protein powders in the last month.  But I keep coming back to IDS Cinnamon Vanilla.  The others:

• UNJURY - waaay too sweet and smells funny
• Matrix - very bland
• Nectar - truly terrible in every way
• Protein Delight - not bad... but not as good
• Elite - bland -- I couldn't even taste the chocolate!
• Isopure - zero carb ready to drink smelled funky (this according to everyone in the car with me when I opend it.
• Atkin's in a can - ick.  Again with the smell.

I like all the flavors of IDS I've tried -- the Belgian Chocolate is great, as is the Banana and Cappuccino.  In fact, I think the chocolate is my favorite in and of itself.  But, given that I'd just gone through my entire supply (3 huge containers, one of chocolate, one of vanilla and one of banana, plus several sample packs) why did I order 2 more containers just of the vanilla?

Because I've found it to be the most flexible.  One heaping tsp of cocoa and I've got chocolate.  An ounce of sugar free raspberry and I have raspberry.  And if I make it with coffee or even with a tsp of freeze dried instant expresso, I have a protein latte.  It also mixes well with fruit for a more smoothy kind of drink.

I can make them with a shaker and I have a couple of them, but I usually use my blender.  I put the powder in first, then my soymilk (or coffee if I'm using it) and whatever flavorings I'm adding.  Sometimes I also blend in my calcium and some fruit.  I blend it for about 20 seconds.  Sometimes if I want something thicker I add a couple of ice cubes and blend some more.  Others I just pour it over ice.

I know there are a lot of people who believe that we don't need to suppliement and who get their protein from food alone.  At six months out I have no idea how I'd get enough most days without the 30 gram boost my morning protein shake gives me.  Plus, I've never been a breakfast person and this is a total grab and go meal.  I can make it in about 2 minutes and drink it in the car on the way to work. 

Bars are okay, but I only like a few of them and they're a lot more expensive on a daily basis then a shake.  Plus you get way more carbs and calories and way less protein from most of them.

If you feel a need for a shake but the only ones you've tried have been terrible, I really encourage you to order a sample pack from somewhere like Bariatric Eating (no, they don't give me a discount -- I just like them).  The difference in taste between different brands is huge.   

Recipe: Limeade

On Saturday I walked over to the farmer's market at Third Street and bought a bunch of limes (they were organic and 10 for a dollar, so who could blame me?) as well as the strawberries I'd gone for.  Today I made up a recipe for sugar free limeade and it came out pretty well so I thought I'd post it. 

Okay, so I'm not really a posting recipes sorta girl.  But this is really good and I wanted to share it -- such a nice break from all the Crystal Light stuff.   Plus limes are really cheap just now so what the heck?

First, juice limes until you have about a cup of juice.  I can't say how many limes because they're all different sizes.  I had pretty big ones and used 5 to get to a cup.  If you opt for key limes you're going to need  a lot more.  But whatever.  You don't need to strain the lime juice, but do fish out any seeds (though mine didn't have any so maybe limes don't).

Soo.... put the cup of lime juice into a 2 quart pitcher.  Fill the rest of the pitcher with water (bottled or filtered if you have it).  Then mix in little yellow packets of Splenda to taste.  I like my limeade tart so I used 8 packets.  You may need double if you want it sweet.   And that's it.  Pour over ice in a tall glass. 

Yum yum.  :)