Fiber Fool

I don’t know what all was going on last week. All I can think of was my normal yoga one evening and knitting one evening, but I logged less than 12 awake hours at home from Monday - Friday last week. To say that I needed a weekend to recover was an understatement. But, now I need a weekend to recover from my weekend too!

If I thought last week was busy, the weekend was even busier! I left my house at 7:30 am on Saturday to go to Alpacamundo, my friend Kathryn’s alpaca ranch where I shot nearly 8 GB of photos for her to choose from for her web site redesign. I got home at a bit after 6pm that evening, but with my parents in tow!

They were acquiring a new piece of equipment for the farm but the freight costs were crazy so the company met them half way which happened to be Cheyenne. So they picked up the equipment on Saturday morning, parked it at a wonderful farm equipment lot there in Cheyenne for the weekend (in exchange for a box of donuts upon pick up). Then they slowly made their way down to join me at Alpacamundo and check out what an alpaca shearing is like.

DH worked as hard as I did on Saturday, wrapping up the last of the flooring that can be done in the dining room and kitchen without moving appliances. That still involved some heavy moving work and he washed everything that was stored in the hutch so it is ready to use after all that dusty work of ripping out the tile and cement board. The plan was to have homemade pizza, but he kept himself too busy to do the crust so we dined out.

Yesterday we did a tiny bit of shopping and I showed them where I work. Dad was impressed at how “out in the country” it was for being in town :-) Then I roasted another whole chicken and it was phenomenal! The garlic under the skin in combination with simple lemon, salt and pepper is fantastic! I placed it on a bed of sweet potato, rutabega, brussel sprouts, asparagus, carrots, onion, red pepper and some more garlic. Oh yum! Then a little later we had apple rhubarb berry crisp with Greek yogurt.

Scattered into the cooking was fighting with my mom’s ancient laptop (getting proper adaptive equipment set up is a rather large added expense to upgrading as is learning a new OS etc. on top of a screen reader and such so it doesn’t happen often) getting it to deal with downloading books from Audible and putting them into iTunes in a streamlined manner that Dad could stand a chance of remembering how to do. It took hours upon hours. Somewhat our doing, dealing with whose account you were in when you re-installed or uninstalled a program etc. and who had administrative privileges when. Yuck! Eventually one of my mom’s bookpods was filled at 10:30pm, then I had to pack my gym bag and organize stuff for packing my lunch as well as get 4 people through 1 bathroom before bed. I finally got to sleep at 11:30 pm with a 4:30 wake up call… Can I have a nap now?

As tired as I am, I am so glad my parents got to sneak in a visit amongst their work and around mine. That means in less than 6 months they’ve been here twice! When it has been years between visits that is pretty cool. Add on top of that my not having a clue when I might get to Minnesota again and it was even better. As usual it was pretty hard to see them go. But apparently, a tummy full of yummy Creole breakfast makes it easier for me to protect my mascara and keep the tears in check! I am just a big first-born baby.

In knitting news, I had plans to make this dip I’ve wanted to bring to knit night for the last month almost, but there once again was a lack of time and energy to get that accomplished. Thankfully my gals are both understanding and patient :-) I did get about 1/2″ knit on the sweater I started a while back. But I’m really not enjoying the yarn. I’m seriously debating frogging it and getting some easier to work with yarn. What I’ve got now was given to me by Amanda and is a rayon/cotton boucle sport weight yarn from Interlacements that has been discontinued. It has amazing drape, but those loops catch my needles with almost every stitch and it is annoying and has slowed the progress immensely! I have a spreadsheet set up so a slight change in gauge won’t cause much in the way of extra calculations. I wanted to work from stash, but if it is keeping me from knitting that tactic isn’t really working well then, is it?

I haven’t talked in depth about the dietary changes I’ve made over the past 15 months or so. It has very much been an evolutionary process. I think that is the best approach. Small changes are easier to handle without feeling overwhelmed. That overwhelmed element is important to monitor, especially if your eating is emotionally charged.

I started by increasing my fiber intake. I aimed for 30-35 g a day at the beginning of 2011. As I’ve lost weight my caloric intake has dropped so I’ve also dropped my fiber a bit, aiming for 25 g a day but being okay with myself if I have a 20 g day now and again. Then I reduced carbs and increased protein. Let me qualify the “cutting carbs” though - I did not eliminate anything completely from my diet but severely cut refine sugars. I still eat grains, though I try to stick to whole grains. I still eat carb-heavy vegetables, just in smaller portion sizes and perhaps less frequently. I most definitely still eat fruits too. I still struggle with getting enough protein within my calorie and carb limits (if you have fav portable lunches or breakfasts with ~30 g of protein, please share them with me!). When I manage to get ~100 g I feel a lot better so there is a tangible reason beyond seeing the numbers on the scale and tape measure getting smaller!

Needless to say, most pancakes did not fit into this new way of eating and I had tried my share of whole grain pancakes only to be disappointed - for lack of a better explaination they tasted too “healthy.” I’m pretty sure I went over 6 months without having a pancake (other than the German variety).

The philosophy around my eating now is rooted in both moderation and variety with a focus on eating whole, unprocessed foods as much as possible. Though a peak at my desk will indicate I have not completely eliminated processed foods. Sometimes life is just too busy and it is better to eat a little something processed than to not eat. So several months ago DH and I started having pancakes fairly regularly on the weekends. I played with many partially and 100% whole grain recipes. I’ve hit upon what I think is now “my pancake recipe.” Each 4.5-5″ diameter pancake is only 80 calories and packs almost 2 g of fiber and 4 g of protein! They are still light and fluffy and golden brown. [Note: the panckes pictured above are not from the most recent revision of the recipe, in fact they were from a version sometime before the new year.]

While this pancake’s texture and taste suits our palettes I would like some feedback from others before I post it here on the blog. The recipe calls for the usual pancake stuff - milk, eggs, salt, soda, and brown sugar. In addition you’ll need white whole wheat flour (King Arthur makes a great one that is pretty readily available), oat bran, ground flax seeds and low fat Greek yogurt. I’d like at least a few people to try the recipe as is, but I also wouldn’t mind hearing how it goes with regular whole wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour (I have 1 volunteer for that). The oat bran could be replaced with wheat bran or wheat germ and one could use chia seeds in place of the flax seeds. If you want to test the recipe out, I’d like you to be able to make them and get comments back to me by May 5th.

Hands on time making the batter is probably less than 10 minutes if you pull everything out first. Then there is a rest period and the actual cooking time. It is probably about 1.5 hours from start to being done eating them if you cook 4 at a time, less if you have larger griddle that accomodates 6-8 pancakes. It makes 24 pancakes and they do reheat nicely in a toaster oven either straight from the fridge or freezer.

If you are interested and can make them and get comments back to me by May 5th, please let me know in the comments and let me know what if any substitutions you’d be making and I’ll send you the recipe.

Thanks!

Ahhh, vacation… I can only dream of one right now. Even a staycation. I’ll do my best to cast my mind back to the end of May and early June of last year to try my hand at this week’s 10 on Tuesday. It is also a good excuse to revist some of my favorite photos from vacations past :-D

1. Around these parts many of my vacations have been solo, so of course at the top of the list would be seeing DH and the pups again!

2. Sleeping in my own bed!

3. Return to normal and healthy eating patterns, including having more control over what I eat. Vacations are such a great excuse to splurge, but that extra sugar and fat I’m not accustomed to ultimately makes me feel less well.

4. Though I’m still not in the “ooo, I love working out camp” I do like getting back to the gym because it does give me more energy for my day when I start out with a good work out.

5. Returning to the all around “normal” routines. While it may seem boring, routines can be helpful in many ways.

6. Resting! I suspect I’m not the only to keep up a rather hectic pace while on vacation. I often feel it is my only chance to visit a place so want to pack in everything I can. Getting back home means I can slow back down to my normal pace. My sister and I are notorious at wearing each other out. Now we like to alternate photo days and photo editing days so we don’t return home completely exhausted like we used to.

I’m about tapped out I think. I am pretty certain I would come up with at least ten things if we weren’t concentrating on the “good things” but ultimately I think those bad things mean less than the good things over all.

How about you? What do you like about getting home from vacation?

I’m doing my best to start this week off right! The gardens around our office building are blooming. It is evident not only in the colors popping up, but also in the fragrance of the air. It is positively lovely to step outside for a few deep breaths now and again. So I started my morning off by appreciating one of the blooming plants while wearing some new shoes. I decided it was time to get more protective sandals for biking.

Some of you might have fallen of your chairs to learn that those feet decked out in eye popping red are mine! I have for years gone on about not liking red. But it seems my ban of all things red officially was lifted when I bought a red cover for my Kindle. I’ve since bought a few shirts/sweaters, yarn and now shoes in that bright hue. I’m still a bit picky about the tone of the red, but I think red is here to stay. Of course the orange and yellow also in the shoes helped to sell them. That and $30 off :-)

Things last week didn’t at first seem “interesting.” But when the interesting happened, it pretty much trumped the rest of the week. At about 3am on Thursday morning I woke up smelling smoke. Definitely wood/plant smoke. This happens probably at least once a year. We are not far from the foothills so it isn’t terribly rare to smell a wild fire a few ridges to the west or that. But I did my usual routine - take a turn about the entire house, being careful to check the handles of any closed doors to make sure they were cool etc. Everything was fine. Then I tried to visit my local paper’s web site on my smartphone to see if there were any nearby wildfires making the headlines. In the past Denver papers have been quicker to post than the local one, but I always have faith. That is until now. You can no longer read anything on the local paper’s site without a subscription (the mobile site, on the regular site you have 30 articles a month)! I think that is a huge *fail* for public safety and a poor policy! Anyway, I thought the smoke seemed awful strong and was just uneasy so I started looking out all the windows of the house, starting with stepping out the front door. Nothing. When I got back to the master bedroom I about had a heart attack. Not 200 ft from our window was a fire the size of a VW bug!

I saw no signs of people or fire trucks so I immediately dialed 911. From the time I placed my call to when the crew had packed up and left was about 30 or 40 minutes. I caught it while it was still quite small. The wind was also blowing it towards the sidewalk which I suspect slowed it down. Conditions here are super dry with the unusually high temps and lack of moisture. I’m not afraid to admit that I was freaking out though. There were sparks blowing in our direction. I woke up DH and we harnessed the dogs and packed up our laptops etc. and put them by the front door in case we needed to evacuate. Thankfully we didn’t. Though all that adrenaline prevented me from getting any more sleep. Thursday was a *very* long day to say the least!

Another way I started this week off right is thanks in part to the warm weather. It was finally above 60 by lunch time so I got to eat outside once again (something I haven’t done since my first week). This time I didn’t go with the obvious table on the deck, but opted to hide a bit in the garden. This meant an uninterrupted lunch break with just me, my Kindle and a salad! No interruptions to remove a paper jam or locate some office supply or whatever other things people feel cannot wait until my lunch break is over.

Did you start the week off right today? What helps you feel like the the day/week/month/year is moving in the right direction?

What a week last week was! There were a few “firsts” that took place. Then it ended with my birthday yesterday which included a fun little road trip with Amanda to Ikea (complete with Swedish meatballs) and sushi and chocolate. Not a bad way to start my next trip around the sun!

I mentioned last week how I’ve now dipped into the smallest pant size of my adult life. Well, add to that list someone wanting to set me up with someone else (both the engagement and wedding rings are laughably large - on my thumbs even so there is no visual clue to my married status!). Too, too weird. Neither party knows me that well so they didn’t know I’ve been married for almost a decade now so that was a little ackward. But flattering.

I also had my first “oh, you’re just whithering away” comment. I knew to expect these as both my mom and sister have experienced them. It is kind of amusing though when someone who is likely a size 4 or at most a size 6 is telling you that at a size 12 you are “wasting away.” This particular person sees me weekly as she is one of my yoga instructors. All winter though she happened to see me most often in oversized sweaters (frequiently my Wisteria which has about 10-12 inches of ease now). I know she was very surprised the first time she saw me in a more fitted top with my yoga pants and to be fair I missed the week prior due to a bug so likely a 2 week spread in seeing me brought some change to my body into stark contrast for her. But it still made me chuckle.

Of course if I don’t stop the birthday celebrations soon I won’t be keeping my size 12 pants! ;-) Today is the last day of celebrating. I brought my rhubarb filled cupcakes with almond buttercream frosting to work. I have to say - I should have brought in baked goods much, much sooner! :-D I’ll be bringing some to knit night tonight as well and then I’m done with the celebratory refined carbs and getting my butt back onto the treadmill doing intervals at 5am!

Another advantage of working outside the home - I have coworkers to eat up my baked goods so I can enjoy making them and eat one and not have to worry about eating the rest! I think I may have to resurme semi-regular baking. They were definitely more than appreciative of my efforts! More of them were fans of rhubarb than I expected. I wonder how they feel about cardamom? Also, can I pull off an at least partial whole grain version of bullar? Hmmm….