Giving Thanks and Thanksgiving

This is the time of year when your Facebook stalker feed is filled with daily proclamations of thankfulness. A time when we're supposed to reflect on family and friends and how thankful we are for the things we have and hopefully give to those who don't have as much. Non-stop food drives. Pumpkin pie. Pumpkin ANYTHING. Sweaters. Hunting season. Dark early evenings. It's almost winter, folks.

I never participate in the 30 days of thanks on Facebook. I feel like when you have to name 30 things you're thankful for, you might forget one that you said. You find yourself needing to say things like, “I'm thankful that all my socks are clean” or “I'm thankful that I didn't get out of my car and smack the bitch that cut me off.” But I am thankful for things... and though this is the time of year that we can't help but think about those things, I try to think about them all the time. For the sake of the season, I'll list some of those things now:

I'm thankful for “Couch to 5k” for proving to me that I'm capable of more than I thought I was. For giving me a goal to reach and conquer and start the ball rolling for so many more goals to follow.

I'm thankful for everyone who has, over the past year (or the past four) told me that they notice I've lost weight, told me I look great, told me they're proud of me. I'm thankful for how hard weight loss is in order to see to it that I don't take what I've done for granted.

I'm thankful for my handsome gentleman. For every time he tells me dinner was great. For being my best friend and for accepting me for who I am and who I want to be. For not making me conform to some idea of what I should be. For not feeding me junk food. For telling me he's proud of me. For every time he's said “wow” at my progress. For telling me I look like a totally different person, even from just a year ago. His support.

I'm thankful for Jillian Michael's DVDs and Sara Ivanhoe yoga DVDs and sticky mats and Nike running shoes.

I'm thankful for the size 10 dress pants that I can now take off without unbuttoning or unzipping them. I'm thankful for being able to wear the size 6 dress pants I just bought this week. My first pair.

I'm thankful for running in general. For how it lets me explore and be adventurous. How I get to clear my mind yet be alert. For feeling sore sometimes. For letting me know I'm alive.

And though this doesn't touch the list of things that I'm thankful for, lastly, I'm thankful for myself. For my strength and persistence and courage. I'm proud of me too.

This blog is nearly a year old now and if you've been a reader from the get-go you'll know that I really don't like Thanksgiving food. The holidays aren't so much a time of eating for me because I can absolutely live without turkey. I hate stuffing. Cranberry sauce sort of looks gross and I can't bring myself to eat it. I like pie but I never eat the crust.

And this year I can't afford the plane ride to go back home so I'm not going to be subjected to the glorious restaurant extravaganza that is Kentucky, so this Thanksgiving should be pretty awesome for my waistline. I've signed up for a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving day that I'm looking forward to and hopefully, since I still have the week off, I'll have plenty of time to get some exercising in. With the time change recently and the 4:30 PM sunsets here in New England, I have been slacking on the exercise a bit. All I want to do is sleep.

In the world of food, let me tell you, that Frittata from last week... omg I had it for lunch twice this week with some avocado and it was wonderful. Less than 200 calories a serving and protein packed. Definitely recommend it.

I tried Philadelphia cooking cream this week. Went over to my handsome gentleman's house and made him dinner Thursday night and he really seemed to enjoy it. He was backseat cooking a little bit, but lucky for him he's adorable. I made Cajun Chicken Pasta with Broccoli and Mushrooms. Essentially boiled my linguine while I pan seared my thinly sliced chicken breasts dredged in cajun seasoning. I also sauted my mushrooms and broccoli to give it some char then when my chicken was done moved the veggies over to that pan to soak up some of the spicy. Melted the cooking cream into the veggies, cut up the chicken, then mixed it all with the pasta. Seemed to go over well.

This morning I knew I wanted a nice, pumpkin breakfast but couldn't decide between mixing it up in some oatmeal or making some pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes. I LOVE pumpkin and chocolate. One of my favorite things when I was obese was to get a pumpkin and cinnamon ice cream hot fudge sundae. Uhhh... I can taste it now.

So I opted for the pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes. I have never made pumpkin pancakes before, so this was a fun experiment. Here's what I used (and remember, I cook for one, so this recipe made 4 nicely sized pancakes, two of which are safe and sound in my fridge for another day):

1 c Bisquick (I use the Heart Smart version)

½ c fat free milk

1 egg

½ c pumpkin puree

½ tsp pumpkin pie spice

3 tbsp chocolate chips

Mix everything except the chocolate chips together to make your batter. Heat up a griddle and put approximately 1/3 cup of batter in four spots on the griddle. Your batter will be thick, so you might need to spread it out a little yourself. Then, sprinkle with chocolate chips. I always go back behind and push them in with my spatula.

The thing I noticed with these pancakes is they didn't do the bubble thing... you know where all the bubbles on the top side pop and that's how you know when to flip them? You just kind of have to wing it. And of course, I can never flip a pancake without making a mess, but I made minimal mess this time.

 

Watch your second side. These exposed chocolate chips can burn.

So two of these and some bacon ran me a little over 400 calories. Not bad for second breakfast. And then I went for a 3.5 mile run afterward, so, pretty much worked off those pancakes.

I've also been trying to  fix some of those Pinterest recipes I've been pinning. Made two that were super simple.

The first is a Sweet & Spicy Cucumber Salad and though it originates from this blog I seriously got annoyed thinking about slaving over the dressing for 10 minutes. I'm feeling pretty lazy today. My hip is a little sore.

Anyway, so I made it two small servings and here's how I did it. You'll need:

1 cucumber, peeled and sliced

½ tsp salt

¼ cup water

¼ cup rice vinegar

1 spoon full of sugar (I didn't measure, I used a spoon like you'd put sugar in coffee)

1 Tbsp crushed red pepper

1-3 Tbsp diced red onion

Emphasis on the spicy, my friends. This is so tasty. So I will give full credit to the blogger at the above link for the technique I learned for the cucumber. Put them in a colander that is sitting over a large bowl and then sprinkle with salt. Keep this in the fridge for about an hour, stirring occasionally. This will keep them from being too wet when you add the hot dressing. It really worked, I was pleased. I think it sort of makes the cucumber taste better.

Your cucumber is chilling in the fridge, so it's time to make your dressing. I put water, vinegar, sugar and red pepper in a microwave safe measuring cup and microwaved for 3 minutes. Then, mix in the onion. Let this set and come to room temperature. Pour the cooled dressing over your drained cucumber and chill again in the fridge. These are really good. I tried a bite just so I could tell you for sure. It's about to be the side dish with my chicken tonight for dinner.

Lastly, I decided to screw around with a Pinterest recipe I saw for peanut butter pie where they use vanilla greek yogurt instead of... well, anything else. I decided to use the PB2 instead of peanut butter which keeps the calories to a minimum. Making it with PB2 gives you a 200 calorie slice (1/8 of the pie). Amazing. I guess I'll take it in to work tomorrow and try it there. I did try a bite of the filling and it's not bad. I'm looking forward to a bite with the crust and the chocolate that I drizzled (slapped haphazardly) on top.

That's about all I've got for today. Looking forward to the upcoming week. Will probably eat way too many calories Thursday night but have intentions of running in the dark on Wednesday night. Just have to wait for my reflective vest to come in. Monday is the second bowling game in my league (yay!) and tap class Wednesday night too. Last week of work before a week off. That's probably the best part.