Bad Girl, Stupid Bath Tub, oh, and some sort of a chicken sandwich!

I have a confession to make. I have been a very bad girl tonight! Very bad girl! I skipped exercise night. Voluntarily!! Out of my own free will!

Those who know me know that I NEVER skip exercise night, unless I have a VERY good reason. Tonight? I didn’t even have A reason, let alone a good one… I was just feeling blah, you know… BLAH!

So… I was actually changing into my exercising clothes when I had a vision: Me, in a bath! OOOOOOH, a bath. It had been well over a year since I’d last taken a bath! I could already feel the warm jets of water and air bubbles massaging my skin. Instantly, my body and mind went into relaxation mode and I KNEW I had no choice, I had to go for it!

I get upstairs, get the water going then bring all my stuff, you know, all the stuff you need when you take a bath: shampoo, conditioner, soap, bubble bath, cup of green tea…

I get in the tub and anxiously wait for the water level to get high enough for me to get the jets going… water level is rising, rising… soon, so soon, it will happen. Finally, after what seems like forever, oooh, bliss, the magic moment is finally here… I press the power button…

NOTHING! NOTHING! The damn thing is broken and refuses to throw water and air bubbles at me. Does it not understand that I have just skipped exercise night to lose myself in it?

ARGH!ARGH!ARGH!ARGH!ARGH!ARGH!ARGH!ARGH!ARGH!

Oh well, I ended up staying like 20 minutes in a bubbless tub… I never stay much longer than that anyway. I hate it when my skin gets all wrinkley.

Now what? My stupid bath is over, I didn’t exercise, so I don’t even get to have an evening snack. Somehow, I feel robbed and frustrated. I think I will have a nice cup of warm unsweetened soy milk with a teaspoon of honey in it. There. That ought to make me feel better. Although with my luck, the milk will probably have gone bad!

Oh, and this is what I had for supper tonight. A super quick chicken sandwich made from leftover cooked chicken. Huge sandwich. And I didn’t even work it out. *sigh*  There’s always tomorrow…

These are the ingredients that I used:

• 1 cooked chicken breast, diced
• ½ Red Delicious Apple, diced (I ate the other half too!)
• 20g blue cheese, crumbled
• 20g toasted walnuts, chopped
• 2 tbsp low fat sour cream
• Pinch of salt and pepper

Just mix everything together and throw it between two slices of good, toasted whole grain bread (or a super cute triangular bread like the one I got!) with a few green leaves and a handful of alfalfa sprouts.

Buckwheat pancakes with Apples and Cottage Cheese

I love buckwheat pancakes. I remember when I was a kid, my dad used to make huge batches, like millions of them, and as soon as he’s have a few ready, he’d call us: “Y a des galettes de prêtes!” (meaning: some pancakes are ready) We’d all come running and sat down to devour them with loads of molasses while he stood at the stove and kept them coming for as long as we’d eat. Buckwheat pancake mornings always felt like party to me, they made me so happy. Maybe that’s why I still love them so much to this day.

Funny thing is I’m the one making the pancakes now, but I do things a little differently. I only serve them when I’m done cooking the whole batch, save for my dad. As soon as the second one is ready, I serve it to him. Why the second? Because the first one, for some strange reason, never comes out quite right. And my dad only deserves the very best. No way he’s getting that second grade first pancake. And if he wants another one when he’s done eating the first, he gets the next fresh one that comes out of the pan. Molasses gets drizzled very lightly on both sides of the pancake, then I swish it around to get it to soak all the way through. That’s how he likes it.

Of course, buckwheat and molasses is a match made in heaven, a classic! But I am discovering more and more winning combinations. For example, during Lent, I decided that molasses was off limits, too sweet, so I tried almond butter and bananas! YUM! So good! The following, however, would be one of my favorites: Apples, cinnamon and cheese. Just feast your eyes… you’ll more than likely share my opinion!

Buckwheat pancakes
(yields 3-4 large pancakes)

• 1 cup buckwheat flour
• 2 cups water
• ¼ tsp salt
• ½ tsp baking soda

Instructions

• In large mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients. Add water slowly, whisking constantly, until the batter is very smooth. Let stand at room temperature for at least 30 minutes (or make the day before and leave in the refrigerator overnight).
• Pour desired amount of batter in a very hot pan or cast iron skillet coated with cooking spray. Wait until pancake  starts to set and bottom is nice and golden then flip. Continue cooking until bottom is golden then transfer to plate.
• Repeat process until you’re out of batter.

Apples

You need approximately one apple per pancake. Simply peel and dice the apples, then cook them in a skillet over medium heat until they start to soften. If you’re like me, you’ll want to add lots of cinnamon!

Assembly

To assemble, put pancakes nice side down on a plate. Spread about ½ cup low fat cottage cheese in the center, top that with cooked apples and fold each side towards the center.

Garnish with  low fat plain yogurt, apple slices and toasted walnuts. A little drizzle of liquid honey brings the finishing touch to this beautiful dish.

Lent Kick Off – Warm Apple and Feta Quinoa Salad

Today is Ash Wednesday; the first day of Lent. This means that for the next 46 days, including today, I will not be having any meat, or alcohol, or sweets, or junk food of any kind. That’s 46 days of very strict eating, of keeping my diet 100% clean. No munching on chips, no French fries, not even a piece of dark chocolate. Boy, are your really that religious?, you may ask. Well, no. Not at all. This Lent thing started last year, when my son’s girlfriend was telling us about how it had been hard for her sister and herself the previous year to keep with the challenge they had set for themselves of not eating meat for the entire duration of Lent, because their parents did not support them and would cook meat all the time, which means they had to cook their own meals and figure it out by themselves. But hard as it was, they had both stuck with it and succeeded. I was very proud of her and said that I would gladly support her if she decided to renew the challenge again this year.