OATrageous Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Courtesy of Hungry Girl, I made some delicious chocolate chip pancakes this morning. Gasp! I followed a recipe?!

Ok so, they didn't turn out incredibly gorgeous, but they did taste very good. Note: these are very dense pancakes. If you are looking for a light and fluffy recipe, this is not the best choice. Also, I only had regular sized chocolate chips which probably upped the Points Plus values a bit, but I wanted the chocolat-y flavor.

You can find the recipe here! The newsletter recipe differs slightly from what I made (out of the 200 recipes under 200 cookbook). The only major difference is I swapped fat free milk for fat free vanilla yogurt.

I have made these pancakes before... which turned out a little prettier. I made one large pancake instead of several mini ones. And at 4 points plus, this recipe is a breakfast steal! And they definitely taste 'bad.'

Because they are so dense, you could whip these up the night before and re-heat in the morning for a delicious at-work breakfast, and I don't think you would know the difference! They definitely kept me full until lunch as well.. which is always a feat! Let me know if you end up trying these pancakes for breakfast, lunch, or dinner!

Mushroom Mac and Cheese - Lightened Up

I really enjoy cooking simple, healthy recipes... and I have quite a few in my repertoire.

One of my favorite (unhealthy) things to make is homemade macaroni and cheese, and I do admit I am pretty good at it... I think the lightened up version is good as well! I was craving some comfort food tonight and had all the fixin's, so I decided to make a mushroom version of lightened up mac and cheese. I must admit, this is one of the best recipes I have made - ever. While I fly by the seat of my pants in the kitchen and don't usually follow recipes, I will try and recreate this so you can try it at home!

This recipe is for one large serving... This recipe would also make a good sized portion as a side dish for two. I cooked everything in 'stages' in one medium sized pot.

1.5 Servings - Ronzoni Smart Taste Elbows
2 cloves garlic, minced
Fresh Mushrooms, diced
Dash of olive oil
1 tbsp light butter
1 tbsp whole wheat flour
1 c. skim milk
Pinch of red pepper
Pinch of dry mustard
Salt and pepper to taste
2 oz. low-fat sharp cheddar cheese

Stage 1:

Cook pasta and drain. Set aside.

Stage 2:

Saute garlic and diced mushrooms in a small amount of olive oil on medium heat until cooked through. About 5 minutes. Set aside.

Stage 3:

Melt butter over medium heat. Add flour and combine. Cook until heated through, about 2 minutes.

Add skim milk. Cook over medium heat until it comes to a low boil, stirring constantly. Sauce will begin to thicken. If it doesn't, add more flour as needed. If it is too thick, add more milk as needed.

Add cooked mushrooms and garlic, stirring well. Add cheese and stir until melted. Add salt, pepper, red pepper, and dry mustard to taste.

Put cooked pasta in to sauce and combine until pasta is completely coated.

Stage 4:

Serve immediately and enjoy!

This is a really easy and filling recipe. I calculated 13 Weight Watchers Points Plus - you definitely get your 'bang for your buck' with this macaroni and cheese. It tastes really bad, but you are using lightened up ingredients!!

Let me know if you end up recreating and how you like it! There is enough sauce that comes out of this recipe, you could add additional veggies such as broccoli or asparagus, or add more pasta.

A Concert Pictorial: Taylor Swift

Ok, so the highlight of my life so far is the Taylor Swift concert in Atlanta. I am so grateful Taylor got sick and rescheduled so that I could attend as a VIP.

Here is our concert story through pictures. All photo credits belong to Betsy (and Sehar, the waiter at Taco Mac, and random concert people for taking them). This is basically the next-best-thing to being there and actually hanging out with yours truly.

We were a little hungover from the night before, but we managed to pull ourselves together and get beautiful for Taylor. I decided to go with the full on cowgirl look. Betsy went with the partial cowgirl (see the boots!).

We rode the MARTA to get to Taylor. We tweeted at her in our last ditch effort to get her to meet us at Taco Mac. Hey. I tried.

We made it!!!

We hung out with Taylor pre-show. She got dressed up for us too. I didn't want to embarrass her by telling her she forgot her hat...

We went to Taco Mac and waited for Taylor to join us again... she failed to show up and she completely forgot to let us know!!!

She must have been busy getting ready for this or something... So, we forgave her and still managed to make it (read: stumble) our way in to the suite

This is our 'OMG TAYLOR IS ON' face. See how excited we are?!?

We love Taylor!!!

Our suite was a little boring. Not as lively as we would have liked. Betsy, myself, and another girl were the only people dancing and having actual fun... soo Betsy made us new friends and we went to their suite.

Come to find out - our new friends were married to executives at AT&T. We only roll with other VIP's. They had food in their suite... I had a hot dog and got in trouble by the suite 'bouncer' even though the President of AT&T International told me I could have one (so did his wife...) I still ate it...

We remained in the AT&T suite for the rest of the concert. They had a way better view of Taylor. I just kept my hands off of the hot dogs... We (I) managed not to get kicked out. TI made a surprise appearance for us and they sang 'Live Your Life.' He knows how much I love rap and wanted to celebrate being out of jail with me!!! I thought that was pretty cool of him.

While Betsy and I did go all out for this concert and sometimes acted ridiculous (read: awesome), it was 100% worth it. I have been to many concerts in my day, and this was by far the best one I have ever been to. Taylor put on a great show, and I can't wait to see her again! I plan on reliving the concert again and again via CD in my car. I may or may not have a voice after my next road trip. Deal with it.

Thursday's Thoughts

And I am back from a whirlwind trip to Atlanta. As soon as I finished my 5K, I scarfed down some black bean burger leftovers and hit the road. When I road trip solo, I basically have a concert in the car. I may not be the world's best singer but I sure do have fun. This was a Taylor Swift themed trip in honor of her concert on Sunday night (that deserves it's own separate blog post).

The trip to ATL flew by.. some of the highlights include: shopping, dinner at Matt's (spaghetti and meatballs and some delectable mushroom puff pastry appetizers), out at Twisted Taco, naptime, getting ready for Taylor Swift, Taco Mac for beer, food, and waiting for Taylor Swift, and the Taylor Swift concert. That was just the weekend - then I had a very full three days of work.

Enough of that nonsense.. I am just thankful tomorrow is Friday (and next week, I am on vacation on Friday). I have never been more excited to have no weekend plans. Lately, I have been falling off the food bandwagon every weekend and gaining what I have lost during the week (not. healthy.) I am looking forward to staying on track this weekend and getting back in to my workout routine.

Tonight I made what I like to refer to as 'Po' Gal's Soup.' I am not a huge fan of chicken, but I had a shredded rotisserie chicken and fresh corn in the freezer - so I decided to make some homemade Chicken Noodle Soup. I happened to stop by the Dekalb Farmers Market in Atlanta (one of the best places in the world) and stocked up on some fresh homemade pasta. If you have not been there and are anywhere near Atlanta, you should check it out. Everything is super cheap and there is an amazing selection of fruits, vegetables, and so much more.

The whole pot of 'Po' Gal's Soup' cost me about $10 to make and I will get about 8 meals out of it. The best part is you can throw almost anything in the mix! You could make with pasta, or rice, any kind of vegetable or meat you wanted to and I believe it would still be delicious with the chicken broth and thyme base.

In this pot:
Fresh Pasta ($2)
Chicken ($3)
Canned Okra, Corn, and Tomato ($1)
Canned Garbanzo Beans ($1.50)
Canned Green Beans ($.50)
Box of chicken broth ($2)
Fresh corn (frozen from fresh - free, thanks mom and dad!)
Fresh thyme (free - from my probably dying herb garden)
On another note, I would like to give a big shout out to Calphalon. I love their Unison line of pots and pans - non stick and dishwasher safe. While the pots and pans are pricey, the investment is worth it. In fact, I just got my Unison grill pan in the mail today. I am looking forward to cooking something on it this weekend. I am thinking black bean burgers, peppers, and chipotle ranch! I will probably be eating that and chicken soup all weekend and well in to next week. With the farmshare that we get each week, I am really trying to cut back on my grocery bills and focusing on eating out of the fridge/freezer/pantry, and have been pretty successful and resourceful so far!

If you made it all the way to the end, thanks for reading a super exciting post. Be on the lookout for a concert update. The Taylor Swift concert was certainly an adventure.. and one of the most fun nights of my life!

5K Day

Me and 17,000 people ran/walked the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure today. Check this video out... pretty cool. They raised $1 million dollars through this Charlotte race alone (thanks, Mom for your donation!). It felt good to be running for such an important cause.



Between all the people, survivors, and supporters, and me realizing 'whoa, I am actually going to run a 5K,' I got emotional before the race.. I held back tears but I could hardly control them! It was pretty crazy - I have done a few 5K's before, but for some reason this one really just hit me.

On a less serious note, let's back up to earlier this morning. Of course, I did a pre-race photo shoot (please excuse the crazed look in my eyes - it was 7 AM), and ate a piece of peanut butter and banana toast for fuel!

Today was the day that I have been 'training' for for two months. My own personal couch to 5K program, and I am very proud to say that I did it. I finished the race in 40:50... my goal was to finish in 40 minutes or less and to walk as little as possible, so I got pretty close. I made it about 2.5 miles before I had to take a 1/2 song walk break. This was right at the very end after going up a killer hill. I got a cramp. But I saw that 3 mile flag and finished the race strong. I sprinted to the finish line so I could finish under 41 minutes. Not too bad for a first time 5K run.

I still can't believe I did it - I never thought in a million years that I would be able to run a 5K. Feels so good to have accomplished something I have worked so hard for.

My reward? A (free) pumpkin coffee from Dunkin' Donuts (I found a coupon) and a 4 hour drive to Atlanta... the 4 hour drive isn't so much a reward as it is a way to get to the reward! I get to spend the weekend with great friends (and Taylor Swift, NBD).

Speaking of, I better get moving or else I won't ever get on the road! I have a big day of shopping and eating ahead of me once I arrive.