That Swagger...

Wow, we've already finished a whole month of 2013!  It seems like time has just flown by!  I am honestly excited for this year.  I have so many plans and big dreams for this year.  It pumps me up to see what the rest of the year holds in store.

Today I noticed something as I was walking out of the gym.  I walk differently.  No, it's not because my legs feel like jelly (even though they do half the time.)  It's a swagger.  

I very rarely have a swagger.  It's completely an "I'm-awesome-and-I-bet-you-can't-do-what-I-just-did" confident swagger.  It feels great to have visible confidence.  I'm the girl that normally walks with her head down, doesn't make eye contact and rarely starts a conversation with a stranger.

But, after the gym, I'm a big dog (in my own head.)  I will answer any question, and look you dead in the eye.  The best thing that comes with my swagger??  I feel damn sexy.

You want to know what makes me feel not sexy after a workout?  The reason I have a waddle rather than a swagger?  Waffles.  Yes, waffles.  Syrup is my major kryptonite.  I love it.  Honestly, I put it on everything.  It sweetens my morning oatmeal.  Before I discovered Stevia I used syrup to sweeten my coffee.  Half the reason I make breakfast for dinner is because of syrup. 

I made 4 different kinds of waffles tonite.  Plain, pumpkin, blueberry, peanut butter, and chocolate chip.  All of them were fat free and they were all delicious.  The girls know that I will always make them 1...just 1 chocolate chip waffle (or pancake.)  That's all I will ever make.

I adapted this recipe from  Vegan Waffle Party
If you want to make it a bit healthier then switch some of the white flour for whole wheat.  You can make it a 50/50 split if you'd like 2 1/2 whole wheat and 2 1/2 white flour.

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 4 cups white flour
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 c vanilla yogurt
• 4 1/2 cups fat free soy milk
• 6 T sugar free maple syrup

Directions

1. Mix whole wheat flour, white flour, baking powder, and baking soda in a mixing bowl.
2. In a separate bowl mix yogurt, soy milk, and syrup
3. Mix wet ingredients into dry
4. Heat your waffle iron, spray with pan spray and cook waffles according to manufacturers directions.

Variations

Pumpkin

Measure out about 1 cup of batter and stir in 1/4 cup of pureed pumpkin, a dash of pumpkin pie spice and a tablespoon of syrup

Chocolate chip

Sprinkle a small handful of chocolate chips onto the batter when you get it in waffle iron.

Blueberry

Mix in 1/4 cup of blueberries per 1 cup of batter

Peanut butter

Measure out 1/2 cup of batter and stir in one tablespoon of PB2.

Each plain waffle has about 175 calories.  Not bad unless you're like me and eat 3.5 in one sitting!! 

What do you like to add to your waffles? 

Sunday Post

(Don't you love my post title?  I couldn't think of anything witty, smart or even post related for the title.  So this is what my frazzled, 6 AM, essay writing brain came up with)

Is there any meal that you could eat 3x a day every day?

For me that meal is breakfast.  (The picture gave it away didn't it?)  I love it.  I love all breakfast foods (except grits...YUCK!) Okay, I can't lie, I love 95.7% of all breakfast foods.  I know that there are probably other ones that are gross that I can't think of at the moment.  I could honestly eat  breakfast foods 5 day a week, 3 meals a day.  I'm quirky though.  I don't like a big breakfast in the morning. All I want at breakfast time is something simple like oatmeal, or cereal and fruit.

The girls and I eat BFD (Breakfast For Dinner) at least a few times a month.  There's actually part of me that is considering doing a Christmas BFD.  But the family's a bit traditional when it comes to holiday dinners so that idea is going to be saved for a different day. 

I actually broke out the waffle iron last nite.  I VERY VERY rarely use it.  It cost me $7 at Target.  I put in a good word with Kay that if she wants waffles more often a new waffle iron would be a good thing for me to find under the Christmas tree.   

I made pumpkin waffles (which were a HUGE hit), blueberry waffles and chocolate chip waffles.  Because of my scatterbrainedness I completely forgot to get pictures.  Heck, if I wasn't so passionate about breakfast this post possibly wouldn't have happened (and I'm avoiding writing a paper.) 

Here's the pumpkin waffle recipe:Organic Gardening
And the blueberry: 8th Continent Blueberry Waffle Recipe  
[Note:  I actually used this recipe for both the blueberry and the chocolate chip ones.  Before I added the blueberries I split the batter in half and added blueberries in one and chocolate chips in the other.] 

Try them and tell me what you think!  Tomorrow I'll bring you a photo collage on what I eat at Mongolian Barbecue restaurants.