Naturally since I got a brand spanking new fantastic waffle maker for Christmas, I have been in the mood for nothing but pancakes.

Figures.

Pancakes are in big rotation here at the HQ as a Sunday Breakfast staple.  I love coming up with new creations and flavor combos.  This newest pancake has the awesome combo of bananas and peanut butter!

Andrea’s Peanut Butter and Banana Pancakes

• 1C Spelt Flour
• 1C Unbleached All Purpose Flour
• 1tsp Baking Powder
• 1TBSP Ground Flax
• 2tsp Cinnamon
• 2 Bananas
• 1 3/4C Soymilk
• 1/4C All Natural Peanut Butter
• 2tsp Vanilla Extract
• Olive oil for cooking

In a large mixing bowl combine the flours, baking powder, flax, and cinnamon.  Stir with a whisk to combine and aerate the flours.  In a medium sized mixing bowl combine soymilk and banana.  Mash the banana with a masher until totally demolished.  Add in the peanut butter and vanilla, whisk till combined.  Gently pour the liquid mixture in with the flour mixture, stir with mixing…

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I might have told you this before but I could eat soup everyday and be a happy girl.  The only other person I know of who liked soup as much as I was my father.  He could eat soup everyday as well.

Soup is great because it can have a lot or a few ingredients.  It can be hardy, creamy, or brothy.  It can be hot or cold.  It can be whatever you want it to be and it doesn’t take ages to make.  I think sometimes people have the misconception that soup takes all day long to create.  It doesn’t, I promise.

Lori recently posted her recipe for Potato and Broccoli soup for 2 and I sort of stuck that idea on the backburner so that I could make it soon.  With the recent snow storm that we just got hammered with (12+ inches of snow),…

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It’s a short log since I’m just starting. But my goal is to have a weekly training log.  Not sure how many are going to be interested in my weekly exercise but I like having a log someplace that I can refer to.

Friday, February 5th, 2010:

Fridays are normally my rest day but I was going to work out since I didn’t do anything on Monday.  We still had no heat on Monday and I didn’t want to workout causing me to have to shower because that would have been chilly!

However Thursday was a pretty big exercise day for me.  I ran 6 miles and conditioning class at Muay Thai was rough last week.  I needed a rest so I just went with it.  Because the weather turned and we started getting hit with the dreaded winter storm, I literally just bummed around the house.  I had to cancel plans with two friends (sorry guys!) but it…

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Hi guys!  I’ve been thinking a lot about OHC lately and what I would like for it to become and what I would like to talk about.  I’m sort of leaning away from the daily eats posts.  Mostly because I don’t really have that much to talk about in regards to the minutia of my day.  I ate, I walked Rocky, and I ate some more.  The end.

Snore fest.

And I’m just not really feeling those posts anymore.  Part of the reason is that I also don’t want to bring in discussion topics in those posts.  For me personally, I feel like discussion worthy topics should get their own posts to highlight them.  I don’t know if that makes sense to anyone else but me.   I am very much a compartmentalized type of personality.  I like things to be neat and orderly.  Things that are worth a big “discussion” should be in their own category while what…

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[Writer's Note: This was supposed to go up last night but my picture program wasn't working right.  So it got posted this morning instead.]

Hi gang!  Sorry for no update yesterday but time got away from me and I was busting it around the house.  It was a bit windy Wednesday morning so I stayed inside and did 2 levels of shred and then Gina’s week 3 of the Winter Shape-Up.  I kicked ass and it felt awesome!  One thing I love right now about doing the shred is that I’m actually sweating and to be honest, it’s one of the things about working out that I love.  With it currently being winter, I don’t really sweat much on my runs outside.  Both of my martial arts schools are in warehouse type buildings which means they tend to be on the cold side during winter and that means I’m not sweating as much.

I love to sweat!  I stink like a mofo…

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Hey gang!  Dinner last night was risotto!

YUM!  With:

• Carrots
• Zucchini
• Onion
• Sundried tomatoes
• Artichokes
• Shrimp
• Red pepper and asiago chicken sausage

I put some shredded asiago on top and it was delish!  I do not add cheese to the risotto but put it on top instead.  This helps me control the cheese amount better and then everyone can have as much or as little as they want.   I know this isn’t technically how risotto is done but it works for us!

Then I had a glass of white (celebrate!) and some dark chocolate with sea salt.  YUM!  And I read for a wee bit and crashed out in my warm toasty bed in my warm toasty house.

I got up this morning to snow on the ground.  Bleh.  I’m over snow.

It’s Part III of Winter Running Tips, yo!  If you missed Part I and Part II, click on the links and get caught up!

Part III’s tips are brought to you by me!  I know you’re terribly excited so let’s get down to business.

If you’re like me, then you like running outside.  And if you’re really like me, then running outside is your only option.  I don’t have access to a treadmill.  I do not own one and since I currently train in two martial arts, joining a gym or purchasing a treadmill is not in my budget.  Since I really like running and running outside is my only option, this means that I have to run in the winter.

That’s right! No slacking just because it’s winter time!

In the cold, in the snow, and in the ice, I run in it all.  To be honest, I don’t mind the cold, even the cold cold, like single digits. …

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Hey gang! Sorry for no post yesterday but if we weren’t running around buying space heaters then we were under the blankets trying to stay warm.

Saturday’s dinner ended up being chili from the freezer.

The last of the pumpkin squash chili! Sadface. Multigrain bread and butta on the side.

Sunday, January 31st:

I got up early in the morning and headed out for my long run.  I was dying to run because I hadn’t been out since Wednesday, this makes me cranky.  The difference with yesterday is that Scott was up with me!  He’s never up that early on a Sunday so it was a bit unusual around here in the morning.  Rocky was confused and thought Scott was cramping his style. “This is me and mama time DAD!”    It was cold yesterday but I was going to get my shiz done!  Because there was…

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Hi guys!  Check out Thursday’s snackies:

Red wine and some chocolate chocolate-chip cookies.  Mmmm!  We watched some 24 while snacking.  We don’t watch a lot of TV shows because either I think they’re dumb or they started off great and turned craptastic (Heroes anyone?).  While I know 24 can get a little ridiculous, I still love seeing some Bauer Power in action.  HAWT!  Then I crashed out in bed.

Friday:

Normally Fridays are my rest days but since I didn’t run on Thursday and only did conditioning class, I really felt the need to workout.  I didn’t run because it was late in the morning and because it was really cold.  So I did two levels of shred and a few other extra lifts and called it good.  I felt so much better having gotten something done!

Then the rest of the day…

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Hi gang!  Last night after stick fighting class I had a snack.

A whole wheat pita with PB and honey.  I only ate half though, that was plenty for me.  I was a bit hungry and since I planned on running a good distance this morning, I figured the extra fuel was no problem.

And then I didn’t run.  Boo!  When I got up this morning there was some seriously crazy wind going on.  Like hardcore wind.  No way I’m running in that.  I hate cold winter wind!  Back in the day when I first started running and was on the weight-loss train, I would have ran in it for sure.  Now that I’m in maintenance mode I can be a little bit more laid back with the runs (not much because I still need to get my run on or I get really cranky).  If…

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