Baking my way out of summer

Today is officially my last day of summer, who’s with me?!  School will probably take its toll on blogging, but I still hope to post on most days.  Let’s face it-the support and encouragement from the bloggy world is unreal !

A failed goal for the summer was baking more.  As a last hoorah I whipped up quite the masterpiece mixing summer and fall, banana and pumpkin.

Pumpkin Banana Bread

Pumpkin Banana Bread

1 egg, beaten
1 cup whole wheat flour + 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp baking soda
dash of salt
1/2 cup mashed banana
1/4 cup pumpkin
<1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Grease and lightly flour a 10-inch tube pan (or whatever size pan you’re cooking in).  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In medium bowl, stir flour , cinnamon, baking soda, salt.  In a small bowl, mash banana with a fork.

In large bowl, stir sugar, banana, egg, vanilla, and pumpkin.  Add dry ingredients to the wet.  Use an electric beater for thorough mixing, although I just beat it by hand and it turned out fine.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30-35 minutes.

Don’t let it cool…eat it when it’s warm and mushy! 

Fact:  I can’t eat the edges on baked bread.

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Cucumbers and pancakes is not the best combo.

Fact:  I have to have something green at every meal, except breakfast.  [Still cannot fathom sucking down spinach in smoothie form.]

This is one serving, yet there is another huge pancake underneath the one pictured.  This is a protein pancake no less.  Due to the lack of eggs and oats in my house, I had to be creative.

Chocolate Protein Pancake

1 scoop chocolate whey protein powder
1/4 cup milk
4 T flour (I used whole wheat)
3/4 tsp baking powder
dash of sea salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp plain Greek yogurt

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl.  Add wet ingredients one at a time.  Grease a skillet and flip yo pancakes.

Just don’t add cucumbers as your side.

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Today should be required by law to be a day of relaxation, yet I’ll be running around like a maniac trying to get school supplies, finalize my schedule, and try to unnerve.  Enjoy your weekend & if you’re in the path of Irene, STAY SAFE!

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Do you still get nervous about the first day of school?  Slightly yes, more excited than nervous though!
Favorite breakfast for lunch food?  Pancakes all day everyday.

What you are is what you think

“A man is what he thinks about all day long.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Quotes that make you rethink your life are the shizzznettttttt.  Sometimes I’ll Google quotes and just sit and read.  People are so wise!

I’ve been putting off a post about why I don’t want to be back at my school this semester, but I don’t want to dwell on it and make everything worse.  In a nutshell:

• my ED days began here.  I haven’t lived a day here without those rampant thoughts racing through my mind.  Restricting me from eating, from going out with friends, and from living.  Being around so many people the same age draws me into the comparison trap like no other, making these thoughts worse and worse and worse and worse…
• I lost most of my friends over the course of last year because of that.  I isolated myself, and I’m paying the steep price right now.  Making new friends ain’t the easiest thing for this girl, but I’m hoping that everything falls into place this semester.
• discomfort.  Have you ever been to a place where you just don’t feel comfortable or you don’t fit in?  I just happened to make that place my school.  Last year it was a daily struggle to get my butt out the door and go to class and live in this city.
• being away from my family.  I’m a family girl, nough said.

In the past, all I could think of was how much I hated it here.  Because that’s *what I thought about all day long* I was miserable and lonely.  Yesterday I could have sat around and thought about how much I hated it and how I didn’t want to be back.  Instead, I tried to get excited about a fresh start and the positives about being back.  And what a difference it makes!

[I completed one of my August goals – going out of my comfort zone.  A year away from going out made me miss it and I’m so glad I decided to skip my early bedtime in my comfort zone and go out with my roomie.  This even included having [another] bowl of cereal late at night and not eating “on schedule”.  Vick.tor.ee.]

My point is, spending all day thinking that I’m fat is going to make me feel fat, lose confidence, and hate life.  Spending all day thinking about how I hate it here will bring me back to that place of misery and loneliness.  Spending all day fretting about working out will make me a crazy woman and no fun to be around.  If I think about love, friends, progress, family, God all day, then that’s who I’m going to be.  That’s what my life will be about.  That’s what it should be about.

I didn’t make it to the grocery store yesterday, so I’m living on slim pickens.  Here are picchas of my (unfinished) room:

Balcony - FAVORITE thing ever! Hello blogging and coffee while watching the sunrise

I mean, if there aren’t any other positives, atleast I’m living in a house…a place where I can call home!

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The only foodie pic I’ve gotten so far – due to my friends’ lack of knowledge about my blog – was the most perfect breakfast besides a cookie dough oatmeal smoothie.

Protein pancakes a la Gina!  I subbed a flax egg for a real egg, and 2 Tbsp quick oats for flour and they turned out surprisingly huge well.

I’m heading back home for the night for a funeral, my brother’s first cross country meet, and a baking class.  Thankfully I don’t have to conquer my fear of the rec center yet.  Have a SUPERFANTASTIC Friday and a beautiful, restful weekend!

Do you have a quote that you live by?
What are you looking forward to over the next few months?