Protein Pancake Recipe

This recipe is an adaptation from the hotcake recipe in Jillian Michael's Making the Cut. Everything I have made from that book has been delicious! This recipe will make about 10 or 11 small pancakes.

Ingredients:
3 large eggs
1 cup cottage cheese
1T whole wheat flour

Optional Ingredients:
fresh blueberries
walnuts
1 packet of Splenda

The method:
1. Separate the yolks from the whites and put in 2 separate bowls.
2. With an electric mixer, beat the whites until nearly stiff peaks form
3. Now beat the yolks until they thicken a bit - about 2 minutes or so
4. (Optional) Run the cottage cheese through a food processor (I don't like the texture of cottage cheese.) This is also where I add the packet of Splenda.
5. Add the cottage cheese to the yolks, then the 1T wheat flour, then fold in the egg whites.
6. Let it sit a few moments before spooning onto a hot griddle. I like to use a Tablespoon, and use about 2T per pancake. Flip the pancake when the edges are dry and it begins to bubble.
7. Add the blueberries and/or walnuts (if desired) to the pancake after you spoon the batter onto the griddle, but before you flip.
8. Top with a sprinkle of cinnamon and/or sugar free pancake syrup, if desired. Enjoy!


I once accidentally forgot to take the cottage cheese out of the food processor and ended up making the pancakes without it! The texture was different, but they still tasted good!

New Turbulence Training Contest Starts August 31

New contest starts August 31! CLICK HERE for the TT Transformation Contest rules.

But wait, there is a second contest that starts September 1, and YES, you can enter both. CLICK HERE for the rules to the 4-week TT Twitter Twansformation Contwest!

The TT Transformation Contest is the regular 12-week competition; the Twitter Contest is a 4-week competition and you must use the Twitter website and post everytime you do a TT workout. If you read the rules closely, you'll notice you don't actually have to purchase TT to participate, but you do have to use it. Having said that, I still would highly recommend purchasing at least the basic Turbulence Training program, as you get 3 months FREE to the forums! I know that the support I have received on the TT forums has been critical to my weight loss success.

I plan on entering both contests, start date of September 1! I have to confess, this Twitter thing is kind of addictive!

A Big THANK YOU....

...to everyone who voted for me - I really appreciate it! But I didn't win. To see the winners, you can CLICK HERE. Congratulations!

Tuesday Tattoo Watch

It's Tuesday...Time again for "Watch the Tattoo Fade". Here's today's photo added:

I found out today that I'm supposed to still be putting petroleum jelly on it everyday and wrapping it up. Oops. I stopped doing that a week ago! Hope I'm not getting too scabby. The photo doesn't show a really big difference yet. I think I can see a difference in the mirror. I'm a little disappointed, to say the least.


In other news....If you haven't voted for your favorite Turburlence Training Transformation Contest finalist yet, what are you waiting for? It's free, and you don't have to register or sign up for anything. Just CLICK HERE and VOTE! I'm Contestant #3, if you want to vote for me! :)

Turbulence Training Finalists Announced - Go And VOTE!

The Turbulence Training Transformation Contest Finalists have been announced! I can't believe I made it into the finals again! Please go and VOTE by clicking HERE! I'm contestant #3, if you feel inclined to vote for me! :) Voting ends THIS WEDNESDAY at Midnight!

I Think I Look Like My Mother

OK, special shout out to Skwigg for making me laugh so hard I had tears streaming down my face and Diet Pepsi nearly coming out of my nose. I read about Yearbookyourself.com on her blog and gave it a try. The pictures are, from left to right, me circa 1952, 1960, and 1990. In 1960, I look just like my mother. The 1990 picture looks almost like my high school freshman picture!

TT for Abs Complete and I Joined the Twitterverse!

I finished up the new TT for Abs Home Abdominal workout program (Intermediate) yesterday. It was different than what I normally would pick out because it was mostly bodyweight exercises and I usually like to use weights. But I really enjoyed it. I did increase the reps/holds for a few of the exercises (push ups, planks) to make it more challenging at times, but I was using the Intermediate program and I think I could have moved up to the Advanced (which looks quite a bit more difficult!) Having said that, I'm pretty sore today! LOL

Today is the final day of the current TT contest and I can't wait to see all the finalists! Get your voting fingers ready! I will post where to go to vote just as soon as I know!

Finally, I joined Twitter. I don't know if I will have much to say, but come join me! I am Cesium0122.

National Elvis Week and Let's Play "Watch the Tattoo Fade"

In honor of National Elvis Week (which I think I just missed), I had this for my evening snack:

1/2c Cottage Cheese

1 Scoop Muscle Milk Light (Banana Creme)

1/2T Natural Peanut Butter

1 serving sugar free chocolate pudding mix (dry - about 1T)

a little over 1/2c cold water

Mix with a blender or hand held immersion blender. Freeze for a couple hours. Enjoy!

Speaking of Muscle Milk, there are 4 new flavors! The new flavors are: Cake Batter, Brownie Batter, Cinnamon Bun, and Rocky Road. Yum! Come September 1, me and my Gold Card will be heading to GNC! Perfect timing for the new Turbulence Training contest, which will *most likely* begin on August 31 (Get Ready - hint, hint!)

Now, about my tattoo - For some reason, I envisioned my tattoo being a lot lighter by now. I guess I thought having a LASER hit my arm would just make the ink dissolve. But no, apparently, it is a very slow process, much like watching paint dry. So, in the interim between contests, I decided I needed a weekly picture-taking fix. Here's the tattoo "Before", at "1 day after", and at "1 week after".

Not a whole lot of change yet. Just getting a little scabby. Check back next Tuesday as we play (all together now, like on Wheel of Fortune) "Watch the Tattoo Fade!"

Go Carts, Dilated Pupils, and Bye Bye Tattoo!

Been very busy the last 2 days. Got my TT workout in yesterday morning, and then Hubby and I visited a nearby amusement park with roller coasters, waterslides and go carts. We started at one of the go cart tracks. We were first in line when it was our turn to pick out our cars. I picked a sexy little blue car at the front of the line and man could she fly! I had that baby floored the entire time and the nearest car (Hubby) was waaaaay behind. I was hugging the corners, cruising along with the wind in my hair, zipping up the hills, zooming down the hills...ahem, I mean, no officer, I have no idea how fast I was going. {halo pings}

We hit the 3 biggest roller coasters (one of which actually travels under the parking lot), and a couple more go cart tracks, and then headed over to the waterpark. It was a little cool when the sun went behind a cloud, but overall it was a beautiful day. I had to be careful and not get sunburn as today I got one of my arm tattoos lasered off. I forgot to take a "before" picture today, but I have lots of pictures of my arm already. It didn't hurt nearly as much as I was expecting! I can't take off the bandage until tomorrow.

After that appointment, I had an appointment with the eye doctor. I arrived with an ice pack on my arm, and left with blurry vision. I had my eyes dilated so I had to drive with 1 eye closed and the other eye squinted. I was driving on a 3-lane highway, but managed to make it with only a couple of white knuckle moments.

Today's Tip: Don't schedule an eye appointment after tattoo removal as it is difficult to hold the ice pack on your arm while driving. At least I didn't have the eye appointment first. Then I would have been blind while holding the ice pack on my arm while driving on a 3-lane highway. And as we already established, I can be a bit of a lead foot.

Last night, on the way home, we stopped at a rest area and there were 2 semi trucks with huge oversized loads parked there. I made Hubby go and stand near one so I could take a picture. I was playing with the night flash settings on my camera and Hubby was being funny and moving his arms, and this picture was the result!

Turbulence Training for Abs Update

It occured to me yesterday that I have been using the new TT Home Abdominal Workout Program for 2 weeks and haven't even posted anything about it! (Sorry!) I've been using the Intermediate program and I really like it. It has a different kind of push up in each workout, which I enjoy. There are 3 different workouts and each one takes about 45 minutes, including the interval training. My abs...have been sore for 2 weeks! LOL Not "hurts to laugh" sore, but abs-feel-tight-all-day sore. A very good sore. And I haven't done a single crunch! At first, I thought I would only use the Intermediate for 2 weeks and then move on to the Advanced. But I am really liking the Intermediate and so I have decided to stay with it for the full 4 weeks. Then I am going to take my week off, which should bring me right about to the time that the next contest will start. (This is all speculation on my part; I have no confirmation of when the next contest will start.) If the next competition does start then, I believe I am going to use TT for Mass again - phase one and phase two for the full 8 weeks of that program.

As for now, my metabolism must be on fire. I'm up about 1 pound from where I finished the contest 2 weeks ago, even though I have been indulging in cashews, sugar free ice cream and (shh!) even had french fries. I'm very happy with that pound as it is easily a product of daily fluctuations. I'm not looking to lose much more weight; I'm working at maintaining my current weight until I begin the mass building program again (and then I'd like to gain a pound or two of muscle).

New Tunes, Pull Ups and Daily Diet (Served in Bonus Watermelon Bowl)

I tried to be cool the other night and make a watermelon bowl to impress my son. He's 4 years old. I thought surely I could impress him. Here's a picture of of the bowl:

I showed it to my son, all excited because I thought it turned out pretty good. He says to me, "That's great, Mom".

Isn't he a little young for sarcasm?

Anyway...I've had a lot of people ask me about my diet during my transformation. I decided I would just post a typical day of what I eat. This is a workout day (all times are approximate):

5:20am (pre-workout): 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

6:30am (post-workout): 1 scoop GNC Wheybolic Extreme 60 in about 4oz water

8:45am: oatmeal made with 1 packet plain instant oatmeal, 2 oz blueberries, 4oz skim milk, 1T walnuts, 1/2t ground flax, 1 packet Splenda; additional 4oz skim milk to drink

11:45am: homemade cream of cauliflower and turkey sausage soup; salad made with 2 cups spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers, a couple croutons, 2T homemade sugar-free French dressing

This is usually when I take my pills: 1 GNC women's ultra mega active multivitamin, 1 ProCaps Omega 3 Fish Oil, 1 ProCaps Healthy Hair, Skin and Nails

2:00pm: plain nonfat yogurt with strawberries, blueberries, 1 packet Splenda, 1/2t ground flax, 1T walnuts (or I'll just have 1 oz cheese with an apple/plum/peach)

5:15pm: My version of Texas Thin Crust Pizza from Gourmet Nutrition with turkey sausage and salsa instead of ground sirloin and bbq sauce (Often I just have a protein like chicken or beef, a vegetable like broccoli or cauliflower, and a fruit like pears, applesauce, or strawberries.)

8:00pm: GNC Lean Muscle Meal in about 12oz water (running out of this soon and then will finish off my Muscle Milk)

In other news...I attempted pull ups this morning! Last time I tried, which was several months ago, I just hung there like an idiot. Today I was able to do 2 and a half! (They weren't pretty.) I was very surprised, but very happy.

I added a few new tunes to the player in the side bar. My new favorite is "Forever Can Be" by Ashes Divide. It's Billy Howerdel's (A Perfect Circle) solo project. If you like A Perfect Circle, you'll probably like Ashes Divide.

New Personal Best for Running

This morning I did an endurance-type run on the treadmill. Last time I did this was on 04/05/08. I really am not a runner. In April, I ran for 10:18 at 5 mph. Today, I loaded up Marillion's Marbles album, fast forwarded to Ocean Cloud, and told myself I was going to make it the whole song (it's 17:58). I ended up running for 19:30! I really wanted to make 20:00 but had a terrible stitch in my side, not to mention the chest pains that started around 14:00. I'm very proud of nearly doubling the amount of time I ran back in April! I have only done Turbulence Training interval training since April so I am sure that doing intervals has helped me increase my endurance as well.

Oh, and I then I did 11 chin ups on my way out the door...