Guess what time I woke up both Saturday AND Sunday?  8:00 a.m.!!  This is unheard of for me.  Weekends it’s not unusual for me to get up and around any earlier than 10:30!

But, I liked it.  The house was quiet.  Tony was sleeping.  The dog woke up with me and after going outside for a while, slept at my feet while I did some computer work.  I may or may not have deleted like 3000 pictures I’ll never need again!  Still have more organizing to do on the photo front, but it’s a significant start.

Both mornings I munched on a big bowl of the tangerines my PIL sent me – I have only one grapefruit and one tangerine left!

Saturday morning I had a taste for pancakes for breakfast.  Sadly, I knew if I even uttered the word “pumpkin” in front of pancake to Tony, he would be out.  So, I did what every loving wife would do and I made two sets of pancakes.

His Pancakes

• compliments of The Old Hen Bed & Breakfast
• makes 12 – per pancake:  119 calories, 4.8 fat, 15 carbs, .4 fiber and 3.3 protein

PANCAKE INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup milk (+2 tablespoons for thinner pancakes)
• 2 large eggs
• 3 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

Mix everything together in a large bowl.  Here is my secret to fluffy pancakes – I let my batter sit for a minimum of 15 minutes before making the pancakes – you want to let the baking powder have a chance to let it do its magic.  The batter will look like this:

I’ve found that a full 1/3 cup is too big of a pancake, but 1/4 cup is too small, so I fill the batter 3/4 full in the 1/3 cup.  This makes 12 pancakes.

I actually made the whole batch, thinking Tony could eat some during the week, but he shook his head, that was probably not going to happen, so I sent the leftovers to my SIL’s house for her grandson.

My version?  Well, I knew I wanted pumpkin and chocolate chip, but I wanted to keep the calories in check.  I decided to sub some of the flour for ground oats, and while I didn’t get as thick a pancake as the ones above, um, these are amazeballs!

Her Pancakes

• makes 12 pancakes: per pancake – 117 calories, 4 fat, 17 carbs, 2.2 fiber and 4.2 protein

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 1/2 cup liquid egg whites
• 12 tsp. mini chocolate chips
• 2 Tablespoons splenda
• 1 Tablespoon canola oil
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 cup oats, ground in a coffee grinder
• 1/2 a cup of flour

Add dry ingredients in a large bowl, add remaining ingredients and mix well and let sit for 15 minutes.  Since there is less oil in this batch, I did need to use Pam so they didn’t stick.

I took this picture because typically, this is what my counter looks like when I cook.  My handwritten recipe and notes.  The coffee spoon, still with a touch of coffee, next to the coffee creamer that’s probably been on the counter for two hours, and my phone is always in reach.  Sometimes Tony walks into the kitchen to get some water and just shakes his head!

Once I poured the batter for the pancakes, I sprinkled one teaspoon of chocolate chips over the pancake, then flipped – the chips kind of got a little crispiness to them somehow.  My store sells these containers of mini chocolate chips for about $2 – so much cheaper than the bagged chips.

I had three pancakes – this was my breakfast and lunch on Saturday.  One of my goals this year is to get better at food styling (as well as to learn my camera better!).  Case in point – this first picture looks okay!

I liked how the pancakes are in focus, and the syrup is fuzzy.  But then I decided to kick it up a notch.

Just by adding a few mini chocolate chips and a fork wakes up the photo so much.  Of course, when I downloaded the picture I thought “a nice touch of fresh mint on the side would have added some nice color to the photo!”  Oh well, at least it’s an improvement.

I was actually a bit shocked that the nutritional information for both recipes were almost identical!  The only read difference is that my version provided 33% of vitamin A (probably from the pumpkin) and had 2 grams more fiber per pancake. 

Sunday Tony made me his wonderful eggs for breakfast.  Saturday night I checked my blood sugar before going to bed.  We had some cheese and crackers while watching t.v.  It was 210, a bit on the high side, so I took some fast acting insulin and went to bed.

I never checked it first thing, but I took insulin for the tangerines that I ate before Tony woke up.  He made me eggs, hash brown and some toast with pepper jelly.

I calculated the amount of insulin to take, took it, ate this deliciousness with the perfect amount of spice, and all was well.

A while later though, I was cooking up some raspberries to make a sauce for a breakfast parfait later in the week, and my hands got all tingly.  It was weird, but I just brushed it off.  Half hour later though, the sensation was still there so I decided to check my blood sugar.

It was 512!!!!

Holy shiznet, I have absolutely no idea how that could have happened.  I just shot up a bunch of insulin, and within an hour and a half it was back to normal – so weird!

So, lucky for me (and you – ha!), I didn’t die yesterday.  Although I don’t think I could die from just one high blood sugar day?  I plan on keeping an eye on it though – and testing before I go to bed AND as soon as I get up.   I see my diabetes doctor in February for my semi-annual check up.

Alright, I’ve got my gym bag packed – I haven’t figured out what I will do yet.  We’ll see!  Off to do my 30 minute stretch before work.  My upper thighs are still killing me from the 100 Workout!

Oh, and Tony thought it would be funny when I was at the grocery store yesterday to put Kath Eats up, (I am not linking to Kath Eats directly, just at a blog that gives the recaps of her daily oatmeal!) so when I went back to the computer, it would be on the screen.  Not funny!  (In case you want to know what I am talking about, you can go to this post)

Happy Monday – make it a great day!