Paleo Salmon Patties plus Homemade Mayo

Well, it has been forever since I've updated and written a blog post.

Not a whole lot has been going on. Life has been pretty slow, CrossFit has been fun, photography has been bumping along, and we've enjoying some special company now and then. It's been rather enjoyable. :)

Tonight, I found myself alone for supper, was hungry for seafood (which, in itself, is weird), and wanted something I could douse in my homemade mayo.

Um. Yum.

Salmon Patties

Mix:

1-5oz package of skinless, boneless salmon
1-egg
2-teaspoons coconut flour
salt, garlic, onion powder

I heated my awesome cast iron pan (I'm still working on the muscles to lift that sucker. I swear it adds 10 pounds when it gets hot!), and fried them up in butter, probably about 3-4 minutes each side.

I served it on a bed of romaine and spinach.. topped with homemade mayo, of course.

Homemade Mayo

Add to immersion blender bottle:

1-egg
2-teaspoons apple cider or white wine vinegar
2-teaspoons dijon or yellow mustard
Juice of half a lemon (this is the tastiest part!)
Salt

Then, hold your immersion blender in there at the very bottom and let 'er go.

This is a pretty detailed video, if you want more instructions: http://youtu.be/PBeyEPlHPkk

I can't believe I lived nearly two years without ever having mayo. Never again. :)


In other news, I have been struggling a little bit with digestion and my stomach. I lost my appetite the last two weeks and would finally get hungry in the afternoon a little. If I did eat in the morning, I would get sick to my stomach, bloated, and not able to eat for hours. I would get a little anxious about eating as I was always worried if it would be okay. It was rough. One night I couldn't even finish a 6-oz steak, and I lost like 6 pounds total. Yikes.

From what I can summarize, it seems like it was set off with my gallbladder after an overdose of coconut milk and avocado (learn to put the spoon down!), and settled in my stomach.

Also, my workouts were not affected until I simply ran out of fuel in the second week... but it's quite possible the workouts affected my stomach. Looking back through my detailed food/workout/sleep/"symptom" log, there's a strong correlation between a lot of core work (mainly pushups) and worse symptoms on that day. However, my appetite and the upset stomach didn't seem to matter if I worked out or not... so I kept working out in order to get a little appetite going. ;)

I explored some different therapies and techniques, adjusted the supplements I'm taking, and called in the big guns: Enzymes, probiotics, and fermented foods.

I'm feeling much better now... and it's been good for me to reign in my portion size. I can honestly say that I think a lot of CrossFitters (and people in general!) don't eat enough (see Crossfitters Eat to Perform), but I think I was far exceeding my 2500-2600ish daily caloric needs. The idea that maybe my body decided to just shut me down to use up all its stored energy has crossed my mind too. Who knows.

And all you medical people, don't worry, I had promised the hubby that if my final appointment yesterday still yielded no results, I was going to go for "tests." Who knows what that all would entail... maybe multiple doctor visits, stomach scopes, thousands of dollars in our deductible. I'm pretty confidant that I got this figured out for about $350-400.. which is a huge cost savings, not to mention not having to take any meds.


That's about it for news... take care until we meet again. :)


Oh!
PS. I have a couple links you should check out:
Why Women Should Not Run  This guy is a genius anyway, but this article is awesome. Sprints and HIIT are great, but "chronic cardio" and endurance training is extremely harmful to your thyroid. Read it. And do some intervals instead of 5 miles. Then go lift some heavy weights. Your thyroid will thank you.

Why News is Bad For You  I'm usually out of the loop, but I never feel left out. I have always believed that a person is happier without news.

PPS. It's April. And rain is expected. But I'm ready for summer. Like now. Anyone else? Sigh.

PPPS. I got 2 double unders in a row today. Woo hooo! I got so excited I threw the rope. Hah!

Squash Egg Bake and the end of 1RM week

So, I never got around to posting the results of 1-rep max week at CFA.

For your normal people out there that don't speak in PR's, 1RM, WOD's, AMRAP's, RX'd, and other CrossFit lingo, a 1-rep max is just your heaviest lift, or how heavy you can go for one rep.

I had set a new PR (personal record, or personal best) in my squat clean earlier in the week for 120-lbs.

Mid week, I came close to some old numbers with my squats. We're talking old. Like over a year ago when I was still kicking butt and taking names. Fearless. Heh.


My front squat: 145 (old pre-injury PR 155)
Back squat: 165 (old pre-injury PR 185)

I’m pretty sure the old PR’s were a bit shallow though.. probably met parallel, but not below, so I’m pretty happy with the numbers.

And, ding ding! Another HUGE PR for me. I overhead squatted 100 pounds. I think the most I've ever done before is 85. And you guessed it! I did go back through allll my workout logs and search out these numbers.

Unfortunately, then on Friday (deadlifting day.. yay!), I was toast. Ironic, seeing how I don't eat bread.

I couldn't even pull up 215 after two failed attempts at 225. So much for 235! Sigh. A little part of me really disliked CrossFit right then. Deadlifting is my thing! And I sucked it up, coming in with my number of 205. Lame.

Oh well, the WOD we had some fun things like rowing, deadlifts, and toes-to-bar. I am really working on my kipping, which is the hip swing that allows you to complete them fast and efficiently. Very gymnastic. Very not me. And for one of the first times in my life, I did the WOD at the prescribed weight. Woot!

I had to take a picture because even though I was NOT proud of the 205, I was super proud of the little "RX," which means as prescribed, behind my time. :)

One more bit of CrossFit related news...

Today this happened:

Please pardon my lovely "I want to die" face. I had a slight migraine this morning plus still dealing with my hip flexor issue. Yes, it's back. I'm pretty sure it was the squats. I hadn't noticed anything until Saturday's workout set it off, when I made a very abrupt switch and modified the rest of the workout.

Anyway, then this happened...

First time for everything. I didn't notice until I was done! Oh well. I still have a layer of skin there so it could be much worse. It just made washing dishes tonight super fun.

A while ago, I was going to blog my squash egg bake that I make all. the. time.

So here we go! It's a perfect mix of carbs, protein and fat. The goodness of eggs. The yumminess of squash, which in this case tastes just like pumpkin pie. Ready??

Squash Egg Bake

 Crust:
4-5 TB of butter
1/3 cup sliced almonds
1/3 cup coconut flakes (unsweetened obviously)
1/3 cup almond/hazelnut/other nut flour
cinnamon

Melt butter. 
Add almonds, coconut flakes, nut flour and cinnamon.
Put another little plop of butter in your 8x8 glass pan and throw it in the oven for a bit while it's preheating. Don't forget about this. ;) Take it back out and make sure the sides are well covered.
Mix and spread in the 8x8 pan.
Put in 350* preheated oven for 10-12 minutes

While that's baking, add to a blender:
4-eggs
1-cup squash
1-tsp+ sea salt (**Do NOT skip this!)
Cinnamon, Pumpkin Pie Spice, and Nutmeg (I just dump and pour, but it's probably close to 1-tsp each.)
2 rounded TB coconut flour
Stevia, to taste (optional. I used liquid vanilla stevia, probably 5-6 drops)


Mix until well blended, add to the pan, and bake for about 30 minutes.

Top with berries, coconut milk, or even pure maple syrup or honey.

Enjoy!

My hubby likes this even.. and he's about as non-Paleo as a person can get. His only caveat is that he gets to put as much syrup as possible on it. ;)

Chocolate pancakes, the weekend, and why I CrossFit

What a great day today!

It's 1-rep max week at CrossFit this week... score! :) This means I should be in bed right now and not blogging. Oops. It has been an interesting few days, though, so I wanted to tell you all!

Today we tested cleans (squat cleans) and power cleans. I managed 120-lbs for both, which was awesome. There's nothing like everyone cheering you on as you're struggling to stand up. :) Coincidentally, that was a 5-lb PR, so that was awesome. Then I got my butt handed to me by the WOD, which was squat cleans and pullups.

Honestly, today was the first time I ever got close to losing my breakfast. I think I ate too close to working out. And it was one of those exhausting, on-the-brink-of-tears finales. I'm far too stubborn to quit though.

On that thought, over the weekend, it was brought up at the photographer's lunch table that I was a powerlifter. An older lady turned to me, wrinkled her nose in disgust, and asked why.

Oh, all the reasons I could have said, but I gave her my megawatt-endorphin-smile (see photo below), and simply said "Because I love it!"

Then the heavy-set, vegetarian older lady next to her proceeded to carry on about her life, husband, circumstances, how she was the strong one in the marriage and he was dragging her down, blah, blah, blah, for the rest of the meal. So I got to thinking about why I work out. Why I lift. Why I Cross Fit.

Because...

That first moment I bent over at home to get something out of a cupboard, and I felt my glutes fire as I stood back up.
I can help my husband move furniture.
I can move furniture myself.
I can kindly thank the gentlemen that offer to help me with groceries... and then decline while chuckling inside.
I can stand at a wedding show all day long without my feet hurting.
I can open sealed jars easily.

...and the big things:

There is no greater feeling than discovering my mind and body are powerful.
Pushing myself to the limits always yields results.
Each success brings more self confidence.
Every new measure of strength helps me walk with my head held higher.
Nothing can bring me down when I am assured in myself and my abilities.
If I am determined enough to get through a workout that nearly has me puking and crying all in a span of 15 minutes, I can get through anything in life.

I don't know what image the word "powerlifter" brought up in her mind, but I'm imagining it was fat, hairy balding men grunting, snorting, listening to heavy metal, and bench pressing.

In short, the reason why I do what I do is for the quality of LIFE.

Moving on. Mini heart-to-heart done.

Here's my official new member picture from awhile ago:

They insisted on taking it post-WOD. Lovely. And me being the photographer: "Can I see it? Ew, it's blurry! .... oh, wait. That's perfect." ;)

After the WOD today, there were free 10-minute massages by area students. It was awesome. I was trying out the the panorama feature on my phone finally. And I love it. Except for poor Inna here in the first one...

On a slightly related note, we got news a bit ago that we're moving to a new, huge space in June this year. I'm super pumped!

After that, it was the usual groceries, then back home. And then the dog ran away from me (again). Sigh. I wanted to strangle her. Yesterday she was mad at me for leaving her all day while I was at the photo convention. I didn't think she held grudges...

As I was rushing around to eat lunch and get ready for my chiro appointment, the doorbell rang in the middle of my shower. The dog was barking, the doorbell was ringing, there was pounding on the door, and I managed to throw a few towels on to go kill whomever was at the door.

Turns out, it was the Fed Ex guy with my newly repaired camera body and lens. Okay, I guess that was worth the hasty shower. 

Welcome home, my lovelies. I can't wait to use my new and improved lens!


The rest of the afternoon was pretty normal.

Speaking of normal. Or the absence of normal. This was a crazy weekend! Friday night started the WPPA (Wisconsin Professional Photographer's Association) spring convention which continued each day until Monday. The speakers were great, and it was fun to reconnect with some past friends and meet some new peers!

This was the view from the skywalk looking farther into downtown Friday evening.

And this was the speaker on Monday.. he talked about weddings, sales, marketing, and we had great fun learning from his posing and photographing demonstration. He's incredibly talented.

He started out with a bang... I loved this thought: Do you live to work? Or work to live?

Going back a day, Sunday offered another lovely wedding show.

These really sap the energy out of me... but I love it. I was told by two different future brides that I was their favorite photographer they had talked to that day. Another couple came back and asked if they could look through my albums some more because they liked my work so much. Talk about heart-warming!! I could hardly fit through the door to leave from my big head and inflated ego. ;)

And I haven't changed the teal and green at all.. because I get so many positive comments and feedback. "Oh, you're the teal and green lady!" Yes! My branding is working! ;)

Monday evening, I also had a wedding professionals networking meeting where I got to see a lot of my friends/other vendors from the wedding show and catch up with them. It was great.

The bummer part was, Joel was working out of town all week, and only home for the weekend. Thankfully I was still able to see him in the evenings, and he even helped me set up at the wedding show. I love that. :)

Okay, so back to today.



I was hungry for pancakes this evening. Again. It seems like an every other day thing since being off the Whole 30. Weird. I'm keeping them clean though.

So, I loosely followed this "recipe."

Ingredients:
1-ripe plantain or banana
1/4-cup nut flour (I used hazelnut this time, as the store was out of almond. Don't get me started on that.)
2-eggs
1/2-tsp of baking soda
1/4-cup cocoa powder
2-3 drops of vanilla stevia (optional)


Directions:
They're pancakes, not rocket science. ;)

1. Blend. I used my awesome immersion blender. Buy one. Make this. And squash soup.
2. Cook them. I heated my pan, put coconut oil in, and poured the batter in.
3. Flip and top them with any variety of berries, fried apples or bananas, coconut milk, coconut cream, pure maple syrup, nut butters, etc.
4. Enjoy.

I worked hard for those frozen raspberries. They were on sale at the store, so there were only a few bags left. I had to step up and nearly crawl into the freezer to grab some! I can't let a great deal on my favorite organic frozen berries go to waste.


Now.. off to bed finally. Tomorrow's lift is the snatch and power snatch! Woo hoo! :)


PS. I turned off anonymous comments. I hope you can still comment if you like, but I was getting sick of the spam. Let me know if you have issues.

PPS. I stumbled across some pictures the other day from New Years' Eve. Those will have to get on here soon. Along with our ugly sweater/men-cook-the-food-potluck from Valentine's Day. Fun times.

PPPS. And this was a great article. But I can't pin it due to lack of images. Boo! So it's linked here for me to remember. Food Logging, What I Learned

PPPPS. Kidding. ;)

I joined CrossFit... finally!

Well, I did it!

I'm finally a member at our local CrossFit box, CrossFit Appleton.

I had my first workout this morning, which was awesome. Lots of friendly coaching, which is exactly what I need. Better technique = fewer injuries. ;)

After 6 long rest days with only one night of ice skating for physical activity, I also tried re-maxing out on my deadlifts yesterday. I know I can do 240. I am positive. But then I can't do weight math and try for 250 instead of 240... And that was the end of that.

Sigh. Oh well, there's always another day, right? I'll keep my 235 for now. :)



I am also finishing up my Whole 30 (well whole 41, to be exact) on Thursday with measurements, my weight, and a body fat test. I'll take a few "after" pictures too. However, I'm pretty sure those will not reflect the true changes that the Whole 30 has taken me through.

So usual metrics aside, these have been my standards/benchmarks for change: (Sorry, these might get personal.)

-My hormones. I feel like they're finally balancing out. Finally. I still get mood swings, but they seem fewer and farther apart. I guess the true question would be to ask Joel if I'm any easier to live with. Maybe I don't want that answer. ;)

-My complexion. It got worse for awhile in the middle... when I was OD'ing on coconut cream (oh, so yummy), but then evened out after I gave that up.

- The Sugar Dragon. I feel like I've conquered it. You know that thing... where you have cravings for sweets? Especially at the end of meals? Or right before bed? Yeah. Me too. Nearly gone. Now, old habits die hard, but I got some serious work done on this one.

-Like I mentioned earlier, I had discovered how delicious coconut cream is halfway through my Whole 30. And since it was technically legal, I went for it. I used to be that way for almond butter... but that was pretty much off limits for me because it's what they call "food-without-brakes." And that's just like it sounds. Food that you can't stop eating once you start. Speaking of, that is the real beauty of the Whole 30....

-The physiological effect of food. They really delve into your emotional attachment in the book, It Starts With Food (which I highly recommend reading). This is why they say no to things that you can make or create within the guidelines, that still end up being comfort food and mess with your mind. Pancakes is the first one that comes to my mind. Also pizza. You can Paleo-ify these quite easily, but it's still a no-go. They actually call this "sex-with-your-pants-on," which they describe much better than I ever could. ;)

-My digestion is better. I'll leave it at that. ;)

-I'm eating more food than I ever have before. And I feel lean. This is amazing.

-I will never, ever keep track of calories, protein, carbs, fats again. Ever. If I'm hungry, obviously my body needs something. How can my conscious brain know what my body needs better than itself?? I'm still keeping a food and workout log, but no numbers.

-I feel a lot more in tune with my body. Now, I'm not going to start chanting, meditating, and saying Namaste, trust me. What does that even mean, btw? It's a good feeling though.

-My fingernails have skyrocketed. It feels like I'm cutting them every other day. (Random.)

And of course, about the food:

-I can survive 30 days without bacon. Granted, I have connections to sugar-free, junk-free, humanely-raised bacon. It's called U.S. Wellness Meats. But consuming that on a daily basis is waaaayyy out of our price range. And I'm normally okay with spending decent money on quality food.

-I discovered hot plates and weekly cook ups. Basically, you spend one day in the kitchen: you cook up a bunch of meat (ground turkey, beef, etc) and prep a bunch of veggies. Then you can throw your veggies in the pan with oil, add your meat, add in any spice you like (Asian, Mexican, etc) and BOOM. Dinner's on in 10. Yum.

-I developed a taste for green beans. Whaat?

-It's really easy to plan ahead for meals... more than I thought! :)

-I gave up my daily (and sometimes most of the time, 2x daily) protein bar. For good. I gave the rest away. Now I eat meat and sweet potatoes after my workouts. I get some strange looks... ;)

Anyway, this is just a small sample of some of the changes I've noticed, but if you're even thinking about trying it, definitely read their book. They explain everything in detail, but make the science and facts behind their theories so easy to understand.



And this is just funny to me. A lot of them really hit home. You know you're doing the Whole 30 when...

In other news, Joel and I went to my parents last weekend for family pictures, ice skating, and general laziness. It was perfect. And my lovely mother even let me cook everything in coconut oil rather than butter. And I said no to fresh Blue Bunny ice cream. And multiple other sugar-laden nuggets of deliciousness. High five! ;)

I didn't take along any cameras, so no pics here. You'll survive. :) We had a good trip.


Back to regularly scheduled programming... I'm exhausted and headed to bed. :)
(PS. None of these links are affiliate links, just fyi. I'm not making any money off of the Whole 30 program or US Wellness Meats, but I definitely believe in them.)

Just another Wednesday. Not.

Yup, it's been forever. Like since before Thanksgiving. Oops.

I have a massive post coming up, or rather, probably several small posts for you on the deets of the holidays. But for now, just a quick check in to share some small victories from today.

I power-cleaned 105# for the first time since last July, which at that time was a PR and I only did it once. Today I cleaned it 6 times. (!!)

Even cooler, when I started my lifting program 6 weeks ago, I was worried about cleaning just the 45# bar, due to my shoulder/upper trap injuries. Any upper body work would send me straight to migraine city.

A million thanks to Dr. Alex from Valley Spine & Sport, who has been working with ART, other manual methods, and corrective exercises to fix all my injuries and issues. (Hah! Maybe not all.) Plus, I've not had a migraine or serious headache in almost a month, and after the accident last June, it was a multi-weekly, sometimes daily, occurrence.

He's also been helping me with my hamstring tendinopithy/tendinitis and wacked out hip flexors/adductors. (or is it the abductors? who knows.)

But the icing on the cake? Thanks to the Whole9's Whole 30 program, I have better mental clarity than I've had in months, am eating more than I ever have, and am the leanest I've been since probably last May.

As I was thinking about this today, I was filled with such a thankfulness of how far I have progressed from my injuries. My body is completely loving this break from CrossFit and high-intensity work... and the heavy weights are fun. And even though I'm still not cleared for regular ol' pushups yet (works the wrong muscles and it's back to headache-town!), I have pullups to console me. :)

So much for the Wednesday mid-week blah's!


Ps. These two pins have meant a great deal to me lately:

Source: melodyross.com via Mariah on Pinterest

Source: franklyesoteric.tumblr.com via Mariah on Pinterest

I'm enjoying a simpler, more relaxed life here in this wonderful off-season of photography. :)

P.P.S. If you follow mbaseman on Instagram, you'll see many of the food creations as I'm going along this Whole 30. Fun stuff!

P.P.P.S. Just kidding. :)

A relaxing Sunday

You know that feeling of dread when you just are not looking forward to something?

And then once you do the said task, it is quite easy and simple really? Or even if it isn't technically easy, building it up in your mind was a lot worse than actually doing it?

Enter the pot roast.

Yeah, you were expecting a life-altering revelation. Admit it. ;)

I had it sitting in the fridge for a few days working up the motivation to just cook it up. There's nothing I love like good beef roast meat and it really is super simple.

So, it took me a total of 5 minutes total to heat up a pan, put in some coconut oil, throw the roast in to brown each side, cut up some onions, lightly brown those too, and throw the whole works in my crock pot. I deglazed the pan with a little apple cider vinegar, which I poured in with some added water. Finally, I threw in some garlic and called it good.

5 minutes.

Then I went about my day with our church meeting, lunch with my lovely in-laws, a 3-hour nap, and finally supper.

What a perfect Sunday.

What? Yeah, it was a 3 hour nap. I take the 'day of rest' pretty seriously. (Which is kind of a lie... usually I'm trying to get caught up a little on the computer while hubby dearest is snoozing away without me.)

Too bad it took me 10 minutes to scrub the darn crock pot. I don't see why everyone thinks they're the greatest thing to use! They take hours to cook your food, are big and bulky, and take forever to extract from your cupboards. Oh, and the scrubbing thing.

They're nice and all; I just wouldn't call it my go-to food cooker. Unless we're making bone broth. And then it's my favorite kitchen appliance. ;)


P.S. How cool is this? Instagram opened up web profiles. It's like Facebook of only images and no annoying posts. Except better.

P.P.S. Apparently the Packers won today too. That usually sets the whole state of Wisconsin in a happy mood. That and...

P.P.P.S. It's rifle season for deer this week. All we need to do is get a chest freezer, and we would love to take some venison off your hands! ;)

Happy Thanksgiving week, everyone!

Paleo Protein Pancakes and Fried Apples

Pretty normal life lately.. but some fun things thrown in here and there!

We had a couples' game night in Oconomowoc the other week. That was so. much. fun! :)

A rousing game of Pictionary, guys against gals.

A wacky game of "Things."

We need to do more of these! :)

---------------------

In other news, I have been wrapping up my summer projects quite nicely... lots of album designs, orders, and being in touch with my lovely brides.

Training is going pretty well. I guess. I've really been taking it easy the last month or more, trying to heal up some of these nagging injuries. I have been seeing a sports and reconditioning specialist in the area, who has been using ART or active release technology on my messed up muscles. You can read a little write up about Alex and Valley Spine and Sport. He's super knowledgeable and can give you a diagnosis just by walking you through different movements where the pain is plus lack of mobility. If you're struggling with anything, even headaches, please, PLEASE check him out. I cannot refer him enough. Plus, he's a regular chiropractor if needed.

I have a strain/sprain in my left shoulder (don't even ask me about my lack of overhead work and pullups lately.. :/), some issues in both shoulders on top of that, an overactive hip flexor on my right side, as well as hamstring tendinopothy on my right side.

Anything overhead and even some back work aggrivates my shoulders, back squats get my hip flexor going, and deadlifts usually hinder my hamstring more than they help. Doesn't leave me with much, eh?

But we are definitely making progress. Especially as long as I follow the exercises he tells me to do. And follow his "be smart" advice. ;) The cool part is, Alex is an athlete and CrossFitter himself, so he understands (and actually supports) my desire to keep being active. I love that attitude.

So. I keep plugging along. Slowly.

Oh, I almost forgot though. Not sure if the blog world knows. I've been working on deadlifting lately, and will be starting a program to add about 20-ish pounds or so. My latest numbers have been 215x5 at the top of a 5x5, and I pulled up 220x1 just for fun after one of them because I was having a strong day. Not bad for my incapacitated state, eh? I think the deadlifting program will be good for me (as does Alex) since we can tweak a few things to help my hamstring vs. make it worse. Plus it will give my upper body a break from so much Cross Fit. One would think the last month and a half would be a break enough....

---------------------

Anyway, now that we're back to regularly scheduled programming, I can actually post the few recipes now and then that I've been creative with in the past few months.

Tonight I was jonesing for something... not sure what. Something interesting that I didn't have in my fridge or pantry already. Something that seemed like comfort food. But outside the rut I have fallen in lately. I had an apple that had been sitting on my counter that I figured was probably stale and gross. Random, but it needed to be used or thrown.

Since I've been regularly sauteing up carrots with coconut flakes (in coconut oil, obviously) with my eggs in the morning, I've gotten in the habit of frying anything I can. It's a good way to get more coconut oil in my diet! :) Which, a quick side note: I'm pretty sure there isn't a single bad thing about coconut oil.

As another example, I found these "hot dogs" the other day. Another great Woodman's find! :)

This was so incredible: carrots, broccoli, the hot dogs cut up like sausage, and spinach all sauteed in coconut oil.

Anyway, I figured the apple was shot from sitting there so long, so I might as well try frying it! Heh.

I threw a little cinnamon in with it... wow, guess it wasn't bad! It ended up a bit soft in the middle, a bit crispy on the outside and the perfect topping to my pancakes! Imagine the flavor with a fresh, fully sweet apple.

The major players, plus an egg, some stevia, a smidge of baking soda, and some extra water.

Now, isn't that a perfectly puffy pancake?

My first pancake wasn't so perfect, but the pan was too hot. Note to self.

I drizzled a little bit of almond milk (and even a spot of honey for my very last bite) and chowed down. Yes. The whole entire batch. Four large pancakes. With a fried cinnamon apple. Mm.

By the way, I did get the idea here for these
Protein Pancakes with Fried Apples

Ingredients:

1 c. almond flour
1 scoop vanilla protein powder
1/3 c. almond milk or more as needed
1 egg
1/4 tsp. baking soda
water as needed, to make it pourable but not too runny
small apple, sliced or diced
cinnamon
stevia, to taste
coconut oil (for frying)
honey or maple syrup to top (optional)

Steps:

1. Heat coconut oil in your pan. Add apple slices/pieces and cinnamon. Let saute for a few minutes on each side.
2. Mix almond flour, vanilla protein powder, almond milk, the egg, baking soda, and a few drops of stevia. Add water as needed to make it slightly runny and batter-like.
3. Pour into the pan, flip when there are a few bubbles in the batter.
4. Garnish with fried apples, coconut flakes, honey, maple syrup or any combination you choose. Fresh berries would be delicious too.

And, as always, enjoy. :) I certainly did!




Hope your weekend is going well, and your Thanksgiving plans are well under way! :)

August, part 3

So, I survived the first week of August with the Aussie photography workshop, traveling, and weddings.

The next weekend we packed up and headed to Iowa to visit my mom and dad. The pressure was definitely on as far as work goes, but I had planned the trip earlier in the summer and there was no way I was backing out now! :)

If you're going to cheat, do it well! When in Rome, right? You can't stop by Le Mars, Iowa, home of Blue Bunny and Ice Cream Capital of the world and NOT get a delectable treat! :)

It was a very nice vacation with forced relaxing.

And then the rest of the month was spent working. Photographing sessions, editing orders, working on images, more of the same...

So between this

Source: seersuckerandmagnolias.tumblr.com via Mariah on Pinterest

and this

Source: nanacompany.typepad.com via Mariah on Pinterest

I made it through.

And now that August is finally caught up, I can move on! :)

September was busy too with a couple weddings and conventions.

Then October came with my last wedding of the season and struggling to catch up.

And now it's November already. Which makes me want to cry. Where did my summer go?!?

Ah well, it's nice to be back to a bit more "normal" of a pace... :)

August, part 2

So after the photography workshop in the first 3 days of the first week in August, the next few days were spent in limbo trying to get to Florida for this super-secret wedding I was going to photograph. ;)

I was set to fly out of Milwaukee around lunch time. I was all ready to go.

I even had a delicious salad. Mm. And then I settled in to a short wait to board the plane from MKE to ATL, and then from ATL to Pensacola (PNS). I was supposed to arrive in Pensacola, Florida, later in the evening. Supposed to.

We boarded, taxied out.. after a slight delay due to MKE having only one operational runway. (I know, I was like whaaat? too. Darn construction.)

And then. At when I can only image was about 10 seconds from taking off, we headed back to the gate. Oh no! My connecting flight through Atlanta ended up being severely delayed due to their thunderstorms. Apparently all incoming flights to ATL were delayed. Yikes.

Then it was a flurry of frantic phone calls, scrambling, going out of security to get a last-minute ticket from Milwaukee to Pensacola while somehow avoiding Atlanta, going back through security, and up to a different gate with a different airline. This time I would be connecting through Dallas.

Phew. All set, right?



Wrong.

Another delay from MKE. Of course, they still hadn't figured out their timing with the whole one runway thing. We finally boarded the plane, phew. Right? Wrong.

Another delay! There had been a mishap with a plane on the airport's one and only operational runway, and it took the better part of 45 minutes to get the wreckage cleaned up.

By this time, I'd been sitting around MKE for the better part of a day, now on the plane and still feeling somewhat hopeful I would make it to PNS yet that night.

My seatmates were incredibly optimistic about the whole situation. The best part of a last minute ticket is sitting in the middle in the back. Oh, wait. Those were outright lies. In fact, the gentleman next to the window was so jittery and anxious I wanted to bonk him over the head just to put him (and me!) out of his misery.

Finally, we were off.

Once we finally pulled up to the gate in DFW, they let those of us with connecting flights leave first, told us where to go, what gates, etc.

I sprinted up to the tram to go to the other side of the airport to get to my connecting flight. Obviously, it couldn't be right next door.

And in my best Olympic form, I sprinted the 100m dash to the gate....

*pause for dramatic effect*

Frantically, I looked around to see... nobody. Absolutely no one was there. I saw the plane still outside and the door was shut.

And promptly burst into tears.

I finally found someone from the airline (I mean, hello, it was like a ghost town by the gate!) who hooked me up with a discounted motel, the shuttle to and from the airport, etc, etc.

It took me awhile to get settled down, so when I set my alarm the next morning for...

... I realized it was going to be my shortest night going into my longest day. See, this was already Friday morning, so I would photograph the wedding once I finally got down to PNS, turn around and fly home through ATL to MKE, then drive the 1.5 hours back home, which would put me back home after midnight.

Don't ask me how I remembered to screen shot my alarm. I myself don't know.

So, bring on the coffee!! Good morning, Ms. Venti.

And when you're traveling and stuck in the airport, it's perfectly fine to eat chocolate for dessert at breakfast. It wasn't until later that I realized I grabbed the regular instead of the mint. It disappointed me.. even though I had enjoyed it immensely. Hah!

Well, I finally made it to Florida...and hit the ground running. Or maybe I should say photographing! I photographed the beautiful, surprise ceremony that was pushed back especially for me.

Many thanks to the help of my second camera-woman! It was nice to have another angle!

During my 7 hours in Florida, we made use of the time! This was a late lunch at the Portofino grill with everyone there. :)

Yes, this is bacon topped sweet potato fries. They were amazing.

Another bun-less burger. I seem to never tire of them, especially when there's bacon present!

Then the time came for us to head back to the airport. When I say us, I mean my namesake who flew home with me. See, she flew down to PNS via MKE and ATL earlier the same day I was supposed to and then we were flying home together. The only difference is, she actually made it with no hiccups. ;)

Here I am sporting her sunglasses. And a failed attempt at... something.

Note to self: using coconut oil for lotion works great.. until you're out in the Florida sun for a few hours and your skin is literally fried. Oops.

Nothing like a little Pinterest browsing at the airport to pass the time.. especially when it hits home!

Yup, changed the wording there to make this G-rated for the blog. ;)

We made it to ATL just fine, then I was nearly late getting to the gate after searching out some coffee.

And then from ATL to MKE, we talked, laughed and no-doubt annoyed the poor guy in the seat next to us. It's always fun trading stories with a nice-looking stranger. ;)

Anyway, I was able to follow her most of the way home, which kept me awake.

I made it home just fine, quickly kissed my hubby hello, backed up my memory cards, charged my camera batteries and finally went to bed... only to wake up a few hours later for another wedding to photograph.

It also was a beautiful wedding which went very well. Despite the week leading up to it. ;)

I was pretty excited to snuggle Turbs after being gone all week. Eye bags? Those aren't eye bags.

But I was even more excited to see him.

See that mega-watt smile Sunday noon? I'm counting down the minutes until my nap at that point. ;)


Then, more exciting news! My car was finally done at the shop after 2 months and 1 day spent in the shop after my accident. Remember that? Ugh. Me too.

Anyway, it was finally done!

And I was quite happy about that!

So, I survived the first week of August. Phew. The workshop, the flying, the weddings...

The next weekend we had planned a trip out to my parents, which I seriously considered cancelling because of all the work I had backlogged at that point. But seeing as though I hadn't been home in over a year, my heart was longing for Iowa. Stay tuned...