Aug 13 - No fear!

New Recipe for Portable Oatmeal, and Other Ramblings

I have a new recipe for "portable oatmeal". I prefer to call it "portable oatmeal" because it has such a minimum of "additives" in it that it is almost like doing straight MF meals. I will tell you how I do it, and you can modify it as you like in terms of serving/portion/pan size, so long as your number of portions ultimately matches the number of MF packets you used, you will be fine.

I have what's called a "half sheet" aluminum baking pan, which is great for this recipe, because I make 12 meals at a time. Spray the pan with Pam. (A half-sheet is like the size cakes they sell at Costco. A 1/4 sheet would use half this recipe, and would be like a normal sized cake pan.)

For a "half sheet" 12 serving "portable oatmeal":

Preheat oven to 375F

10 packets Oatmeal (any kind)
2 packets vanilla or banana pudding (even chocolate would probalby work!)

1 Tbsp baking powder
1 Tbsp baking soda

4 Cups water

In a large bowl, combine water and puddings, and whisk until fully blended, no lumps. Sprinkle 10 packs of MF oatmeal over top, and the powder and soda, and mix with fork or whisk until uniform in appearance. Pour into pan, and spread evenly with a spatula.

Bake for 22-25 minutes, until golden brown on top and firm. Remove from heat, let cool completely, and cut into 12 servings. Store in individual zip lock bags in refrigerator, keeps for about 1 week. Can be frozen.

I made my first batch with Apple Cinnamon oatmeal and Vanilla pudding, and this current batch that is in the oven uses Maple Brown Sugar oatmeal and Banana pudding. So so yummy, so so portable. Just grab as many as 5 for your day out and you will only have to worry about your Lean and Green!

...On to other ramblings. I wonder if there is such a thing as pre-PMS? Would that be PPMS? Well, I'm in it I think. That is where the "I feel fat" thoughts were coming from yesterday, I'm pretty sure of it. Last night I wrestled with thoughts of sunbutter, and ended up eating some sugar-free hard candy. It staved off my craving pretty well, and I went to bed feeling like I had conquered the world.

Oh, yes, and the restaurant! The restaurant ended up being lovely. I had my salad there, and a gazpacho, which is a raw vegetable puree'd soup. I considered that all my green, and then I had flank steak (a bit on the fatty side) for dinner. All in all I thought I did tremendously well. I even survived a visit to "Powell's Sweet Shop" on Pearl street, which is a new "old tyme" candy store. My determination is back. I ran three days in a row over the weekend, and this mental block I've had about getting into the low 130's is disappearing. I'm still in the high 130's, but in about 6 more pounds I will have lost 1/2 of me.

Perhaps I am afraid that once I get to the "lost half of me" point I will lose my motivation, and believe I have "arrived" even though I will still be 15 lbs shy of my goal? You know what the funny thing about that is? Here I am saying "I'm afraid I'll stall out and self-sabatoge once I get to 133" and yet, I have stalled out and have been self-sabatoging myself in the process! So, I've decided....DECIDED...to put it behind me and venture on, fear or no fear. Since when have I been deterred by fear? Well, ok, the Rattlesnakes incident, but I eventually figured it out and once I identified the fear I could put it into it's proper perspective and motor on. Besides, rattlesnakes usually only venture out into the road at night, to soak up the heat that has been absorbed on the asphalt during the previous day. So the likelihood of actually seeing a live rattlesnake ON the road while I am running is slim-to-none. Because, I run during the day. Not at night.

SO! Let's all identifiy our fears, give them their due, but then categorize them away in a box called "unfounded" and move on with our lives.

Have a great week, all!