Oct 7, 2010

Pumpkin Pancakes, Tattoo Removal, and Mexican Wedding Cookies!


Today was a busy day! Despite being sore from last night's boot camp class (thank you Lisa!), I got up the courage to hit the gym. I hadn't been since last Wednesday and my baby biceps were reverting back to newborn biceps. Not okay. At the gym I did bench dips, raised leg push ups (ow), bar curls, lateral raises, inclined bench presses, lat pull-downs, assisted pull-ups, and tricep pull-downs. Tomorrow when I try to lift a pen I will cry.

Because I worked out this morning I had two breakfasts. My pre-workout fuel was one of my Pumpkin Pancakes! I This blog is about to be pumpkined out and I might be turning orange. That just means I can go to a Clemson game nude. 

Gross.

Pumpkin Pancakes, adapted from Martha Stewart, my hero

Ingredients:
  • 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 cup skim milk
  • 6 tbsp canned pumpkin puree
  • 2 tbsp 0% Greek yogurt
  • 1 egg
Directions:
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. In a separate bowl, stir together milk, pumpkin puree, Greek yogurt, and egg. Slowly incorporate dry ingredients without over mixing. Pour 1/4 cup batter into a greased pan over medium heat. Cook first side until bubbles begin to pop, then flip and continue cooking. Makes 8 pancakes. 

These are thick and fluffy pancakes. They have a light pumpkin flavor, so I added extra cinnamon on top.

My second breakfast after the gym was Greek yogurt (yay protein!), a bit of blueberry conserve, and cinnamon. After I showered, I realized I had extra time before my doctor's appointment so I turned on the TV. The Golden Girls were on! I watch my girls every night before bed, unless I have a boyfriend forcing me to watch Sports Center. Say hello to Betty White - she's still kicking!
Two episodes later, I was off to meet my new friend Dr. Heidi Williams. Heidi is about to become my bestie because I'm letting her remove my tattoo. Laser? Nah. Skin grafts? Nah.  Heidi is snipping off my tattoo. She better be my bff because I'm allowing her to use sharp objects around my wrist. I told her to watch my arteries but she assured me that they weren't near my tattoo. Sure. Snip away bestie, I want it off.
So, in place of my nautical star, I will have a scar on my inner wrist. I look forward to explaining that one. She recommended I tell people I fell through a window. What? HOW? Readers, please, see that comment section below? Come up with an awesome story for me.


Then I had to go to work.
Work.
Work.
Work.  
Typing it makes me depressed. 
Not suicidal, promise.


A thousand hours later, I picked up my little brother. He is in 8th grade Spanish, and for Friday's party, he was required to bring in an traditional Hispanic dessert. On that note, I'd like to scream at everyone that Spanish is the name for the language of Hispanic countries. Please do not say you can speak Mexican. I beg.

Mexican Wedding Cookies/Polvorones, adapted from Perfect Mexican
Ingredients:

  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 1 cup confectioners' sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 cup pecan or walnuts, toasted and finely chopped
Directions:
Cream the butter with half the sugar and vanilla extract in a large bowl. Whisk together flour and salt and fold into the mixture. Stir in nuts. Preheat oven to 375*. Shape dough into 1-inch balls and place on baking sheets. Bake for 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Let cool for 2-3 minutes and then roll in remaining sugar. Let cool and roll again in powdered sugar. 
These cookies are so light that throwing back all 22 of them would have been easy. We demonstrated self-control and split one, saving the other 21 for his classmates. Everybody wins.

What are your weekend plans? Come up with a scar story for me! Winner gets a virtual kiss from me. Seriously. 

39 comments:

  1. You got your tattoo removed by cutting it off! I've never heard of that lol. I have a tattoo on my ankle that my boyfriend wants me to get removed but I'm not too keen on it lol

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  2. Alright, so you were walking/running with your dog one day and it started to rain. Then it started to thunder and lightning. Your dog is afraid of the thunderstorm, but you're actually BBMing Reese Witherspoon (obvi) and not paying attention when your dog starts to run in circles around you, wrapping the leash around your wrist and dragging you on the street a couple blocks. That's not what even scarred your wrist, though. You scrape-face down the road awhile (still BBMing Reese) when your dog drags you through a massive pond/puddle in the road right next to a gutter where the water is gushing like Niagra Falls. An alligator's eyes are glowing in the shadows of the gutter, and right when you pass through the pond/puddle he lunges at your face. You raise your arm to defend yourself and his right tooth scratches your stomach.

    Then you get home and go get your tattoo scraped off.

    (Confession: long time reader, first time commenter...and there may be red wine involved right now)

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  3. Quite a day. I made pumpkin pancakes a little while back and they were the jam. I haven't made them since...I need to get on that ASAP. Getting your tat removed? I didn't know! Let us know how it goes chicky. And those cookies are my favorite and Josh's too. Seriously- i think they are the tastiest cookies around- I'm drooling. Will think on a story for you :) Alligator bite?

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  4. I have a tattoo on my wrist that I'll probably get rid of in a few years. I'll be getting my botox then too. I'm interested in reading your tattoo experience!

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  5. Hi sweetcheeks!
    Come have breakfast with me...oh, and bring the ingredients for those pancakes...oh, and make them FOR me since I don't really go into the kitchen much without a panic attack HA! ...I kid, I kid;)

    You could tell people you were bitten by a Twilight vampire and lean in close and say, "yeah, and you thought it was all fiction."

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  6. Ps I freaking love the Golden Girls! Blanche taught me how to flirt BAhahaha! ;)

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  7. Oooh...the whole "snipping" thing would freak me out! Why do you want to get the tatoo off anyways? :-)

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  8. I need to know more about this tattoo removal. I've been considering having the one on my back taken off. Give me the details yo! :)

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  9. Dude...I haven't been to the gym in FOREVER and I'm starting to feel mildly disgusting and quite in a rut. Gah. So, I like the list of the things you did...And boy oh boy you must LOVE arm work! I'm more of a leg girl myself.

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  10. i'm with you on the pumpkin good thing i already have red hair and freckles. i have an excuse to why i'm orange. :)

    tattoo story...maybe you could tell people were you climbing [insert large famous mountain name here] and as you were reaching the peak your hand fell and slipped on a huge rock and you got this scar on your wrist from it and had to be airlifted to the nearest [insert random countries hospital] to be stitched up and saved.

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  11. Omg, cutting off a tatoo! That sounds like it killed! You must have PHENOMONAL pain tolerance girl!

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  12. I should tell you this in person but...

    Senior year of high school I was playing on the tennis team and we were doing footwork drills. So I was running from one side of the court to the other around the net, when I decided to turn around to taunt a teammate. When I turned back around, my thigh ran right into the handle for the net crank then skidded off...at full speed. After an onslaught of profanity, I looked down and there was a perfect penis-shaped scar on my thigh. Because I ran straight into the handle the initial impact created "the head" and when it skidded off it created "the shaft". So basically it looked like I had a penis tramp stamp on my thigh for a while.

    The End.

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  13. i'm glad you're finally getting your tattoo removed! i can't wait to hear how it goes. also, i want pumpkin EVERYTHING.

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  14. Owww that tattoo removal process sounds painful! But having a battle scar will be kind of cool. You could tell people you got bitten by a pig. That happened to my friend. Seriously haha!

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  15. So wait a sec... you're having your tattoo SNIPPED off?? Pourquoi? OwOwOw. So why do you want it off in the first place??

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  16. PS... I think I'm the only one who wants you to keep your tattoo! hahaha.

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  17. I am definitely going to turn orange from the pumpkin consumption I am working on this year! I LOVE pumpkin pancakes and Mexican Wedding Cookies!!! YUM! Yikes on the tattoo removal. That is dedication for getting rid of that sucker! Good luck on that!

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  18. Omigosh, can I hug you for the Spanish/Mexican thing? Like, you can't say you're Spanish, if you're not from SPAIN. Spanish is the language you speak, and your background is !

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  19. *that comment is suppose to end with, (fill in Latin American country)

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  20. I had no idea you had a tattoo! you need to take a before and after picture so we can see the cutting! pretty crazy!

    good luck!

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  21. Wow, bold move on the tat. Good for you though.

    I have a serious legit scar on my shoulder. I was super self conscious in high school, now I invite anyone to say something, it's a part of me so they can get bent.

    Sorry for the harsh language, fired up!

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  22. So they're cutting the tattoo off?! What?! That's crazy... and a little scary. GOOD LUCK!

    YAY the weekend is HERE!

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  23. My goodness Lol I can't get over she said to say you fell through a window!!?? that's crazzyy lol! I would just say I got my tattoo removed haha..thanks for your nice comment via twitter tweeter yesterday it made me feel better a tiny bit. Yesterday was a bad day :(

    But YOU have a fan freakin tastic weekend!

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  24. Ahemmm I just realized you were talking about the London Broil lol nevverrr mind! But thanks for calling me brave anyways ahah

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  25. Cutting a tattoo out? I have never heard of such a thing before but that does not sound pleasant. Good luck with the procedure!

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  26. I'm making punkin pancakes tomorrow! YAY! Scar story.. you were cutting a sweet potato for fries and.. missed? Haha I don't know!

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  27. mexican wedding cookies are My Absolute Favorite... I used to make them all the time... and miss them... I wonder if they'd turn out with GF flour... ?

    Hmm...

    that procedure sounds crazy scary - I've never heard of that??

    strong girl. :)

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  28. Where to start? The cutting off of the tattoo is weird, how come you can't laser it?

    I love the pumpkin pancakes and Golden Girls. I love me some Golden Girls.

    Also? I've made those Mexican Wedding Cookies and they are AWESOME! And as a Puerto Rican girl, thank you for setting the whole "speak Mexican" straight. Recently someone told me they knew my food because they'd been to Mexico. Um, Puerto Rican food, totally different than Mexican.

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  29. Pumpkin pancakes are the best! One of my friends got a scar on her wrist when she was visiting India. She put her hand on a window and leaned on it and just went through! I guess the glass wasn't very strong at her hotel!

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  30. When my son was 3 he ran full tilt into the side mirror of our car and split his eyebrow open. We tell him that when asked about the scar to say he got hit in the head by a hockey puck. LOL Too bad that one won't work for you!!

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  31. Ooh I want to hear more about this tattoo removal! I have a friend who has a scar on the inside of her wrist - and it's from a dog biting her. I think that's a good one. :-)

    Also, I'm obsessed with Mexican wedding cookies - there is no way I would have been able to use that much self-restraint. Good work!

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  32. Getting your tattoo removed? Brave soul. There are two things stopping me from getting one: 1) the pain of the needle while being inked, and 2) the pain of removal when I inevitably get sick of it.

    You could always tell people you were attacked by a slasher...

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  33. Yum pumpkin pancakes I absolutely love them!!! Aren't you brave getting your tattoo removed. I will have to ask my mum what scar stuff she used because she removed a huge scar on her back with the cream you can barely see it.

    xo

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  34. how come ya got your tattoo removed? did i miss something?? story for the scar...

    you were on a secret FBI mission with sexy agents and you were captured! right as the bad guys were cutting off your hand...sexy agent comes to your rescue and whisks you away. it was a close one...but you lived happily ever after. and you wear your battle wound with pride.
    {i played/play A LOT of make believe!}

    pumpkin pancakes equals love.

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  35. I'm interested in this procedure-you must let us know how it goes. I've never heard of the snipping before!

    People really say that they speak Mexican?? Are you serious??!! Ignorance is bliss I guess? Oi.

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  36. It's okay I'm in the pumpkin phase full throttle too... it's just that time of year

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  37. Hey girl!!
    Those pancakes look good :) This weekend, I went home from college so I was excited to relax. I'm happy to see you blog about "medical" things, even if it is just about a tattoo removal. I always blog about my medical stuff (birth control, accutane, etc). Good luck with the tattoo removal--I'm sure it will go great!! I'll be thinking of a story for you!
    Hope you had a great weekend!!

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    ReplyDelete