greatness

yesterday was stormy and gross. definitely a comfort food kind of day. as a result i was in an autumn mood when i went to the grocery store last night and ended up buying some acorn squash from BJs thinking I'd make some soup. However, today isn't a stormy soup kind of day and I still have plenty of apples left from my race last weekend (wow! was that only a week ago?!?!). so, i did what any normal person would do and googled "squash apple recipe". the first recipe that popped up was the winner since it also included another one of my favorites, cranberries, and is super simple to make.

Butternut Squash Apple Cranberry Bake from Simply Recipes

INGREDIENTS

• 1 large butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes (i bought mine pre peeled and pre cut)
• 2 large tart cooking apples cut into 1/2-inch thick slices
• 1/2 cup fresh or frozen cranberries (i used craisins)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (i used splenda brown sugar for baking)
• 1/4 cup (half a stick) butter (i used unsalted)
• 1 Tbsp flour (i used whole wheat)
• 1 teaspoon salt (i used reduced sodium salt)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground mace (can substitute ground nutmeg) (i used 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon cloves)

1 Preheat oven to 350°F. Slice and peel squash and apples.

2 Put squash cubes in ungreased 7x11-inch baking dish. Place apples on top and then cranberries. Mix the flour, salt, sugar, and mace and sprinkle on top. Dot with butter. Bake 50-60 minutes.

i loved it! the pictures don't do justice to the taste. it's pretty delicious.

the other thing i made today was pancakes. keep in mind, i don't typically like pancakes therefore i do not make pancakes. however, they are great for athletes to eat as pre-workout fuel due to the rate at which the complex carbs break down (no, i won't bore you with the science lesson) not to mention they're easy to freeze and pull out in a hurry.

The following is a recipe from Playtri.

Oatmeal Pancakes

Make this ahead of time! The dry ingredients can be mixed and stored for later use. Just add the buttermilk, eggs and butter. High in protein and low in fat!

Ingredients

• 1 cup oats
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• ¼ cup instant nonfat dry powdered milk
• ¼ cup wheat germ
• 1 tbsp packed brown sugar (i used splenda brown sugar for baking)
• 1tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• 2 cups lowfat buttermilk (i used the powdered and only did a cup and half -- since i've not made pancakes i don't really know how thin the mixture should be so mine was maybe too thick)
• 2 large eggs
• ¼ cup light unsalted butter

Preparation
1. Pulse oats in food processor 5 to 6 times until ground.
2. Combine ground oats, wheat flour, and next 5 ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk together buttermilk, eggs, and butter; stir into oat mixture.
3. Pour 1/4 cup batter for each pancake onto a hot griddle coated with cooking spray. Cook pancakes until tops are covered with bubbles and edges look cooked; turn and cook other side.

Makes 10 servings (1 serving = 2 pancakes) -- mine only made 12 (probably because of the buttermilk)

Per serving : 183 Calories; 9g Protein; 26g Carbohydrates; 5g Fat; 256mg Sodium

The batter:

for all you people who make pancakes on a regular basis, having your pancakes form a circle isn't a big deal. for a novice like me, a circle is a minor miracle.

it isn't burnt, just crispy (it took me a couple to learn that i needed to turn my burner down a little).
overall, i'm pretty impressed with how my pancakes turned out. granted when i go to eat them i may not be as pleased. but i can always blame it on freezer burn...