Rischa's Rants, Raves, and Ramblings

Low Carb Vanilla Almond Pancake Poppers & A Story

How about another recipe? Yes? Okay!

(Skip to bottom for recipe)

Well, first let me preface this with a little story. A story about a girl with a little too much junk in the trunk. A girl who could no longer squeeze a leg into her skinny jeans. A girl who had more badonk than Beyonce and J-Lo. A girl who....okay, you get the point. So it was time for this pancake and pizza loving girl to try a new diet. This diet is for people who can't handle sugar in ANY form. The Atkins Diet. Ugg....isn't that the one that doesn't let you have sugar? Yep! That's the one! The one the girl had put off trying until I.....errr....I mean SHE...had tried EVERY other diet under the sun.

The girl should have listened to her doctor in the first place. You see, her doctor told her many months before that she had PCOS and was probably insulin resistant and should try a low carb diet. But this girl, being the sugar addict that she was, didn't listen. She said to herself, "I can find some other diet that will let me have my wonderful, yummy, oh-so-fabulous sugar and still lose weight." But sadly, the girl was wrong. She tried and tried until she got to the point of jogging 3 miles every day and eating like a rabbit and still only maintained her weight. This made the girl sad. So finally, she called her doctor and asked for the medicine her doc had recommended so many months before and started cutting back on sugar; Sweet, wonderful, mouth watering sugar. As the months passed the girl began to drop weight slowly, but consistently. The stubborn girl realized her doctor was right and she started to feel good about herself once again. Then the girl hit a plateau. No more weight was being lost. So after a bit of denial, the girl realized it was time to get serious. She decided to purchase the book, "The New Atkins for a New You" on Amazon. The book arrived 2 days later and she devoured the pages as if it were Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese icing. One grocery shopping trip later she was ready to get started. Since that day she has begun to lose consistently again and is now fitting into her skinny jeans. No more over sized badonk for the happy little girl. The moral of the story? Go for the thing you want most. If that thing is cupcakes and doughnuts, fine. But if the thing is to look good and be healthy, you just might have to sacrifice.

Oh, what a dramatic blogger I am today, right? Ha! I promise I will eventually get to the recipe mentioned in the title. Just a little more reading first.

Keep in mind that I'm NOT very domestic, so actually baking and using recipes is a big deal around here. I can cook dinner for my family and I follow directions well. (Not physical ones....I get lost going to the store, but tutorials, recipes, etc... I have that under control) I just don't like spending time in the kitchen. So this new lifestyle has been quite a change for me. I've had lots of help from web sites, friends (thank you Christa and Candice) and books. Where was I going with this? Oh yeah, the recipe. Back to the point. This isn't just MY recipe. I had tried 2 pancake recipes that were okay, but not great. The first one tasted good, but the pancakes fell apart while making them. The second recipe had an aftertaste because of all the fake sweetener and was really thin making it hard to form any sort of shape. So I told my friends, Candice and Christa, I wanted to combine the two next time I try. Candice, who I was chatting with the other night after my second failed attempt, decided she wanted pancakes that night and combined the two recipes. She came up with a recipe that she said was good, but still thin. So I added extra meal and subtracted a bit of sweetener and found the winning pancakes!! This pancake lover couldn't be happier. Now, let me just say that this is not MY recipe alone. I think Candice did all the hard work of coming up with measurements. THANK YOU, Candice! And Christa came up with the idea to use less sweetener. Actually, her words were, "Why do you need sweetener at all when you're just going to drown the things in SF syrup afterward?" LOL So last night I got my new Pancake Popper Pan out and tried the following recipe:

• 2 Tablespoons Vanilla Whey Protein Powder (I use Top Care purchased @ Winn Dixie)
• 2 Tablespoons Unblanched Almond Meal (from local Health Food Shop, or you can make it)
• 1/2-1 Teaspoon Splenda For Baking
• 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1 Egg
• 1 Tablespoon Water
• 1/2 Teaspoon Oil
• 1/2 Teaspoon Maple Extract

Mix all ingredients, turn heat to medium and let pan preheat, butter pan, pour batter into whatever size you'd like and cook until you see the bubbles forming on top. This recipe gave me 7 poppers. I do not have the exact carb count or any nutritional information for you. I may or may not figure that up later and post about it. Hey, I told you...I'm not domestic and any time not spent cooking or even thinking about it is good to me.

If you're interested in actual poppers like I made you'll want to go to Target. The pan is around $20 or less, but you won't regret spending a little cash on it. Using this recipe with this pan makes the perfect little bite size snack or breakfast alongside a few strips of bacon. I had the remaining poppers this morning with maple bacon. 

If you're looking at this pan and wondering how to flip them, you just use a fork to do that. It's easier than I thought it would be when I bought the pan.

Don't ask me why this image is upside down. I opened it in PSE and it was right side up. I look at it in the preview screen on Typepad and it's right side up. I post it and it's upside down! GRR! Oh well, you can just stand on your head I guess. lol It's a shitty cell photo anyway, so you're not missing out on much. Same with the other photos.

If you make these let me know how yours turn out and how you like them. And again, a big thank you to Candice for coming up with and sharing her measurements! If I didn't have your recipe to go off of I'd never have come up with this one.

By the way, for those of you who can not find pre-made Almond Meal you could always make it yourself. I've done it, so I know you can do it. Here's a link with a video I found to help.

30 Days of Tumblr - Day 25 — Your day, in great detail.

Day 25 — Your day, in great detail.

Oh boy! You get to read about my oh-so-exciting day! Lucky you!

Ha! In case your sarcasm meter is broken, that was sarcasm. My day is seriously lacking in any excitement. I started this Sunday by sleeping late. I woke to the sound of my finches yelling at one another. I dragged myself out of the bed, did my lady's room business (hey, it says detailed), and promptly laid down for a few more minutes before deciding to face the day. Less than 5 minutes later I heard PenPen sniffing and whining under the door because she knew I had been up. I opened the door to greet the spoiled ones and have them lick my toes. Joel let them outside so I could get a little peace. I laid down on the couch as I STILL wasn't awake enough to make myself something to eat. I laid there for a couple of minutes until the dogs wanted back inside. After all, it's hot out there. So Joel lets them back inside and I go make myself some cheese grits. This seems to be my go-to meal when I'm dead tired. I didn't sleep a wink last night because of the head ache mentioned in my last post. I'm feeling a little better today, but the head ache persists a little bit. It's better, though, so that's something.

Hey! You there! Wake up! My day isn't over yet!

So I sit down at my desk, take my meds, and eat my meal while I go through mail to see if there's anything important. The only good emails I had were from Christa. I always look forward to her mail in the morning. She usually does her mail after I'm snoozing, so I wake up to her new mail. So after bathing, getting dressed, making coffee, making tea for the fellas, and cleaning a little bit I sat down to answer mail from Christa. She's the only one that emails me anything good any more. The rest is just junk or Facebook notifications. Why did everyone give up emailing? BTW, one of her emails was to let me know she has a new blog. Check it out and leave her some comment love to welcome her to the blogging world, why don't ya? So I started replying to her mail and got interrupted a few times. Joel called me from the store and I had to tend to the aforementioned Tea making so it wouldn't boil over. Hmm...what else. Oh, I took a photo with my phone and emailed it to Christa. It was an inside thing, so it's none of your beeswax. Then I made Kolby some lunch. He had leftovers from last night. We had BBQ'd boneless ribs and shrimp with cheesy rice and baby peas. I then came back to replying to mail. I also took a few minutes to look around at some blogs and a YouTube video or two. I then made myself a second cup of coffee and washed some colored cloths. I'm waiting on them to finish so I can put them in the dryer.

That's about all I can remember or STAND to tell you about. How friggin' dull can you get, eh? I see tomorrow is supposed to be me telling you about my week. The next day is to tell you about my month. Then the next one is to tell you about my YEAR! Holy crap?! Is there anyone out there that's THAT damn bored? No! I won't be doing those! I would fall asleep writing it and YOU all would skip it all together I bet! And I wouldn't blame you one bit!

So I guess I'll have a few random days to make up for the skipping of the boring details of my week/month/year. You are welcome. LOL

I think I'll go read for a while. Both of the fellas are playing games. Kolby's on World of Warcraft and Joel's bought a new game for the PS3.

See ya all tomorrow!

xo

Rischa

30 Days of Tumblr Day 14 — A non-fictional book.

Day 14 — A non-fictional book.

Goodness, the person who wrote this really is interested in books, right? This is only day 14 and its the third post about books. Maybe it seems like more to me because I had to rewrite one of the book posts.

 

Most of the time I just read art books. When I read a good art book I either mention it on Twitter or write about it on my art blog. So I'll give you another one that I have on my "To-Read" list.

 

 

That's all for now. I'd ramble a bit more as I usually do, but I took a sleeping pill an hour ago and I'm afraid of what I might say. Also, it's 4AM!

 

xo

Rischa 

30 Days of Tumblr - Day 13 — A fictional book

Day 13 — A fictional book

I tried to post this last night and lost everything I had typed. I gave up and told myself it wasn't worth worrying over, so here it is a day late.

Since it does not say, "Day 13 — A fictional book THAT YOU HAVE READ" I'll be sharing a fictional book that I'd LIKE to read.

Water For Elephants

 

Short and sweet! See you tomorrow for Day 14. (Which actually should be 15, but I'm not doing 2 in 1 day. That'd put me at 3 blog entries for today!)

xoxo

Rischa

30 Days of Tumblr Day 4 Take 2 - Book Discussion Continued

It drove me a little crazy not being able to post photos to go with my post from yesterday. I'm sure it can be done from the iPhone, but I didn't have time to figure it out as my battery was dying. I had already turned off my other computers for the night when I realized I hadn't answered my "Day 4" question.

So here are the images and links I WOULD have inserted into the previous post if I had the time and knowledge of how to do so.

Dynamic Acrylics by Soraya French

 

An Illustrated Life by Danny Gregory

 

A Land Remembered by Patrick D. Smith

And you'll have to go over to my art blog to see the other great book mentioned. I have read that one from cover to cover twice and love it! I'm in the middle of reading the Dynamic Acrylics one and already know it's awesome. The other two are up next. If anyone's interested in knowing how those two turn out stay tuned to my blog and ask me in a month or two.

XXOO

Rischa

30 Days of Tumblr - Day 4

Day 4: A good book. (Typed from my iPod)

This will be a hard one to answer because I LOVE books. I just got a few new books. 2 of them are Art books and the other is a borrowed one Mom lent me today called, A Land Remembered. I can only comment on 1 of the Art books as I haven't read the other 2. It's a really good one about acrylic painting by Soraya French called, Dynamic Acrylics. I'm really loving it so far. So that one is my official answer because it's a good one that is on my mind right now. The other art book looks like a really fun one, too. It's called, An Illustrated Life. If you want to know of another awesome art book you can check out the one Sharon gave me that I blogged about over on my art blog a few weeks ago: www.Artist-Haven.Blogspot.com

xxoo
Rischa

Amazon, Videos, & Classes

First up: Videos! I've been thinking of doing Vlogs instead of typing out my thoughts here at the ole blog. I like watching vlogs and I'm guessing I'm not alone in that. It's more interesting to actually SEE the person and put a face with the rambles rather than having to read their writing and visualize what they're wearing. Hehe...teasing a little there. Well we are a bunch of lazy Americans, right? That's what everyone keeps saying about Americans is that we're lazy, right? Ha! I don't believe that shit and neither should you, but it does come to mind when talking about watching vids over actually using your noggin to read something. Even so, I'm doing the videos. Oh, and you don't have to be American to watch them. That was just me being silly. It might not be soon as I really need to learn to make more interesting videos. I have only made 1 so far and it's far from professional. It's pretty low budget looking, actually. I enjoyed it very much, though. I think what I'll do is use my YouTube channel and embed it here soit will generate some of the traffic from YT to here, as well. I'll do the same for the art blog IF I ever am able to get back into my creating. I miss it SO badly. It feels like I'm losin' my skills...however few they may have been.

Which brings me to my next topic. A new Portraits class. Ahh...Aren't I good at tying these meaningless paragraphs together? I'm patting myself on the back as we speak. Anywho, I had told myself I wasn't taking any more classes for a while. And really I haven't, but this one particular class will be lots of help to me I believe. It's a portraits class. I really enjoy doing portraits. I specifically like doing folk art, prim style portraits. I think it's my favorite thing to do. If you're unfamiliar with what I mean, have a look at Rachel, who I completed months ago.

 

She embodies my taste more than anything else I've done. She's simple, folksy, primitive looking, and it was fun to do. I have lots to learn, though. I'm not going to pick apart my above work because I do love her as she is, but I see things that could be improved or changed if I knew other techniques. I don't think I will ever be to the point where I don't want to learn how to do something more effectively. I would be bored if I got to that point. So I will more than likely continue to take classes and buy books.

Hehehe...I did it again. I added that last sentence in the previous paragraph JUST so I could go on to this paragraph and show you my new books from Amazon.

The Creative License

 

& the one I'm looking MOST forward to...

Altered Surfaces

 

I looked through Altered Surfaces while at Michaels and wanted to get it so badly that day. I knew it would be cheaper on Amazon, though, so I waited. It's a short book, but it's packed with info from what I've seen of it at the store. I got a couple of other books, too, but they're not that exciting. Just a couple of diet books and a cookbook. Oh, and 2 Moleskines which I'm looking forward to filling with portraits and which will be "Altered Surfaces" very soon.

I almost forgot to do my little bit of bragging. I've been making sales at my CafePress shop. It's a bit surprising to me that I've made sales there since I've yet to even advertise, but hey...I'll take it! Hehe

'til next time peeps!

Flea & Sea

Today, well technically it was yesterday, we went to the Flea Market. I don't know why....we just did. I enjoy the flea usually, but today it just looked like a bunch of junk with price tags. I did buy a book, though. We were in and out of there in a half hour. We walked all of the isles except the dusty one out back. That isle, literally, has nothing but the same things all the time. Plus, a funny guy that always screams, "Bargain day todayyyyyyyy". It always cracks me up. He says it in the SAME exact way every time and yet it still makes me giggle the way he says it. I'll give him this....he sure gets attention.

After that we went to Planet Smoothie. I tried one that said it was for women. It was nasty. It left a horrible taste in my mouth. Joel joked saying I needed to lick my ass to get the taste out of my mouth. Sorry if that gives you a visual you don't need. His was pretty good. After that we went to the grocery store where we hit the jackpot on Sea Food. Yeah! My favorite! They had pre-seasoned salmon fillets for $3! We got 6 of them and froze 4. I cooked shrimp scampi and the salmon with salad and pasta. It was one of the best dinners I've ever cooked if I may say so. The dill sauce was like the icing on a cake. Mmm

The rest of the day was spent as any Saturday should be....napping and watching TV. I have more to say, but I must get back to sleep as it has been several hours since my last nap and I miss LaLa Land. Joel's there without me right now and I'm sure he's lonely. Later...

Dr. Drew's Narcissism Test

        Have you taken the test yet? Do you love yourself more than you should? Average is 15. Are you above or below? I'm about to take it and find out!

Copied from: HERE

 

"Authors Drew Pinsky and S. Mark Young, a professor of entertainment business at the University of Southern California have studied celebrities and the general population by administering a widely used screening tool called the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI), which is included in The Mirror Effect.

The book advises answering the 40 questions below in a single sitting, without asking for help or clarification. It notes, "There's no such thing as a good or bad result on this test. Scoring high on the narcissism inventory, or high on any of the component categories, doesn't mean you have a disorder, or that you're a good or bad person."

Print this out or track your choices of which statements best match you — then test your friends, family, that guy at the office — anyone who's narcissism score you want to know.

1. A. I have a natural talent for influencing people.
B. I am not good at influencing people.

2. A. Modesty doesn't become me.
B. I am essentially a modest person.

3. A. I would do almost anything on a dare.
B. I tend to be a fairly cautious person.

4. A. When people compliment me I sometimes get embarrassed.
B. I know that I am good because everybody keeps telling me so.

5. A. The thought of ruling the world frightens the hell out of me.
B. If I ruled the world it would be a better place.

6. A. I can usually talk my way out of anything.
B. I try to accept the consequences of my behavior.

7. A. I prefer to blend in with the crowd.
B. I like to be the center of attention.

8. A. I will be a success.
B. I am not too concerned about success.

9. A. I am no better or worse than most people.
B. I think I am a special person.

10. A. I am not sure if I would make a good leader.
B. I see myself as a good leader.

11. A. I am assertive.
B. I wish I were more assertive.

12. A. I like to have authority over other people.
B. I don't mind following orders.

13. A. I find it easy to manipulate people.
B. I don't like it when I find myself manipulating people.

14. A. I insist upon getting the respect that is due me.
B. I usually get the respect that I deserve.

15. A. I don't particularly like to show off my body.
B. I like to show off my body.

16. A. I can read people like a book.
B. People are sometimes hard to understand.

17. A. If I feel competent I am willing to take responsibility for making decisions.
B. I like to take responsibility for making decisions.

18. A. I just want to be reasonably happy.
B. I want to amount to something in the eyes of the world.

19. A. My body is nothing special.
B. I like to look at my body.

20. A. I try not to be a show off.
B. I will usually show off if I get the chance.

21. A. I always know what I am doing.
B. Sometimes I am not sure of what I am doing.

22. A. I sometimes depend on people to get things done.
B. I rarely depend on anyone else to get things done.

23. A. Sometimes I tell good stories.
B. Everybody likes to hear my stories.

24. A. I expect a great deal from other people.
B. I like to do things for other people.

25. A. I will never be satisfied until I get all that I deserve.
B. I take my satisfactions as they come.

26. A. Compliments embarrass me.
B. I like to be complimented.

27. A. I have a strong will to power.
B. Power for its own sake doesn't interest me.

28. A. I don't care about new fads and fashions.
B. I like to start new fads and fashions.

29. A. I like to look at myself in the mirror.
B. I am not particularly interested in looking at myself in the mirror.

30. A. I really like to be the center of attention.
B. It makes me uncomfortable to be the center of attention.

31. A. I can live my life in any way I want to.
B. People can't always live their lives in terms of what they want.

32. A. Being an authority doesn't mean that much to me.
B. People always seem to recognize my authority.

33. A. I would prefer to be a leader.
B. It makes little difference to me whether I am a leader or not.

34. A. I am going to be a great person.
B. I hope I am going to be successful.

35. A. People sometimes believe what I tell them.
B. I can make anybody believe anything I want them to.

36. A. I am a born leader.
B. Leadership is a quality that takes a long time to develop.

37. A. I wish somebody would someday write my biography.
B. I don't like people to pry into my life for any reason.

38. A. I get upset when people don't notice how I look when I go out in public.
B. I don't mind blending into the crowd when I go out in public.

39. A. I am more capable than other people.
B. There is a lot that I can learn from other people.

40. A. I am much like everybody else.
B. I am an extraordinary person.

SCORING KEY:

Assign one point for each response that matches the key.

1, 2 and 3: A
4, 5: B
6: A
7: B
8: A
9, 10: B
11, 12, 13, 14: A
15: B
16: A
17, 18, 19, 20: B
21: A
22, 23: B
24, 25: A
26: B
27: A
28: B
29, 30, 31: A
32: B
33, 34: A
35. B
36, 37, 38, 39: A
40: B

The average score for the general population is 15.3. The average score for celebrities is 17.8. Pinsky says he scored 16.

Young says it is important to consider which traits are dominant. For example, an overall score that reflects more points on vanity, entitlement, exhibitionism and exploitiveness is more cause for concern than someone who scores high on authority, self-sufficiency and superiority, he says.

The seven component traits by question:

• Authority: 1, 8, 10, 11, 12, 32, 33, 36

• Self-sufficiency: 17, 21, 22, 31, 34, 39

• Superiority: 4, 9, 26, 37, 40

• Exhibitionism: 2, 3, 7, 20, 28, 30, 38

• Exploitativeness: 6, 13, 16, 23, 35

• Vanity: 15, 19, 29

• Entitlement: 5, 14, 18, 24, 25, 27"

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'll post my results later. Hehe....I know. You wanted to know now, didn't you? You'll have to come back! See what I did there? I pulled a Ryan Seacrest. Don't you hate it when TV shows do that? Make you wait for the results? Or like Days of Our Lives; Their most interesting show is always Friday and Monday so you'll come back to watch next week.

Seacrest OUT! (not TOO corny, eh)

My Christmas List

It's time to post my Christmas List again. I only do this so I can show it to people when they insist on getting me something. Not because I'm greedy or materialistic. Although, I do enjoy gift giving and receiving just as much as anyone else. A great alternative to the material things is to GIVE in my name. For example, donate to Pennies for Bella, The Arthritis Foundation (For obvious reasons), The Cancer Society, or The Fund For Animals.

Okay, on to my list:

 

And this one I want the most out of the 3...

   

It's out of stock, but I bet Borders or BAMM.com would have it.

Okay, enough of the books. The rest of the books I want can be found in my Amazon Wish List that's always on my blog. I have it in the left column.

Now for an electronic gadget that I would love to have. I'm still sort of researching these to find which would be best for what I'd use it for. See, I plan to start a LIVE Webcam. It will be focused on my art desk where I create. I already have my channel set up. All I have to do is get a better webcam. I have one that works, but it's one of those that doesn't really look smooth. It's jumpy. It makes me look like I'm moving in robot movements. LOL So here's A webcam, but I'm not sure if it's THE webcam, yet. I will update when I'm ready to choose THEE one.

I ALWAYS love getting Gift Certificates to my favorite stores!

Last, but not least, something from any of my favorite Etsy.com sellers:

DudaDaze

ME Art Design

Paulette Insall

mtjoyschool 

ArtChiz

 ---------------------------------------------------> Tascha <---Check the spelling. Like Rischa with TA. LOL

kilkennycat

AliceinParis

Okay, that's all for now. Merry Christmas early!

UPDATE!!!

"Creative Cloth Doll Faces", "Crumble Crackle Burn", and "Simple Gifts to Stitch" have been purchased by Mom. Hehe....She's quick! Thanks, Mom! I can't wait to dive into them! (She even said I could open them early! Woohoo) 

I wish everyone had a blog to post a wish list so I could be sure I'm not giving a lemon of a gift.  PS. Joel likes JC Penny GCs, too. I'll get a list from him and post a wish list here if he's cooperative. He usually wants cloths, but I bet he'd like a Best Buy GC, too. He's a gamer.