Pancakes

Clearly I am not a very good blogger. I have what I think to be creative thoughts running in and just as fast, out, of my mind. Mainly these thoughts come when I'm on the bike and I often wish I had a tape recorder that I could speak into as I'm riding, knowing that as soon as I'm home, eating, drinking, stretching, sitting on the couch, I will forget, forget the epiphanies, the creative sentences that flow from my free spirit. And even though I never write, the lesson is obvious, biking frees my mind. I know that in order for me to feel good, alive, free, and happy, I must ride or move my body outside with the earth. I hate to admit that there are times that my mind stops me. This is a ridiculous, cruel game that my mind creates because as soon as I'm moving, biking, skiing, running, I feel better. Sometimes the first step really is the first step.

Yoga helps to. I have recently discovered doyogawithme.com, it's a free and convenient way to practice. I didn't think I would get into it but there are all sorts of classes and a wide variety of levels and intensities. I find myself looking forward to "class". Every once in a while I'll get a really good message from it as well. One message that has been quite constant in my life that I'm not always good at practicing is living in the present. It's something that yogis preach and it is nothing new. However, during one of my recent classes I heard this message a bit differently than I ever have before. "If you are constantly thinking about the next moment or task you have to complete instead of focusing on this moment, and strengthening this moment, you're always going to miss this moment and you'll never truly grow". Well that may not be it verbatim but you get the point.

Two things that keep me in the moment, truly present, are biking and eating. I love pancakes and about 10 months ago I started experimenting with the Paleo Diet for Athletes. It changed my life and although at this present time I am not an avid or even close to avid Paleo eater, I have eliminated wheat from my diet (although this morning Matt had donuts and I couldn't resist that chocolate frosting calling my name; it wasn't worth it!) Ok, so sometimes I cheat and eat what my body doesn't like, another strange phenomen. Eliminating wheat has not been as hard as I once thought, unless there are delicious treats staring at me in my kitchen or my cousin Diane's delicious chocolate chip cookies where one cookie probably equals about a dozen! My point to all of this is that I received The Feed Zone (by Biju Thomas and Allin Lim) as a graduation gift from my friend Katie, it is a cookbook for athletes and the recipes are sublime.

Paleo pancakes sometimes leave me feeling unsatisfied and I feel the need for a little more starch. This morning I made the following Rice and Banana Pancackes:
2 cups cooked white race
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 ripe banana
2 Tbsp brown sugar (agave nectar or honey ok)
1 Tbsp rice flour
1 and a half- 2 cup milk (I use coconut milk)
pinch of salt (I rarely add salt to food)
Mix all ingredients in blender, adding milk slowly for desired thickness and pour batter (pancake by pancake) into pan and cook like pancakes. They turn out gooey in the middle but are delicious. Add fruit, cinnamon, nutmeg, whatever. I'm a half recipe follower and it usually works out.

Hope you enjoy! I'm off to embrace the wind.