Traditional Thanksgiving Ham?

So we went to J's family's house for Thanksgiving. I, because I was raised properly, showed up with a French silk pie and offered to help his mom in the kitchen. His dad handed me 2 cans of green beans and the biggest can of cream of mushroom soup I've ever seen and asked me to make the green bean casserole. I have no idea how to make green bean casserole. I don't even like green bean casserole. Then we discovered that they had decided to make ham. We're still not quite sure why. It's not a family tradition or anything.

So we had a Thanksgiving without a turkey, but with plenty of family--three kids who, at one point as they were beating the tar out of J, seemed like 30 kids. Holidays are kind of a rough time, since my family live so far away. Last year, I couldn't get enough time off work to go visit my family; this year, I don't have a job and can't afford to go visit my family. It's kind of special for me to be able to spend the day with J's family, so the thing I am most thankful for this year is J, for sharing his family with me since I couldn't be with my own.

I did follow it up with my usual day-after-Thanksgiving tradition: not leaving the house. I did not get up before any sane hour to go shopping. I did not fight other people for free gifts at Express (I worked there one holiday season, and there was a legitimate fistfight over the last free red sequined clutch--Detroit is a TOUGH city!). We did end up going to Microcenter after dinner to return the Xbox 360 J bought to replace the one that was stolen, and then re-purchased it to get a free $50 gift card.

I have to say, I think Christmas shopping is probably my least favorite thing in the world to do. I hate the mall during the holiday. There's just too many people, and most of them are so focused on getting whatever they're after that they pay absolutely no attention to the people around them. I don't like big crowds, and I like them even less when they're trying to save $4 on a jingle ball sweater. And it's cold outside, so I have to wear a jacket, but it's hot inside. So I'm overheated, overcrowded and overannoyed. I am the person for whom Internet shopping was invented.

I Ate This, Pt. 1

Okay, so I've been for the past month doing the South Beach diet, trying to lose an amount of weight approximately equivalent to like a second grader. At this point, I have lost one chin.

South Beach is low carb, high protein, high fiber with lots of green leafy veggies. It's particularly difficult for me because I LOVE carbs, particularly for breakfast. For the past few weeks, I've been eating omelets every weekend, so at this point, if I have to look at another omelet I will scream. And then I found this recipe for whole wheat vanilla pancakes.

Okay, so if you look at that picture, they don't look quite that tasty. Mine looked a lot better. And they were totally yummy! Even J thought they were as good as the pancakes I normally make. Throw on a little turkey bacon, and it's a yummy, healthy breakfast. To keep the sugar content (a.k.a., the carb count) low, I put low sugar strawberry jam on mine.

So, as part of an ongoing segment here on Ad Nihilum, I will share with you these things that I have eaten that actually taste good, so you can enjoy them as well! And next time, I will think ahead and put an actual photo of the actual food I made up for you!

Whole Wheat Vanilla Pancakes

1/2 Cup whole wheat flour
1 Tablespoon sugar
1/2 Teaspoon baking powder
1/4 Teaspoon baking soda
1/4 Teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/4 cup vanilla yogurt (I used light yogurt)
1/4 cup water
1 Tablespoon canola oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, soda and salt in one bowl. Set aside. In another bowl, whisk together the egg, yogurt, water, oil and vanilla. Combine wet and dry ingredients and stir until moistened. Pour batter into a non-stick pan over medium-high heat using approximately a 1/4 cup of batter per pancake. When bubbles appear, flip and cook till light brown. Makes 8-ish, equivalent to 2 servings.

Yum!