Pancake Craziness + March Challenge
Hey guys! I’m glad you enjoyed my post from last night—it was a fun meal! I think I enjoyed a little TOO much wine—I woke up feeling less than 100% this morning. But it’s SNOWING again…which gives me the perfect excuse to lounge around in bed all day, right? 
Actually, I haven’t exactly been lounging. I wrote for an hour this morning, and then worked on my online classes ALLLLL morning long, until noon rolled around. If you gotta do work on a Sunday, you might as well do it in bed!
Before I get to lunch…allow me to unveil my March challenge!!!
TASTE THE RAINBOW!!!
Okay, I’m already having fun with this one!
For my challenge in March, I decided that instead of taking something away (not fun!!), I’d ADD something to my meals (much more fun!!)…namely, as much color as possible!!
My challenge for March (and feel free to play along!) is to eat as many colors as possible every day, with the goal of hitting all five main color groups (red, yellow, orange, green, and blue/purple) at least once every day. I’m sticking with fruits and veggies…so, for instance, cheddar cheese wouldn’t count as an “orange” hit. 
Ryan created this nifty little chart for me:
…so I’ll be posting this at the end of each of my dinner posts with the tally of colors for the day. I’m really excited about this challenge…I already eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, but sometimes I’ll look back on my meals and think, “Wow, I haven’t had anything green today,” or “Wow…every single fruit and vegetable I ate today was orange!” I’m hoping this will inspire some creative dishes and encourage me to incorporate as much variety as possible into my diet.
I don’t usually post breakfast, but I’ll probably combine some of my breakfasts with my regular lunch posts, and I’ll definitely let you know what I have in terms of color every morning at the very least.
Let’s get this rainbow party started!
In other challenge news, the month of February is drawing to a close, which means that my sugar challenge should be almost over…BUT, last week, Ryan decided that he wanted to try to go a week without sweets or dessert. I’m really proud of him for doing this—the boy eats A LOT of sweets! So, for the sake of solidarity, I’m extending my sugar challenge for (almost) one more week, from today until Friday. I won’t be counting my added sugar intake, but I will be refraining from desserts and bars with added sugar (Cliff bars, Luna, Balance bars, etc.). This will probably only help with the taste the rainbow challenge—hello, fruit for dessert!
To kick off the TTR challenge this morning, I whipped up a tri-color green monster with bananas, strawberries, and spinach, plus almond milk and a Vega protein powder packet. Yum!
I continued the color-fest at lunch, trying my hand at something new: veggie pancakes!
Using my regular mix (Hodgson Mills), I combined 1/3 cup pancake mix with 1 egg and a splash of almond milk. I also added a few shakes of tamari for a more savory flavor.
Then, in my electric steamer, I steamed about a half a cup of broccoli and a half a cup of purple cabbage for about 5 minutes. When it was done cooking, I combined the veggies in the food processor with about a half a cup of shredded carrots and a smallish piece of ginger. Pulsed until it looked like this:
…and combined it with the pancake batter. Then, I plopped all of it down into a non-stick skillet:
I was a little nervous about flipping this bad boy, but I just took a deep breath and did it:
Success!
This was really tasty! I wish I had cut the ginger up into smaller pieces, because I got some pretty big chunks of it. But, overall, a tasty (and filling!) lunch indeed!
I also enjoyed a few bites of Ryan’s apple, and I munched on some crackers and tortilla chips while I was cooking. Full disclosure
See you tonight for a fun dinner! Hope you’re having a great Sunday!
Awesome challenge! I might just need to join you on that one! What cool pancakes
Now that’s a food challenge I could handle! Interesting pancake. Never would have thought to try to make it savory. But it makes sense.
What a neat challenge! I’m definitely in!
What a great challenge! Your so right, I bet you’ll be able to enjoy all those veggies and fruits even more after the sugar challenge!
Awesome idea! I love your challenges, and this one should be so fun
thats SUCH a cute challenge! yay-cant wait!
Great idea for March! I might try and join you on that
I always try and cram in loads of colour into my meals at the moment – tomatoes, squash, aubergine, spinach…apart from the health benefits, it just looks so much prettier 
Awesome pancake thing btw!
Love the challenge! And that pancake looks awesome, how creative!
Such a great idea for lunch! A little like a crepe, with all the goodies cooked into it! I’ll do the color challenge with you! (Does it count if something has “turned” green in the fridge, even if you can’t really remember what it originally was???)
What a great healthy challenge. I love the inclusion of foods challenge rather than limiting- limitations make me lose control so this is a great concept! Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
What a fun challenge and the veggie pancakes look great. I prefer salads that look like a rainbow exploded and am looking forward to trying a bit of this challenge myself.
Awesome!! I love this challenge!!
I have a William Sonoma Cookbook called Eating by Color that sounds right up your alley!
I LOVE the rainbow challenge, and that veggie pancake is super creative. I’ve decided that I’m not going to have sweets or desserts either for this entire week, from Monday to Sunday. I have been OUT OF CONTROL lately, and if you guys can do it, so can I!
Hi there!! Thanks for the comment on my blog!
Your veggie pancake looks awesome!! What a great challenge to have. I love that you’re adding instead of taking away!! 
I admire your dedication to these challenges. Maybe if I did them with you, I could lose these last 20 pounds.
Oh yum! That sounds delicious! I am all about colors of the rainbow in my food! I love this kind of stuff. I need to make it gluten free for my husband! I hope you had a great weekend!
I love those blue tortilla chips!! The flavor and texture are my favorite! I also really like your pancake idea! Looks fantastic!
That’s such a great idea for a challenge! And that savory pancake is so creative…I’d love to try it! Have a great week!
Nice new challenge sister! How’d Ryan do that cool chart?
I have absolutely no idea…I think it involved the internets
That pancake looks good! Did you put anything on it?? I think a dollop of yoghurt with some salt, pepper, and dill would be perfect
I didn’t put anything on it, but actually as I was eating it, I was thinking, “Man I wish I had put some yogurt with lemon juice on this!”
Most fun challenge yet!