Princess Diana oats, cottage cheese pancakes, that big red thing, and more!

Ready for a big helping of miscellany? Let’s go!

I tried the Princess Diana overnight oats

I thought they were pretty good, but a little more sour than I’d prefer (I didn’t add any sweetener other than the OJ).

I think the Greek yogurt I had on hand was fairly sour, and it might be better with a milder yogurt, such as my homemade yogurt. So I think I will try it that way next time.

Annnnd you know I’ll update you. 😉 

(Ahahaha, also, I just realized I didn’t add in the grated apple. Whoops! I should try it that way too because that would definitely up the sweetness factor.) 

The blender oatmeal pancake verdict

I tried the cottage cheese oatmeal blender pancakes too!

They were super easy to make, and a pretty tasty way to get 30 grams of protein. WAYYYYY better than those Kodiak mix pancakes that I despised. 

And no protein powder is involved! Glory be.

I did add a little bit of brown sugar to my batter because my regular whole wheat pancake recipe has brown sugar.

I used my Vitamix, of course. My jar has a narrow base so it works fine for even small batches like this.

And of course, I made mine with blueberries.

I like pouring my pancake batter into a measuring cup because then it’s so easy to pour into the skillet.

The original recipe called for old-fashioned oats, but I used some quick oats that I’d bought on a scratch-and-dent shelf at Safeway.

I figured this change was no big deal because they’re just getting blended up anyway, and it did seem to work fine.

Anyway, if you dislike the texture of cottage cheese but are trying to get some in your diet, give these pancakes a try.

Several readers also tried them (some even on the day I posted about the recipe!) and they gave a thumbs up to the recipe too. 

I did do four workouts last week

In my Labor Day post, I told you I was gonna try the overnight oats, try the cottage cheese pancakes, and I also mentioned I hoped to get 3-4 workouts in. And I did…one at home, three at the gym.

Yay me! 

I have masculine hands, I guess

I saw a social media post where someone was asking a dermatologist how to fix her non-feminine hands:

And this made me laugh because I am actually kind of delighted by my veiny hands. I think that once you’ve had a job where you have to do blood draws, you have a fresh appreciation for visible veins. 

I see nothing to fix here.

Also: veins are common to all human beings. They are not gendered, and I see no reason for women to think they need to add some skincare to hide their hand veins. 

It’s ok to be veiny. 😉 

The Zuppa Toscana recipe I use

There are a million versions of this out there on the internet, and a reader was wondering which one I use.

I use this one from The Chunky Chef and I follow it pretty closely except I use way more kale than she calls for. It cooks down nicely, so the “couple of handfuls” she calls for have never seemed like quite enough to me. 

Also, I use my homemade broth, and I usually use Yukon gold potatoes instead of the russets she calls for.

This soup is great leftover, and works perfectly for a packed lunch for me. 

What’s that big red thing?

I included a picture of my broccoli in Friday’s post, and I meant to add a link explaining what the big red thing was.

Several of you commented/emailed to ask about it, so…it’s called a Frywall. 

It sits inside your 12-inch frying pan to keep grease from spattering all over, and it works so much better than those flat metal mesh splatter guards. Plus, you can stir your food with the Frywall in place. 

I wrote a whole post about the Frywall (plus another silicone unitasker I love): click here to read that and also watch the little YouTube video I made.

(Although please have mercy on my sketchy YouTube skills. I am better at typing than I am at making videos!)

I have the 12-inch one, which fits…12-inch skillets. (Duh.)

It won’t work on smaller skillets, but there are smaller Frywalls available as well. I almost never use anything other than a 12-inch skillet, so this single Frywall has been fine for me. 

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Annnnd that’s the end of today’s edition of miscellany. 🙂 

Any topic here is fair game for discussion: oats, pancakes, veiny hands, and the Frywall. Have at it!