Good evening all, i hope your Thanksgiving was as awesome and as full of food as mine was! Im not gonna lie, there was definnitely some extreme fullness happening. I guess im just one of those people that graze on a bit of everything... unfortunately, there was a lot of dishes that were brought. So, after a 2 day nap, there was only one thing to do and that was to update all the wonderful people out in the land of Blog.

So, i know your all on pins and needles about my last post making the declaration to enjoy the festivites to their fullest. I know what your thinking... "You need to remind yourself to enjoy a holiday? (weeeirdoooooo...)" You would be right about that one, i am a weirdo but one that is set on changing. That being said i think its time to throw the honestly party of the year and confess that i DO have issues with food. Those of you that have been here for a while have probably already caught on to this but i do not think i have ever come right out and said it. In a nutshell, i was an overweight kid and always considered my weight the reason I didnt have a lot of friends growing up. Looking back, i know that the reasons were anything but weight related... but try telling a chubby kid that. So... leave that a few years to marinate and one develops food/weight issues which led yours truly to a point that he would rather not go too far into. Lets jest say it got to a point where i had to take a 'mandatory sabbatical' from my job at Starbucks, there was a therapist involved and even...... the shun of Pancakes!

I know, i know... the tissues are behind you. Go ahead and grab a few... now blow. Good.

But, as Rafiki once said: It doesnt matter... its in the past. Oh man, the 'Lion King' is friggin awesome, is it not? Life lessons AND good animation. This actually became somewhat of a mantra as i walked into Thankgiving. Working to keep the ticks at bay and to take what i wanted, not what was 'good' or 'bad'. The result... a day full of fried turkey, broccoli casserole, grandmas yams (want to run a TRAIN on these) and even some Pumpkin Pie and some of the best Flan i have ever tasted... plus many, many, more. I was full, but i was happy and i walked away thankful to God for the gifts we had received and the wonderful family He blessed me with. All in all, it was an awesome Thanksgiving and I would not wish it any other way.

Not only that... but there were LEFTOVERS <----- best part! However, there was not enough turkey for the families liking so we hit up the farmers market and got a breast for roasting. A turkey sandwich may make an appearance later in the week coupled with the 'splaining of how to make the perrrrrrfect leftover sangwich (years of study cant be wrong). There was also some more cranberry sauce made and......... A PIE!

OR, a cheesecake. Whatever, either way its awesome, healthy and half gone. I may or may not be running a train on this dessert. But... if you have to have a guilty plesure the Enlightend Pumpkin Cheezcake isn't a bad way to go. I subbed silken tofu for one of the bricks of cream cheese for some added protein and i used pre-made crust because my mother did not know what kind we needed... next time i make this i want to use Nilla Wafers cause im from the south and we put them on everything. I will be adding more more brown sugar next time... but, other than that, this is a wonderful little dessert thats nice when your craving something Pumpkin-y.

As if baking is not awesome enough there was some SWAGGGG accumulated over the break that i will go into later (im sure i have bored you enough already). Until then i will leave you with a little warning I saw at the beach after i had breakfast the other day that made me laugh... since i had chosen to NOT have oatmeal that morning.
How do you like that one Mitri?

Also, still on a high from the Terminator Success! I am now taking down another food challenge that has daunted South Florida for far too long. Will update more later on so be ready.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, there you have it. Tune in next time for an update on the SWAG and the 'Challenge' not to mention a restaurant review or two. Until then, this is PanClayke, reminding you that when you fry a turkey on high heat it creates a sear that keeps the bird from getting greasy but keeping it moist. haha, i said moist.

SWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGG

Stuff. We. All. Get! I have literally decorated my entire condo with all my SWAAAAAG! (The Office Reference!).
So, if you notice the Last Post you will notice there was a lot of retail therepy yesterday. Totally needed, trust me. I don't know what it is but i have a problem with buying something just for me, like im not entitled to something nice once in a while. I think it spawns from a past experience of invesing my entire alowance on poorly produced animated movies (Rock-A-Doodle not withstanding) and/or Beast Wars action figures. It took a couple mishaps to realize I didnt know my own strength as a kid..... many a figure suffered as a result of finding this out. Anyhoo, yesterday was an exception like whoa! It involved three different retailers, two trips back to the car, and a few things that I did not know existed. That being said... lets review some of the new finds!

First off we got a little thing called 'Nutritional Yeast', apparently all the rage when it comes to being a vegan. It tastes kind of like flakey cheese and has the texture of some fish food. Your going out to get some right now aren't you? Well, what it misses in looks if gains in nutrition. There's an abundance of chromium and selinium to regulate the blood sugar and it has a hooge complex of B-Vitamins which are hard to find in a vegan diet since these vitamins are the ones found as a result of bacteria in meat sources. I take a supplement for this already... but its nice to have something else that tastes like cheese around the house. Have so far sprinkled it on soup, toast and stir fry's an an extremely pleased with it. Couple that with the nutrition powerhouse its packin... and its definitely a good buy. Its also kind of cheap since you get it from the bulk bins.

ON TO BEST BUY!!!!!

Need to make this quick... i gotta meet the new boss by 8am. Honestly, is there anything better than finding out one of your favorite shows came out on DVD and you didnt know about it? Its such a wonderful surprise as I have seen every season of Scrubs thus far and am SOOO ready to keep the trend going. Actually, picking this up reminded me of the first time I ever even saw the show. Thanksgiving day, sophmore year of college, half a pumpkin pie all to myself and a feeling of explosion was immanent. I was definitely no superman that day.

Then... it was decided that enough fun had happened and it was time to head to Publix and get the bare neccessities................ or so i thought.

First off, anything with a monkey on it immediately catches my attention. Couple that with a love for rasins and a Peter Pan syndrome and Presto! Peanut Butter and Co answered my prayers yet again. Not only are there son EFA's running through the nut butter, but cinnamon helps the digestion a whole bunch and rasins make me want to throw on some tap shoes and do and antioxi-dance! Taste-wise... it definitely aimed to please. Especially when paired in a sengwich with apple sauce instead of jelly. Apple butter might also work well... but there was none on hand so we had to make due. All in all, in giving this guy to, very enthusiastic thumbs up!

Now for the list. Apples? Check. Salad stuff? Yepper. And how bout... WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?

Those of you from the carribean will recognize the 'Bonatio'. To put it bluntly, its like a less sweet, sweet potato. Its got a whole bunch of vitamin C not to mention a good deal of fiber. You cook it and eat it like you would a potato... so im thinking it might make the appearance as some home fries tomorrow morning. Either that or some carribean latkes... but I havent thought that far ahead at the moment. Have yet to taste it but i will be honest in assuming its got some big shoes to fill. Will update later... while listening to Kevin Rudolff (ANOTHER AWESOME PURCHASE!)

Well kiddies, Happy Swagging and wonderous cake making to all.... and to all a good night (or a good morning as the case may be. Note=re-form sleep schedule soon in order to resume the world of the living. Tune in next time for more misadventures and cake making.... plus, a new ingredient (i am soooo iron chef right now).

Boo-Cakes!

Happy Pancake Day (aka sunday)! It seems as though the entire blogsphere has been taking this wonderful 24 hours to do nothing other than making themselves happy... and I'm te first to admit I thought that was a pretty good idea. Soooooooo, after a wonderful message at curch this morning preceded by a quick praise in the car since that cop who saw me speeding on the way there (stoopid office season 5 on DVD keeping me up all night!). Im as nostalgic as the next guy but i think its time to bite the bullet and get a new alarm clock as 'Ricky-tiki-tavi' has been lacking in the dependablility dept recently.

(*Note, problems with alarm clocks are never the result of human error!*)

Anyway... after the Good Word there was the discovery of the best whole in the wall pizza place in the world. Now, i can only judge based on the asthetics of the place (a re-modeled 3-bedroom house!) since the fundage was not in my favor to blow $18 on a pizza... but this is the first place ive found with some Vegan Pizza Goodness! Plan on a critique of this wonderful find later on in the week as I have totally planned to go back! However, today the visit was about the wonderful conversation that was shared... sweeter than pinesapple and more meaty than canadian bacon. MAN! Loves me some 'Big Hawaiian'!

Post pizza led to a romp in my two favorite places... Best Buy and Whole Foods!!!! Will do a complete post of all the wonderous SWAG later on... but some higlights were vegan cream cheese, something called brewers yeast, and Kevin Rudolff. This was follow by a less miraculous trip to Pubix to replenish the produce stash (Yes... i know i am missing out on the better produce by not getting it organic/local at the WF.... but, again, the fundage is not in my favor). Then, while walking away from the produce i noticed the Halloween oreos!!! Remember the ones that have the orange frosting since orange is scary? Well, theyre baaaaack! But, they are not vegan which made me a little sad, then i realized that I have made chocolate pancakes.... whats to stop me from making orange?

(*fanfare) NOTHING! THATS WHAT (*fanfare)

Now, while i did not have the dough for the 'good' pears this week, there was an extra 98cents in the budget for a packet of butterscotch pudding mix. The only thing is (as indicated on the box) the puding will not set up with soy milk. I was worried but then realized that if i just added a LOT less milk to the whole packet then there was a chance...

Imagine how epic it felt when my butterscotch started to get pudding-y and wonderful?!? You may notice a bite taken out of the pudding bowl..... lets just say there was a lot of gum chewed/urging for the panakes to be ready to flip.
(will power + clay = non existent)



Once the prayers of the pancake kicked in it was all a matter of stackage and snackage.

Now, if you will excuse me... there is something more pressing that requires my attention. Tune in tomorrow for a wonderful SWAG post and a review of a few wonderful things. Until next time, this is PanClayke reminding you to 'let it rock!'