Chicago Snowpocalypse 2011

After a very exciting night including blizzard conditions and thundersnow. It was kind of exciting to wake up this morning to a winter wonderland! I felt like a kid again, so excited to have a snow day (school being cancelled)! Last night's blizzard was a bit interesting, Kris had to tape down our balcony door because the wind was blowing so hard that besides cold air getting in snow was literally coming in through the cracks. Definitely will have to speak with apartment management about that!

To recap yesterday's excitement....the snow began approximately around 3pm. I forgot to pick up some Almond Milk so we made a quick stop before the snow really started in, bad idea! There were so many people there! 

Jewel at 3pm on Tuesday before the blizzard!

Roselle Rd on our way back home. Traffic at 3pm?? Must be a blizzard on it's way!

Blizzard from our apartment window.

Last night was a great night for some yummy hot chocolate. It's a good thing Kris suggested us picking up some when we were at the grocery store the other night. Plus, it was the perfect moment to try out my new low calorie hot chocolate recipe. When we were out we picked up a box of Swiss Miss Diet Hot Chocolate. Only 25 calories per packet!

Yummy hot chocolate under 100 calories!

Low Cal Hot Chocolate Recipe
1 packet Swiss Miss Diet Hot Chocolate
1 cup Vanilla Almond Milk
12-15 mini marshmellows

Upon waking up this morning this was the view outside our window. Lots of snow but it had stopped snowing at that point.

Views from our apartment window this morning

Views from our apartment window this morning

As a celebration of the snow day I decided to make a lower calorie pumpkin pancake recipe for breakfast. I found the pumpkin pancake recipe at Pumpkin Pancake Recipe and followed the recipe with a minor changes. I also tried out Cary's Sugar Free Syrup because it's only 30 calories per serving and doesn't contain high fructose corn syrup. Not too bad and definitely worth the savings in calories.

Pumpkin Pancake Recipe

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour
2 Tbsp brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 egg
2 egg whites
1 cup vanilla almond milk
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
2 Tbsp canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Combine the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl (flour through the cloves).
2. In a small dish, beat the egg and egg whites until fluffy. Add the remaining ingredients to the egg mixture, and beat until combined. Stir the egg mixture into the flour mixture.
3. Pour batter by 1/4 cup fulls onto a preheated griddle, and cook about 3 minutes, until bubbles start to appear on the surface of the pancakes. Flip the pancakes, and cook an additional 3-4 minutes, until cooked through.

Serves 6
Per Serving Calories 205 (less than that when using almond milk vs. skim milk)

Makes quite a few pancakes.

Low Calorie, Sugar Free Syrup