Grilling Season

Its finally grilling season! Well, I suppose it has been for a bit now, but last night our grill made its season debut. We have a big Weber grill that was passed down to us from Pat's dad. He used it for about 16 years and then gave it to us when he bought a new one. He took really good care of it, so its still in great condition! Last year I bought Pat a new cover for it since the old one was ripped, and a few weeks ago I bought him some new grates. We talked about getting a new one this year, but weren't sure if we'd be moving in the fall, so decided to stick with this one until we knew where we'd be settled.

Dinner last night was delicious, but I suppose I should start with breakfast and work my way up to dinner. Since I work from home on Wednesdays I have a little more time to make breakfast. I decided that a big pancake breakfast was in order!

I used my favorite multi-grain pancake mix:

Usually I swap out the oil in recipes for applesauce or pumpkin (depending on the recipe) but after seeing the very sad state my bananas were in, I decided to use mashed banana instead.

I also added some mashed bananas into the pancakes as I cooked them. Banana pancakes are my favorite! I have a terrible sweet tooth and loooove chocolate, but hate chocolate chips in my pancakes. Not sure why, but I prefer plain or with fruit.

I topped my pile of pancakes with some organic raspberries and drizzled with some organic agave syrup.

It was so hot yesterday that I went to the gym to run inside. I ran one mile to warm up and then did speed intervals (alternating 1/4 mile fast and 1/4 mile at 6.0). When I was 2.5 miles into my run, one of the trainers at the gym came over and asked me if I wanted to join an impromptu abs class he was having. I thought it was a little weird, but decided that I'm in no position to turn down an abs workout, so I got off the treadmill and joined four other people on a mat (the five of us were lined up like sardines) and did the seven minute abs class. I kept thinking about that hitchhiker from There's Something About Mary who wanted to invent the "Seven Minute Abs" video. After the brief class I went back to the treadmill and ran another 1.5 miles of speed intervals for a total of 4 miles. Then I went home and met up with Pat and we walked back to the gym to do back and bis strength training. I've been really bad about fitting in my strength training so I'm hoping to get back into it.

*Note - my abs don't feel sore at all today, so I don't think the Seven-Minute-Abs idea is all that great.

And finally, back to grilling! Last night we grilled up lots of vegetables and some steak for dinner.

The asparagus was cooked in a little bit of olive oil and lots of red pepper flakes, the peppers and onions were cooked in a little bit of olive oil and some fresh ground pepper, and the steak was covered in salt, pepper and garlic powder. So easy and so good!

Pat also came up with a great idea for grilling slices of vidalia onions. Usually when you grill them, the rings end up separating. If you want to keep them intact, simply insert a toothpick into the side and they'll stay together!

Dinner is served:

How do you like your pancakes?

What is your favorite thing to grill in the summer?