Made With Love: Carrot Pancake (My Version)

 (Photo by: Erica/Erix)

 

I am a PANCAKE LOVER! Are you? However, since most pancakes are very sweet, high in calories and fats I couldn't eat them frequently.

 

Until... I decided to make my own pancake mixture. I had enough of buying ready made pancake mix. Yes, they are outrageously delicious BUT I prefer healthy foods.

 

I found a Carrot Cake Pancake Recipe but it's very complicated for me to follow so I made my own version.

 

Carrots are high in beta-carotene which is converted into Vitamin A; an anti-oxidant.

 

Uses For Beta-Carotene:

• Prevention against cancer and heart disease
• To slow the progression of cataracts
• To prevent macular degeneration
• To boost immunity
• To protect the skin against sunburn
• Asthma
• Depression
• Infertility
• Parkinson’s disease
• Psoriasis
• Arthritis
• High blood pressure
• Cervical dysplasia

(Source: Beta-Carotene)

However, most kids don't like the taste of Carrots... and some adults... like my cousin. LOL. <3 Including Carrots in pancakes is a great way to make your child eat the vegetable since they cannot really taste the carrots.



Carrot Pancake (My Version)

Calories per pancake: 85 Calories

Number of Pancake: 14 (Approximately)

 

Ingredients:

 

1 1/4 Cup All Purpose Flour (Or Wheat Flour)

2 Tsp. Baking Powder

1 Tsp. Ground Cinnamon

1/4 Tsp. Salt

1/4 Cup Brown Sugar

2 Tbsp. White Sugar

1 1/2 Tsp. Vanilla Extract

2 Large Egg (Lightly beaten)

2 Cups Finely Grated Carrots

1 Cup Soya Milk (Or Low-fat Milk)

1 Tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil (For cooking)

 

 

Procedures:

1. Grate the Carrots.
2. Combine all the dry ingredients in a separate bowl; flour, baking powder, cinnamon, brown sugar, white sugar and salt.
3. Lightly beat the eggs.
4. Combine all the liquid ingredients (Including the egg); vanilla extract and soya milk.
5. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients bowl.
6. Mix until blended well.
7. Preheat the stove. Use 1/4 measuring cup to measure the pancake mix.
8. Cook 1 - 1 1/2 minutes for each side of the pancake.
9. Serve with pure honey on top and butter (optional).

 

Your Carrot Pancake is done! If you don't like the taste of Soya Milk you can definitely use any kind of milk but it will increase the number of calories. I use Soya Milk because I have allergic reaction to some Dairy products. Feel free to add raisins or chocolates if you like for added flavor... again, it will increase the number of calories. Nevertheless, the health benefits of Carrots are still in your pancakes!

 

Have fun!

 

Sincerely,

Erica/Erix

 



Collection Of Words 12: Oozing White Smoke

 

Oozing White Smoke
Written by: Erica/Erix
Photo by: Erica/Erix
Date Written: January 2014

The oozing white smoke, I watched
As it turned to nothingness at once
The smoke above the hot green tea
I really wished... it was me.

_________________________________________



 

Why I wish to be like the white smoke above the hot green tea? Because I want to disappear. I want to be gone...

 



Made With Love 3: Green Smoothie Detox Drink (My Opinion)

 

(Photo by: Erica/Erix)

 

Every time I see fruits and vegetables in the market... I feel very HAPPY and HUNGRY.

 

The reason is that I want to be more healthy and I like the feeling of CLEAN BODY... free from junk foods and preservatives.

 

I don't want to go back to that life again; junk foods, high calorie and cholesterol foods, instant foods etc... well, it's not so bad to eat them once in a while... but ONCE IN A WHILE ONLY.

 

Before, I eat a lot of meat and junk foods and after that... I always feel like a CRAP. I always find myself so stress in flushing them out.

 

I did a lot of health article reading for the past few days and I stumbled upon "Healthy Smoothies".

Green Smoothies are said to be very healthy since they are:

1. Loaded with anti-oxidant which flushes out the toxins in our body
2. Anti-inflammatory
3. Anti-cancer
4. Reduces the possibility of heart diseases
5. Cleanses our intestines
6. Aids constipation
7. Helps to give glow to our skin... etc.

There are a lot of BENEFITS... I think they are uncountable.

 

Since I like SPINACH, I decided to try the "Green Smoothie".

 

 

GREEN SMOOTHIE DETOX

Servings: 2

Calories: 74 (Approximately)

 

INGREDIENTS:

 

1 Cup Spinach

2 Mango cheeks

1 Cup Pineapple (diced; not canned)

1 1/2 Cup Water

1 Tbsp. Honey (Optional)

 

PROCEDURE:

1. Cut the spinach into tiny pieces. Diced the mango and pineapple. Segregate each ingredient.
2. Pour 1 1/2 cups of water, together with 1 cup spinach into the blender. Puree until the spinach became very smooth.
3. Pour the remaining ingredients and honey (if you like). Puree until everything became very smooth.
4. Serve.





Done!

 

Your Green Smoothie Detox Drink is ready to serve. If you want your drink to be more concentrated, just use 1 cup of water... you will have a 1.5 glass of Green Smoothie. I usually use cold water for this... no ice for me. I drink this after I exercise or at lunch.

The taste? Very great. My mother told me so. <3

 

Have fun and stay healthy!

 

Sincerely,

Erica/Erix

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Art: Incomplete // The Story Behind The Art

Title: Incomplete

Model: Random Picture in Google

(If this is your photo please contact me. I'll put credit. Thank you.)

Tools: .5 Mechanical Pencil and Soft Pastel in Gray Tones

Date: April 14, 2014

 

It's been four months since the last time I did an art. Yesterday was Monday and I have a one week vacation due to Holidays. I decided to take a break from my job and give time to myself... because lately, I felt like I am neglecting some part of me.

 

Some part of me... my art, my photography my love for literature. I am the type of person who always make time for everything that makes me happy. Life is all about sacrifices, right?

 

I must confess that I miss drawing, sketching, painting and expressing my emotions through art. I miss listening to rock music while doing my art. Rock music and its sub genre always help me to build the emotion I needed to move my hand and create things from my imagination.

 

Again, I must confess that I can't make "Happy" art... this kind of art is not me. I can only make dark, dramatic art which talks about the deepest secret of my heart, mind, body and soul.

 

Whenever I couldn't express myself through words... I use colors to ease the pain in my heart... to lessen the burden and to just be myself.

 

Rock Music while doing art is like a dance to me. My hands dance as each notes of the songs flows through my veins. I sing as my soul dances and makes heed to the emotions which are being awakened by the Music.

 

Incomplete. Because I am incomplete...

 

Have a nice day Everyone.

 

Sincerely,

Erica/Erix

 

Things that made me happy:

1. Talking to my older cousins. Their experiences taught me lessons and I always like talking to them.
2. Creating my Soft Pastel Art.
3. Singing to Rock Songs from my 2007-2009 playlist. Listening to them is Nostalgic.
4. Playing "My Heroine" by Silverstein in Guitar. I am still terrible but it's fun.
5. Summer Class.
6. Eating Vegetables and Fruits.
7. My Lemon Water in the Morning
8. Exercising. Exercise helps me to relieve depression and sadness.

 



Made With Love 1: Obviously Orange Soya Smoothie Recipe (My Version) // Perfect for Lazy Thursday

 

 

(Photo by: Erica/Erix)

 

Summer Heat! Summer time is drastic in Manila. Manila Heat is tremendously and terribly unexplainable and unfathomable. It makes me want to go outside wearing nothing at all!

 

Nevertheless, I'm doing my best to prevent all negative health issues that might target me this Summer Season.

 

Since, I love fruits and vegetables and I emphasized this fact too many times in this blog... I've been experimenting a lot with my favorites. I plan to make a lot of Smoothie recipe that are PERFECT for this SUMMER SEASON and don't worry because I always consider the Calorie content of my recipes.

 

 

Obviously Orange Soya Smoothie

Recipe

Serving: 1

Calories: 191

 

Ingredients:

1 Orange

Mango (1 cheek part)

1/2 cup Soya Milk

5 cubes of ice

 

Procedure:

1. Peel the orange. Make sure not to remove the white part because they are rich in FIBER.
2. Remove the seeds using fork or knife (be careful in using the knife).
3. Cut the mango into cubes.
4. Prepare the Blender and pour in all the ingredients; ice cubes, orange, mango and soya milk.
5. Blend until all the ingredients are mix well.
6. Serve with Pure Honey on top (But this is optional).

 (Ingredients. Don't mind the Carrot Juice... It's not included. I was drinking it while Blending my smoothie. :) sorry.)

 (Procedure 1 and 2)

 (The seeds are bitter, so make sure to remove them.)

 

Your Obviously Orange Soya Smoothie is Done! This is worth trying for. I think kids will like this. Try to serve this with your homemade oatmeal cookie. I'll share next time how to make oatmeal cookie using Turbo.

 

See you!

 

Ps: If you want to increase the number of serving, just double the amount of each ingredients.

 

Sincerely,

Erica/Erix



Made With Love 2: Lemon Water Detox (1 Month) // My Opinion



Do you like eating in Fast Food Chains? Do you most of the time eat out or order dinner outside? Maybe the reason why is that you don't have much time because of your hectic working schedule or your hectic school schedule.

Every time I travel from my house to work and university, I always see a lot people eating in fast food chains. Name it! And the line in the counter is always LONG. I can't blame them because fast food chains are developed and established for the sake of making the life of consumers convenient. Most people nowadays DO NOT have time to prepare their food... breakfast, lunch and dinner. Yes, most of them rely on these Fast Food Chains to feed them whenever they are hungry.

For me Fast Food means FAST LIFE. Instant Food means INSTANT DEATH.

Let's see. Almost all of the foods offered by them contains HIGH CALORIE, high saturated fat content, oozing with MSG (Monosodium Glutamate), artificial flavorings, preservatives so on and so forth. Click the link for Nutritional Data of Fast Food Chains you love so much.
Nutritional Data of Fast Food Chains

These things are bad for our health. However, even if people know this FACT, most of them do not have a choice but to eat these oily and calorie-full foods because of TIME CONSTRAINT and mostly because they are DELICIOUS.

The good thing is... We can detoxify our body by drinking Detox drinks like Lemon Water. It is one of the simple ways to flush out toxins and to feel healthy inside and outside.

What you need:
1-2 slice/s of Lemon
Warm Water

Note: There are different ways to prepare Lemon Water Detox, but this is how I prepare mine. As much as possible I want it to be low in calorie.

What I do is that, every morning after I wake up, brush my teeth and wash my face; I go straight to the kitchen and grab my lemon. I squeeze 1-2 slices into my glass and pour in warm water. I drink this prior to eating any food in the morning.

It has been said that Lemon Water:

1. Helps our digestive system to digest food more easily.
2. Burns fats and helps us in weight loss (with proper exercise).
3. Boost our Immune System. Lemon is high in Vitamin C.
4. Clears our skin. As we take Lemon Water, it flushes out unwanted toxins. It also helps in clearing our blemishes in our body. (It depends on how long you've been drinking Lemon Water).
5. Maintain Elasticity of the skin. Helps to avoid getting premature wrinkles.

There are a lot of Benefits and I have here the list of articles around the web for further reading. I hope they will help you.

1. mindbodygreen.com
2. tasty-yummies.com
3. lajollamom.com
4. livestrong.com
5. naturalnews.com

I started drinking Warm Lemon Water on the first week of March and I could say that it helped me to feel better about my body. The reason why I started drinking this is actually for my digestive system. I have a weak metabolism and I needed a natural way to make it better.

This Lemon Water Detox is worth trying for. :)

Sincerely,
Erica/Erix

_____________________________

 

Today is Wednesday. HOLIDAY! However, I might not enjoy my day because recently I have a minor eye infection. My eyes are very sensitive to heat and pollution and I must be careful all time. Last week, I forgot to apply my eye ointment which causes my eyes to be vulnerable with dust, heat and sweat. So, I must rest and do hot compress. People also suggested that I should wear sunglasses to protect my eyes... but sunglasses are not good on me...

 

Nevertheless, Have a good day everyone! Stay healthy!

 

Things that made me happy:

1. Food shopping. Shopping for foods is one of my favorite things to do... lately.
2. Playing guitar... as always.
3. Talking and laughing with my friends.
4. Healthy conversations with my colleague. Recently, they started to eat healthy foods... and I AM ONE OF THE REASONS. haha. :)

Japan Trip Diary 5

(Photo by: Erica/Erix)

 

Dear Diary,

 

Today's Friday. January 31, 2014. Last day here in Tokyo. I ate my last piece of Melon Pan. Drank the last drop of my Rose Tea. It's all about the "Last".

 

Yes, I am sad today because this trip is really short. If I have a choice I wanted to make use of the 15 days I have. However, we MUST go back to the Philippines today or else my Professors will kill me.

 

Have I told you that I sacrificed a lot of things to make this trip possible? I even convinced and begged my professors to let me be absent from the class and to give me a special examination. I did everything I can to make this possible because if I want something to happen... I am the type of person who will make way for it to be possible.

 

We will probably arrive in Manila at midnight and I must attend my Saturday class in Financial Accounting and Financial Management the next day (Saturday). Thinking about the coming Saturday... it makes me so stress.

 

My aunt called for a taxi that would pick us up and bring us to Shinagawa Prince Hotel. There, we will wait for the airport limousine.

 

I received a lot messages this morning. Messages from my students and friends; wishing me to have a safe flight, hoping to meet me again next year if possible and telling me that they had enjoyed their time with me. These messages are enough to make me happy. My friends from Osaka even called me to wished me the same things. They are really nice and sweet and kind. I am very lucky.

 

I decided to meet my friend before I leave the hotel. I sent him a message when I woke up and luckily  he had time to meet me before my aunt and I will leave.

 

While waiting for my friend, I grabbed my notebook and I started to doodle and write fragments of lyrics for my unfinished song. I was very emotional today and I think everybody knows the reason why.

 

I waited for about 30 minutes because I was 30 minutes early. He came on time. I am really impress with Japanese because they always come on time... unlike in my country. We talked about random things and I gave him the thing that his colleague/friend asked me to buy for him. I was really happy during the conversation. It was very brief but I enjoyed the time. I made him a gift but I wasn't able to give it to him because I thought it was a little childish and I am shy (I am always shy) so I decided to keep it instead. Because we were both in a hurry, we said our goodbyes. But before that, I introduced him to my Aunt who was secretly watching us from a distance.

 

 

Somehow, I feel very happy.

 

The taxi (as always) came on time. When we arrived at Shinagawa Prince Hotel, we ate pasta for lunch. My Aunt and I had a serious talk after that and she gave me words of wisdom. I always enjoy talking with her because she always gives me self-confidence.

 

 

 

I slept for an hour inside the airport limousine and the next thing I knew we had arrived at Narita Airport. I received messages from my friends again. I feel sad but my Aunt held my hand and cheered me up. She said "There's always next time... you will see them again."

 

It is very easy for me to get attached to a person and this is the reason why I avoid getting close to others. It's difficult for me to forget and I always care. It's never "Out of sight, out of mind" for me.

 

So see you next time? I want to thank everybody who'd been nice and kind to me. I really had a GREAT experience. I had a lot of funny, hilarious and awesome memories. I will never forget this trip for the rest of my life.

 

Thanking my Aunt will not be enough to really express how thankful I am for everything.

 

I hope next time, I will experience more good things.

PS: I don't know what will happen to me in my Saturday Class. 2 hours sleep enough to make me feel sleepy the whole day. I really hope my professors will not call my name for any recitation because honestly my mind is not very clear now.

 

 

Sincerely,

Erica/Erix

 

________________________________

 

Sunday! I posted an entry yesterday but here's another post. This is the last part of my trip... it's been 2 months since then but the memories are still fresh in my mind.

 

Summer class will start soon. I will be busy... NO! because I will enroll for one subject only... Summer class is not MANDATORY so it's okay. :)

 

Things that made me happy today:

1. Blogging. I really like writing in my blog. Why? because it relieves my stress.
2. Singing and Playing "Country Roads, Take Me Home"
3. Eating Vegetables.
4. Drinking my Warm Lemon Water
5. Trying out Natural Hair Mask. Because of the Summer heat... my hair is very dry nowadays. I need some moisture and I don't want to rely on salon products which are full of chemicals.