Blueberry Pancakes: Does a body good.

Saturday is my day to beat myself up at the gym. With nothing on the schedule for the morning, I could devote all the time I wanted to punishing myself, and I took advantage of it to be sure.

A lot of times during my Saturday self-flagellation, I find myself enervated (due to the fact that I'm slowly starving myself to life). I decided this morning to make sure I had the right amount of fuel, and not be as calorie-conscious at breakfast. That meant a giant batch of the most perfect food ever created was on tap: blueberry pancakes.

Sure, some people may say bacon is the most perfect food ever created, and they're right. And maybe the Luther burger is the most perfect meal ever created. But if you're not being completely obscene, is there anything that makes you feel more righteous than a big stack of blueberry pancakes? I don't think so.

Granted, I didn't go overboard and make myself a stack of about 8 like I wanted to. My breakfast was probably in the 600-700 calorie range, which is entirely reasonable for a big land animal of my size. Given an hour to digest and I was ready to crush it at the gym.

The most remarkable thing about my workout was getting on the elliptical, which I don't hate (unlike the evil Stairmaster). After an hour of weights and abs, I hopped on the elliptical expecting it to suck, and expecting the usual 5-10 minutes of pain before I settled into it. Strangely, it was rather pleasant right off the bat. Not sitting-on-a-private-beach-and-drinking-pina-coladas-next-to-my-wife pleasant, granted, but a decidedly absence-of-suck pleasant. After 20 minutes I found I needed to increase my pace in order to get the exercise I wanted, and I was burning hard for the last five minutes. It was pretty cool to be that strong throughout. War blueberry pancakes!

We later met a friend downtown at the giant Whole Foods which gave me an opportunity to shop there. Found all kinds of awesomeness there, which I then turned into dinner. Whole branzino, which are European sea bass, some interesting french horn mushrooms (which were better looking than tasting, sadly), and some huge cipolini onions were among my finds.

I took the mushrooms and sliced them lengthwise to preserve the shape, and laid them on a cookie sheet. I then diced two of the cipolini and 8 kalamata olives, peeled two bunches of globe carrots, and then coated them all in a tablespoon of oil, salt, and pepper. I put the oil on the onions and carrots as the mushrooms would absorb it and require more oil. I topped the mushrooms with the other stuff, and put a little stock on the bottom of the pan. Roasted in the oven for 20 minutes or until the carrots were tender. About 200 calories per serving, give or take, which I tossed with some pasta (200 more calories per serving) for a healthy side dish.

I took the branzino and scored each side on a bias, and put onto a sheet of parchment on a cookie sheet. I then diced half a cipolini, 8 more kalamata olives, a handful of Italian parsley, and 1/8 cup roasted tomatoes, and a diced serrano pepper, all of which I tossed in a tablespoon of oil and salt and pepper. I then rubbed the mix on the fish, into the slits and cavity especially, and then put a small pool of stock on the bottom and sealed up the parchment by working my way around the edges until it was completely pinched shut. Roast at 350 for 15 minutes and it is perfect. About 270-300 calories per serving.