Lemon Poppyseed Pancakes

Awhile ago I made these Lemon Poppyseed Pancakes.  They were pretty delicious.  I hope to make a healthier version soon (with maybe some almond meal, whole wheat flour, ground oats, things like that to replace the white flour, and of course our favorite stevia!).  I'll let you know if I get around to it.


Tip:
Did you know that you can replace buttermilk by adding lemon juice to regular milk to sour it?  Just use about 1T per cup of milk and let it sit for a few minutes before using it.

UltraSimple Diet Week Results

The week before this last week I was following Dr. Mark Hyman's UltraSimple Diet.  I wanted

Fresh Salsa with Corn, Black Beans and Jicama

something that was kind of a cleanse and this diet was not only allergy-free, but it spelled every step out for me!  It told me what to eat, when, even down to supplements to take and a special stress-relieving bath to take (with epsom salts, baking soda, and lavender).
The first day was fine, I adjusted to the food and wasn't hungry.  I was craving sugar though.
The second day was more difficult as I had a headache and sluggish digestion (detox symptoms).
The next few days I just kind of got into a groove, although my digestion never really did normalize despite his many recommendations to help that (he's very thorough).
By the sixth day, I found myself craving things like avocados and nuts, which were limited on the diet.  That night I decided to go ahead and have a couple spoonfuls of refried beans, which I was craving!  Instead of sugar!  I was amazed that I thought eating beans was a "binge."  Of course they have fat (and not the right kinds; vegetable oils are being linked to heart disease- not butter and lard like everyone thinks) but they still aren't the worst choice out there.
So, after the weeklong diet my results were great!  I lost 4 pounds and about 6 inches all over my body (I measured my waist, hips, bust, thigh, arm and neck).  I was pleased with the results and so far have kept them off.
We have been still avoiding sugar, but I can tell too many carbs is doing the same things to me as before (affecting my complexion, and bloating which I didn't notice before are two examples).  So I have a good guideline and goals for going onward! 

Onion Dicing, made easy

I have been making lots of food requiring onions lately, which isn't too out of the norm- but I thought I'd share with you a technique to make dicing them as easy as possible!
I originally learned how to do this at Tammy's Recipes, and what a great timesaver and tear-reducer it's been!
First, slice the ends off your onion and remove the outer skin.

Easy Mini Cinnamon Rolls with Stevia

I got the idea for these easy mini cinnamon rolls on Pinterest (where many of my ideas come from these days).  They use store-bought crescent roll dough, some butter, cinnamon, and sugar to create little mini rolls in mini-muffin tins.  This is my version using stevia* instead of sugar, and crescent rolls with no hydrogenated oils (you could also make a simple homemade dough for these, like this recipe, ahead of time and store in the freezer after the first rise (or after your bread machine's dough cycle- just freeze in portions so you can take out however much you want at one time, let thaw, and make these cinnamon rolls).

Healthy Eating: 3 Weeks

It's been over two weeks (almost three, I believe) since my husband and I embarked on healthier eating for 2012.  Low sugar has been our main goal, and obviously no junk food, fast food, or desserts with the occasional less healthy meal (like pizza).  We have been replacing our desserts with things like banana-only ice cream (even chocolate!), and using stevia to sweeten things that would otherwise be full of sugar.
This week I am upping the ante again: I decided to follow Dr. Mark Hyman's Ultrasimple Diet.  It's a 7-day program that helps you detox from allergens and carbs, and helps your system "reset" from all the built up toxins.   He's been a guest on the Dr. Oz Show, but I just found his book somewhere online.
It's my first day on the program and although I'm not hungry, I'm definitely craving my normal carbs since I hadn't yet cut them out.  I was still having mostly whole grains, but now it's meat, veggies, and brown rice for a week (with some fruit and his "Ultrashake" recipe too).  It's helping me to remember it's just one week, and then I can have my oatmeal and other healthy things again that are not included in this cleansing period.  I can do almost anything for a week!  Especially when it's likely that I'll lose up to 10 lbs. and a few inches.  Can't forget to record my measurements tonight!

This was my dinner tonight.  It was chicken breast, lots of veggies, and brown rice followed by some berries.  Healthy and simple, with yummy seasonings (he includes recipes in his book).  I can do that!

Roasting a Chicken

When I first tried roasting a chicken, I was surprised at how easy it was.  It was a bit intimidating but once I figured things out, it's such an easy way to get at least 2 meals out of, it's something I try to do at least monthly if not more often.  It's so easy to pick up those already-roasted chickens at the grocery store, but do you know what they put on those?  I've heard they are some of the unhealthiest foods after all the additives (like MSG) and other bad-for-your things are rubbed on them.  Some are better than others, I'm sure, so I will be checking ingredients next time I am in the store.  But by roasting my own chicken I can choose organic and control what ingredients are put on it.
I bought Coleman Organic chicken at Costco.  The price is high at first glance (around $20 for two chickens) but when I figured out that I got three or more meals out of those two after making homemade stock and chicken noodle soup (after a meal of just plain chicken), it's worth it to me.
First, you want to take the chickens and rinse them, inside and out.  Pull out the bag of giblets that are inside.  You may choose to use those in your stock- especially being organic, they have lots of nutrients in them that you don't want to waste.  I learned a lot about that in Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon.  I rinse those also and save them in a container for when I make chicken stock.

How to Roast a Chicken

Healthy Chocolate Ice Cream

Healthy Chocolate Ice Cream
All you need are frozen bananas and what I used to make it chocolate:

2-3 c. frozen bananas, slightly thawed
1/4 cup water
2 T. unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8- 1/4 stevia powder, to taste

As bananas thaw for about 10 minutes or more (and even more if using a food processor), dissolve cocoa powder and stevia in water.  I put it in a container and shook it up really well.

Add to high-powered blender (like a Vita-mix) with bananas, and blend as usual.  Very chocolatey  and delicious.  My whole family loved this.

Get your chocolate fix without the processed sugar  :)

 See Healthy One-Ingredient Ice Cream
~Sally

Oat Bran Pancakes with Stevia

On New Year's Day I made some delicious sugar-free pancakes using Stevia (again, I'm sure you are noticing a trend here).  I didn't actually have oat bran but I used ground up oats (using my food processor) instead.

   Ana Gourmet: Oat Bran Pancakes

Caprese Salad

This probably isn't new to any of you, but it's something I've been loving the last month or two. 
I'm not sure if the authentic version is different; I just remember this was how my mom has made it before.  We're not Italian though...

Caprese Salad

Sliced Fresh Mozzarella

Tomato Slices

Whole Fresh Basil leaves

Salt, pepper, olive oil and balsamic vinegar drizzled over top to taste

Make sure to get a basil leaf with each bite!  Yum!
~Sally

One Ingredient "Ice Cream"

Is it too good to be true?  You can make ice cream with just ONE main ingredient?
Yes, and it's gluten, dairy, processed sugar, nut, and soy FREE!

The secret ingredient is

Yummy Salad Formula

Salads are something that takes more effort to prepare than I usually feel like doing.  Once they are made, though, they are so yummy!  I haven't found very many restaurant salads that are just the right balance of ingredients and yumminess.  I vote for homemade and will be doing much more of these now that I'm sticking to my healthy eating plan.

One salad I made last week is below:

It included Romaine lettuce, cucumbers, dried cranberries, chopped apples, pecans and feta cheese with a homemade balsamic dressing (Mama's Balsamic). 

Love my Tupperware salad dressing shaker with pour spout- store extra dressing for next time in fridge

I think a good rough "formula" for salads would be:

Greens + 1 or 2 veggies + nuts + something sweet (dried or fresh fruit) + homemade or all-natural dressing = a great salad.  

If you can eat dairy some type of cheese on top is yummy too.

Happy Salad Making (and then eating)
~Sally

New Year's Resolutions

My resolutions normally revolve around health- eating and exercise.  They usually don't last that long, unfortunately.
I somehow found motivation 4 weeks ago and started an exercise plan back then.  I joined a local, inexpensive gym.  I'm on the MWF during preschool schedule so I have two in school and one with me at the gym childcare.  Amazingly, it's been working out great so far!  I actually feel like it's a break in the day, some "me" time that I have been needing instead of an obligation.
I read on Pinterest that it takes 4 weeks to notice your own body changing, 8 weeks for family and close friends to notice, and 12 weeks for everyone else to notice a change.  That keeps me going!  I have seem some slight changes, but I haven't changed my eating at all.

Help!  I'm trying to stick to my resolutions!

 Until now.

Four days ago, my husband and I agreed to start a low-sugar, healthy eating plan.
This instills fear into my heart, and dread into my soul.
Ok, that is very dramatic, I know.  But I am scared to actually stick with this!  Scared to fail.  So ashamed of the amount of time I've been trying to do this, only to be drawn in again by the cravings and the treats.
I think I have accepted defeat too readily in the past few years.  Three kids in four years, adjusting to the ever-changing and always-demanding needs of little ones, I have hardly anything left to work on myself at the end of the day.
 
This time is different, though- we have drafted up a set of rules (although I am thinking of it more as a "covenant" since if I cheat, I would be letting my healthy eating partner down).
 After going through Lysa TerKeurst's Made to Crave Bible study at church, some of the root issues to my food addictions were addressed over the past few months.  That has created a great pathway to starting this plan with help from my husband.
This time, I am going at it with the knowledge that I need food from God (His Word- the Bible) everyday- even if just a "morsel"- something to start me on my faith journey for that day. 

I also have more thorough knowledge of what sugar is doing to my body- how it's affecting and causing the acne, the (mild, winter-related) depression, seemingly minor health issues that end up consuming so much of my time and my worry to cover it up, pretend I'm fine, act like it doesn't bother me. 

I know that during times of healthier eating and low-sugar consumption, my face was clearer.
I know that sugar and carbs affect insulin levels which in turn affect hormones throughout my body, I can't deny my part in causing this issue anymore.
But I'm still scared to deal with it head-on.  It makes me want to run away from the issue, to bury myself in other things, other snacks, other boxes of Christmas chocolate!

My supportive husband is amazingly offering to travel this journey with me- to pray with me along the way, to eat healthy too (which he wants to do) and to even take over simple meal preparation a couple nights a week so I don't burn out on healthy-meal-making overload.  What a blessing! 

So, here I am, starting a new journey with healthy eating.  I debated posting this on my blog- but I figured, there must be other people dealing with this issue, and what better motivation for myself to know people will be walking it with me and (hopefully) supporting me.  I'm on the fourth day and doing well, but still battling cravings :(

I've added some interesting health blogs into my sidebar.
And so far I've tried two or three recipe substitutions with no or low sugar, some with good results!  I can't wait to post those.

Happy New Year and may we all trust God in sticking with our new resolutions!

Flavored yogurt

I have been concerned by the ingredients (like high fructose corn syrup) and amounts of sugar in flavored yogurts, but my kids love them and the probiotics in yogurt are so good for us.  I decided to try mixing yogurt with some naturally sweet jam, but the kind I was using left some small chunks of strawberries in the yogurt- a texture my kids didn't care for.  Yesterday I got the idea to use the food processor to make the mixture smooth.  Why didn't I think of that before?

This time I got what Costco had, the lowfat plain yogurt.  If I'm at Trader Joe's (my other favorite place to shop) I usually buy one quart of organic lowfat plain and a quart of organic whole milk yogurt, and mix those together.  I used the jam I had on hand, some grape and some strawberry.  This combination was very yummy, and no HFCS!  I should try and calculate the savings someday and see what it comes out to.
Enjoy trying this at home~
 Sally

Christmas Cookies 2011

Every year for the past few years I've enjoyed baking different kinds of cookies to give to family and some friends.  I am scaling it back a little, only giving to out-of-town family and bringing them to Christmas gatherings.  I said this year that I would simplify Christmas, including the cookies.  You know what that plan ended up producing?   Seven different kinds of cookies.  This was supposed to be a scale-down year but I found myself making a batch every day or two starting Dec. 1st, and storing them in the freezer.  So now I have seven different kinds of cookie to bring with us tomorrow.  Oh, whoops, that doesn't even include the 3-minute fudge I made to satiate my mint chocolate craving this week and the Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip bars I just had to try (they contain garbanzo beans, butternut squash and my kids loved them!).
Here are how some of my recipes turned out:

Green Smoothies

Green smoothies are one of the ways I get some super-healthy greens into our diet.
How else can a person eat a whole handful or two of super-tough kale or collard greens?  I know I can't easily do that!  I've tried making them into salads, but this is the best way to break the fibrous leaves down without destroying vitamins and minerals by heating them.

This might be the GREENEST smoothie I've ever made (Jan 2010).  And my kids liked it!  It helped that we called it the "Green Monster" or "Hulk" smoothie.

They don't always turn out green (you'll see what I mean below), but they're in there!

Cinnamon Rolls like Cinnabon's

This time of year, it's difficult to stay on a healthy eating plan with no treats.  At least, it is for me.  Thanksgiving is so full of yumminess and lots of desserts, how can one resist?  Plus, we have TWO Thanksgivings (one with each side of the family) and both are extremely delicious.
The day after Thanksgiving I saw this recipe on Pinterest, and couldn't resist trying it out.  The hubby was at work Friday so I had the kids all home, with no intention of braving the mobs on Black Friday (although I went out that night and it was a normal shopping night, almost empty, even, at the craft store I went to.)  Anyway, since this recipe uses a breadmaker for most of the rising stages, I figured it was worth a try.
It was very easy to do, but it took about 3 hours from start to finish.  Not sitting with it, of course, but it's not a make-it-now-for-breakfast type recipe, unless you get up super early and your kids want to eat way later than mine (they beg for food by 7am, and usually help themselves to cereal before then!)

Clone of a Cinnabon

Homemade Mint Chip Ice Cream

I was walking around our yard a couple of weeks ago and noticed my tiny mint plant was going CRAZY (wow I'm noticing a theme here in my life).  It must have been 10 times its original size.  So, I thought, "what can I make with all this mint?" and my mind went through a couple ideas- mint mojitos (except I don't drink very often, and don't have the stuff around the house- it's so expensive!).  So instead my mind went to mint chocolate chip ice cream, which is probably my favorite (but I won't really say no to any ice cream!).  Although it isn't the healthiest recipe, it was made with a little less fat than is possible.  I love the fresh mint flavor this has.  It's definitely different from the typical mint chip ice cream you'd buy.

My stack of recipes on my Crate & Barrel recipe book holder.  I don't know how I lived without this thing before I received it as a gift a few years ago.

Here is the recipe I found online (can't remember the source, though- will post if I find it):