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

Healthy Eating: One Week

 

It's been a little over a week since we started eating healthier by cutting out the excess sugar, and so far it's going well overall.  The fact that I don't remember exactly how many days it's been is a really good sign for me!  It's been really helpful to find a couple of recipes to transition me out of eating so many sweets.  I was really terrible, I'm realizing now- I was totally addicted!  I made some

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!