Healthy 2017: Water

Here is another key for me.  Getting enough water in.  I find I eat when I am actually thirsty. I find that I specifically crave carbs and sweets when I am thirsty.  l find that drinking enough water nips this in the bud.  I really need to be more consistent with this.  What I like about MyFitnessPal is that I can count my water too. I just have to make a commitment to do it every day.

Here are some articles about the benefits of water.

Webmd on water
Health on water
Greatist on water

Here is to a renewed commitment to getting my water quota in!

Banana Bread

I know this is like my millionth banana bread recipe.  I dont know what it is, chocolate cakes, brownies, banana bread and zucchini bread, I keep trying new recipes.

I will tell you that I have never met a banana bread I didnt like.  There was one recipe I tried that was hard to bake, the top kept browning while the inside was still raw.  I never made that recipe again.  I suspect though if I had baked it in a bigger loaf pan of muffin cups it would have been better. Probably the only fault with that recipe was the size of the pan or the amount of pans.

What I like about this particular recipe is that there is a higher banana to flour ratio.  That really works for me because usually if I am making banana bread it is because there is a large amount of bananas wanting to be used up.

This recipe is SUPER moist.  I made some with walnuts and some without.  My one daughter is not interested in walnuts by any means.  I tasted one with and one without, definitely I prefer the ones with walnuts.

Banana Bread
Adapted slightly from this recipe at Epicurious.


1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
4 medium very ripe bananas (about 13 ounces), peeled and mashed
1/4 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Grease a 9 x 5 loaf pan or one of these above) fancy, shmancy loaf pans.

Cream butter and brown sugar together for about four minutes.  Add in eggs one at a time.

In a separate bowl combine sour cream, vanilla and mashed bananas.  

In another bowl combine dry ingredients.

Add half the dry ingredients to the butter mixture.  Then all the liquid ingredients.  Then the rest of the dry.

Fold in walnuts.

Bake for about an hour.  If using said, fancy shmancy loaf pan, about 45 minutes.  But please check on whatever receptacle you are using because baking times vary.

Magic Chocolate Cake

I made this cake for my Mom's birthday.  We really loved this cake! Of course, it magically disappeared.

After 13 years this month of being a stay at home mom, I am returning to work.  What?  Yes, its true. Things change.  It's been a difficult shift for me but I am looking forward to getting back in the groove.  More things to learn.  Always a good thing.  One of the cool things that will happen is that my girls will see their Mamma in a new role.  The working Mom.  A breadwinner.  Instead of making the bread I will be earning the money to buy the bread.  Ha! But I will still be making bread. It will just be relegated to Sundays.  Hopefully I will get my girls making bread too.

In the coming weeks, besides Healthy 2017, I will be doing quick and easy meals, hopefully healthy too.  I hope to set it up as a linky so you can all share your recipes too!

BLACK MAGIC CAKE
2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup strong black coffee
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Beat sugar and oil for 4 minutes.

Add in vanilla extract and then eggs one at a time.

In a bowl combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl.  Cocoa powder, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt.

In a large measuring cup combine buttermilk and coffee.

Add dry ingredients and wet ingredients alternately two times, ending with the dry ingredients.

Pour into two 9" greased and lined baking rounds or all of it in a 9 x 13.

Bake 30 to 40 minutes.

Healthy 2017: Meditation

This probably is one of the most important changes I want to make this year.  This one is one that can help me the most.  Being quiet.  Meditating.

I am sure you seen countless articles about the importance of meditation.  I don't need to add to the list.

OMG I Can Meditate
Weight Watchers

You Tube.  So many. Here's one.

Pressure Cooker Black Beans with Chorizo

True confession.  I may have already told you this.  I bought a pressure cooker like, over a year ago.  Its been sitting in the basement on my kitchen stuff shelf this whole time.  Lonely.  Why?  Beacuase I was afraid to use it.  Alas, I put my big girl panties on and jumped in.  Thanks to a some coaxing by my friend Sandy.  Thank you Sandy.

I love it now.  I keep using the pressure cooker.  Experimenting and trying new things.  Yeah!  Fun.  It is really handy.  SO much easier to use than the days of long ago.  WAY safer.  Jump in.  Put your big girl panties on!  You can do it.

You can take the Craftsy course about Pressure Cooking too if you want to know all about it and feel better.  I am not paid and reimbursed by Craftsy to say that, by the way.

These are VERY tasty beans!

Black Beans With Chorizo
I like Serious Eats.  I use a lot of their recipes.  Here is where I saw this one. I made a few changes.


1 tablespoon vegetable oil
6 ounces Spanish-style chorizo, split in half lengthwise and cut into 1/4-inch half moons
1 pound dried black beans
1 whole onion, chopped
6 garlic cloves, sliced
1 orange, split in half
2 bay leaves
2 quarts store-bought low-sodium chicken stock or homemade
2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more for seasoning
Chopped fresh cilantro, for serving

Saute chorizo in oil in pressure cooker (there is a setting for browning) and cook, stirring, until it is crisp, about 2 minutes. 

Add beans, onion, garlic cloves, orange, bay leaves, chicken stock, and 2 teaspoons salt. Cover and cook at high pressure for 40 minutes.

For creamy beans let pressure release naturally.  Garnish with cilantro. Yum!

Hushpuppies With Remoulade Sauce

I have made hushpuppies before.  I made them for New Years.  I have never made the sauce to go with them.  I did use a different recipe this time but I have to say I liked the ones I have made before better.  So if you want the recipe, just click the hushpuppy link above in this paragraph.

Can you tell I am catching up giving you all my Holiday recipes.  No time and no natural light during the season. Sigh. Better late than never.




Remoulade Sauce

1 cup mayo
2 teaspoons mustard
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons lemon juice
4 teaspoons hot sauce
2 tablespoons scallions (use as garnish in sauce when serving)

Whisk all the ingredients until fully incorporated.

Around the internet some other remoulade sauces to try:

Simply Recipes. Remoulade

Allrecipes

Healthy 2017 Week 2: Writing It Down

I am working hard to get those sit ups into my daily routine.  This one is a great habit to get into and
it just takes a few moments.  I hit the mark 6 times this week.

This week the healthy habit is writing down what I eat.  This has always worked for me when I am successful.  I am hit or miss about it though.  So I commit to getting it written down.  Also, I commit to getting it down as soon as I eat it.  If I am eating it, I am writing it!

There are quite a few apps out there that you can use to journal your intake and ones you can use on a computer if you need to.  I use My Fitness Pal.  I used to use Sparkpeople.  I am not sure why I stopped because it was really good.  Had a lot of articles that were very informative and inspirational. Most of these programs you can log your exercise too. But now I have already added some of my recipes to Myfitnesspal that I can't leave.  It knows me and I know it. Yah know what I mean?

I am writing a list of the few I know.  If you know more out there, by all means leave it in the comment section and I will add it to the list.

My Fitness Pal
SparkPeople
My Calorie Counter
Cronometer
Lose It
My Plate (Livestrong)
Supertracker (this one is from the USDA)
Every Day Health
FatSecret