Recipe Redux -- No Bake Banana Bites

So I had my first blogger vs mommy internal debate while making these.  But my debate went something like this.

Sunny -- "Mommy, can I help you?"
Mommy Brain -- "Of course you can help!"
Blogger Brain -- "No!  These are for Recipe Redux!  They have to look perfect!"
Mommy Brain -- "These are perfect for Sunny to help with.  Nothing too hard and they're simple."
Blogger Brain -- "But I have to take a photo of them.  They have to be pretty."
Mommy Brain -- "We haven't done our weekly baking project.  She'll be content making these."
Blogger Brain -- "Pretty pictures!!  Perfection!!"

And as you will be able to tell from the photo, Mommy brain won the battle.  Funny thing is, I ended up putting too much yogurt in the first batch so, I had to go back and redo them.  But, I'm still using Sunny's for the photos since she is so proud of them.

The Recipe Redux this month was No-Cook Desserts.  These delicious banana sandwiches take about 5 minutes to prepare.  Waiting for them to freeze is the difficult part.  They are addictive.  You could also add about 1/2 a tablespoon of cocoa powder to make them even more addictive.  Or, if you're not too worried about fat, dip them in chocolate.  

Frozen Banana Rounds
4 servings

Ingredients
4 medium ripe bananas
2 T PB2 
2 oz. yogurt

Directions

1. In a food processor, or with a fork mash 1 banana and yogurt then stir in the PB2.
2. Slice the bananas into rounds and put a small dollop of the yogurt mixture onto half of the bananas.
3. Freeze for about 2 hours

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

L is for Lazy Leftover Soup

If you could eat only one food for the rest of your life what would it be?  I was surprised when Kaylee told me that hers was soup.  I have a feeling that October is going to be a very soup-y month in the house due to this fact. 

For the most part I think soup is a very easy meal.  Not necessarily quick, but, it's easy.  The family is normally happy with the canned stuff but, canned soup is loaded with sodium. I have been searching for years for a nonfat canned soup and you can't find them!  So the other nite when the kids asked me to make soup for dinner I had to make myself soup from scratch.  {Which is what I normally do}

I searched the fridge for  vegetables to go into my soup.  I found all the vegetables that were in need of using and threw together this "stupid simple" soup.  Honestly, if you want to make it a super "stupid simple" recipe then just skip steps 1-3.

Throw Everything in the Pot!!

Vegetable Soup

Serves 2 (the calories are so low that you can eat it all yourself if you want to)

Ingredients
1.3 cups Vegetable Broth 
1-1.5 cups water
5 cups kale
2 carrots, chopped
1 onion, chopped
4-8 oz mushrooms, sliced
1 small zucchini, diced
2 T garlic

Directions

1. Heat sauce pan on high and spray with nonstick spray
2. Throw all the vegetables (except kale) and garlic in the pot
3. Saute for approximately 5 minutes until the onions and carrots start to soften
4. Add broth, water and kale
5. Bring to a boil then reduced and simmer 20-25 minutes until everything is soft.

Honestly you can throw whatever vegetables you have left in your fridge.  What do you do with your veggies when they get close to dying? 


For some more great customizable soups check out these links:
NY Times: Soup Matrix by Mark Bittman
NY Times: More on the Soup Matrix by Mark Bittman

K is for Kale

I have recently grown to love kale.  There are soooooo many health benefits to kale! Here's the list of vitamins and minerals in 1 cup of raw kale:

Vitamin A - 133%
Calcium - 10%
Vitamin C - 134%
Iron - 5%
Vitamin B-6 - 10%
Magnesium - 7%



Plus, there's only 33 calories and almost 3 grams of protein.  

To most people oatmeal is a breakfast food.  Probably because when people think oatmeal, they think sweet, and packed full of sugar.  In my eyes, it's just like every other grain.  Hell, if you can make rice into pudding, then you can make oatmeal for dinner!  When I told Ken and Kaylee about my dinner plan they both wrinkled their noses and were not too happy about it.  [Funny thing is, the dinner I made them ended up messing up.  If they hadn't been grossed out by my idea they would have had a lovely dinner]  

I personally used Bob's Red Mill 10 Grain Hot Cereal.  Any oatmeal will work though.  This recipe is super simple and is quite customizable to your taste.

Kale Oatmeal




Ingredients
1 medium onion, diced
8 oz mushrooms, chopped
4 cups kale
4 servings of oatmeal 
enough vegetable broth to make your oatmeal (according to package directions)

Directions

1. Saute onions and mushrooms
2. Add vegetable stock and kale, simmer 20 minutes until the kale is soft
3. Prepare the oatmeal according to package directions
4. Stir kale mixture into oatmeal or spoon oatmeal into bowls then top with vegetables.

How do you feel about oatmeal?  Is it a breakfast only food or can you replace dinner grains with it? 

J is for Junk

There is either too much junk in people's trunks or not enough.  I am one of the latter.  My trunk is junkless.

No, I'm not talking about my car.  My car trunk is sufficiently loaded with stuff.  School supplies, equipment for the girls' sports, car stuff... you get the point.

I'm talking about butts. It seems like there aren't any women in the world who are 100% happy with their butt.  They think it's too small, too big, too wide, too flat, too something.

I have put together a list of the best butt exercises.  

http://infographicsearch.com/the-5-best-exercises-for-a-toned-sculpted-butt-infographic/#.UkKx4VMg_3u

Best Cardio For Your Butt
Walking
Running
Biking


Best Weight Exercises
Squats
Lunges
Sled/Leg Press Machine



Additional Glute Exercise Workout Links
Oxygen Mag:  Get a Great Butt
FitnessRX For Women:  At-Home Lower Body Blast
FitnessRX For Women:  No More Saggy Butt
Fitness Magazine:  Get a Hot Yoga Body: The Yoga Booty Workout
Shape Magazine: Butt Exercises

How do you feel about your butt?

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream For....ICE CREAM!!!

Little known fact about me....I want to open an ice cream shop.  True story! But, until the time comes where I can afford to open one {if anyone would like to donate money to help open my shop just let me know!}  I regularly make ice cream for the kids in my Cuisinart ICE-50BC.  I love this machine.  I've had it for over 4 years and it's still in great condition and works excellently.  Cuisinart is an awesome company and their products are super sturdy.  

I love trying new flavors and mix-ins.  Many times I make them into ice cream sandwiches and I even made Mantha an ice cream cake for her birthday.  Sunny really wanted to make ice cream so, we made these.  The banana one isn't as creamy as normal frozen yogurt but, it's really delicious.  If you don't have an ice cream maker you can freeze it then puree it in a blender or food processor.



Both recipes are adapted from The Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt Cookbook by Mable and Gar Hoffman

Banana-Maple-Peanut Butter Frozen Yogurt

Calories --64
Fat -- 0.7g
Sugar -- 6.5g
Protein -- 3.2g

Ingredients
2 bananas
1/2 cup sugar free maple syrup
1 T lemon juice
.5 cup fat free milk
1 cup plain yogurt

Directions

1. Puree first 3 ingredients in food processor until smooth
2. Stir in milk and yogurt
3. Freeze in ice cream maker

Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge Ice Cream
Calories  -- 243
Fat -- 15.7g
Sugar -- 18.5g
Protein -- 5.5g

Ingredients
1 cup chocolate chips
2 cups milk (I used fat free and that's what the calorie count has in it)
.5 cup sugar
.5 cup chunky peanut butter
2 cups half and half (plain creamer will also work)

Directions

1. Combine chocolate chips, milk, and sugar in a saucepan.  
2. Heat over medium until the chocolate is melted.
3. Stir in peanut butter and melt.
4. Cool completely
5. Stir in whipping cream and freeze in ice cream maker

Would you be interested in seeing more ice cream recipes?  What are your favorite flavors?  Let me know!

H is for Happy, Healthy Kids

{Note:  I started this post a while back and I decided that now was as good of a time as any to post it.}

Happy, healthy kids.  Isn't that what every parent wants?   I know I do.  My kids have always been pretty active.  In the summer we were constantly at the beach or pool, the fall and winter we spend our time outside at the playground, riding bikes, taking walks, or just running around the front yard.  

Now that my girls are doing sports they have a whole new reason to stay healthy.  Now. my girls don't do sports just because it's fun.  Kaylee and Mo both have their sites set on Olympic gold.  {This house has a "go big or go home" mentality as you can see}  Having kids with Olympic dreams is great sometimes.  When they ask for that 600 calorie dessert?  "Do you think Michael Phelps/Gabby Douglas would eat that?"  

Speaking of Michael Phelps and swimming.  Below are some links to what the proper nutrition for a swimmer is.      

Swim Nutrition
Resources
http://www.swimming.org/swimfit/nutrition-and-diet/
http://www.usaswimming.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabId=1546
http://www.sasoswimming.org/Swim%20Nutrition.pdf

This was in the newspaper the other day.  

The fact that 75% of the kids in my county AREN'T obese is a very good thing.  I was a chunky kid.  I know how rough is can be.  Kids are mean.  They can say some very hurtful things.  I want to save my kids the pain and hurt feelings (as well as high medical bills and premature death.)  Childhood obesity is a makjor issue in the United States.

As of January, 17% (12.5 million) 2-19 year olds were onbese.  70% of obese kids had atleast 1 risk factor for cardiovascular disease!  That's ridiculous.  Below are some of the many health consequences of childhood obesity. 


Health Consequenses of Childhood Obesity
(From the Florida Commission on the Status of Women link)

Type 2 diabetes

Cardiovascular risk

Sleep apnea

Asthma

Being overweight as an adult

Potentiality of high health care costs

Psychosocial consequences

Liver disease

Early puberty

Skin infections

Ask yourself, are these things you want your 5, 6 or 13 year old to deal with??  Is this fair to them?  Read this list to your kids and see if any of these things are appealing to them.  Ask them if being laughed at and called names is fun.  Now realize that you are in control of your child's weight. 

Yes I said it.  YOU ARE IN CONTROL OF YOUR CHILD'S WEIGHT.  

There are a few easy things you can do to help your kids get healthy.  Cut down on their daily intake of fats, sugar and sodium.  Some easy things to do are replace chips with plain air popped popcorn or switch from hamburger to ground turkey.   Don't let them sit in front of the tv.  Send them outside to play{when the weather isn't too hot I shove my kids out the door for atleast an hour.  They are only allowed in for drinks and to use the bathroom},  take them to the park, get them involved in a sport, or do some exercises in the living room if you can't go outside.  

I don't want to hear the excuse "it's too expensive to eat healthy."  If you want to know how far your money can go for healthy food take a look at this link from SparkPeople.com

Eating healthy is not that hard.  People are always kind of surprised by the way that we eat.  Low/no fat, low sodium, healthy desserts and most of our meals are 90-100% homemade.  Why is this weird to people these days???  Because I don't use a pound of butter in everything I'm a horrible parent??  At Kaylee's birthday party one girl freaked out because the popcorn didn't have butter or salt,the syrup at breakfast was sugar free and we didn't have any ice cream in the house (yet, at this party there was a gorgeous, store bought cake [thanks to Sirrr], chocolates and we roasted marshmallows)  

Below are some resources about childhood obesity and how to help your kids be healthy and active.  Helping your kids lead a healthy life isn't that hard.  What's stopping you?
    

Resources
CDC
NICHQ
NAEYC
American Heart Association
Let's Move!

G is For Garlic and Green Onions

Garlic and green onions.  Classic combination, right?  What could be better?  What could make them better?  Shoving them in a warm crispy loaf of bread!  I love bread.  I especially love homemade bread.

When I was younger it was one of my favorite things to make with my mom.  I can remember when I was in high school I would get bored and randomly whip u a loaf of bread while I was bored at home alone.  My mom was always surprised when she'd come home and there was a fresh warm loaf of bread in the kitchen.  The happy surprise of freshly baked bread was always short-lived due to the fact that the kitchen looked like a bomb went off in it.  {I've nevr been a tidy cook.}

Bread is a great thing, a fun thing, for kids to bake.  Sunny had a ball kneading the dough.  

My loaf didn't rise as much as I would have like it to.  But, it was still delicious.  I could have been due to the fact I had to take Kaylee to swim practice so it was rising a bit too long.


Garlic and Green Onion Bread
Adapted from: King Arthur Flour's Classic Sandwich Bread Recipe

Ingredients
3 cup All-Purpose Flour
1/2 cup milk (any type)
1/2 cup hot water
4 tablespoons yogurt
1 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon (or 1 packet) yeast
1-2 T minced garlic
1/4 cup sliced green onions

Directions

1. Warm your milk and water together until it is 105-110 degrees
2. Stir sugar into milk, sprinke yeast on top and let sit for about 10 minutes until foamy. {If your yeast doesn't foam, dump it out and start over}
3. Combine flour, garlic and onions
4. Stir in liquid 
5. Knead for 5 minutes until smooth.  
6. Transfer to a greased bowl and let it rise in a warm, dark place for 60-90 minutes until doubled in size
7. Punch dough down and knead on a floured surface for another 5-10 minutes.  
8. Grease a 9x5 loaf pan and let rise again for 60-90 minutes
9. Preheat oven to 350 and bake for about 45 minutes until the center is done

 What do you add to your bread to make it extra special?