A delicious New Year's Eve

This tasty favorite is great warm - fresh out of the oven. Make some for your guests tonite and enjoy a healthy start to 2008!

Here is what you'll need:

3 large bananas ( well-ripened work best
1 egg
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1/3 cup milk ( use lowfat if you can
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Put the peeled bananas in a mixing bowl. Mash the bananas.
3. Add the egg, oil, milk, sugar, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Mix well with the fork.
4. Slowly stir the flour into the banana mixture. Stir for 20 seconds until the flour is moistened.
5. Lightly grease the bread pan with a little oil.
6. Pour the batter into the bread pan.
7. Bake for 45 minutes until a toothpick inserted near the middle comes out clean.
8. Let the bread cool for a few minutes before taking it out of the pan.
Enjoy!
Eating healthy can help make this New Year your best year ever! So get your gourmet cookware ready for a night of delicious snacks and lots of family and friends to toast the new year!
Wishing you a Healthy and Happy New Year!

Easy and healthy Pizza

New Years Eve is a perfect night for healthy and delicious snacks like this easy to make pizza.


Happy New Year!


Here's what you'll need:

12 whole wheat tortillas

olive oil or butter ( unsalted if you have some

1 16 ounce can of refried beans

1/3 cup chopped onion

2 ounces diced chili peppers

1 cup tomato sauce or spaghetti sauce works great too!

3 cups chopped vegetables, such as broccoli, mushrooms, spinach, and red bell pepper

1/2 cup cheese, shredded part-skim mozzarella

1/2 cup chopped, fresh cilantro

Now, let get out our favorite gourmet cookware and get cookin!

Brush one side of each of two tortillas with water. Press the wet sides of the tortillas together to form a thick crust for the pizza.

2. Lightly brush the outside of the tortillas with a small amount of olive oil or butter. Evenly brown both sides in a heated 12 inch frying pan. Repeat with the rest of the tortillas. Set aside.

3. Heat refried beans, onion, and half of the chili peppers together in a medium saucepan from your best stainless steel cookware, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.

4. Spread about 1/3 cup of the bean mixture on each tortilla pizza. Spread tomato sauce, then top with 1/2 cup of the chopped vegetables, 1 teaspoon chili peppers, and 1 Tablespoon cheese for each pizza.

5. Return to frying pan and heat until cheese melts. Top with cilantro, if desired.

Enjoy with family, friends, and loved ones anytime.

May all your New Years be Healthy and Happy!

Easy Chili for a cold Winter day

The All-Clad Copper Core 5 1/2 Quart Dutch Oven is ideal for making this delicious chili. Or your favorite soup or stew. I like to make plenty of this tasty chili in case guests stop buy or even to put some in the freezer for later.

What you'll need:
2 cans of rotel tomatoes ( or one regular tomatoes and one chili fixins! )
2 cans of chili beans ( try one mild and one medium! )
two cans of inexpensive chili. ( I like Stag, or Hormel, or even a store brand )
1 small red onion diced
1 green pepper diced.
2 cloves of garlic diced
a package of 5 hotlinks - chopped ( your favorite. The links are optional

Let's get cooking

Pour a few tablespoons of Olive oil in your favorite stockpot or dutch oven from your best stainless steel cookware
Heat on medium for a few seconds. swirl the olive oil around the bottom of your pot.
Toss in the diced garlic.
Add the Rotel tomatoes, diced onion, and green pepper.
Then add in the chili beans.
And then the chopped up hot links if you like.
And lastly, add the canned chili.

On Medium heat bring to a boil. Turn the heat way down and simmer for a couple hours covered.

When you serve you might enjoy adding some shredded cheese.

This is a warm and delicious meal anytime. We love it on Saturday afternoons while watching basketball.

Losing Weight in 2008

I used to look like Jerry Seinfeld. No, I mean Brad Pitt..... No I mean ( pick your favorite skinny famous person ). Then I got lazy...... slowly got out of the habit of daily exercise. The gym was becoming harder to get to. Not enough time for everything on my plate I rationalized to myself.

Then it happened. I found myself shopping for a new pair of shorts this summer. And the waist size I finally settled on is so large that I'm just plain too embarrassed to share it.

Time to set a goal for the coming months. Losing weight in '08 is a Big priority. I've listened to Zig's tapes about goals and read extensively. Many experts highly recommend writing goals down on paper. Specific, actionable goals. Like lose 20 pounds before summer.

How to do it - eating healthy is part of the plan. Limiting sugars and bad carbs. Limiting fat calories. Keeping total daily calories under 2,000. And - very important here - burning calories. Building muscle and burning fat. For more ideas about setting and reaching goals please check out Natalie, the nutritionist's excellent video -

Easy and tasty New Years Eve Treats

Easy New Years Eve treat:

As we start preparing for the last day of 2007, I wish you all a safe and Happy New Year filled with opportunity and good health.

Try this easy to make, delicious snack on New Years Eve or anytime:

what you'll need -

8 ounces cream cheese, fat-free
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
8 small flour tortillas ( try whole wheat if you can find them )
1 cups chopped sweet red pepper
1 cup shredded low-fat cheese
2 cup fresh spinach leaves or 9 oz. frozen, thawed and squeezed dry

get out your best stainless steel cookware and get ready to cook -

In a small bowl, mix the cream cheese and garlic powder.

Spread about 2 tablespoons of the cheese mixture on each tortilla.

Sprinkle about 2 tablespoons bell pepper and 2 tablespoons cheese on one half of each tortilla.

Add spinach: 1/4 cup if using fresh leaves OR 2 Tablespoons if using frozen. Fold tortillas in half.

Heat 2 tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil in a fry pan from your best stainless steel gourmet cookware over medium heat until hot.

Put 2 folded tortillas in your fry pan and heat for 1-2 minutes on each side or until golden brown.

Remove quesadillas from skillet, place on platter and cover with foil to keep warm while cooking the remainder.

Cut each quesadilla into 4 wedges. Serve warm.

Have a safe and Happy New Year!

Heartwarming soup on a cold winter day.

A healthy and nutritious soup can add a little warmth to even the most frigid winter day. Many low fat soup recipes make it easy to get a head start on our goals for eating healthy during the coming year.
Try this tasty broccoli and potato soup and get a whole day's supply of vitamin C and 30% or your daily calcium.
What you'll need:
4 1/2 cups chopped broccoli
1 small chopped onion
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth, low sodium
1 cup evaporated milk, nonfat
1 cup mashed potatoes, instant prepared in water
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
time to cook:
Combine the 4 1/2 cups of chopped broccoli, the chopped onion, and the 4 cups of broth in a large sauce pan from your best stainless steel cookware .
Bring to a boil.
Reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 8 to 10 minutes.
Add milk to soup. Slowly stir in potatoes.
Cook, stirring constantly, until bubbly and thickened.
Season with salt and pepper
Stir in a little more milk or water if soup starts to become too thick.
8. Ladle into serving bowls.
Sprinkle some shredded cheese over each serving if you like.
So enjoy these frigid winter temperatures with a nice warm bowl of this delicious soup. Put your gourmet cookware to good use this winter and enjoy some of your favorite soups.

The Joy of Giving

I held onto my bag full of gifts with a new found sense of satisfaction and a great deal of joy. I knew I had found the most wonderful gift to give to our little sister. It was the largest gift in my little bag. And I had spent my last three dollars buying this little treasure I was so sure she would cherish forever. Buying that big gift for my little sister was the highlight of my day.

It was our annual Christmas shopping trip. Dad would take Mom and us kids downtown and drop us off while he went to work. Dad always worked Saturdays. And Saturday was the only day we could pull off this kind of family adventure. Sundays were for Church and family. I don't think we ever went shopping on Sundays back then.

Today I handed that same little Sister her annual box of chocolates and this year's treasure - a coffee mug from a bakery in the little town where she lives. I found it at a garage sale - just a few doors down, and miles away from the little town she so loves. That 50 cent coffee mug just seemed to call out to me. "Give me to little sis" I could almost hear it say.

Years from now she may not even remember that silly little coffee mug. And as far as that best gift ever I found for her decades ago - I am the one still enjoying that long forgotten little plastic telephone.

The best gifts don't have to cost a small fortune. Last year my son had as much fun playing with the boxes as he did those gifts they contained. Toys long forgotten or safely tucked away in the far reaches of an overcrowded toy box. The momentary pleasure I enjoyed while watching him unwrap his gifts was my favorite gift. A pleasure I hope will never be forgotten or taken for granted. The gift of love. Love of God, Family, and especially the Love of children. God's greatest gift to us!

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. (Luke 2:10-14)

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas

And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. Luke 2:7-14

Eat Healthy on Christmas

Eating healthy on Christmas? Have I gone mad? Or lost all sense of reality? Before you decide I'm a total quack - or dork ( I am ) maybe it IS possible to sneak in at least one healthy mini meal or make a quick and healthy smoothie to include with all the goodies everyone will most certainly be enjoying over the next couple days.

So watch this video - from Natalie, the nutrition expert - and then get out your best stainless steel cookware and cook up some Quinoa ( Keen-Wa ) and mix in some broccoli and peas. Then enjoy all the candies, and baked goods being shared during this wonderful time of the year. Merry Christmas!

Here is Natalie's excellent video:

Winter warmth

The first day of Winter is an excellent time to enjoy a nice warm cup of your favorite soup. What a warm, comforting addition to a cold Winter day. Any day is a good time for a nice warm bowl of soup. This pumpkin and bean soup will warm your tummy and won't cost much to make:

What you'll need:

1 can white beans
1 small onion finely chopped
1 cup water
1 can (15 ounce) pumpkin
1 1/2 cups apple juice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, allspice, or ginger
1/2 teaspoon black pepper (more if you like)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1. Blend white beans, onion, and water with a potato masher or blender till smooth.

2. In large stock pot from your best stainless steel cookware, add the pumpkin, juice, cinnamon, nutmeg, black pepper, and salt. Stir.

3. Add the blended bean mix to the pot.

4. Cook over low heat for 15-20 minutes, until warmed through.

This delicious, low-fat soup gives you a full day's supply of vitamin A and is a good source of iron and calcium as well.

Sweet Honey n Pumpkin

Can you imagine a nice Christmas morning breakfast with all your favorite breakfast treats - cinnamon rolls, maybe a healthy omelet to give you some much needed protein?
Well here is an easy pumpkin bread that will surely sweeten your day.

What you'll need:

1/3 cup dry milk, nonfat
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup honey
1/2 cup orange juice
2 Tablespoons grated orange peel
2 eggs
1 cup mashed pumpkin

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease or spray with non-stick spray a 12 x 15 inch baking pan with sides.

2. In a small bowl, combine dry milk, flour, baking soda, and spices. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl, thoroughly mix oil, honey, juice, peel, eggs and pumpkin.

4. Gradually add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture, stirring until smooth.

5. Spread batter onto prepared baking pan. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown and cake springs back when lightly touched with your finger. Cool. Cut into squares.

Many Thanks to the nice folks at the Montana Extension Service for this delicious recipe. Hope it adds to your table on Christmas or any time of the year!

In your best stainless steel cookware mix some egg whites, milk, and cooked breakfast sausage for a tasty protein dish to complement your delicious pumpkin bread.

The best Christmas gifts

Our first day in this small little house was filled with painting walls and cleaning floors. All the housework was brought to an abrupt halt when we heard the knock at our new front door. There stood a very nice lady holding a big 12" by 18" baking pan covered with tin foil. "Just wanted to welcome you to the neighborhood" she said as she gently offered her pan to me. "My name is Bee" she added.

Coming from a larger town - just a few minutes up the road - where I only knew the names of one or two neighbors I was a bit surprised by this great and generous gesture of kindness. Well, Bee has yet to let a Christmas slip by without bringing over some kind of Christmas goodies for our little family to enjoy.

This year - it was one of my favorite Christmas treats. A delicacy that for some unknown reason I only seem to ever get to enjoy during this wonderful time of the year. This year Bee brought over a plate full of her very own fudge! My son and I had barely shut the door before ripping the foil off the plate to see what kind of treat Bee had brought over this year! He dug in right away. And, of course, I couldn't let him eat alone!

Thank You, Dear Lord, for neighbors like Bee. And for fudge at Christmas!

Here is a great recipe for fudge if you feel like making some for your neighbors this Christmas season -

What you'll need:

1 3/4 cups sugar

3/4 cup Evaporated Milk

3 tablespoons butter (unsalted if you have it)

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups miniature marshmallows

1 3/4 cups Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans ( totally optional )

Line an 8 inch baking pan with foil.

In your favorite saucepan from your best stainless steel cookware combine the sugar, milk, butter and salt. stir over medium heat until the mixture comes to a rolling boil. Continue stirring and let it boil for a few minutes ( 4 or 5 ). Remove from stove top and stir in the mini marshmallows, chocolate chips, walnuts or pecans ( if you like ) and the vanilla extract.

Pour into the foil-lined baking pan and refrigerate for a couple hours. remove from the refrigerator and take your delicious creation out of the pan and cut into little 1 inch squares. See if you can eat just one! Share with someone you love. Find some mistletoe and..... well... you know the rest.

Merry Christmas!

The Christmas morning treat

Christmas morning brings a special treat in our house - Dad's biscuits and gravy. After cooking a ton of breakfast sausage he uses the grease and some ground up sausage to make his own delicious gravy. His home made biscuits are a real treat - especially with his mouth watering gravy heaped on top.
Forget the presents - just let me taste Dad's biscuits and gravy and I'm getting an early glimpse of Heaven on Christmas morning!
So, when you find yourself with forty-five minutes or so to prepare a really satisfying breakfast, dig out your best stainless steel cookware and mix up your favorite sausage gravy. You can use this delicious topping on top of your best biscuits or even on toast. I love it on hash browns - or fried potato wedges.
Why not cheat on your diet for one day ? Enjoy and celebrate the birth of Jesus with your family and loved ones and eat your favorite treats. Leave your worries behind at this special time of year. Self Discipline is good and it can take a day off every now and then - like Christmas morning! Eating Healthy doesn't mean we can't enjoy old family traditions.

The Cheap Sunday Supper

Last night I made enough salad, pasta, Italian sausage, and marinara for my sons and I to enjoy two good meals. All for the reasonable cost of about $6.60. Supper for three for two nights - about $1.10 a meal. Decent, healthy meals for just over a dollar a piece.

Get out your best stainless steel cookware and on low heat warm up a couple teaspoons of olive oil with the cut up garlic. Add in three Italian Sausage links. Cover and let them cook on low heat for 20 minutes or so. Then turn the links over. Add in a jar of Ragu. We like the one with garlic and onions! I like to cut up half a green pepper in small, diced pieces to add to the Ragu and sausage mixture. Let this simmer in your gourmet cookware for another 20 or 30 minutes.

Finally, in a big stock pot, boil some of your favorite pasta for 10 to 12 minutes.
We like to get started on the salads while the pasta is cooking.

You know the rest - drain the pasta, and add in the Sauce with the Italian Sausage. What a delicious, and inexpensive meal.

Habits

Habits tend to define us. Sooner or later the habits we keep will either bless us or prove to be detrimental. Can we eat junk food forever and stay healthy? Can we go without exercise and do the couch potato lifestyle without any consequences? Not for very long. Sooner or later we pay for the bad choices we make.

You can eat healthy foods that don't taste like some kind of bland tofu mambo jambo.
So get out your best stainless steel cookware and steam some broccoli or some peas or corn. Or mix your favorite veggies together and steam yourself a nutritious side dish for any meal. Or, make the veggies your whole meal! Eating six mini-meals can help in your quest to lose weight. Eating healthy is a good choice we can all make - and enjoy the resulting benefits.

The young lady in the video below has some excellent tips for habits we can all develop and improve our health in the process.

Eat a Healthy Breakfast

This week seems to be breakfast week for me. I found this potentially useful video this morning about using yogurt as part of a healthy breakfast. Early in this clip the young lady explains that sugar can inhibit some of the benefits of yogurt. ( I love mixing sugar laden cereal with my plain old natural yogurt. ) She suggests adding honey or stevia instead.

So, maybe this morning I'll skip the store bought sugar topped wheat cereal and add in some wheat germ instead. Blueberries - or just about any berries make a tasty addition to plain old low fat or no-fat yogurt.

I also enjoyed her remarks about the benefits of Brazil nuts and blackberries. She shows that eating a healthy breakfast can be easy and taste good too!

The super smoothie!

Last summer I broke down and bought a blender. We love milk shakes. Over the summer We got to know some of the kids who worked at our local Dairy Queen very well. That twenty five dollar blender probably paid for itself the first month we had it.

And the beauty of making your own shakes is the huge variety of healthy fruits and berries you can add in. The boys love strawberries in their shakes. I like bananas and blueberries too. We had some great shakes this summer. And still went to Dairy Queen way too much.

Just another option for eating healthy.

Check out this video for some great ideas for your next shake!

Eating Healthy off the grill - Scrape the snow off the grill and start cooking

Any time is a good time to barbecue. My mentor and perhaps one of the greatest barbecue cooks in the USA taught me many a good technique for preparing a tasty and warm meal. Why let a little snow or ice on your grill get in your way?

We'd cook year round. Steaks, Hot Links were always a favorite. And a tasty creation called Pork Strips. I have no idea what part of the animal they come from. I just remember they were always delicious.

If you're into improving your health and all worried about what you eat try wrapping some fresh water wild salmon ( not farm raised ) in foil and throwing it on the barbecue. Add some lemon juice and maybe some fresh herbs if you have any growing in your indoor garden!

Lewie - my knowledgeable cooking instructor - was a master at tossing a variety of veggies inside a big piece of tin foil. He would add a bunch of margarine and pepper and a little salt. Those veggie combos he made always seemed to turn out very delicious.

Found the nice video below about some more healthy treats to enjoy with your barbecue - so warm up the grill, get out your best stainless steel cookware and cook up something healthy on these cold pre-winter nights.

bursting a bubble

Just stumbled upon this video today. What a bummer. I love 8 out of 10 of these "worst" foods. Why does the good stuff have to be so bad for us?

Here is the video -





So here are some alternatives to these worst foods: Eating Healthy

Cooking Aspargus

Delicious tip for this tasty veggie!

Sweet Pecans

Today's tasty Christmas treat is a simple, easy to make little snack.
What you'll need:
A cup of sugar
1 tablespoon of cinnamon
1/4 cup of evaporated milk
2 tablespoons of water
1 tablespoon of rum ( or rum flavoring ) optional
2 cups of pecan halves

Use a 2 or 3 quart saucier from your best stainless steel cookware.
Combine everything except the pecans in your saucepan.
Stir often over medium heat until the mixture comes to a rolling boil.
Let it boil for 4 or 5 minutes.
Remove from the heat and stir in the pecans.
Leave for five or ten minutes to soak up the syrup!
Grease some wax paper.
Then pour the pecans onto the greased wax paper.
Separate the pecans and let them cool.

Put these out in little bowls for everyone to enjoy!

Easy Christmas Fudge

Today's Christmas fudge recipe. Give it a try. Share some with your friends and loved ones.

What you'll need:
1 3/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup Evaporated Milk
3 tablespoons butter (unsalted if you have it)
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups miniature marshmallows
1 3/4 cups Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup crushed walnuts

Line an 8 inch baking pan with foil.

In your favorite saucepan from your best stainless steel cookware combine the sugar, milk, butter and salt. stir over medium heat until the mixture comes to a rolling boil. Continue stirring and let it boil for a few minutes ( 4 or 5 ). Remove from stove top and stir in the mini marshmallows, chocolate chips, walnuts ( if you like ) and the vanilla extract.

Pour into the foil-lined baking pan and refrigerate for a couple hours. remove from the refrigerator and take your delicious creation out of the pan and cut into little 1 inch squares. See if you can eat just one! Share with someone you love. Find some mistletoe and..... well... you know the rest. Merry Christmas!