Showing posts with label baking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label baking. Show all posts

19 September 2016

Joy Journey

In my intentional pursuit of putting myself in the office if personhood, I am compiling a list of what brings me joy. [Thank-you Arthur Burk for your work on this.]  During the perfect storm of life events of late, I have realized that baking brings me great joy, yet is dangerous to my SF controlled carb lifestyle.

Yes, I know about the recipes that align the baking with my lifestyle. And some of them work well for me.

Sadly, baking batches of SF low carb cookies does not bring me joy as the results are disappointing.

Do you feel me here?

For a couple of years now I have either disgruntledly avoided baking cookies OR have baked and consequently eaten cookies whilst feeling like a prisoner who has broken out of her cell, feeling the breath of the law hot on my neck. 

Not much joy in either one of those.

The new idea I plan to try is to give myself permission to bake for predefined special occasions and to enjoy my joy while doing so. And enjoying the results of the baking in moderation is part of that new idea, also.

Not surprisingly my pursuit of perfection is a huge stumbling block on my journey.  I am way past ready to embrace a messier, less groomed and coiffed path.

Yep, I have been writing specifically about baking today, but this shift is one for all areas of my life.

What new paradigm are you embracing?

17 November 2015

Tummy Pleasing Tuesday Tip

Alongside of my current cranberry craving is a muffin hankering.  Often these two marry into delicious bliss.

Freestyling Trim Healthy Mama produces satisfaction, energy and health, but sometimes produces challenge, like finding a toothsome E muffin.

As of the time of this writing my two favorite E muffins are:

Chocolate Banana Muffins (p. 283 in the THM Cookbook; I make 1/3 or a recipe)

Strawberry Muffins (p. 281), which I tweak by adding more fruit like blueberries, cranberries, peaches, apples, etc.  Because this recipe is a FP, I know that adding non-FP fruit, I can safely stay in E mode.  And I love the texture and flavor of this muffin.

What tweaks are you making in your THM journey?


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14 November 2015

Neglected

It feels great to be writing consistently lately.

Of course, you wouldn't know about that here, because I have taken a writing challenge outside of this realm.  I believe it will help me to post more consistently here, just not during November.

That being said, I will encourage you to check out a fabulous THM friendly recipe, which I made this afternoon, and which you can find at alldayidreamaboutfood.com .

Here's what mine looked like; I made a 1/2 recipe and baked it in an 8" round cake pan for 25 minutes:

Cranberry Orange Coffee Cake; recipe from All Day I Dream About Food.
On the topic of THM, I am gearing up for my next Fuel Cycle, which will start immediately after Thanksgiving Day.  My first one was incredibly hard initially, and incredibly beneficial finally.  Otherwise I would not be planning another one! Planning ahead to have the right items on hand will be a key.

What new THM recipes have you tried lately?

What feedback or questions do you have about a THM Fuel Cycle?


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05 June 2015

A Trim Healthy S Cookie that I LOVE!!!

Sheri Graham share oodles of exceptional information on her site, including this Trim Healthy Mama S recipe for Chocolate No Bake Cookies. From my childhood, cookies like this have been a craved fave.  This delish recipe is low carb and sugar free, which matches my adult self's needs -- the best of both worlds!!!

My tweaks to her amazing recipe are:


  • use 1/2 butter and 1/2 coconut oil for the amount of fat listed in recipe, 
  • use 1/2 coconut and 1/2 oats for the amount of oats listed in the recipe, 
  • and add more sweetener to my taste, sending me back to my younger days of making batch upon batch of these yummy cookies!   
What's one of your favorite cookies recipes?



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24 December 2014

11 November 2013

Oh the Places I've Been; Today's Links

  With company coming over for supper tonight, I should be preparing.  However I cannot resist another random post.

  First, two tips, freebies:

  1. If  you are struggling with curtailing time spent perusing Pinterest, switch your current service provider to a satellite company which severely restricts your download threshold (and yes, viewing stuff on Pinterest does suck those mbs)
  2. Label your power cords with those squares plastic tabs that are found on the bags of loaves of bread and other bread products.  You will save yourself frustration when you want to uplug yourself (or others) from the power strip.
  Now for those links of the places I've been today:

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03 November 2013

Recurrence, welcome and unwelcome

   This is my favorite season of the year, which leads into my two favorite holidays of the year. Although the harbinger of winter, I welcome autumn's arrival.  The colors, the scents, the traditions, the memories, the food, the fellowship, the fun...YES!  I embrace all.

30 August 2013

More THM Yummyness

  Though I cannot remember all the "Trim Healthy Mama" recipes I have recently made and eaten, I can tell you about a couple that have been quite tasty.  After buying some banana extract, I made myself a banana peanut muffin-in-a-mug (variation is mentioned in my book, on page 257).  I would have preferred walnuts or pecans for my nut addition, but did not have either on hand.  The other difference in this muffin from all of the other MIMs I have tried so far is that I finally purchased some almond flour and used it for half of the "flour" amount, which increased the delicious flavor and improved the texture.  Lately I have been baking my MIMs in the oven (if I am already using it the oven) or in the convection toaster oven, which I also highly recommend for improving the texture.  Finally, the next time I make a MIM using half almond flour and half golden flax meal I will taste the batter and carefully add sweetener until it reaches the correct sweetness for me.  The amount of sweetener I was using in the MIMs made with only golden flax meal was too much for the new version.  By the way these delectable muffins are gluten and grain free!  I think I will try to make a pumpkin muffin this afternoon or sometime in the near future.
 
  Just a few minutes ago I made myself  a Low Carb English Muffin. I have been craving some snacks that are not sweet but are THM approved, and this recipe looked promising.  If you click the above link and go the recipe you will find a picture.  I did not toast mine quite long enough as it was not as brown, but it did taste ok.  I think I will plan to add more salt and perhaps some onion powder or garlic powder of both to give this more flavor.  I topped mine with butter but will try 1/3-reduced fat cream cheese the next time I make one -- which might be as early as this afternoon.
 
  Another recent recipe I made and devoured is Pumpkin Spice Frappe. The bonus about this lovely autumn tasting drink is that it is a Fuel Pull food.  What is that, you ask?  To summarize from the book, the science behind the Fuel Pull is to strip down both fat and glucose, the two primary fuels, almost fully away and force the body to immediately burn its own fat as fuel.  "...Fuel Pull meals swiftly shed excess weight."  In other words, these foods are like "freebies" when you are hungry.
 
  Now for some balancing feedback, I have tried some recipes that were for me flops.  I plan to continue to tweak the chocolate cake in a mug recipe to my taste, though so far it's less than pleasing.  Also I have been making gluten free/grain free gravies and sauces using glucomannan powder or xanthan gum as the thickener, which does work, but is kinda slimy.  I think the more I cook with these healthy alternatives the less I will notice, but time will be the true test.  Further I am awaiting a tweaked recipe for "Skinny Chocolate" from a friend, though I do enjoy the "Chocolate Slab" recipe.  To this date I have made it without the nuts since I tend to snack on nuts already during a day.
 
  Did I mention that you really, really, really should read this book?  I am hopeful to buy the pdf version soon, so that I can search within the text more easily and print off the recipes in the book, also.  My softbound copy sits on the top of my portable dishwasher, ready for multiple perusals throughout the day.

  What yummy food have you been enjoying lately?

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21 July 2013

Blueberry Scones Alternative

 The day after picking 30.5 pounds of blueberries, I hunted down our favorite blueberry scones recipe and set to baking a batch.  Unfortunately for this THMer, said scones are not plan approved.  I had a hunch, however, that if I would make a delicious plan approved blueberry muffin and top it with some plan approved mock devonshire cream, then I would not feel left out of the blueberry goodness my family was going to enjoy.  Below is the recipe for the delectable muffin and the cream I made and ate that morning; as I suspected, I did not feel like I was missing out!

Fresh Blueberry Muffin (S THM)
Mix  well the following in a lightly greased, oven-safe mug or bowl:
1 large egg
2 T. ground flax seed
2 T. coconut flour (I ground my own in the blender)
1 teaspoon 1 T. coconut oil (edited 07.28.13)
4 t. Truvia
1/2 t. baking powder
Then add and mix again: 1/4 c. blueberries
 Bake at 350 degrees until no longer doughy in the middle -- about 15 minutes or more, (I was multi-tasking and just kept checking and adding more time).  For mock devonshire cream, mix together 2 t. reduced-fat cream cheese, 1 t. sour cream and Truvia to taste.  When muffin is finished baking, dump onto a plate and let cool until you can't wait anymore.  Frost the top (which was the bottom and is where all of those fabulous blueberries are now) with the cream and enjoy!
  Note: I adjusted my recipe from 1 T. coconut oil to 1 tsp.; being a THM newbie, I had forgotten that the natural oil in the coconut flour would make up for the reduced amount of coconut oil.  
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11 June 2013

Before Pre-Calculus

 Before I launched into today's Pre-Calculus Lesson (#17 if anyone is counting),  I had to have a snack -- a "Trim Healthy Mama" snack.  Thanks to a dear friend mentioning this book, I have been enjoying food without feeling the negative effects of blood sugar swings while eating lots of yummy foods including sweet treats.

www.trimhealthymama.com

05 March 2013

A new twist on an old recipe

 Gloriously I took time to bake yesterday.  Had I thought about it more I probably wouldn't have done so because I should have dashed out earlier in the afternoon than I did to do my shopping trip a day ahead of schedule; winter weather impending today means I want to be at home.  Because of the February birthdays, I tend to bake less in terms of random sweets during the month.  Hooray that March has arrived!

 On my last outing to Aldi about a month ago, I purchased white chocolate chips, dried cranberries and walnuts with this new cookie variation in mind.  I used my stand-by oatmeal cookie recipe from "Eat Well for $50 a Week" and stirred the additions in with love and care.



I had my dear hubbie in mind when I first baked this delectable cookie; he absolutely LOVES them!

As for the winter weather, we are still awaiting signs of it at our house.  May this be winter's last hurrah!  Organizing my unexpected at-home day for maximum productivity and life is my next challenge.

Cracking on...


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17 February 2013

Whine and Cheese




Please, grab your favorite cheese and pull up a seat -- I will provide the "whine."

22 January 2013

Appraisal

 : to evaluate the worth, significance, or status of; especially : to give an expert judgment of the value or merit of

03 January 2013

Word for 2013

 D'ya ever feel under it when it comes to the stuff of life that has to be done?

Sometimes when I feel like that, I remember that making a decision and/or accomplishing a task, no matter how small, lifts the pressure - and then I act.  That's why the picture of the bread machine to the left; I just ordered one, after months of being without one.  I look forward to its arrival!  I am capable of making breads by hand, but this handy time-saver has been sorely missed by me. 


20 December 2012

Tidings of Comfort and Joy+

Image courtesy of

anankkml

/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net


 Not many days left now until Christmas 2012!  Celebrating Christ's birth is one of my very favorite engagements of each year.  At present our world pines for the comfort, joy, peace and

21 November 2012

On earth as it is in Heaven?

What can I do in 10 minutes?  Inspired by two of my daughters who recently participated in a NaNoWriMo Write-In, I decided to write.

"I am on vacation" is heard around our house on days like today; being translated, it means that all of my school work is finished, and I am officially in non-school mode.  At present I believe that I am on vacation, though I have one student still working.  After lunch I will bake pies, knead up a batch of 100% whole wheat dinner roll dough, and make cranberry sauce in preparation for tomorrow.  In the betweens, I am pressing into rest and mentally transitioning to non-school mode.

What appeared to be an "empty" month, according to our over-sized dry erasable wall calendar, is almost at its close.  Because I love this time of year so very much, the Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays, I have peace in regard to where we are in the 2012 year.  We have much on our "to do" lists for the Thanksgiving vacation, including decorating the tree and inside of the house for Christmas, drawing names for gift exchange, scoring an acceptable family picture for our Christmas cards and spending time together as a family being thankful for each other and for our enumerable blessings.

Resting and loving authentically are two themes which Holy Spirit is highlighting in this season.  Both are challenging for me due in large part, in my opinion, to the day-to-day demands of this life I've been blessed to live.  And it is exactly in the day-to-day where I long to wear rest and love as naturally and as effortlessly as my skin.  I wonder if that day will ever arrive here on the earth?

Yes, there will be joy in this journey!

Trying to remember to seek first the unseen Kingdom...



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10 November 2012

A New Season Ahead = Necessary Changes

Hi, friends. Thanks to all  of you who have ever visited this blog and/or followed it. I appreciate it very much! Finding myself on the ...