Healthy Soft Serve (Really!)

Even though I gave up sugar, I still need to have sweet treats sometimes.  So I make healthy cookies with even more nuts instead of chocolate chips.

A clean eating friend told me he loves his Yonanas machine.  After looking at it online, I thought it sounded great.  One Bed, Bath & Beyond coupon later, it was mine.

All you do is put frozen bananas and/or other frozen fruit into this machine and it comes out the consistency of soft serve.  Voila! My Heart's Desire enjoys it and we told Babyface that it was ice cream.

Pros:
It really is that easy to make.  I've tried it with bananas alone, bananas with a little peanut butter, bananas and strawberries, bananas and mixed berries, and bananas, pineapple, peach with a little unsweetened coconut.  Good, great, great, okay, good.  The consistency is what makes it perfect.  I used to put these same ingredients into my mini food processor but I also had to add milk. And all of that harsh chopping killed my first mini food processor.  It's a very healthy dessert and very satisfying.

Cons:
It seems like the equivalent of one banana ends up stuck to the parts inside.  And if you want it, you have to take the whole thing apart and scrape it off the different parts.

It is also extremely difficult to get really clean.  I have no idea why, since all of the parts are plastic, except for the metal blades.  When I wash it by hand, it never really looks clean.  And when I toss it in the dishwasher, a lot of dishwasher schmutz gets stuck to it and I have to wash it by hand.  I've tried soaking, washing it right away, and really scrubbing with a bottle brush. If you have a trick for getting this clean, I'd be all ears.

Conclusion:
Altogether, I'm loving it.  And since I pay 49¢ per pound of bananas, if one has to be sacrificed, it's not a big deal.  It's delicious, easy and fast to make.

Crock Junior

I just couldn't help myself.  As much as I love my big, 6Q slow cooker, I couldn't resist picking up this smaller, 4Q slow cooker.  I bought it secondhand for a song and have been very happy with it.  I cleaned it like Martha Stewart was watching.  It's another Hamilton Beach, though this one is manual, which means I can't set a timer to tell it when to switch to warm.  So far this is not a big deal.

Crock Jr and Crock

It's great for two things.  First, for making smaller quantity recipes. A crock should be half to two-thirds full and when you put in a smaller volume, it doesn't cook properly.  You can put a smaller dish into the crock and cook that way, which I have done with success for baking sweet breads.  But since my big slow cooker is oval, large round dishes won't fit.

I've made some great soups in crock jr already. The broccoli soup, which was perfect on a chilly day and mushroom soup, which tasted nothing like the stuff in the can.  

I also like it when I want to make a side to go with whatever I'm making in the big crock.  Last week I made chicken drumsticks in the big crock and soup in crock jr. It was a breeze!  

Sugar Free Me!

Yes, you read that correctly.  Though all my teeth are sweet, it has been a month since I've given up sugar.  I have been making healthy changes for some time and it was suggested to me that giving up sugar could make a big difference.  This has actually been suggested to me for years and I was firmly unwilling.  Until now.  Healthy actions = healthy results

So I gave up all added sugars and sweets.  No more cookies or Safeway brownies or dipped ice cream cones on hot days.  No artificially sweetened treats either. The first two weeks I was really, really cranky.  I feared My Heart's Desire would grind up an Oreo and slip it into my Green Monster. I wrote emails to some clean eating friends and was told that the crankiness would pass.  I also realized how often I had a little nibble here, a cookie there, or a tablespoon of chocolate chips to make oatmeal tastier and how it all added up. 

The crankiness did fade rather suddenly on day 15 or 16.  All of a sudden, I felt less like Cookie Monster and more even throughout the day.  Also by refraining, all sweets were off the table rather than me trying to figure out how I could eat them. I also found this article about abstaining vs. moderating by Gretchen Rubin very interesting. I also don't drink, smoke, or ingest caffeine.  Clearly, I am an abstainer. 

I avoid added sugars and all sweets and have instituted a kibosh on them at home.  I do eat dairy products as well as a few pieces of fruit per day.  I find that I do feel better and the lion's share of the cravings for oh-so-sweet treats have passed.  Based on a clean eating friend's suggestion, I bought a Yonanas soft-serve maker (fruit is the only ingredient) and I will post a review of it soon.

The more I read about the effects of sugar, the happier I am to be sugar free. I'm not committing it to it for the long haul, neither am I planning to go back to eating sugar.  Perhaps an occasional sweet on a special occasion?  Maybe.  I'm trying not to be super strict with myself nor too lenient.  For now, I'm happy to be sugar-free.

Grateful Tuesday

Today I am grateful for Babyface's sense of humor, my new favorite salad, a homemade quasi-Cobb, the pleasure of being cold, adult conversation, the Internets, preparing healthy snacks for myself so I can grab and go, Superfeet, a tank full of gas, and that it must really be fall because I made pumpkin soup.

This Is How I Stroll

One of my healthy goals this month has been to go for a 10 minute bonus walk after Babyface eats dinner.  My Heart's Desire and I eat after Babyface goes to bed, for a number of reasons, one of which is that we don't like to have dinner at 5pm.  

So every other day or so (weather permitting), I load Babyface up in the stroller and we go for a walk that is at least 10 minutes.  It's actually very hard to go for a walk that short because 5 minutes (a song and a half) into it, it's time to turn around.  And, yes, it takes almost 10 minutes to get everything organized and ready for the stroll. 

So our 10 minute walk often becomes a 20 or so minute walk.  It's also very nice to get out of the house between Babyface's dinner and bath routine.  I'm a firm believer in more fresh air contributing to a better night's sleep for him. 

These bonus walks are in addition to my regular workouts.  Back in January I decided to mark my workouts off on a calendar.  Instead of a big X, I write down what I did.  I try to work out for three or four days in a row, then take a day off.   

When I go for the bonus walk, I get a star on the calendar as well. It's very motivating to see workouts and stars. 

Ho-ho-no

I had a few things to buy at Costco (baby wipes, cashews, hummus) when I stumbled across a display of Christmas items including wreaths, ornaments, and wrapping paper.  In early September.  I was prepared for Halloween merchandise and was thisclose to buying another costume for Babyface.  He already has a great Superman costume, complete with cape.

Anyway, I did not expect to see winter holiday items out so soon.  Christmas creep moves the Christmas up so early that the fun and family holidays, Halloween and Thanksgiving, respectively, are edged out and Santa's shadow looms over both.  Don't get me wrong, I do like the winter holidays and particularly holiday music probably more than the next person, but I don't want to see wreaths when we're still eating watermelon.

10 Things You Might Not Know About Me

1.  I like Post-Its.  If I write something down, I won't forget. This leads to Post-Its everywhere.  My Heart's Desire has a hard time reading my writing, so he'll ask me things like, "Why is sweat on the grocery list?" It was sweet, as in potatoes.  I knew what it meant.

2. My slow cooker obsession has been going on for almost two years now. I'm more evangelical about it than ever!
3. I almost always sit cross-legged. 
4. When I don't want to exercise, I tell myself that I only have to do it for 10 minutes.  It works.  Plus, I can read trashy magazines on the bike or treadmill.
5. I don't like cilantro.  In anything.  Ever.
6. The Princess Bride is my favorite movie of all time.  I remember seeing it in the theater when it came out with my childhood friend Michele.  I own it on DVD. My wedding ceremony started with the phrase, "Marriage is what brings us together today."
7. I watch TV with the closed captions on.  I love it.  Particularly when I'm watching something with a chatty person who lives in my house.  That way I don't miss anything. 
8. When I'm faced with something challenging, I worry and dread it so much that the actual experience seems fine compared to my bottom of the barrel expectations. 
9. I love, love, love having Babyface's picture taken professionally. He gets his picture taken at least six times a year, every month during his first year.  We get family photos taken once a year. 
10. I read fast.  Really, very fast.  Especially if what I'm reading is good.  I can finish reading in a book in a day or two.  Now that I have a Kindle, I rarely need to check luggage.
    

Dolls Behaving Badly

From the cover of Cinthia Ritchie's Dolls Behaving Badly (I know you shouldn't judge a book by it, but sometimes I do), I thought this was a fluffy, light, summer beach read.  Hey, it was summer and sometimes I need fluffy books.  

Slightly blurry photo of Dolls Behaving Badly

I was surprised to learn that this was a story about Carla, a single mother in Alaska living in a trailer, battling poverty, raising a son, dealing with family drama, flexing her artistic muscles, and working in a Mexican restaurant. Complex and unexpectedly funny, this book was so much more than I expected.  I was rooting for Carla through the very last page.  

Today I am grateful for small changes that all add up, taking action to be a good parent, cookbooks, family walks, grapes, new friends, Green Monsters with peanut butter, being able to see the things that I do right, and the way Babyface says Willy Wonka.

Autumn leaves

After a very fickle summer, I am definitely ready for the seasons to change.  It went from being super hot all day to downright chilly in the mornings in just a few days.

I was surprised to see so many fallen leaves in our yard.  I love autumn.  I can't wait to pull out my sweaters, go apple picking, feel a brisk breeze in the evening, dig out the flannel sheets, drink apple cinnamon tea, and have fires in the fireplace.