Excellent moist healthier alternative banana bread!!!

Hello everybody!! I’ve been creating recipes lately for the simple fact that I’m running out of stuff to eat!!! lol With trying to eat healthy you have to be doubly creative because you can’t find anything much at the grocery stores that isn’t laden with fat and sugar or GMO’s or God knows what else!!! Good Lord, it’s time for things to change and people to start demanding that the food that we buy be better for our bodies and minds, yes minds!! All that junk clogs up your brain so you can’t think clearly!!! Let alone what it does to your internal organs is awful!! And besides that it loads up fat on your body like you wouldn’t believe but I’m sure you believe if your not eating healthy and you look in the mirror and you see the blubber hanging around. I know because I looked in the mirror and did NOT like what I saw about 3 months ago. Most of my life I have been very slim and muscular and not an ounce of fat on me but I was a smoker and I  uhm well smoked instead of eating, cough, cough, cough…lol… until I quit that bad habit about 14 years ago and started eating everything in site to fight the cravings with an added 30 pounds or so, yeah maybe more… Yikes!!! I can’t believe the nerve of that food!!! How dare it do that to my body when I am loving it so well!!!??? ha
Anyways to make a long story shorter, I was not feeling well at all, I am talking barely any good days at all, in bed sick a lot of days…. SOOOOOO I thought it was time to try something different than medicines that was doing absolutely zilch for me, actually just adding some more unwanted symptoms that I didn’t care for as I am very sensitive to drugs. So it was time to change.
Change is good but with most change there is an adjustment period. A time when you are not used to something and it doesn’t enter your brain naturally because you are not used to thinking that way. Like when you are used to eating certain things and when you take them out you are like freaking out wondering what you are going to eat now!!!!?? So you have to become creative in order to find things that will satisfy your taste buds AND be healthy for you. The way I have been eating these last three months is NOT a diet, it’s a way of life. I don’t have to TRY to lose weight, it is just coming off naturally. I do not have to count calories, or points or whatever. I just am trying to eat as healthy as possible by eating foods that are in their natural form as God made them and trying to figure out WHICH HEALTHY FOODS are GOOD for ME as not everyone can eat the same foods because you may have sensitivities to certain ones. By doing this I have regained more energy, and I have a LOT more good days than I was having previously. I’d like to say I am totally cured but I am still having some problems and I am still trying to figure it out by eating or not eating certain foods. I have lost about 20 pounds so far and I am really pleased with that!!! I would still like to lose another 24 pounds to be at my goal weight of 140 pounds. This would be my high BMI for my height. If I went for the low one of 120 pounds I would look anorexic!!!  I know I am really heavy! lol Solid is the right word! hahaha  Thank God that I gain weight evenly over my body!! I can get away with more weight than most!!
I am trying to create and have been searching for different healthy recipes and hoping that you’ll get on the bandwagon and join me and others and turn your life around to have a richer healthier life and  make a better you. We can always try to improve on this mentally, physically and spiritually.

I couldn’t wait, I cut this when it was still steaming hot!! AND I ate it!!!!
Here is my recipe for an excellent moist banana bread. This bread is cake like in texture, very moist and ohhhhhhh so good!!!! It is fairly light not really heavy, it is sweet but not too sweet, it is bananary too especially if you use over ripe bananas!!. (Taste like bananas for you translators)
*No refined sugar
*gluten free
*much healthier than a regular banana bread recipe
In a large bowl add
1/3 cup of butter and about 1/4 cup of olive oil mixed together
  (You could use all olive oil but it may change the taste and you would have to add more flour to soak up the extra liquid, probably about a few tablespoons of flour more. ( I haven’t let go of all my dairy products yet…) That is my goal though.
1 apple pureed or chopped really small and put it in a 3/4 cup measuring cup and fill the rest with pure unpasteurized honey or sweetener of choice. NO refined sugar.
You could probably use all apple puree if you wanted to and use stevia to sweeten a bit more if you cannot tolerate much sugar again you may have to add a tad bit more flour as the apple might be more watery than the honey.
1 egg
You kind of need something to hold everything together. I’m not sure what kind of substitute you could use if you cannot have eggs. You could try just omitting it and adding extra banana…it probably would work.
Mix everything together well with a mixer.
Add this to your mixture
3 mashed bananas  (around 1 cup or so)
1 1/2 cup of flour  I used 1/3 cup coconut flour, 1 1/4 cup all purpose gluten free flour
1 tsp. baking soda without aluminum, found at the health food store.
1 tsp. baking powder
pinch of good quality salt
I added another 2 tablespoon of all purpose gluten free flour to get the right consistency.  Consistency should be like thick oatmeal.
Mix in given order and put in a greased and floured loaf pan.
Bake at 300 degrees F. for an hour. Start checking at about 45 minutes. Check with toothpick and if it comes out clean when you stick it in the middle it is done.



Looks like it is uncooked a bit but it is only because it was still so hot!
If you like a banana bread that is moist you will love this one! Even my husband loved it and he isn’t really watching what he eats.
Let me know if you try it out!!!
Have a great day!! ‘Til next time

Tasty green smoothie, yes there is such a thing!!!

I've been reading a lot about nutrition and I'm seeing everyone talking about this green smoothie made with veggies, mostly greens. Have you ever tasted greens? Can you imagine them in a drink? Oh yes they are so good I think I'll drink this...NOT. So I tried it a few times anyway just because I wanted to eat something really healthy and get all the benefits.The first time was alright I managed to get it down but the second drink was horrible and made me sick to my stomach. I think I'm having problems tolerating Kale which is a dark green leafy vegetable. So I decided that green smoothies were just not for me and concentrated more on other nutritions but I kept hearing so much about green drinks and smoothies and how good they are for you and that you should have them every day and I decided to try them again. As I was browsing on google for green smoothies I happened to find one that said, "Tasty green smoothie"  and I thought, "hmmmm tasty and green" can it really be? Curiosity won and I clicked on the link and this young lady who seems to know what she's talking about is explaining all the technicalities of why a green smoothie doesn't taste good and how to make a green smoothie taste good.
 Here is her video if you want to know more about it.

So there you have it, sounds logical to me so I decided to try it. She was right!!! It does taste a lot better than what I was doing. Taste like fruit instead of greens, YAY!!! I have just started drinking them everyday now. I try to drink 2 a day, breakfast and lunch and then I have a whole food usually cooked supper. That may change someday but as for now that is all I am comfortable doing. Having done the raw thing for 2 weeks I know I felt a lot better and clearer and would like to feel that way again sometimes. Now that I know what fruits to avoid for Interstitial cystitis I probably could do it but I'm not sure how long I could do it without missing my "warm" cooked foods, especially in the winter. I'm so cold!!! lol

Smoothies are so easy to make, you don't have to cook anything! Great for lazy people!! lol Just freeze a bunch of fruits and throw them into your blender and blend blend blend, pour into your glass and rinse your blender and drink up!! Yummy and healthy feel goodness!!!

We have to look after our body, it's the only one we have!!! When is the time? NOW, NOW is the time to do it, start today or tomorrow after you get your fruits and veggies and start feeling good. Just start with one meal a day and substitute a fruit smoothie and then later when you are used to it, throw in a green smoothie and then start having 2. You will probably start craving them after awhile, I know I do. Gotta have my smoothie. Sometimes after supper if I'm still hungry and I am craving something nasty I will make my healthy chocolate shake. You see my weakness before this diet was Chocolate icecream, I was totally addicted to it!! Had to eat it every night almost!! Thought about it first thing in the morning and tried waiting all day to eat it. I know, it sounds awful but it's true.
How did I let it go? I made a healthy smoothie that satisfied my cravings for chocolate icecream and now I do not crave it at all!! I actually have cravings for the healthy chocolate icecream although just once in awhile not everyday. I use 1/2 tsp of cocoa powder and 1/2 tsp of carob powder since I cannot tolerate too much chocolate.

Here is my recipe for the green smoothies that I make. This is 2 servings of about 12 oz glass which is 1 1/2 cups x 2 = 3 cups all together

I use a bullet blender which is just a small blender and so I have to do it a certain way to get this much.
You could always half this recipe for a one serving.

In the blender pour about 1/2 cup of water
a good handful of baby spinach, you can substitute for whatever you like
a good handful of romaine lettuce, or kale, Try to chose the most nutritious
1/2 pear, mango, or strawberries
7 or 8 raspberries
7 or 8 blueberries
1/2 apple  sweet apple for Interstitial cystitis
1/2 orange, less for me, not good for Interstitial cystitis but I love a tangy taste
1 tsp pure vanilla, without alcohol
1 tsp pure honey, unpasterized (best to omit for faster weight loss if possible)
I use honey with royal jelly. (Some people may be sensitive to the royal jelly)
Blend all ingredients until smooth

Now here is where I half this portion and pour it into a glass and cover the top with plastic wrap. I then put it in the freezer to keep the nutrients as long as I can. Smoothies are to be drank as soon as possible for best results but I think it's ok for a few hours as long as it is cold.
Take it out of the freezer about 1/2 hour before using to thaw.

Slowly add pieces of frozen banana until you have the desired thickness.
I love mine as thick as I can get it!!
Enjoy your smoothie.

Here is mine.

 This is what it looks like before I added bananas

Tip.... If you cut up your bananas with your fingers instead of a knife they will not stick together so much. Place them in a freezer bag and lay them flat. Works great!!

This is after I added bananas, yummy yummy!!!

 Now how could you not like this???

Hope you have a great and healthy day!!! xox