Hi there! This will be quick. Just wanted to let you know I have a new page (see above) called My Healthy Food, Cooking, and Fitness Store where I listed my favorite foods, kitchen gadgets, and fitness equipment. If you want to start or maintain a healthy lifestyle, check it out, I’ll be adding more soon.
It’s all through Amazon where you can buy my favorites for your home and start enjoying healthy, delicious food that you can easily cook. Add in fitness equipment and you’re off to a new, healthier and happier you!
If you’re not sure what to do with some of the food, check out my other new page with Healthy Recipes your whole family will enjoy. Yes, even those picky toddlers…..
One for me, none for you, dad.
See? You’ll have them taking healthy food you cooked right out of your hands!
Soon, I’ll create a post where I share actual products I use the most along with ideas on how to get started with them. For now, please check out my list of favorites for a healthy lifestyle and let me know what you think.
What is the biggest thing you want to change most? Being more active, better nutrition, both, or something else?
The other day I posted a picture of my Sugar Free Green Coconut Carrot Bread on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, and promised a recipe was coming soon.
Since I like to deliver on my promises, I’m sharing it with you today. Consider yourself lucky, or maybe it should be forewarned…..hmmmm. Here’s the thing…..
I do about 90% of my cooking via the microwave. My main cooking method is steaming, mostly veggies, and microwave steaming is quick, efficient, and retains the most nutrients compared to roasting, sauteing, boiling, etc. I still cook with these other methods, just not often.
Now, many people avoid microwaves at all costs for fear that they’ll turn radioactive or some other harm will be done. This was a concern for me at one time, so I looked into it and was convinced it was a safe, if not safer cooking method. Think about the carcinogens resulting from grilling, roasting, or toasting, that’s not safe either.
Anyway, I wrote a post on my old healthy food blog, Just Add Cayenne, titled Is Microwave Cooking Safethat you can check out for my reasoning if you’d like. But that’s my preferred method, and that’s how I make most of my breads.
I’ll let you in on my little microwave bread cooking tool that I absolutely love; it’s a microwave omelet cooker! Yep, it’s the Nordic Ware Microwave Omelet Pan and you can get it off of Amazon for less than $7. The link is my affiliate link and I’d be ever so happy if you went through it to make your purchase. Check out my other favorites on the Amazon sidebar to the right.
I’ll save my microwave cooking details for a later post, but for now, how about that bread recipe? I adapted it to be cooked in the oven, so you’ll have to wait for my microwave version. It’s a lot faster, using less ingredients, and still delicious and healthy!
Sugar-Free Green Coconut Carrot Bread Sweetened with PyureSweet Stevia
Get These Ingredients….
1 egg + 4 egg whites
1 cup steamed carrots
1/2 cup steamed spinach, only drain a little of the excess water and leave the rest*
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 ½ cups oat flour; could probably use whole wheat, spelt, kamut, or high quality protein powder too
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut; I used the kind from Let’s Do Organic
1/2 cup PyureSweet Stevia; if using pure or liquid stevia extract, use the equivalent of 1 cup of sugar which can be between 1 to 2 tsp depending on brand.
1 Tbs Cinnamon; you can use less, but I’m obsessed
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
Pinch of sea salt
Now Do This….
Add wet (first 4) ingredients to the bowl of a food processor and puree until mostly smooth.
Whisk all dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
Add your puree to the dry ingredients and mix with a large spoon or spatula making sure everything is incorporated.
Pour into a loaf pan and bake 50 – 60 minutes in a preheated oven at 350 degrees.
The bread is ready when a fork or knife comes out clean when inserted in the center. Cover the top with foil for the last 20 minutes to avoid burning.
*The water from the spinach helps retain volume and moisture since baking with stevia requires less bulk than if using sugar, honey, maple syrup, etc.
Give this to your kids and call it “Green Monster Bread” or something fun like that and feel good knowing they’re getting healthy food for their constantly growing body. Avery knows what’s up….
And of course, this bread’s deliciousness is only compounded when you put a think layer of NuttZo on top. Remember, save yourself 15% on the best organic nut & seed butter in existence and used code liley15when purchasing from their product page. It’s good for you, good for me, and everyone loves it! Winning all around! If only I can get Avery to give me back the jar…
What are your thoughts on microwave cooking?
Have you made bread in the microwave before?
Since we never go out to eat and I take on cooking mostly all meals in our house, it’s a must and I swear by the microwave. Never mind that odd glowing I get around 3am……
Gone are the days of Avery sitting idle as Going Mom and I workout. From sitting in a swing, to bouncing in her jumper, our baby turned toddler has transformed into our personal trainer.
Not long ago, we used to only be concerned with keeping Avery entertained as we worked through an exercise routine either inside or in the garage, but now she’s part of the action and helping to increase intensity! I still remember having her watch us from her swing as we sweat it out with a workout video.
Or bringing her to the garage for first time and how worried I was to do anything.
And for the longest time, she’s been happily (for the most part) bouncing in her jumper as we lift in the garage.
Eager to workout with Daddy!
But now, with her walking and wondering all over, she prefers to get in on the action when and where ever possible. My wife and I were doing a quick body-weight routine consisting of 50 seconds on, 10 seconds off working through squats, push-ups, lunges, and planks for a total of 4 rounds; making it 16 minutes total. Short but intense and perfect for those with limited access to equipment.
Apparently, Avery didn’t think it was intense enough and she made sure to let her Mommy know to work harder!
C’mon, faster, Mommy!!!
And I guess Kelley looked like she needed a little extra weight as she doing push-ups, so Avery helped increase the intensity by adding her own weight.
I’d say this isn’t fun, but I”d be lying.
Of course, I think Avery went a little too far with the intensity at one point. I’m not sure, but something tells me Kelley would agree….
What? Having trouble, Mommy? Can I have milk soon?
This happened with the plank hold too, and Avery would venture over to me every now and then to check in. I think my wife got the worst of it though, but she ripped through the 16 minutes; “baby weight” and all!
In the garage, we just hit a milestone by removing the jumper to make room for a play yard/pen (really looks like a place for a dog) that Avery can move around in as we lift weights.
Goodbye, jumper, you served us well
I even had a second of feeling sad since it’s bittersweet to take it out. Our little girl is growing too much! Common saying from parents, and I completely understand! But there wasn’t much time to sit and ponder on the past, Avery let me know it was dead lift day and I needed to take my weight belt (she advocates lifting safely) and get to it.
Here, dad, you’ll need this.
She looks pretty content in her new cage play yard, right? She seriously loves playing with the weight belt, so I know as soon as I’m done, she gets it back. It’s a good relationship though, she behaves and helps motivate me to lift heavy and keep focused, and I give her my belt once I’m done. Instant happiness….
I’ve had this mini kettlebell for kids in my Amazon cart for too long, and now I have motivation to finally buy it. Soon, you’ll see our daughter swinging her very own kettlebell with mommy and daddy!
How cool is that?
Whether inside or out, Avery’s keeping her Mommy and Daddy in tip top shape around here. And why not? Shouldn’t all kids want to have their parents be healthy so they are healthy enough to go play and run around with them?
I might joke about Avery being our personal trainer, but in a way, all parents should have their children act as personal trainers in the sense that they should want to get and stay healthy for themselves and their kids. I don’t want to be one of the parents sitting on a bench as my kid runs around playing on the playground, I want to be out there playing too!
Please, if you can’t find being healthy and fit for yourself being reason enough, do it for your kids’ sake. From chasing them on the playground as toddlers, to playing sports when they’re older, to helping them move out of the house when they’re fully grown, parents need to be there for their kids, physically and mentally.
Going Mom and I choose a healthy, active lifestyle, and I hope you do or will too. As and aspiring personal trainer (when Avery is older), I’d love to offer tips/advice to anyone who is serious, free of charge. In fact, if just one person reaches out to me, I would do my best to help you achieve whatever goal it is you have in mind.
Don’t limit yourself by thinking you can’t do something. Stay positive, set your goal, and get to it! Just like you are what you eat, you are what you think too!
Do you workout with your kids?
Any fun exercises or stories you care to share?
What goals do you have for yourself and how are you working to get there?
An at-home dad on a mission to keep it real when it comes to food, fun, and raising a healthy, happy family.
