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Going Healthy

Going Healthy: Whole Grain Protein Beer Bread

03/01/2014 R.C. Liley Leave a comment

Hey there!

Today we’re visiting G-ma and hopefully having a great time.

I am pushing to see a lot of these…

And very little to none of these….

Next time I won't pop the balloon! — Next time I won’t pop the balloon!

As well as plenty of this at night….

But, babies are, in fact, babies, so lets just hope for the best.

When we have wonderful weather like here in Texas lately, I like to enjoy a good beer. And, I like to eat good food, so why not make something with good beer?

Beer bread is a favorite of mine, but I despise the enriched flour and crappy ingredient store-bought mixes. You always pay a price when you settle for convenience like fast food and pre-mixed packages so it seems. But this recipe is pretty simple and one you’ll be making more than once!

Whole Grain Protein Beer Bread

Ingredients

1 cup whole grain spelt (or other whole grain) flour

1 cup whole grain corn flour

1 cup unflavored protein powder; I use whey protein powder

3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce or pumpkin puree

1/2 cup plain, non-fat Greek yogurt

1 large egg and 4 large egg whites (I have used 12oz of pureed Mori-Nu Silken Tofu for a great vegetarian substitute)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 T baking powder

12-oz bottle of favorite beer at room temp

Optional #1: Add sweetener to taste (I used a packet of Stevia, but 2 tsp of brown sugar or honey would be good too)

Optional #2: Add herbs and spices like cumin, cayenne, garlic powder, rosemary, or dill to really make this bread stand out.

Directions

-Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a loaf pan, square glass baking dish, 9-inch pie pan, or a 12 muffin baking pan with non-stick spray

-In a large bowl, beat eggs with a whisk, add all other wet ingredients and whisk to blend

-In another bowl, mix the dry ingredients stirring with a whisk.

-Add dry ingredients to the liquid mixture and mix just until combined.

-Pour the batter into prepared pan. Bake for 40 to 55 minutes or when a toothpick comes out clean. Check for browning towards the end and cover with foil for the last 10 minutes if needed.

Hope you give it a try and enjoy. Please send any feedback (good or bad) as I’d love to hear how it turned out for you and/or ways to improve.

Going Ideas and A Healthy Chocolate Protein Dip

02/20/2014 R.C. Liley 2 Comments

Something I planned on doing when I started this blog was to vary my posts across several areas of interest. I want to share healthy recipes and advice, speak on exercise, eco-friendly solutions, and even rant about what I think is wrong with this world.

My main focus is and always will be about Avery and watching her learn and grow. But, I can only write so much about feeding her a bottle, waiting for poop, and how fussy or happy she was that day.

Which, by the way, bottle feeding is better, she pooped recently, and she’s happy most of the time but gets fussy at night. How’s that for cliff notes blogging?

So, every now and then I will post about other topics under the following categories:

Going Healthy – mostly healthy recipes or other thoughts on food
Going Green – eco-friendly tips and advice
Going Strong – exercise tips, thoughts, and routines
Going Reviews – from time to time I hope I will be allowed the opportunity to try and review food products and items pertaining to parenting. I don’t expect much at first since I’m just starting out, but hope this will change in the future. It would be really great to start hosting giveaways too!

This is what I’m thinking right now, so it’s subject to change. Please share your thoughts on this as I’d like to know what others think. Is this a good idea? Need to change something?

To start things off, I have a favorite healthy dessert dip recipe I make all the time. Loaded with protein and creamy goodness, it’s good just eating right from a spoon!

Chocolate Protein Dip

Here’s what you need:

-1 can of chickpeas or white beans, drained and rinsed

-2 medium ripe bananas (the more spots the better to me!)*See note below if you don’t have bananas

-2 tsp vanilla extract

-1/8 tsp baking soda

-rounded1/8 tsp salt

-3 packets of stevia or about 2 tsp; it takes a while get the right amount since so many stevia products are different, so just adjust to taste. If you’re not into stevia, you can use 2/3 cup of brown sugar or honey, but this will detract a little of the “healthy” part.

-2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

-1/4 cup rolled oats, ground flax seeds, or chia seeds (you can omit this, it just helps to make it really thick)

*If you don’t have or like bananas, try using 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce, pumpkin puree, or Greek yogurt or even a combination. I have tried all of these and still like the outcome. There’s no wrong way, just what you have on hand.

This is easy, just add everything in a blender or food processor and blend until you have a smooth, creamy consistency. Blending will create heat and the dip will firm up a little more if you let it cool in the fridge for at least 2 hours. Or make a double batch so you can eat one right away like I do!

Please give it a shot and let me know what you think. For the stevia, I buy it from the company Bulk Supplements on Amazon. It’s the purest I’ve found and never get a bitter aftertaste. Plus it’s priced well!

Of course I can’t post without having a picture of Avery, just in case that’s all you came here to see. A nice neighbor of ours let us borrow their Ergo carrier since I’m not too thrilled with our Baby Bjorn Original, and we took it for an hour long walk yesterday.

About 20 minutes into the windy walk and I look down and see this…

Not sure how the wind didn’t bother her, but I think the Ergo passed the test. Now, guess it’s time to search for one of my own.

Do you think it’s a good idea to incorporate these categories into the blog? I feel I have a lot of thoughts on nutrition, fitness, parenting, and people running through my brain and would love to share them with you here.

Food

Simply7 Lentil Chip Crusted Baked Fish in a Snap

02/02/2014 R.C. Liley Leave a comment

Kelley and I were at Costco and happened upon this giant bag of Simply7 Lentil Chips about 2 weeks ago. We both said they sounded good, and after I scrutinized the ingredients, they seemed fairly decent. Non-GMO is a big one I look for too. After going back and forth, I repeatedly asked Kelley if she would help me eat the bag if we got this plus-sized potato sack of lentil chips. “Yes, I’ll help.”, she replied. Ha….

Fast forward to now and after her “helping” by eating about 10 of the eleventy million chips, I was almost through the bag. Since I was tired of throwing them on my salads, eating them with carrots (pretty good, by the way), dipping in Greek yogurt, and just straight up snacking on them, I figured I’d use the rest in a recipe.

Thus, the crusted baked fish idea came about. We had a giant pack (yes, from Costco) of wild Dover Sole that I needed to cook, so why not add some crushed chips?

All you need is an almost empty gigantic bag of lentil chips, white fish of choice (chicken would be good too), and an oven.

First off, you need to crush the chips. Being a parent, I made use of stroller and swing, as you can see. Hand crushing would work too, but it’s not as fun.

Once they are crushed, toss in about 5 Dover Sole filets (these are thin, so adjust accordingly with what you have), fold the bag, and shake to coat. The chips don’t stay on very well, probably needed to use egg wash, but there’s no time when working against a sleeping baby clock!

After they are coated, lay on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees for about 15 – 20 minutes. The house will smell pretty fishy, that’s a good indicator they’re almost done.

Remove from oven, let cool, then serve with a side of steamed veggies like broccoli or Brussels, and maybe quinoa or a sweet potato. For an extra kick, I like topping the fish with some salsa, so feel free to do the same.