Recipe: Healthy Banana Bread

This bread here is completely oil/butter, egg & sugar free! and if preferred, can be Gluten free as well - The best part is, it turned out to be just as moist and delicious as 'regular' Banana Bread if not more.

I love playing with recipes - so it's always great to make it your own.  I added cranberries, dates & almonds in mine - other popular substitutions are: walnuts, chocolate chips, raspberries, apple, etc.

Recipe:

1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
1/2 Cup All Purpose Flour
1/2 tsp Baking powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup sweetener of your choice (Honey, Agave, maple syrup..etc..)
1/3 cup Yogurt (Plain)
1/4 cup chopped dates (or a topping of your choice, walnuts, raspberries, chocolate chips, etc)
2 medium ripe bananas (mashed)
1 small apple (Mashed or apple sauce) - Optional

• Preheat oven to 350F and grease an 8x4 load pan - set aside
• Mix flour(s), baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, salt - set aside
• In another bowl, whisk Yogurt, sweetener, Mashed bananas & Mashed apple (or apple sauce if using) - Whisk together until completely incorporated
• Slowly mix dry and wet ingredients together until no dry flour remains - do not over mix
• Add in your choice of toppings -  I added raspberries and almonds)
• Pour the batter into the greased pan and bake for about 60 minutes or until a toothpick insert comes out clean
• let it stand for 10 minutes or until cool before slicing

*These can be stored in an airtight container in refrigerator for up to a week!

Summer special: Sweet, delicious, raw Mangos!

There's nothing better to relish on in the hot summer, than raw, delicious, juicy mangos....as they are.

Happy birthday Mom!

Today, June 7th, is my mom's 58th birthday! She's a woman of a few words but her heart is larger than life.  She's 'wished' away her whole life taking care of others' needs and always putting others first before herself.  First, her struggles growing up, then working her youth away to provide for her family, then kids, then family, and now grandkids.

Rarely has she ever complained unless you really make her talk - She's given her time and self away to everyone selflessly without worrying about her own needs and wants; yet no one, including myself, have ever really appreciated her or everything she does for others.  We have instead always asked her to be something she's not - which is to 'stand up' for herself or speak up instead of just keeping everything bottled up inside.

She's always had people around her to take adventage of her niceness - knowing that, she has bent over backwards because it's just not in her nature to not please or help others.  She maybe a woman of a few words, but when she does say something, it's almost always worth while or to the point.  She has gone through a lot in life yet, still puts on a smile and a brave front.

I wish her the bestest birthday and happiest of times for next 50+ years.  If there's anyone who deserves the best of everything, it's Nita! We love you mom and we may not say it enough, or ever but you really have lived a life of dignity through all the ups and downs.  May you make the next 50 years the best and most self pampering years of your life.

Back after a hiatus...again!

Here I am again, after yet another long hiatus.

Writing is always on my mind; ALWAYS! whatever I maybe doing, I'm always looking to incorporate it into writing one way or the other.  Getting down to business of doing it however, is where the challange is.

A lot has happened since my last blog - I wrote and rewrote all that took place, but never got around to either saving it or posting it so I just let it be.

We've packed up and moved to a different state, we've taken numerous vacations, I've read many books, kiddo has grown up A LOT, I've lost 20 pounds, and we've planned a ton of life altering changes since my last blog; but getting into nitty gritty of it is just pointless this late in the game so I'll just pretend that I'm starting a fresh new blog and start posting all the pending posts.

I feel like I need a direction; both for blogging and in life.. yet, I can't function like that IRL so if I were to choose just one field to blog about, I'd probably never blog again - I think I'll stick to how I've been blogging and hopefully, pick it up more..and more! <Rant over>

Summer is here! So I maybe gone again for another long break because I'm too busy being outdoors and having fun when it's nice out..but oh well! I will do the best I can I guess.