Kicking the Starbucks Habit

After a long hiatus, I'm back and working on getting healthy, which includes losing weight. For the past year, I've "fallen off the wagon" and indulged myself in a Starbucks frap every morning with predictable results. It's a new year, and I'm back to working on improving the old me.

First, I'm not criticizing Starbucks! As a business model, they have it all figured out. But, apparently, I am addicted to sugar and their fraps have plenty. They are yummy. But I cannot have them regularly, so I must look for alternatives. I've been tinkering with a smoothie recipe and have made it even easier.

The key for me, however, has been finding a smoothie cup that fits my old, old Osterizer blender. It's absolutely wonderful, but sort of short on good accessories for the smoothie craze. Yes, there is a cup, but the reviews are awful. One of the wonderful things about my beloved Osterizer blender is that the blade assembly is the same size as a regular mouth canning jar. You can see where I'm going here. Being the cautious soul that I am, I tried it, but I made sure that I surrounded the jar with a heavy dishtowel while blending, just in case. Try at your own risk, folks, and practice safe blending.

To make it even more special (and to get those lids with the straw hole in them) I treated myself to sapphire drinking jars by Pioneer Woman for my long commute. They are a perfect size, with the exception of not fitting in the cup holders in my car. Anyway, here's the recipe:

Sugar-Free Stevia Chocolate-Banana Smoothie

1 c. unsweetened organic vanilla almond milk
2 t. Hershey's Special Dark cocoa
1 banana, frozen in 1-inch chunks
4-5 drops Sweet Drops liquid stevia (chocolate and toffee flavors for me)

If you use any tinctures or other healthy additives, put them in before blending. Blend on low to grind the bananas, then pulse on high to whip air into your smoothie. Yum!

Whipping Up a Sweet Treat

Well, it's summer, which means I'm on another weight-loss kick. One of my biggest temptations is a Starbucks frappuccino. Calories, calories, calories! So, I'm experimenting at home with stevia drops, a sugar-free sweetener. My first few attempts were okay, but not quite right. Today's effort is the closest yet, and here is the recipe:

Sugar-Free Stevia Smoothie

1 c. 365 unsweetened organic almond milk
1 t. Hershey's cocoa
1/2 banana
1/8 t. Watkins vanilla
6-9 drops Sweet Drops liquid stevia
4 cubes ice

Blend until frothy. On its own, the almond milk taste a little thin. The banana gives it a creamier texture. This may become my morning commute treat!

What's cooking in your kitchen?

Nancy

Zucchini Undercover: Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Freeze pureed or shredded zucchini
 in recipe-sized batches.

Around this time of year, the zucchini is in full crop. In fact, some folks have reported finding bags of zucchini abandoned on their doorsteps! Okay, maybe not, but if you're wondering what to do with all of that zucchini goodness, try this Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread. It's based on recipes from colagal at Allrecipes.com and the Cooking Channel. I've sort of spruced them up and here's the result:

Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread

3 cups pureed zucchini

1 cup buttermilk

1 cup olive oil (NOT EVOO)

2 t. vanilla extract

4 eggs

2 1/2 cups unbleached white flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup cocoa

2 t. baking powder (low-sodium, aluminum-free)

1 t. baking soda

1 t. salt

1 cup chocolate chips

2 cups chopped pecans (optional-reserve 1/2 cup for topping)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and oil 2 loaf pans.

Whisk eggs, buttermilk, olive oil and vanilla extract until well-mixed, then mix in zucchini. In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, soda and salt. Add zucchini mixture and stir until just mixed. Do not overmix. Fold in chocolate chips and pecans, then turn into prepared loaf pans. Sprinkle nuts over loaves.

Two loaves fresh from the oven (no, there are no pecans).

Bake for 55 minutes to an hour. Cool pans on rack for about 30 minutes, then turn loaf onto rack. Wrap well and store in refrigerator for up to a week (I guess; we've never had a loaf last that long!) or freeze.

Who would have thought that zucchini could be so yummy! Enjoy!

What's cooking in your Savory kitchen?

Nancy

Christmas Treat Genealogy: Traditional Dipped Fruit

Ready for apricots!

Chocolate-dipped dried fruit is a tradition in our house which dates back to my daughter's first Christmas.  Her older brother was feeling a little left out because of the new baby, so I decided that, together, we could prepare a treat for his pre-school teachers.  He was just over 2 years old at the time, so the treat had to be simple:  chocolate-dipped stemmed maraschino cherries.

Dipping pretzel rods

We carefully lined a cookie sheet with waxed paper, rinsed and dried the cherries, and melted the chocolate, then pulled up a chair for him to stand in.  Very carefully, he dipped an entire tray of cherries.  Somehow, his foot slipped, causing him to lose his balance, and his elbow to catch the corner of the tray.  With the edge of the counter as a fulcrum, the entire tray shot across the kitchen as if launched from a trebuchet, sticking to walls, cabinets, and appliances.  We were only able to save four cherries from the entire tray, but we packaged them carefully.  The next morning, he toddled proudly into his pre-school, bearing one cherry for each of his four teachers.

Don't forget the sprinkles!

The next year, baby sister joined in the fun, and the tradition has continued.  Both of them have their own homes now--baby sister turned 25 this year--but, tonight, together we again dipped cherries, and dried apricots, and pretzel rods, and dried pineapple, and banana chips, all festooned with various sprinkles.  And we needed that, to do that again, together.

Tempting Treats!

That's what traditions are:  things we do together.  The thing we do is not as important as the people we do it with.  Simple acts become special when we share them.

I know there will be Christmases  when we will not be able to share some of our family traditions, but I hope my children will share them with their own families, as well as make new traditions of their own.  May you find time during the holiday season to enjoy your family traditions, and create new ones.

From our kitchen to yours,

Merry Christmas!

Cheery Holiday Cherries!

Nancy