Hummus

Humm a what? Hummus! Ok, I've been seeing hummus this and hummus that in the stores lately and have been totally clueless as to just what the heck hummus was. Its chick peas. Ok, still lost...its garbanzo beans with a fancy shmansy name put on it to throw us all off! I'm so onto those bean people and all their names for one particular type of a bean! Gosh they really know how to confuse a girl!

Roaming my beloved health food aisles I came across several types of hummus dip. Beings as though I love hot and spicy foods I chose the Jalapeno one and grabbed a bag of hummus chips to go along with them. What did I think? Yumm! Its like bean dip cause essentially that's what it is aside from all the fancy name calling. The chips...yumm as well! I bought original flavored ones and they have a nice flavor to them and aren't all bland and boring like I was assuming. I can't really describe the taste to you but they were good enough that me and the kids woofed down the bag and half a jar of dip like nothing!



















So if you like regular bean dip chances are you'll like hummus!

Best Ever Bananna Bread

I have always loved homemade banana bread but always thought it was just too hard or beyond me to ever make it right. Making bread just sounds hard so my bread making experience has been very limited to oh say high school home ec. and the bread maker I owned years ago when they were the best thing ever. And they were but I just didn't use mine enough. So, in my attempt to master homemade banana bread I have to brag on myself and tell you I have exceeded my expectations above and beyond! And on my first try! I made the house smell so awesome as it baked and oh my gosh it was so good! The recipe I use came from my girl Denise Austin. I love her! She's so pretty and perky and just makes you feel all good even when you're just sitting there watching her workout because you can't keep up with her cardio!

Ingredients
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
3 tablespoons canola oil
1 cup mashed overripe bananas (I just throw in 2 medium ones)
1/2 cup light vanilla yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla













Line your loaf pan with foil overlapping the edges a bit then spray the foil with some nonstick cooking spray. Apparently it makes it easier to pop it out of the pan! Denise is sooo smart! See why I love her!

Mix all dry ingredients and whisk them together.

Mix all liquid ingredients separately and then add them to the dry mixture and combine the two well.

Pour into foil covered loaf pan and bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes and you have the best banana bread ever!













This is the first recipe I've tried and one I think I will definitely be sticking with! It calls for yogurt instead of butter which I love. If you know me well enough, you will know that I try to avoid butter and love finding alternative healthy ingredients for my recipes. Trust me when I tell you you will love this bread!

P.S. I also like to sneak in some Milled Flax Seed because they all say its so healthy for you as you need those Omega vitamins and you can't really taste it at all. I usually throw a pinch in while baking or with oatmeal or yogurt or parfaits and that.

















P.P.S. Sorry for my poor photography skills on the pictures! I've already sat down and am entirely too lazy to retake the pictures. Oh and I forgot a few of the ingredients in the 'ingredients' picture so pretty much disregard that picture all together. Sorry!

Cookies 'N Cream Pudding

After announcing to 'blog world' on my other blog that I wasn't going to give in to sweets until I had my 20 year old body back....I've miraculously gained it back already! Boy that was quick! Ok, maybe not but ya know I decided that 20 year old body is still here, its just matured with age!

Ok, you want the real truth...me and the kids were at Target yesterday because I needed cough drops for the cold that managed to find me. Braden found and was carrying around an individual size bag of Cadburry eggs. Somehow the little stinker managed to open them by poking a hole in the side. So I did as any good mother would do and had 2 for good measure and let the kids devour the bag and pay for it at the checkout. I should be ashamed of myself but it doesn't stop there. We bought a bag of red Starburst jelly beans that I opened up when we got home. Hey I had to try them as they are Limited Edition!

So since I've decided my Matured 20 year old body isn't so bad after all I made this pudding upon request.

Ingredients:
8 Oreo cookies, divided
2 cups of milk
1 pkg. (4 serving size) Vanilla instant pudding
3/4 cup thawed Cool Whip, divided













Take 4 of the cookies and mash them up. I usually throw them in a sandwich bag and beat the snot out of them! (If only I could do the same with this cold)

Pour milk into a bowl, add dry pudding mix and beat with wire whisk until well blended. Stir in crushed cookies and 1/2 cup whipped topping.

Spoon evenly (if you dare) into 4 bowls and top each with a dabble of whipped topping and a cookie each!

This is a sweet dessert.













And yes I ate this too! I did go through all the trouble to make it all fancy in those new glasses I bought and still haven't used yet!

Black Bean and Rice Burgers

Call me crazy but I think I like bean burgers better than regular burgers. I do have a few burger joints that I love like Culver's (home of the butter burger) and Fuddruckers (with their awesome fries and cheese sauce yumm). Going out to eat with friends they always kinda give me a little 'huh' kinda look when I order a bean burger of all things on the menus. Chili's has a black bean burger that is so a frozen patty that has nothing on my homemade burger!

Ingredients
1 can (15 oz.) black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup cooked brown rice
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 egg
2 tablespoons plus 1/4 cup salsa divided
1/4 cup sour cream













In a large bowl mash beans (I use a potato masher), add rice, onion, egg and 2 tablespoons of salsa and mix well. Drop by 1/2 cupfuls onto a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray. Flatten to 1/2 in. thickness. Cook over medium heat until each side is firm and browned.

For the sauce combine 1/4 cup salsa and 1/4 cup sour cream and mix well.














I serve mine on wheat hamburger buns with lettuce and cheese. I've actually made this into a casserole for a few of my coworkers and they all enjoyed it as part of our 'healthy dinner'. Both of my kids enjoy this bean and rice burger as well.

If you want my opinion on frozen ones I love Morning Stars' Spicy Black Bean Burger as I usually eat it by itself with a little salsa and sour cream on top!

Tostadas

Tired of tacos? Make tostadas instead!

I feel like I make the same dishes over and over all the time. So instead of just another night of tacos I've been trying to jazz em up a bit. Tostadas are basically tacos but presented in a more oh fashionable approach! I'm really missing the mall can you tell?

Ingredients:
2lb. hamburger
1 packet of taco seasoning(my favorite is Old El Paso)
Tostada shells
1 can of refried beans
Topping such as lettuce, cheese, salsa, sour cream...

Brown your meat, drain, add water and taco seasoning as you would normally make tacos. Add refried beans to mixture and cook till its all mixed and warmed up. Place tostada shells on baking sheet and heat up for a few minutes in the oven.
Top the shells with meat and bean mixture and then top with lettuce, cheese, sour cream, salsa or whatever your fancy!

PB 2

So while I was at the salon getting (all the latest gossip) my hair done Sat. we got onto the subject of powdered peanut butter. My hair dresser (who chopped my hair nice and shorter, yes I keep going shorter and shorter, and gave life back to my still red and blond do) said its good and tastes and looks like regular peanut butter. I told her I'm so a Jif girl and to be totally brutally honest because hello we are talking about (my ears being more visible with this shorter do) Peanut Butter here for Pete's sake! She swears that's all they eat and so being my hairdresser, the one girl in town I can go to for the low down on all the latest and greatest, I took my Jif girl self to the store and bought a jar of PB 2.












So which is which? One is my beloved Jif and the other PB 2. I'm sorry I don't have a fancy shmansy camera to give the best detail and texture in picture for you but just take a guess!

So you just add water and you have peanut butter! You really do! I now know the reason my hips are so wide. Have you ever measured out the suggested serving size of 2 tbsp.? Ya, I gotta tell ya I eat waaaaaayyyyyy more than that on any given day. It's like a big wake up call for me cause I'll fix whatever I'm fixing and then load up the knife and lick it clean. Yikes!

But lets be real here and compare labels











Just so there is no confusion the Jif is on the left and the PB 2 is on the right(I so didn't want to throw you off with the blue lid like Jif's crunchy PB). And that also goes for the guessing game above! Huge difference here when you put the two labels side by side! Huge!

So for my powdered peanut butter review:Yumm! A tad more work than just scooping it out of the jar and shoveling it down my throat but the whole measuring my PB will totally keep me from over indulging like crazy! It tastes and looks like regular PB. Nice nutty flavor, healthy and tasty alternate, way less calories, fat, and on my way to smaller hips I'm hoping! So now that you have my 2 thumbs up go out and get you some! And browse around that health food dept for a minute...all kinds of goodies just screaming wanna lose those hips Mama! That's what they yell at me...they may be kinder to you!

Sunflower Seed Cookies

Its ok to have cookies in the house! Really it is!

Roaming the aisles of the health food dept. of grocery stores is my 'thang'. Ok, maybe not really my 'thang' but I'm really into reading labels and trying new 'healthy' foods. I probably spend more time in that little corner of the store than I do shopping throughout the rest of the store but I've got to know what alternatives there are out there to the normal 'junk' I buy.

I'm slowly trying to wean myself and my family off all the 'junk' that's bad for us. We eat pretty well to begin with. I never fry anything. And we rarely ever have hamburgers and that at home(or anywhere come to think of it). I'de rather make sweets at home than buy already made ones. I never even buy french fries and try to avoid potato chips all together. On occasion I have been known to buy a bag of baked Ruffles and spicy bean dip! Yummy! But those times are pretty far and few between.

I've replaced 2% milk with skim, white bread to wheat(loving Sara Lee's Delightful Wheat), regular OJ for Simply Orange(we go through this like crazy with Felisha), sugar with Splenda(the only Truvia I can find is in packets for coffee....yuck), vegetable oil with natural canola(still trying to find a better replacement), white rice with brown (favorite being Uncle Ben's).....

Next up is the brown sugar(Splenda makes a brown sugar now), and a good wheat flour. I'm open for suggestions! And I'll be giving my two cents on our 'healthier' alternatives.


Back to the cookies! I believe these are local so I don't know where all you can find them. No ones really heard of them as they are found in the healthy side of the store! But they are de-lish! Even my kiddos love em!


















My main grocery store has been Hyvee for some time now. I never go to Walmart! Haven't step foot in one in about 8 months! For real! But I hit Sams Club all the time for milk and bread and fruit and that. I know! Really, I'm a Target girl at heart. But Hyvee is where I have been purchasing these yummies. Hyvee sometimes has little samples out that you can try and one bite of these and my shopping cart had cookies!