Zucchini Bread

I really love quick breads. They are super easy to make and always taste great. There isn't a weekend in the fall and winter when I don't make quick breads. It's great for school snacks for during the week. I always have to make 2 loafs, one for right when it gets out the oven and one to save for during the week. 
Banana bread is the families favourite quick bread that's for sure, also popular is zucchini bread. 

As you can see by the piece of paper it gets used quite often. I have had this recipe for many years. This time I decided to sub the 1 cup of vegetable oil I usually use with something a bit healthier. Applesauce is always a good substitute for oil in baking recipes. But since I had just picked up two tubs of greek yogurt I decided I was going to use that as my substitute. After looking at some other recipes where yogurt was used I came up with a ratio of oil/yogurt/buttermilk. I'm really happy with how it turned out.  I now have tweaked this recipe enough that I can call it my own.  Hope you enjoy it as much as my family does. 

Zucchini Bread
(yields 2 loafs) 
4 cups grated zucchini (grated, squeezed and drained) 
4 eggs 
1/3 cup canola oil 
3/4 cup greek yogurt (or plain yogurt) 
1/3 cup buttermilk 
1tsp vanilla
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour 
1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour 
3/4 cups wheat germ (optional) 
2tsp baking powder 
1tsp baking soda 
1tsp salt 
1tsp freshly ground nutmeg 
1tsp ground ginger 
1/4tsp allspice 
1/2tsp cinnamon 
1 cup chopped apricots (or raisins, prunes, cranberries) 
1Tbsp Flax seeds (optional)  

1. Mix eggs, sugar, honey, canola oil, greek yogurt, buttermilk. 
2. Mix flour, wheat germ, baking powder, baking soda, salt, allspice, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. 
3. Mix the wet and dry ingredients and stir until combined
4. Mix in the zucchini and chopped apricots 
5. Pour the batter in two greased and floured 8x4inch loaf pans, and sprinkle with flax seeds 
6. Bake in preheated 350F oven until toothpick pushed into the centre comes out clean, around 60-70minutes. 

Happy eating 

Two Crumb Cakes One Picnic.

Last Saturday was Hubby's company Picnic at Sherkston Shores, it is located on the shores of Lake Erie and a great way to spend a Saturday. It is about a 2hr drive from Toronto.

"Say What" 

" Papa Smurf, are we there yet?" 

After finally arriving at our destination we spend the day in the pool

on the water slides 

and enjoying the company of good Friends

Since I wasn't quite sure on what to make for dessert for the Picnic I put a call out on Twitter, Nicole @ Making Good Choices and Lisa @ Vegan CookBook Critic  came to the rescue. 
Nicole suggested I make a crumb cake, after all it travels well and doesn't need to be refrigerated. Great Idea!! 
I ended up making 2 Crumb Cakes Nicole's Uncle Tommy's Crumb Cake and a Blueberry Crumb Cake both were a big success. 


Uncle Tommy's Crumb Cake 
adapted from Nicole @ Making Good Choices

1 box yellow cake mix (i used French Vanilla) 
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups water (i used 2%milk) 
2 cups of all-purpose flour
1/2 cups sugar 
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 
2 sticks of unsalted butter melted 


Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter and Flour a 9x13 baking pan. 


For the Cake:

1. In a mixing bowl combine cake mix, 2 eggs and 1 1/2 cups of milk and beat on medium for 2min.
2. Once the batter is smooth, pour into the 9x13inch baking pan 
3. Bake for 30minutes or until golden brown

For the crumb: 
When you have 5-7min left for the cake to bake, start making the crumbs 
Combine 2 cups of flour, 1/2 cup of sugar, 2 tsp of cinnamon, 1 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract, Melt 2 sticks of Butter and add to flour mixture.
***Crumbs form best when mixed with your hands!!

Once the cake is done, sprinkle the crumb mixture over the entire surface and place back in the oven for another 7-10min. 
Let it cool and sprinkle the top with powdered sugar!

This cake has an amazing crumb. Everyone really enjoyed this cake especially the crumb. 

I also made this Blueberry Crumb Cake, I used Greek Yogurt instead of the sour cream and  baked in a 9x13inch pan.  

This crumb is quite different then Uncle Tommy's Crumbs, it is a dryer crumb, but still very good. The cake is very light and not too sweet, just the way I like it. 
I would almost like Uncle Tommy's Crumb on this cake!! YUM!  


We spend a lovely day with Hubby's work friends and their families. I really enjoy Company Picnics over formal Christmas Parties. 


Happy eating 

Running and NO Bake Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

... there has been running 


Friday 
on treadmill 
5minute warm up 
10minute running & 1 minute (repeat 4 times/44 minutes) 
5 minute cool down 
5.5km in 55 minutes. 
fairly good slow run... who am I kidding more like a jog, but it's better then nothing!! 
At the 30 minutes mark my leg started to hurt again, the pain runs straight down my leg and is constant. I try to focus on running and chant my mantra "pain is temporary, quitting is forever"... it seems to do the trick.
After my run I have been really focusing on getting a good stretch making sure I get every single muscle. It tends to be a mix of Yoga posses and stretches, which has kept my pain free. 


Sunday 
on treadmill 
5minute warm up 
20minute run & 1minute walk, 10minute & 1minute walk (repeat 2 times/44minutes) 
5minute cool down 
6k in 55minutes 
I had a great first 20minutes run... GREAT!! I was flying (well to me I felt like I was flying), then I decided to take a 1 minute walking break and after that it all just felt apart. AGAIN at the 30minute mark leg pain. The last 20minutes I really struggled and had to push myself. 
I ended up running 5k in 45minutes... BLAH! I'm not happy with it that's like slower then turtle speed and with my 1st 5k race being next Saturday I don't think there will be much improvement on that time,I'll be happy if I can keep it at that. Heck 4 months ago I would have never thought I would be running a 5k, so really the time doesn't matter what matters is that I'm not sitting on the couch. 


Now on to the baking part of my Sunday. 
I saw these Bars on Nicole's blog Making Good Choices and I knew I had to make them, she adapted the recipe from Averie at Love Veggies and Yoga


No Bake Chocolate Chip Granola Bars 
adapted from Averie at Love and Veggies Yoga
1 Ripe Banana 
1 1/2 cups oats 
1/2 cup of Shredded Coconut (I used sweetened) 
1/2 cup Slivered Almonds 
1/2 cup of Mixed Dried Berries (Blueberries, Goji Berries, Raisins, Cranberries, Raspberries)

1/2 cup of Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips 
1/3 cup Maple Syrup 
1/4 cup Honey 
1/2 cup Peanut Butter & Co Dark Chocolate Dreams (Peanut Butter with Dark Chocolate) 

2 Tbsp Flax Seeds 
2 Tbsp Chia Seeds 
1 Tbsp Coconut Oil 
1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon 
1 tsp Vanilla Extract 

1. Mash the Banana 
2. Add the oats, Coconut, Berries, Chocolate Chips, Almonds, Maple Syrup, Honey, Peanut Butter, Flax & Chia Seeds, Coconut Oil, Cinnamon & Vanilla Extract and Mix it all Together. 
3. Press into a 8X8 Pan, previously lined with Parchment Paper or Plastic Wrap. 
4. Freeze for a couple of hours.
5. Turn over on cutting board and cut into 12 Bars. Wrap them individually and keep them in the freezer so they stay fresh.

Bite size pieces I cut up for the kids

These are super easy and quick to make and very YUMMY. The Best part about home made Granola Bars is you can basically add anything you want to them, customize depending on you and your family's liking. 

My son really loved these, my very picky Vegetarian 10 year old didn't try them due to the dried Berries... So next time we will have to make these Nut Free (for School lunches) and NO dried Berries for miss Picky.  

This is the week before my 1st 5k race... trying to read everyones Blog on what to expect on this big day. 

I've never even been to a race to watch... I have no idea what it will be like. 

I have to pick up my Race Packet on Wednesday ... NOT even sure what exactly that means but I'm looking forward to it. 

The plan is to run 2 more times before Saturday's Race, I'm planing on a 3k run Monday and a 2k run on Wednesday. Thursday and Friday will be rest days... Does that sound ok? 

Hope you all had a great weekend. 

old habits are hard to break...

on the treadmill 
5minute warm up 
5minute run & 1minute walk (repeat 5 times, 30minutes) 
5minute cool down 
4k in 40minutes. 
This was my second run since taking 2wks off. 
I decided to add 1minute to running and add an extra 10minutes to the session. 
It started of really great, shin was pain free and so was the calf. 
After 30 minutes of running my right leg started to hurt, the pain went from my knee right down the side of leg I managed to hang in for the last 10 minutes. 
After the run I had to rush to get dinner on the table and ... totally did NOT stretch. 
I KNOW, I KNOW... BAD BAD BAD. Old habits are hard to break... I really do need to take stretching more serious, I have to start thinking of it as part of my running and there should be no excuse not to do it. 
As far as the pain running down the side of my leg... probably just aches and pains due to running and not related to the cyst. 
Speaking of cyst, today I had my Ultrasound and X-ray, hopefully they will figure out what is causing the cyst in the first place.  My Dr should have the results back on Friday. Keeping my fingers crossed it is nothing that will keep me from running. 


On another note, I finally decided to give Banana Soft Serve a try. What could be easier; Frozen Bananas, a splash of Almond Milk and a blender... 

I just happen to have 3 frozen Bananas in the freezer ready for my Green Smoothies. Cut them into pieces and in the blender they went, added a splash of Almond milk (if you are using a food processor you would probably not need the almond milk).

  
Blend for 5 minutes, stopping once in a while to scape down the sides, making sure that all bananas get blend up. After a while it should start to have the consistency of soft serve, nice and creamy!! 

I topped it off with a little shaved Dark Chocolate... YUM!! AMAZING!! 


3 Bananas was enough for 4 servings... it was a success with the whole family. The Kids LOVED and have already requested I make more Banana ice Cream.  
Guess we need to start buying LARGE amounts of bananas for Smoothies and Soft Serve.
Thank you Gena @ Choosing Raw, that post did change my life!! 


I leave you tonight with Linzi @ Destination 26.2  she is celebrating her 100th post and having her first ever giveaway, go check it out!! 

A case of the Lazies and Wheat Berry & Chickpea Salad

wow, do I ever have a case of the lazies ... No running, no workingout!!
This is terrible!! I need to snap out of it fast. 
Tomorrow is a new week and I'm planing on starting to ease myself back into running, perhaps a 4min run/1min walk for 30minutes and 30minutes on the bike. I will take it from there and see how my shin/calf holds up. 
This weekend we did manage to do some cleaning, laundry, some shopping for pants since the kids are growing like weed and all their pants look like they are crossing a flood.
There was also some cooking with some NEW to me Products. 
My Friends all complain that since I took up running there has been very little baking and cooking because I'm always busy with running, meals tend to be quick and easy... and there has been no baking. So this weekend I decided to cook up something different. 


New to me: Wheat Berry 

I did a little research on this grain and found some interesting information;

• Wheat Berry is the whole unprocessed wheat kernel, which means none of the germ or bran has been removed, and so it is nutritionally intact. This grain is a very good source of fiber, keeps the digestive system healthy, helps to lower cholesterol and promotes bowel regularity. In addition, it contains a wide array of nutrients that may help to reduce risks of cardiovascular diseases, obesity and Type 2 diabetes.

• Because it is unprocessed, wheat berry does take some time to cook before it softens up. To prepare: bring 4 quarts of water in a large pot to boil. Add Wheat Berry with 1/2 teaspoon of salt for every 1 cup of wheat berries. Partially cover and let simmer, stirring often for about 1 hour until the grains are tender but still chewy (I would try a few kernels to see if it's the right for you)  Drain and rinse with cold water. 1 cup uncooked wheat berries will yield 2.5 cups cooked.

I looked around for a couple of recipes where I could use Wheat Berry. I saw some were it was used instead of Oatmeal but decided that Salad was the way to go. 
After comparing a couple of recipes I came up with a mish mash, which turned out quite tasty I might say.

Wheat Berry and Chickpea Salad

Salad;

1 cup of Organic Wheat Berry

1 (14 ounce) can of Organic Chickpeas, drained and rinsed 

1/2 cup of roasted red peppers, drained, patted dry and chopped 

1/2 cup of Light Feta Cheese, crumbled 

Salt and pepper to taste 

Dressing; 

1 cup of freshly squeezed Orange juice (about 2 oranges) 

2 tablespoons of Lemon juice 

1 tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil 

2 teaspoons of Honey 

2 cloves of garlic minced

1/4 teaspoon of salt 

1/4 teaspoon of Paprika

1. Cook Wheat Berries according to above directions. Transfer the wheat berry to a large bowl and set aside. 
2. For the Dressing; bring the orange juice to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat, cook until the juice is syrup and reduced to 1/3 cup, 15minutes. 
3. Transfer the orange syrup to a bowl and refrigerate until cool, about 10 minutes. Once cool whisk in the Lemon juice, EVOO, Honey, Garlic, salt, paprika and set aside.
4. To Assemble the salad; stir the chickpeas, roasted red peppers, Feta Cheese and the dressing into the bowl with the wheat berries, season with Salt and Pepper. *** I only used about 1/2 of the dressing, because I don't like a lot of dressing on my salad.  

 Serve on a bed of greens; like mixed greens or Baby Romaine or Baby Arugula.

 
LOVE this combination of the chickpeas and the Wheat Berries... the berries add a nice earth crunchy texture to the Salad, it also makes it very filling. You could easily use a simple EVOO and Lemon juice as a dressing for this salad and it would be great too. enjoy!! 

I love me some Peanut Sauce

I've been thinking about Peanut Sauce for the past two day. You know that carving where you can almost taste it? YEAH it's been that bad. So I went in search for the perfect recipe that would hit the spot and I found it!! 
My Girlfriend  had previously mentioned this recipe which she absolutely loves, so I decided to give it a try.


Sesame Noodles With Chicken (without the Sesame) 
adapted from Cooking Light
8 ounces uncooked Whole Wheat Linguine 
1 cup matchstick-cut carrots 
2/3 cup organic vegetable broth 
1/2 cup of natural peanut butter 
2 tablespoons rice vinegar 
2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce 
1 tablespoon of fresh ginger 
1 tablespoon of Honey 
2 teaspoons of Sriracha (hot chile sauce) 
EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) 
2 chicken breast cut into bite size pieces 
1 cup of thinly sliced green onions 
2 tablespoons of toasted sesame seeds (which I didn't have on hand)


Cook Pasta according to package directions, without salt or fat. Add carrots to Pasta during the last 3 minutes of cooking. Drain well 
Saute the Chicken in a pan with a little bit of evoo until the chicken is cooked.
Combine broth, peanut butter, rice vinegar, soy sauce, ginger, Honey and Sriracha in a blender and process until smooth. Add the broth mixture and green onions to the chicken and bring to a simmer (this is just to warm up the sauce). Combine the Pasta with the Chicken mixture and enjoy!! 
This makes 5 servings. 

I really LOVED this dish. 
The Peanut sauce was prefect, it had just the right amount of piquance, but I've been told that my threshold for heat is LOW so feel free to add a bit more chile sauce depending on how spicy you like it.
For next time I would probably reduce the amount of Peanut butter to 1/3 cup because it does have a real peanut butter taste. 
It does make quite a bit of sauce and you could almost use only half of it ... I hate when you make a recipe and don't have enough sauce and that's not the case with this recipe.
I can see myself making this recipe using Shrimp instead of Chicken or just adding more veggies, like broccoli and making this a vegetarian dish. 
YUM !! So glad I have leftovers for tomorrows lunch. 

Sunday Sweets

I grew up with a Grandma that loves to bake and passed her love of baking to me. She says "Liebe geht durch den Magen" which translated means "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach", Grandma speaks German.
Funny because my husband always claims that he fell in love with me the first time he tried my cheesecake, so Grandma was not far off.
Hubby has a huge sweet tooth and I like to bake, which is great BUT it sucks for the waistline.  My solution was to stop baking, that way we would not be surrounded with temptation all the time. Well that sounded great, but hubby would just head to the closes bakery and pick up something to satisfy his carving... and we all know bakery stuff is not exactly healthy, plus always loaded with sugar.


So now I'm back to baking on Sundays, trying to find healthy alternatives that are delicious and low in calories.

A Few years back my sister gave me a copy of "Eat, Shrink and Be Merry" and I actually had never made anything out of it until today. I decided to give "You're Pudding Me On" a try, a warm banana bread pudding with Chocolate Chips... sounds great, hubby loves bread pudding.

You're Pudding Me On
Recipe adapted from Eat, Shrink and be Merry
12 slices multigrain bread (about 1 lb / 454 g) 
2 cups 2% milk 
2 cups mashed ripe Organic bananas 

1 cup Organic Greek Style vanilla yogurt

4 organic eggs

3/4 cup packed brown sugar 

1 teaspoon vanilla 

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 

3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Break bread into 1-inch pieces and place in a 9 x 13-inch glass baking dish that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Dish should be full.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together milk, bananas, yogurt, eggs, brown sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon. Pour mixture over bread. Using your hands (yeah, it’s a little messy), mix bread cubes with milk mixture so that all pieces are coated. Let stand for 15 minutes while you preheat oven to 350F.

3. Just before popping dish into oven, mix in most of the chocolate chips , saving a little to sprinkle on top. 

4. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, until pudding is puffed up and golden brown and center is set. Remove from oven and let stand for 10 minutes before serving. Makes 12 servings.

YUM YUM this was so good it absolutely hit the spot, BUT we all agreed that 3/4 cups of chocolate chips was a bit much. I think next time I would only sprinkle them on top.

What's your favourite healthy dessert? 

Almond-Honey Power Bar

Running didn't happen today... instead I did some Laundry, had family over for lunch, went to see Avatar with Hubby and made some Almond-Honey Bars. Did anyone else think that Avatar was an adult version of Pocahontas?
I was going to run after the movies, but my body had other plans ... I have a headache that just doesn't seem to want to go away. 


So for today I leave you with these amazing bars. They are very easy to make and great to have around when you need to grab something as you run out the door in the morning. I like to have one in my purse at all times just in case I get the munchies.

Almond-Honey Power Bar

Recipe adapted from Eating Well

1 cup of old-fashioned rolled organic oats 
1/4 cup of slivered almonds 
1/4 cup of pumpkin seeds
1 tablespoon flaxseeds, preferably golden 
1 tablespoon of Chia Seeds 
1 cup Kashi's 7 Whole Grain Puffs
1/3 cup of dried cranberries 
1/3 cup of chopped dried apricots
1/3 cup of golden raisins
1/4 cup of creamy almond butter
1/4 cup of turbinado sugar (or you could use light brown sugar)
1/4 cup of honey
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract 
1/8 teaspoon of salt 

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat an 8-inch-square pan with cooking spray.
2. Spread oats, almonds, pumpkin seeds, flaxseeds on a large, rimmed baking sheet. Bake until the oats are lightly toasted and the nuts are fragrant, shaking the pan halfway through, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl. Add cereal, cranberries, apricots and raisins, chia seeds; toss to combine.
3. Combine almond butter, sugar, honey, vanilla and salt in a small saucepan. Heat over medium-low, stirring frequently, until the mixture bubbles lightly, 2 to 5 minutes.
4. Immediately pour the almond butter mixture over the dry ingredients and mix with a spoon or spatula until no dry spots remain. Transfer to the prepared pan. Lightly coat your hands with cooking spray and press the mixture down firmly to make an even layer (wait until the mixture cools slightly if necessary). Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes; cut into 8 bars.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature or in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Enjoy!! 

week 6: Session 3

on the treadmill
5 minute warm up
Run for 3minutes and walk for 2minutes (repeat 11 times/55minutes)
5 minute cool down
6.60km in 65minutes
Todays run went really well. I took a friends advise and ran with a 1% incline to keep pressure off my knees. During Wednesday run my knees were hurting a bit and also my hip was bothering me the next day. 
I had no issue with todays run, no pain and my endurance was great. Finished strong, didn't even need a mantra.  Weekend runs are so much easier!! 


After my run I had a very refreshing Green Smoothie

1 cup of unsweetened Almond Milk 

3 handful of Organic Spinach

1 Frozen Organic Banana 

1 Kiwi

1 T of ground Flax seeds

1 T of Chia Seeds

I'm really enjoy my Green Smoothies after running, they help me cool down, re-hydrate and re-enegize. YES they are Delicious !! 
I always feel so squeaky clean inside after having one, I know that sounds funny but I can't explain it any other way.



Have you jumped on the Green Smoothie craze? what's your Favourite Green Smoothie Recipe?