Behold... a Wonderful Bed & Breakfast

Ecce is the Latin word for behold. I recently learned that when I was surprised with a special weekend away with my fiancée. He took me to a beautiful bed & breakfast on top of a mountain in Barryville, NY. The view from our room was of the snow covered mountains of Pennsylvania and the scenic Upper Delaware River. The view was definitely one to "ecce," behold. The attraction in this area for us is the Bald Eagle. They come here every winter to fish when the lakes and rivers freeze over in Canada, fortunately more and more are making it their home, building nests, and raising eaglets. This trip we had a total of 18 eagles sightings, 14 mature and 4 immature.

The eagles were not the only thing special about this weekend; the Ecce Bed & Breakfast was also a sight to behold. With its simple elegance, gourmet breakfast, and excellent host Alan, we had an exceptional stay. Now what I really want you to know about is the breakfast, in the evening we sat down with Alan to go over the menu so that he could be prepared to make each dish to order. For our first morning we chose baked omelets with an abundance of ingredients of our choosing, amazingly delicious. For our second morning it was the stuffed french-toast that was extraordinary delicious. When I asked Alan about the recipe he had no problem sharing with us, so of-course I had to make it for myself this weekend and it was a big hit all over again. 

As with most recipes I added my own healthy make-over.

Stuffed French-Toast Bake

I loaf of home-made whole-wheat bread, cubed

Batter…6 eggs, ¾ cup honey, 1 to 2 TBS cinnamon, 1 TBS oil, ¼ cup water. Mix together then add cubed bread, toss till all the bread is coated.

½ package Cream cheese

Special ingredients, not more than 3.  Blueberries, strawberries, walnuts, carob, or any other like ingredient that you would enjoy.

In one large baking dish or 6 individual baking dishes layer…

Bread, cream cheese, special ingredients, bread, and top with your special ingredients. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes for the large baking dish and 20 minutes for the individual dishes or cooked through and nicely browned.

Enjoy while still warm and ecce!

Thank you Alan

Portion Control

 With Thanksgiving right around the corner it is a good time to think about how much food we really want to eat at one sitting. So many of us grew-up being told that we had to clean our plates before we could leave the dinner table, the problem with that today is our dinner plates are much bigger. Not only plates but bowls, cups and glasses. Now our brains believe that we need that much more food to be satisfied. That may contribute to Americans eating 200 more calories a day then they did 40 years ago. Then with a wonderfully looking and smelling holiday dinner in front of us the calories increase even more.  

If you are one of the many Americans not wanting to put on extra pounds this holiday season try this; 

Use a smaller dinner plate, going back for seconds will be comparable to one large full plate. Your brain will think you ate more than you did and still be satisfied.  Pour your wine or soda into a champagne flute, taking sips will make your drink last longer and then need for less refills. It is hard to eat while your mouth is full so make meal time enjoyable and take your time; talk, laugh, and complementing each other will help let your brain have the time needed to get the message when you’re full.

Go ahead and enjoy a good holiday meal with friends and family, Happy Thanksgiving!

Cranberry Muffins

I woke up this morning with the desire for a cranberry muffin. I don't think that I have ever had one and since most bakery muffins are not made with whole grains and healthy sweeteners. I needed to create a cranberry muffin recipe myself, which I just love to do anyway. After looking at about 7 recipes on-line and in some cookbooks that I have this is what I came up with. They are sooooo good I don't know why I ever waited so long. You have to try them, remember they are good for you too!

Cranberry Muffins

2 C whole wheat flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

6 tsp. melted non-hydrogenated buttery spread

¾ C dried cranberries ( ½ C of the cranberries soaked in ½ C water)

½ C soy milk with 1 tsp. of vinegar

1 egg or egg replacer

1 tsp. orange zest

1/3 C agave

Mix all the wet ingredients together then add in all the dry ingredients until everything is combined. Spoon into muffin tins. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Cranberry Cream Cheese Icing

2 oz. cream cheese softened

1 tsp. soy milk

¼ C dried cranberries

Blend together in a small food processor leaving some pieces of cranberries visible.

Cows

 I grew-up near a lot of farms and was a member of the local 4-H club. Spending a good deal of time around farm animals including cows was something I loved to do. I think that cows are an impressive animal, maybe not my favorite farm animal but I do like cows, spending their days in the green fields dotted with shade trees and the meandering stream.


 So when saw this add-campaign last year about "Happy Cows come from California"  it made me think about the cows from my childhood. They didn't seem unhappy so I thought that the cows in California must be really happy then. This pasts' summer vacation plans took me to California, so I was looking forward to seeing these very "Happy Cows."

 After a few days in California when traveling from Sequoia National Park to Monteray Bay I got my first sight of cows. Much to my horror they were all on what I believed to be "factory farms."  My view was only from the road but I never saw such repulsive conditions. Thousands and thousands of cows crowded under metal roofing, standing  in what looked like mud, not a blade of grass, a tree or stream in sight for miles around.

Now to be fair I don't know if cows have the ability to be happy or sad but if they do the cows in Pennsylvania, from my prospective, are much happier then those in California!

Hemp Milk Popsicle

A couple of weeks ago I found a recipe for for coconut milk ice cream and thought that I would give it a try. While I was shopping for the coconut milk I decided to pick-up some hemp milk also. Tried the coconut milk ice cream a few different ways and was still not happy with the results ( I am still working on that one) so I switched to the hemp milk. Everyone loved it! After having made it a few times I decided to put it into popsicle molds because after freezing scooping can be difficult with an ice cream containing little fat.

Hemp milk is not only a delicious alternative to dairy milk it is full of healthy benefits such as;

A natural source of balanced Omega 3 oils
Provides all the amino acids producing a quility protien
Excellent source of calcium, magnesium, vitamin D as well as many of the B vitamins
Free from lactose, cholesterol, soy, and gluten
No refined sugar

Recipe;

2 cups Hemp Milk
3 teaspoons honey or brown rice syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla

Mix all ingredients together and chill in the refrigerator for 6 hours. Pour into popsicle molds and freeze for 24 hours before serving or add into an ice cream maker and for manufacturer directions. 

I hope that you too will enjoy this healthy fun snack!

Mulberries

Mulberries one of the lesser known edible berries but just as powerful as the popular blueberry, black and red raspberry. In-fact many consider this berry to be a nuisance because of the dark purple stains it leaves behind after it ripens and falls to the ground. As a kid growing up I had weeks of purple hands and feet; (I did not like waring shoes in the warm weather) and purple tongue. My brothers and I couldn't get enough of this juicy berry. Now the only accessible place I know where the Mulberries grow are in the parking lot of my work. I take a container to work and before I leave to come home I spend about 10 - 15 minutes to get a heaping quart of berries to share with my family. Often co-workers will question me about what I am doing not know anything about these delectable berries.

The facts are mulberries are full of vitamins B, C, K and minerals iron, magnesium and potassium.They are also a good source of fiber and resveratol the antioxidant that is also found in red grapes which boost of many health benefits.

So what do you do with a mulberry? My personal favorite is to eat them right off the tree, I probably eat as many as I put into the container. But there are so many other ways to enjoy a mulberry like blended into a smoothie, baked into a pie or cobbler, cooked down into jam or made into a sweet mulberry wine.

No-matter what way you eat your mulberries do eat some they are truly worth the purple fingers to get some these amazing berries!

It Ain’t Easy Being Healthy

         

            It ain’t easy being healthy but it is a whole lot easier then having one or more of the many diseases that are plaguing this country. Every week we hear about the rising numbers of people with cancer, heart diseases, and diabetes. This week obesity has been the main focus from every news source. And they all have their own rationalization as to why obesity is increasing at such disturbing rates. Some say it is the restaurants that are causing this with their unhealthy menu choices. Others blame the food industry, advertisers or the government, the schools and our parents. But could it really be the combination of all of these?

            It has never been that just one single thing makes us sick and not just one single thing that makes or keeps us healthy so let’s stop playing the blame game and place the responsibility back on the individual. I guess the big problem with this ides is that most individuals are not motivated to get healthy or to stay healthy. I got motivated as a teenager when doctors told me that it would not be long before I would be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life. Some people get motivated to quite smoking after having a child. Having a heart-attack motivates others. What will it take to get people motivated to be healthy? Maybe just taking some small steps will provide each person with opportunity to find their own motivation. It may not be easy being healthy but it is worth every bit of effort.

These are six essential areas that directly affect the quality of our health

What we eat

What we drink

How we exercise

The rest we get

The air we breathe

What we think

 What motivates you to be healthy?