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Showing posts with label Health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Health. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Banana Date Cookies from Great Grandma's Kitchen

My great-grandpa Efeard, great-grandma Annabelle and grandpa George Bradley, Christmas 1942
Last year, I was given a box of my great-grandma's and great-great-grandma's recipes and cookbooks.

Great-great grandma Tresa Baker and son Harold, 1904
I know!  Totally a blessing, right?!!

I've been kicking around the idea of doing a series on Great Grandma's Kitchen where I share some of the more unique recipes they kept.  This morning, I was visiting Rachel at Bubbly Nature Creations where I discovered her Heirloom Recipes Blog Hop---the perfect place to link up these inherited recipes!


Please visit her blog hop at the end of this post and be inspired! You might even want to share your own Heirloom Recipes!
Although our family does not have any major food allergies that cause us to have to limit certain ingredients, I still like to be on the look out for wheat, sugar and egg-free recipes.  That way, I have something to either serve to our friends who are avoiding these groups, or offer to my kids for another healthy alternative.  Even better when I can find a recipe that uses up old bananas as we always seem to have a bunch! (Get it?  hee hee)


This recipe was featured in the March 7, 1979 issue of The Oregonian newspaper.  Nutritionist Pat Fitch put together this milk, egg, wheat and sugar free recipe which relies on fruit for sweetness.  It does contain nuts, which some have allergies to, but these can always be omitted.


I changed it up a little bit, substituting applesauce instead of oil (only healthy fats allowed in these cookies!) and adding cinnamon and nutmeg.  You could use several different purees in place of oil---pears, squash and pumpkin are all great substitutes.  They turned out excellent!  Very soft and dense.  They remind me of Erin Baker's Breakfast Cookies that I used to buy when we lived near Seattle.


Banana Date Cookies


3 bananas
3/4 c. applesauce or other fruit puree (or 1/3 c. oil)
1 c. chopped dates
1/2 c. chopped walnuts
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. oats
 

Mash bananas and use a spoon to mix in all other ingredients. 

Let the mixture stand for a few minutes so the oats can absorb some of the moisture. 

Drop onto a cookie sheet.  I use a Pampered Chef baking stone so I don't oil it but you might want to oil your cookie sheet a little since there's no oil in the recipe.

Bake at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until lightly browned.  Remove from sheet and cool on a rack.


Let me know if you try them out---I'd love to hear from you!

Hope In Every Season is on Facebook!  If you like what you've read here, please follow me and keep up with the latest posts.


 


 

Thursday, January 3, 2013

If You Have a Craving, I Have a Cure by Sheri Rose Shepherd --- Book Review

Sometimes I read passages in the Bible that sound so great---but I have a difficult time really putting them into practice.  Ecclesiastes 5:18 is one of those verses:  "It is good for people to eat, drink, and enjoy their work under the sun during the short life God has given them, and to accept their lot in life."  As one who has always struggled with her weight, the thought of eating and drinking---while still accepting my lot in life---doesn't sound as promising as it might to someone else who has a little more self control.  It seems my lot in life, thus far, has been to eat, drink, and gain weight.

Author Sheri Rose Shepherd has been there too.  As a teenager, Sheri Rose was overweight, depressed and struggling with an eating disorder.  Over time, she's allowed God's healing to change her life and put her on a healthy path.

I've been a big fan of Sheri Rose Shepherd for about 8 years now and own several of her resources.  I even had the opportunity to hear her speak at a women's conference several years ago and was very blessed.  That's why I was super excited when I was given the opportunity to review her newest book, If You Have a Craving, I Have a Cure

As soon as received my free copy of the book, I flipped through it just to have a look at some of the topics.  What I saw were tons of recipes! Yay!  I love my copy of Sheri Rose's cook book, Eating for Excellence, so I was pretty sure I was going to enjoy this one as well! 


Sheri Rose offers several "craving" scenarios:  things like cravings for rest, energy, and times of celebration---and gives her readers Biblical principles, coupled with delicious healthy recipes, to help satisfy those cravings.  

One Scripture that she shares in her chapter on rest really stood out to me and is inviting me to study and pray about it further.  Isaiah 28:12, "God has told his people, 'Here is a place of rest; let the weary rest here.  This is a place of quiet rest.'  But they would not listen."  Wow!  I really crave that place of rest!

If You Have a Craving, I Have a Cure is an excellent resource for anyone wanting to find the source of their soul's unrest and the reason for feelings of emptiness or lack in many areas of their life.  I know Sheri's godly wisdom is going to help me, not only as I battle my cravings for unhealthy foods, but in several areas of my life where I need to trust God.  I encourage my readers to visit Sheri Rose online at, www.biblelifecoaching.com, and try to pick up some of her resources---you will be blessed for sure!

Thank you to Tyndale House Publishers for providing me with a complimentary copy of this book for review purposes. 

Hope In Every Season is on Facebook!  If you like what you've read here, please follow me and keep up with the latest posts.


 

Thursday, January 26, 2012

When Mommy Gets Sick --- Homemaking Link-Up Weekend

Part of good homemaking involves delegation and training.  Delegating (and rotating) chores so children can learn them, and training children in the proper way to do household tasks, really pays off on days like today!

I woke up early this morning to a full blown case of the flu!  It's going on 16 hours now and I'm still feeling lousy!


What a blessing and a relief I felt when my husband said, "stay in bed---we'll handle it!"  I'm so thankful for my sweet kids who were so willing to help Dad pick up my slack.

My sweet husband had to leave for a couple hours to go pick up the company laptop so he could work from home tonight and take care of things.  He even stopped by the store to grab me 7up, ice cream and chicken noodle soup!

Now that I think about it, being sick does have it's benefits!

Would you like to participate in the party each week but just can't remember to link up?  There's a couple things I can do to help you out with that!  First, there's a cute button at the top of my sidebar that you can put on your blog to serve as a reminder for you---and an advertisement for me!  Secondly, I can send you an email reminder!  I send out a short email to participants who've requested one on Wednesday nights to remind everyone about the party.  Please let me know in the comments below if you'd like me to do that for you!

I'd love to have you link up your homemaking posts below!  Hope you have a GREAT weekend!

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Peaceful Changes

A few days ago, I blogged about my New Year's Resolutions.  I told you how my main goal this year is to not do things that I don't want to do.  Of course, we all know that this is an impossible task, but let me clarify:

I, like most well-meaning women, have a tendency to take on way too much more than I can handle.  In my effort to do all the things I think God wants me to do, I end up doing a lot of things that he doesn't want me to do and I put off the things that he really does want me to do.  (Does this remind anyone of a Bible passage?  Romans 7:15, perhaps?)

This year, I'm resolving to stick to the plan:  God's plan.

God has created me to be a wife and a mother.  He has called me to homemaking and homeschooling.  He is encouraging me to prepare healthy meals for my family, to keep my home clean and beautiful, and to use the knowledge, creativity, and talents that he has given me to bless my husband and children.

God usually uses the Godly people in our lives to help encourage us in our walk with Him.  I have been blessed to find Godly counsel right here in my own home.  First and foremost, my husband is more than happy to help me find direction and steer me clear of things that would distract me from God's priorities for me.  Just yesterday he helped me out of an overwhelming task that I had taken on without first consulting neither the Lord nor him.

Secondly, God has led me to some very inspiring bloggers who have been springboards for positive changes.  You will see some of them listed on my sidebar under "Blogs That Inspire Me to Greatness".

Mrs. Jennie Chancey of Sense and Sensibility Patterns gave me the idea to honor my marriage by using my married "title", Mrs. Sarah Coller.  Another thing I did to honor my husband's name was to buy napkins monogrammed with a letter C at Christmas time.

This morning, I read a post by Darlene of Time-Warp Wife on boosting self-discipline.  One really great tip that I implemented today with great success, was to put a notepad and pen in my apron pocket for writing down notes throughout the day.  It really helped me not to stress out this morning as I came across things I keep forgetting to do---I just wrote them down and put them out of my mind!  My husband said this would serve to help me not get distracted as well.  I can continue with the task I'm on and just make a note to do the "distraction" later.

A third blog is my most favorite blog of all, The Legacy of Home.  I value that blog so much that I've made it my homepage!  Just about every morning, I wake up to Mrs. White's encouraging wisdom regarding running the kind of home that I desire and being the wife and mother that I want to be.  I've taken a couple of her ideas for making my kitchen a place that I desire to work in.  I recently rearranged my counters to make room for a pretty little lamp that I turn on in the evenings while I'm doing my kitchen work.  I also asked my husband for, (and received!) a kitchen stereo for Christmas.  Now I can listen to uplifting or soothing music while going about my kitchen responsibilities.  It's getting to be a really relaxing place to be!  Next, I'm going to make pretty tags for my canisters from the Victorian paper that Jamie got me for Christmas.  Then I want to paint the antique dresser that I've got in there that is holding my aprons and other kitchen supplies.  I even saw a blog recently where a girl had tole painted her microwave!  Hmmm.....maybe!

A final change that is blessing our family is the changes we're making to our diet.  My friend, Krystal from A Blessed Journey has been posting about some of the nutritious things she's been making her family and it's inspired us to get healthily creative in the kitchen too!

I hope you'll take the time to check out some of these blogs that I've mentioned here.  Maybe you'll be inspired too!

I'm praying God's blessings on you and your family today!

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Weight Loss Giveaway Game

September 13, 2011

Been here before?  Scroll down for updates...



When I lose, YOU could win!

Now that Kynthia is 6 weeks old, it's time for me to crack down on the weight loss issue!  Gotta try and lose some of this baby weight before the next baby comes along...Ha! 

I thought I'd try something fun to motivate me to keep working at it.  I love to create little things here and there, but sometimes have a hard time finding an occasion.  So...I'm going to offer a giveaway gift every time I lose 5 pounds!  Here's how it will work:

*Visitors (that's you!) will leave comments on THIS POST.  

*Whenever I lose another 5 pounds, I'll draw a number and the corresponding commenter will win the giveaway gift for that round.  

*You can leave as many unique and meaningful comments as you'd like on as many days as you'd like.  I will update my progress and journal my feelings/thoughts/accomplishments/struggles on this post.  (I'll just keep editing it to add an update)  **clarification:  by saying "unique and meaningful", I just mean, please don't copy and paste your comment over and over for more entries.  Yes, people do this!)

*Second, third and fourth drawings will be held at the same time as each 5 pound drawing when I meet the following further goals:  1. drinking adequate water daily, 2. staying within my eating plan daily, 3. doing some sort of physical activity daily.

I'm hoping the combination of your encouraging comments and my desire to create a little something will motivate me to lose a little of this extra weight this fall!  Keep in mind that the giveaway gift will be small---but it will just be a little something to say THANK YOU for encouraging me along the way!

So, start leaving your comments now...and please bookmark the page so you can come back and hold me accountable! Ha!

Have a great day!

September 30, 2011

 So, it's been a little while and I thought I should give an update!  I've definitely had a rough time of it!  I got down to just a half a pound away from my first 5 pounds...and then gained again!  :(  I'm on a pretty good track this weekend though, so hopefully I'll be checking in soon with a good loss!

October 6, 2011 

Success!!  I am happy to report that I've FINALLY passed the 5 lb. mark! :)  (I actually passed this mark on Monday but have just now gotten the chance to update...)  Those of you who've struggled with weight loss know it's so much more in the mind than anything else! :)  Anyway, I did the first drawing and the winner is...Faith Hope and Cherrytea!  I will be contacting you today for your address so I can send you a little something.  Thanks so much, everyone!  Keep the comments coming and hopefully we'll be doing another drawing here really soon!
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