Sweet Potato Bread-N-Whipped Cream

This recipe was found on pinterest, under culinarycoutureblog.com. I am very pleased to report, this sweet potato bread turned out exceptionally well with the substitutions I made. Recipe here…

Ingredients:

1 and 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar ( I use coconut sugar)
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed ( I use 1/4 tsp liquid Stevia)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1 and 1/2 cups mashed sweet potatoes
2 large eggs ( I use  2 Tbs ground flax seed and 6 Tbs water…let stand a couple minutes to form an egg texture)
1/2 cup canola oil
1/4 cup buttermilk (I use 1/4 c almond milk with 1/4 tsp Apple Cider vinegar.)
pinch of vanilla powder (I use 1/4 tsp vanilla extract)

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9×5 inch loaf pan with cooking spray, then line with parchment paper, and lightly spray again. (Alternately, you can just spray the pan with cooking spray or grease with vegetable oil)
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugars, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice. Set aside.
In another bowl, add mashed potatoes, eggs, oil, buttermilk, and vanilla, and stir together until combined. Pour into flour mixture and stir until no streaks of flour remain and batter is smooth. Do not overmix.
Pour batter into prepared loaf pan, and smooth out the top with a spoon or spatula. Bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.
*Note: Start checking for doneness after about an hour, as oven temperatures may vary.

For the Cream on top.

1) 8oz carton heavy whipping cream

2) Four drops liquid Stevia

3) 1/4 tsp Vanilla Extract

Put glass bowl and beaters in the freezer while making bread.

While whipping cream, add Stevia and Vanilla to taste.

NOT ALL WATER IS CREATED EQUAL

If you come to our home, you will be offered a glass of water. Not just any water…but water full of antioxidants. As women, we are always trying to

1) look younger,

2) loose wt. and 3) improve our skin. This is something we talk  about often and spend lots of money on. Kangen water is the best product out there that I have found that has targeted all three of these areas for me. I have made this water my go-to drink of the day. I start in the morning by drinking 36 oz.  and from there, I drink half my wt. in oz. throughout the rest of the day. It also has added bonuses…I get energized and stay more mentally focused.

I’ll be writing more about the many benefits of this water in a later blog.  If you drink Kangen water, I would love to hear what it does for you. If you have questions please feel free to ask by writing in the comment box below.

Change Your Catch All to a Potting Shed

I was tired of looking at our catchall located between Dinny’s  man cave and the garage. So, I decided to make it a potting shed. It’s perfectly located by our hay bale garden and it’s ideal for Dinny to repot his plants. I’ll be talking more about our hay bale garden in another post.

LIVING WITH A PURPOSE!

Living and loving with a purpose is the best thing you can do for yourself and those around you. Because my mom is getting older, I decided to set more time aside to spend with her. Here my sister  Lori and I  are having a girls day with my mom, celebrating her  79th birthday.                                                        

Our  mom’s favorite…

Blue Bell  Natural Vanilla Bean Ice Cream.

  We enjoyed a veggie pizza with crust made from breadtopia.com.  

This recipe makes two 12-14″ thin crust pizzas. The recipe calls for:

• 2 1/4 cups all purpose or bread flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. instant yeast
• 3 Tbs. olive oil
• 3/4 cup luke warm water
• Your choice of toppings

Popcorn while watching the movie Ben Carson.

Tofu Hummus

Eating Healthy Over 80% of the Time

I had some tofu in my refrigerator and was anxious to make something delicious with it. I logged onto allrecipes.com,  browsing under appetizers made with tofu. I had all the ingredients on hand so I whipped up a batch of Tummus ( A name my husband made up for adding Tahini or Tofu in the Hummus) using my  nutribullet.  Five years ago, I started my journey into nutrition. I didn’t do it all at once, mainly because I didn’t understand what it meant to eat right so as to allow foods to give back to may body to keep me healty. Today, I can say I eat a nutritional diet over 80% of the time.

I made one minor change and substituted the peanut butter for almond butter.

Tofu: Naturally gluten-free and low calorie, and an excellent source of protein, iron and calcium.                                                       

• /2 cup diced silken tofu

• 1/4 cup lemon juice

• 2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter ( I use almond butter)

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 3 cloves garlic

• 1 (19 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained (I  buy chickpeas and boil 1-2 cups  in purified water for 2-3 minutes then drain and put fresh purified water and boil for approximately 20 minutes. Make sure they’re not mushy. Pop the skins off (this takes time.) I use the water I boiled them in by adding a little to the chickpeas before blending along with the remaining ingredients. Enjoy!

Proper Etiquette

As I was reading through my daily blogs I’ve subscribed to, one of them is http://www.elegantwoman.org, I came across an article on proper etiquette.  The writer’s comments took me back to a photo of my grandmother I have hanging on the wall in my bedroom. She was properly dressed for a social occasion. This photo jogged my memory of when , as a young girl, we would visit relatives. I remember my grandmother and great grandmother fussing over the preparation of the food and setting a proper table. They would pull out the the table pads and two extra leaves and cover the table with a white, freshly pressed tablecloth. Then, they would go to work setting a proper table like it was a work of art…water goblets, fine cutlery, cloth napkins, fine dishes, all set in their proper place. We would sit around for what seemed a long period of time discussing family affairs, all the while passing the platters of delicious foods. Whether it was a holiday or just coffee,as they called it, the table was always properly set.  On the table, you could always find Danish open faced sandwiches on white bread, spread with fresh egg salad or a layer of real butter and hard sliced sharp cheddar cheese.There was a relish tray, piled high with homemade bread and butter pickles and black and green olives and whole baby dills. After we ate, we cleared the dinner dishes to make ready for my favorite part. Dessert dishes and coffee in tea cups and saucers (some of which I have now,) would be laid out. Homemade chocolate and minced meat pies on pretty pie plates and pinwheel cookies would be displayed. My grandmother still made chocolate pie with her homemade crust well into her nineties.  Talking to my mother, I asked her what she remembered about my grandmother. “She always wore dresses and heels, said mom, even while cleaning the house.” As I’ve grown older, I still enjoy setting a proper table for special occasions. By the way, what is a special occasion? For us, it can be as simple as the neighbors coming over for a quiet dinner. I’m so grateful for my upbringing. It taught me the importance of life’s simple pleasures without cell phones and the internet to disengage us from real life.

Here’s a photo of my grandmother properly dressed at a social luncheon. You can see fresh flowers on the table and she is  wearing gloves, hat and jewelry. Her blouse is monogrammed with her initials. MEH

 

 

 

Luanne

simplify123.net

Reishi Mushroom Tea

I stopped into our local herb and essential oil store in Eureka Springs. I love essential oils and I’m learning so much about the benefits of what they can do for me. As I poured myself a cup of tea, I browsed the shelves. The ladies are always helpful and loaded with information if you want to know what an herb or oil does. They also have a stack of books on the shelves and a comfortable chair if you want to read. I could actually stay in there for hours asking questions. Finally, my eyes were drawn to something I wasn’t sure of what it was. So, I asked Katie. “It’s a Reishi mushroom.” she said. “You can make tea by letting it steep in boiling water. I like a little honey with mine.” Okay, I was intrigued. I had to try this. “I’ll take one.” I said. She handed me a tiny brown paper sack and I pulled the smallest Reishi mushroom from the jar I could find. I wish I could say I went straight home and brewed it, but I went straight home and put it in a jar and set it up on the shelf with the coffee cups. There it sat for weeks. Yesterday, as I was putting some cups away, I spotted the mushroom I was so excited about and decided to try it. Here’s what I did.

I steamed some filtered water and poured it in a glass karaf and set the mushroom in it and let it steep for, well, it’s still in there. I didn’t take it out. And, it didn’t get to strong or bitter like I thought it would. And, it’s sweet without adding honey. I actually like it, and will make it again. I drink a lot of water and sometimes I want something else to drink…just for a change and just once in awhile.

Background of Reishi mushrooms: According to Healthline, Reishi mushrooms (Ganoderma lucidum) are from Asia. They grow wild on logs and tree stumps. They come in a variety of colors, but the red variety is most commonly used and commercially cultivated in East Asia and North America. In ancient China, Royalty would use this mushroom in the hopes of obtaining immortality and promoting calmness and thought. Today, the mushroom is used in traditional Chines medicine to treat liver disorders, high blood pressure, arthritis and other degenerative diseases.

 

Copyright notice: All images and content are owned by simplify123.com, unless otherwise stated. Please e-mail me at watercandoit@gmail.com to request permission to use my content.

Luanne

simplify123.net

TOMATOES EQUAL ANTIOXIDANTS

Tomatoes are full of antioxidants. Not only do they contain antioxidants, they are packed with vitamins A and C, as well as folic acid. There are many varieties of tomatoes to choose from. In our garden, we have Heirloom, Big Boy, and Organic (I bought from a local farmer’s market.) I’m especially careful of what I put in my body because I know that “YOU ARE WHAT YOU DON’T ELIMINATE.” And because I’m especially careful about my skin, I look for fruits and vegetables with vitamin C. Collagen, the skins’ support system, is reliant upon vitamin C as an essential nutrient which works in our bodies as an antioxidant to help prevent damage caused by toxins from the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat. Almost daily, I go out in my garden and pick tomatoes for my husband to take to work, and for myself to snack on during the day.

 

 

Copyright notice: All images and content are owned by simplify123.com, unless otherwise stated. Please e-mail me at watercandoit@gmail.com to request permission to use my content.

Luanne

simplify123.net

lulu lipbalm

I got the recipe off WellnessMama.com to make a lip balm and then added one extra ingredient, a few drops of vitamin E to formulate my own recipe. I then personalized it by adding my label lulu lipbalm. I’ve enjoyed giving these out to my family and friends.

Ingredients

2 tsp Coconut Oil

1 Tbs Shea Butter

1 Tbs Beeswax

1 tsp Mango Butter. I added a few drops of Vitamin E oil

Melt Coconut oil, Shea Butter and Beeswax in a glass jar sitting in a  pot of simmering hot water until all ingredients are completely melted. Add vitamin E. Stir in natural coloring (optional). I use the root Alkanet for a pink tint or Cinnamon for a browner tint.

  Melted Ingredients                                     Empty Shells                                        Finished Product

                                                                                   

                                                                     

              

Naturally Clean Your Pots and Pans

My daughter Sarah posted a tip on Facebook for naturally cleaning pots and pans. Since I had a couple of stainless steel pans that needed some attention, I decided to see if her method worked.

Ingredients

1/4 C Baking Soda in a glass bowl

1-2 TBL Peroxide. Stir to make a paste

Use a soft sponge to rub ( in my case, the stained bottom of the pan) until clean.

Before

After