Foodstuff - Moving Like A Mother

There just ain’t enough time in the day. Amiright? So being able to whip up a healthy snack you can munch on all week long is fab. And these dairy free, gluten free banana nut bars really fit the bill.

So, I don’t know about y’all but every morning I wake up with 57 things in my head that I want to try and get done that day. I’m lucky if I get to a handful of them.

And those beautiful little babies of mine are giant time suckers. I joke that two-thirds of my day is spent making them food, feeding them food, or cleaning up their food. Honestly, that might not be a joke but in fact pretty accurate.

Thank goddddd for nap time. For the mamas that have littles that refuse a nap my heart goes out to you. I like to play a little game of “how much can I get done during nap time”. It’s fun. Depending on the day it’s usually a little exercise, maybe a little cleaning, and a lot of meal prep.

And I work 10 hour shifts Tuesday through Thursday so on Sundays and Mondays I really try and get most of my cooking done for the week. I chop up veggies for dinner, wash all my fruit, prep smoothie bags, make 3 of the same exact salads for my lunches, and often make some sort of snack to eat all week long.

So as I have mentioned in an earlier post I like to make a lot of my own food. A perfect example of this is granola bars. Store bought granola bars can have a lot of extra crap; sugar, preservatives, etc. And when you make your own you can customize them to be what you want. Maybe you are gluten free, dairy free, vegan, nut free, whatever free, these Banana Nut Bars can be customized to fit your diet. These banana nut bars are delicious, healthy, easy, and best of all can be eaten with one hand.

Because that’s how most your meals are eaten when you’re a busy Mom.

Better 4 U Banana Nut Bars:

Ingredients:

2 ripe bananas mashed
1 cup rolled oats (gluten free for GF)
½ cup pre rinsed quinoa
⅓ cup raisins (or any dried fruit)
2 tbsp chia seeds
¼ cup almonds
¼ cup chopped pecans
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp salt
¼ cup nut butter
2 tbsp honey or maple syrup
½ tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 deg. Line an 8 x 8 pan with parchment paper and cooking spray.

Mix together mashed bananas, oats, quinoa, raisins, chia seeds, almonds, pecans, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl.

In a microwave safe dish add nut butter (I use peanut butter) and microwave 20-30 seconds until runny. Stir in maple syrup and vanilla. Add peanut butter mixture to dry mixture and stir until combined.

Press mixture into the baking dish. I like to press a couple raisins, almonds, and pecans onto the top (because it looks pretty).

Bake for 25 minutes until edges begin to turn golden brown. Remove and let cool in the pan. Remove and cut into 9 squares. These can keep covered on the counter for a few days but I like to wrap tightly and store in the fridge. Enjoy throughout the week!

Substitutions:

GF: Use gluten free oats
DF: There’s no dairy in recipe!
Nut Free: Sub peanut butter for sunflower seed butter; omit nuts
Vegan: Use maple syrup instead of honey

Hope you enjoy!

-Monica

My food thoughts from kale to cake and everything in between

I am no nutrition expert but I like talking about food. And what we put into our bodies plays such a huge role on how our bodies feel and function that I feel I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about food. Plus I’ll jump at any opportunity to share recipes (like my Go-To Green Smoothie) or think about what I’m going to eat next.

I just want to share some of my general thoughts and principles about cooking and eating.

Food thought #1:

I live loosely by the 80/20 rule. 80% of the time I try to make good choices and eat things that I know are good for me and will nourish my body and the other 20% I shove cake, chips, donuts or mac N cheese down my pie hole. Again this is a loose rule. I have good days and bad days. So much of health (and life for that matter) is about balance. I find that the extremes don’t work. I’m all about doing what makes you happy, helps you feel good, and is sustainable. So if some days you don’t eat a darn thing that isn’t the color beige. So be it.

Enter food thought #2:

I try to eat a lot of colors. And nooooo, I’m not talking about my 2 year old’s fruit snacks. I’m talkin red apples, orange sweet potatoes, yellow peppers, green kale, green spinach, green celery. Honestly, when I’m feeling kinda just blah a green smoothie can really perk me up. Heck, it could just be a placebo effect but I swear when I suck down a handful of kale in liquid form I honestly feel better.

Food thought #3:

I try to make small substitutions or additions to my recipes to pack a good nutritional punch. This looks like lentil noodles instead of wheat noodles, greek yogurt instead of sour cream, blending up spinach into my pasta sauce, or when a soup recipe calls for 2 carrots…I throw in 6. Because I’m crazy like that. Also, I feel that if you put anything on a bed of something green and leafy your meal instantly rises in the nutrition ranks. Hot dog salad anyone?

Food thought #4:

I’m a huge fan of making my own food. Honestly my husband and I almost never pick up food or buy anything premade. When you cook your own stuff you know exactly what’s in it and how it was prepared. Homemade pizza dough, marinara sauce, granola bars, salad dressing, are a few things I make on the reg. I know life is crazy busy and it may feel way too time consuming to always be whipping up your own food but I promise it can be super fast and easy.

Food thought #5:

Ok, I debated sharing this one because I don’t want to seem like a giant hypocrite when I’m chowing down pizza on a friday night but I figured I might as well. I generally cook gluten free and somewhat dairy free. By no means do I have allergies to either but I just find I feel better if I lay off the gluten and don’t overdo it on the dairy. These days it’s sooooo easy to find alternatives to gluten and dairy that again it’s just a matter of performing a little swap-a-roo to help make something a little healthier. Now, dairy free cheese sucks. There is no replacement for Wisconsin cheese. Sorry.

Final thoughts:

While I’d love to say that my toddler also eats what we eat including a variety of vegetables and chickpea pasta, that just aint the case despite my best efforts. Most of my recipes and food principles are aimed at adults unless you are blessed with an amazing child that eats anything. But if you want the recipe for my son’s dinner 3-4 nights out of the week here it is:

Ingredients:

1 tortilla
2 tablespoons peanut butter

Spread peanut butter on tortilla. Roll tortilla up. Serve.

Boom. Peanut Butter Roll-Up.

There are so many other things I want to talk about related to eating and nutrition. Like how to avoid the Eating-Your-Toddlers-Left-Overs diet, nutrition during nursing, and proper nutrition for running but I’ll save those for some later posts. Again, to me it’s all about balance. Drink your smoothie in the morning so you can have your cake in the evening.

Below is my recipe for my Go-To-Green smoothie. My husband and I have a smoothie most mornings and I meal prep by making around 4 smoothie bags at the start of the week. That way I just have to pull one bag out of the freezer and pop it in the blender and presto. Smoothie.

Go-To-Green Smoothie:

(makes 2 smoothies…and sometimes enough for another mini toddler sized smoothie)

1.5 ripe banana
1 apple
2 celery stalks
1 big handful of spinach or kale
1.5 tablespoons of peanut butter
Squeeze of lemon

Optional add-ins depending on what’s in my pantry:

Chia seeds
Flax seeds
Medjol dates
Maca powder

Put all ingredients in a blender (or in a quart size freezer bag if making for later). Add 2 cups of water and a few ice cubes (omit ice cubes if pulling from the freezer). Blend until smooth. Drink. Feel like a million bucks.

– Monica

More of My Favorite Healthy Recipes:

Healthy (ish) Sausage Kale Pizza

Healthy Stuffed Acorn Squash

Zucchini, Corn, and Chicken Chowder