Dear MB friends.

There is a famous old motto:
"The way to a man's heart is through his stomach."
Well, it may start there but it takes a lot more than that!~lol~

I think this whole ordeal we are going through has lessened our SELF ESTEEM; it did for me!

As we travel life's journey to be the Best we can be, inside and outside a good way to help re-gain our self-esteem is by:
Exercising more, eating less non-nutritious junk food and de-cluttering our homes of STUFF.
(Our homes really should be a PEACEFUL HAVEN to come home to.)

I love the flylady.net technique of setting the timer and doing our work chores in 15 min. baby steps. (An amazing lot can get done in just 15 minutes of fast working!)

Eventually things will get done. Especially, if we declutter our homes by getting rid of things we don't use, need or really really like!

Plus we need to daily take time to rejuvenate our souls...Reading and participating here at MB is a good way...And we should LIMIT our time here, set a timer, so we can can accomplish all our other chores and obligations.

If you have a GOOD FOR US HEALTHY RECIPE please share it here...THANKS
I will begin with several of my favorite recipes.

P.S. Remember this: "THE WORLD IS A BETTER PLACE BECAUSE YOU ARE IN IT."

Let's just try to be the best we can be.
Inside and outside.

Love, Julie <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="images/icons/smile.gif" />

<small>[ February 04, 2005, 09:34 AM: Message edited by: Blessed TIME ]</small>

JULIE'S HEALTHY MUFFINS (This is my own original recipe)~low fat, low sugar~ high fiber and yummy!~I always have some on hand.


1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup oatmeal
2 tea. baking powder
1 tea. cinnamon
1/4 tea. salt

1 cup applesauce
2 eggs
1 ripe banana
1/2 cup orange juice
1 Tbl. Canola oil
1/4 cup sugar
2 tea. vanilla

1/2 cup chopped dates or raisons
1/2 cup coconut
4 oz. walnut pieces

Stir dry ingredients together.
Run next 7 ingredients in blender.

Stir everything together and place in Pam sprayed cupcake pan.
Makes 15 muffins...Sprinkle 1 Tbl sugar over tops before baking.
Bake at 375 degrees for 22 minutes.

Great idea Julie!

My girlfriend usually whips this up on Sunday afternoons, and the neighborhood girls drop by for a bowl of soup and a glass of wine.

Sunday neighborhood soup

couple cans of chicken stock
can of chopped/crushed tomatos
can of great northern beans or bag of frozen tortelinni
box of frozen spinach or bag of fresh baby spinach

Saute chopped onion in olive oil, add several chopped cloves of garlic and saute a few more mins

add everything else, simmer for about 20 mins

serve with grated parmisian cheese


Note: when I make I use homemade stock cuz I don't like canned too much. When I make chicken stock I use a package of gizzard/giblets/hearts (cost about $1.50. Throw in crock pot with water, onions and garlic (carrots and celery if I have). The garlic I leave in the husk until I get ready to strain stock and just smash against the side a spoon and the insides come bursting out all smashed and blend into the stock.

hope Kimmy comes on here with her enchilada recipe, it is to die for!

Thanks for sharing that recipe, Weaver.
I definitely will try it; sounds nutritious and EASY.

I don't buy broth either, seems like a waste of money to me...I just boil chicken and save the broth....I will give my homemade noodle recipe next.

Here's a healthy, nutritious out-of-the-pantry meal that is fast, one pot and tastes good. There's a fancy Italian name for it but I can't remember it.

1-Package dried pasta, medium shell type or tube kind.

1 or 2 cans Tuna in water, drained

1 jar red Spaghetti sauce like Ragu

Boil water in a large pot. Cook the pasta. When done, drain pasta in a collander. Pour sauce into the pot to heat. Add Italian spices or wine to sauce to make it more interesting. When hot, return noodles to the pot and sitr in the tuna. Heat and eat.

Serve with a salad, a little bread and a glass of red wine.

So fast and so good.

Thanks grapegirl for adding your recipe.

And I love your motto there at the end.

That is so cute! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Razz]" src="images/icons/tongue.gif" />

It is fun and easy to make...And very tasty...We are non-drinkers so I by a 6 pack just for this recipe!..Julie <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="images/icons/wink.gif" />

Beer Bread

3 cups self-rising flour *
1/4 cup sugar
1 12 ounce can of beer at room temperature

Combine all ingredients in a bowl...Stir for ONE MINUTE... Spread mixture into a pam sprayed, 8" loaf pan and bake at 350F for 50-60 minutes or until a knife comes out clean when poked into the loaf.

Pour 1 or 2 TBL melted butter over top of loaf after taking it out of the oven...Other than the butter on top, this is a fat free bread.

NOTE: * You can add 1 1/2 tablespoons of baking POWDER and 1/2 teaspoon of salt to three cups of flour if you don't have self-rising flour.

I used one cup whole wheat flour and 2 cups unbleached flour with the baking soda and salt.

<small>[ February 04, 2005, 10:44 AM: Message edited by: Blessed TIME ]</small>

Take one glass, add one part gin to five parts tonic. Add 3 slices of lemon and a couple of ice cubes and, hey presto, you've got Tummytuck's favourite recipe! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="images/icons/grin.gif" />

Oh too funny TT. You nut! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="images/icons/grin.gif" />

But woman cannot live on gin and tonic alone, so try this pan fried fish (or not <img border="0" title="" alt="[Razz]" src="images/icons/tongue.gif" /> )

Gently dredge fish in salted/peppered flour.

Heat a few tablespoons of good quality canoloa oil until very hot, add T of butter and very quickly add fish, shaking pan a bit so as not to stick. Should be golden brown on each side when done (about 6 mins each side). Remove fish to plate.

Rinse out pan, add couple of T of butter and a T of capers, cook a couple of mins remove from heat and add juice of one lemon.

Pour over Fish and serve!

Julie, I am going to make your noodles this weekend with some chicken stock. Cuz I have a cold <img border="0" title="" alt="[Frown]" src="images/icons/frown.gif" /> and it sounds really good and easy to make noodles.

Weaver, Your fish recipe sounds so easy and delicious and I love capers. But I bet it would be much improved if it were accompanied by my recipe! TT

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Originally posted by weaver:


Gently dredge fish in salted/peppered flour.

</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Sounds good to me!

Any WeightWatcher's recipes out there????

Pep <img border="0" title="" alt="[Cool]" src="images/icons/cool.gif" />

<small>[ February 04, 2005, 10:28 AM: Message edited by: Pepperband ]</small>

Pep - try mine but use 'Slimline' tonic.

Any WeightWatcher's recipes out there????

If it taste good, don't eat it. If it makes you feel good, don't drink it. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="images/icons/grin.gif" />

Seriously, I have been reseaching weightloss and metabolism and this is what I have learned which makes perfect sense. (I somehow ended up with a big fat tire around my waste recently <img border="0" title="" alt="[Mad]" src="images/icons/mad.gif" /> )

You must eat several times a day, like every two hours to keep your blood sugar normalized and not screw up your metabolism. Small meals only, no big meals. Doesn't really matter what you eat, only how often and how much.

You must do atleast 30 mins of cardio a day. On a tread mill it would be like this - 10 mins of warm-up, 1 min of sprint to get your heart rate up and burn sugar, 10 mins of cruising along then 1 min of sprints, and so on and so forth.

Drink .65 ounces of water per lb of body weight per day. Water washes fat cells out of your body.

Drink plenty of green tea and hot spicy foods to help increase your metabolism.

This is what I am doing the last two weeks and have lost about an inch off my waste so far.

Oh and you must use resistance or weights also to retain muscle mass, or you will just end up a smaller same you, without good definition.

So that is my recipe for watching the weight. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="images/icons/smile.gif" />

<small>[ February 04, 2005, 10:58 AM: Message edited by: weaver ]</small>

WEAVER or anyone:

Do you also make BEEF STOCK? What is your recipe for beef stock?

This is probably a Southern thang <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="images/icons/grin.gif" /> but here goes:

Weight Watchers Home-Style Meat Loaf

¾ cup of ketchup, divided
¼ cup minced fresh onion
2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley
1 tablespoon brown sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
2 large egg whites
1 ½ pounds ground round
½ cup quick cooking oats

Preheat oven to 350. Combine ½ cup ketchup, onion, and next 5 ingredients in a large bowl; stir well. Add meat and oats; stir just until blended. Shape mixture into an 8 X 4-inch loaf on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray. Brush remaining ¼ cup ketchup over meat loaf. Bake 350 for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until done. Let stand 10 minutes before slicing. Cut into 12 slices. Yield 6 servings. (serving size 2 slices Points: 5)

Mimi,

The beef stock I make is the same as chicken only using beef bones with a little meat left on, like steak bones. Unlike chicken stock it takes much, much longer. You could put it on the night before in a crock pot and let cook all night.

You can get bare beef bones from the butcher but must roast in the oven for a couple of hours at 400% first. The butcher will cut up the bones for you.

And season with any seasonings you like.

TO ALL OF YOU!!!


Loads of thanks for these recipes!!!!

Let's keep them coming.

<small>[ February 04, 2005, 01:54 PM: Message edited by: mimi1254 ]</small>

Thanks to everyone that has shared their recipes so far. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="images/icons/smile.gif" />

The following recipe isn't exactly a 'Healthy'
recipe but it is lower in fat and calories than a lot of recipes and OH SO YUMMY.

It makes a great company dessert and a pretty Valentine dessert to impress H.~lol~


Strawberry Jello Cake
(It is pretty and melt-in-your mouth yummy!)

1 pkg. white cake mix, baked as directed in a 13x9 inch glass pan. (When using a glass pan, bake at 325 instead of 350 degrees.)

Cool in pan.


While cake is baking prepare jello.
1 3 oz. pkg. Regular Strawberry Jello
1 cup boiling water


Mix thoroughly and let cool to room temperature. When cake is cooled, poke holes with a two pronged meat fork all over the cake, about every 1/2 inch...Then gently pour jello evenly over cake, filling all holes.

Let set several hours in refrigerater. The next layer is lemon instant pudding, ending with cool whip

Jello Cake Topping

1 pkg. lemon instant pudding
1 3/4 cups of milk

Mix as directed and pour over cake.

Let set about an hour; then cover with an 8 oz. tub of cool whip.

Refrigerate and EAT! YUMMY!