Make Healthy Meals

1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
3 cups Bread flour
3 tablespoons wheat germ
3 tablespoons Wheat bran
1 3/4 teaspoons Salt
2 tablespoons Sugar
2 tablespoons Vegetable oil
2 Garlic cloves — minced
3 tablespoons Chopped fresh parsley
1 1/4 cups Water

Add all ingredients in the order suggested by your bread machine manual. Process on the basic bread cycle according to the manufacturer’s directions, using White bread setting.

Let the loaf cool before slicing. Serve plain or toasted.

I love fruit smoothies. This recipe is not particularly exact, as it’s all done by eye. Get a variety of frozen fruits at your local grocery store, Costco or freeze your own to make it easy to make smoothies anytime.

Quantities will depend on the size of your blender. Mine is big enough to make smoothies for my family of 4, with some left over, although I will note that the kids are 4 years old and 16 months old, so they don’t drink that much. When they’re older, I have no doubt there will be no leftovers. Read the rest of this entry »

One of the challenges of healthy eating is making the right food choices. There are resources that can help you to determine how many calories you should be consuming each day, as well as the amount from each of the food groups.

There is a very simple resource called My Pyramid Plan available at MyPyramid.gov. It is very easy to use. You put in your age, gender and activity level to get your recommendations. We’ll take a look at what it recommended for me.

I’m turning 34 later this month, so that’s the age I put in. Female, not exercising regularly unless you count chasing after two very active children, ages 4 years and 16 months.

The results sound pretty reasonable. It recommends 1800 calories a day. Six ounces of grains, 2.5 cups of vegetables, 1.5 cups of fruit, 3 cups of milk and 5 ounces of meat and beans a day. Read the rest of this entry »

3 cups 100% Whole Wheat Flour - level
3/8 cup wheat gluten flour - level
1 1/2 cups Water at 110 degrees
3 tablespoons Honey
4 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 teaspoons Salt - heaping

Mix in separate bowl, flour, gluten flour and salt.

Pour water into bread pan. It is important that the water be 110 degrees.

Sprinkle yeast into the water. Stir with wooden spoon until yeast is thoroughly disolved.

Add honey. Stir with wooden spoon until honey is thoroughly disolved.

Add flour mixture. Gently stir in each corner of pan to help mix mixture.

Place container in bread machine. Put on Bread menu (medium or light).