Holiday happiness

Happiness is......baking for the holidays and sharing with friends and family. I made some delicious and healthy Cranberry scones, with spelt four and less than a tablespoon of sweet stuff. These were shared with friends in the county, new and old. On the less healthy side of the spectrum, I couldn't let the season evolve without making Gt. Grandma's shortbread cookies. There is something so therapeutic that comes with the meditation-like never-ending kneading...the memories and the peace. And of course since they are made with so much love from family and Christmas' past, they can't help but taste delicious. These too have been shared with good friends already and there is a big tin yet to be shared with my kids and more friends. I made a new carrot cake recipe that is decadent and somewhat healthy, but just plain 'worth every calorie and sugar high', complete with cream cheese icing. This I made with a friend in mind and it was only with her 'vote' that the icing got made and applied....smiles and happy memories. Merry Christmas everyone.

October...moving on

I am sitting here surrounded by boxes and somewhere in my midst is my camera, however its exact location eludes me so I cannot post a picture of the swiss chard wraps with bulgur or 'greens' soup....both delicious and nutricious. (Note that I did find the camera and post the chard pic by Hallowe'en) As for where I found (and in the case of the soup adapted) the recipes I cannot remember, so once I move I intend to find both the pictures and the recipes, especially because I will make them both again! I had fun with the swiss chard wraps, enjoying a glass of wine and once again listening to the radio. These things tend to be a bit fiddly and make a mountain of dishes, so that glass of wine is important lol! The spices in the wrap included some nutmeg as well as cumin I think which makes a nice contrast. The soup was simple and different. It called for spinach greens, but I had mixed salad greens that needed eating, so that is what I used. The broth and seasonings were simple, but had an egg, flour and parmesan cheese mixture which gave it a nice texture and flavour. It was lovely with fresh bread....

I have made a couple of batches of granola and shared with friends, who agree with me that Penny's Pantry granola is absolutely the best they have ever eaten...and yes it is very healthy! Thanks again sis Barb for this recipe. It is well on the road to being my focal sales point....

Cookies in September

Hi there....it has been a really busy August and September, getting things in order to move in October. I have continued to eat, however have not been doing very much creative cooking or baking. This past week I spent Saturday morning doing one of the things I love the most- baking cookies and listening to CBC radio. I made some yummy, fall apart coconut cookies (the healthy part was the coconut, organic sugar and flour) as well as some old fashioned thimble cookies (pictured here in case they remind you of your childhood too!) These have butter and eggs in them....next time I will substitute coconut oil and see how they turn out as well as one of the egg substitutes as I venture into vegan baking....I went to the Vegetarian Food Festival at harbourfront on the weekend, learning and networking.
All the best in Love and Life!

a glorious summer

Well, as this summer is evolving as one of the best ever, especially as far as the weather is concerned, my thoughts are turning once more to cooking up a storm. I made a yummy quinoa and kale salad, filled with delicious seeds...next time i think I'll add some feta cheese for more protein and shred the kale to make it easier to eat for some folks (the large pieces are a bit hard to negotiate to get some quinoa on your fork lol, and also I think most folks would like the kale better if it was mixed in a bit more)....one of the recipes to share with Lily's cafe in Picton. Yes, things are moving forward on that front. I have bought a house and could move as early as Oct. After a couple of business related meetings this coming week I should have a better idea. I have put my condo on the market and hope to make enough profit to hold me for a bit....

July healthies and yummies

I am continuing to make my sister's delicious recipe for granola with my favourite combination being pumpkin seeds, dried cranberries and pecans. I've also been spending time and energy researching the relative nutritional values of a few baking items, looking into the whys and whats of gluten free diets (interesting issue and trend).... I made some 'healthier' oatmeal cookies last weekend with decadent chocolate bits and a bit too much wheat germ, which resulted in a pretty crumbly cookie. I laughed with a friend that while they tasted good, they would make a better fruit crumble bottom than a cookie. I may be doing some baking this weekend for someone a met in a medical office....hmmm, I will stick to a more basic recipe for selling, for now at least. Big changes are in the works for me as I build this passion for promoting healthy baking as part of a healthier lifestyle.

On another yummy and not as healthy treat note, the ice cream store Slickers in Bloomfield (Prince Edward County) sells homemade ice cream that is worth every bit of fat and calories. Enjoy the summer everyone!

veg on...

Since I have been back from the Canyon I have mostly been out and about and not spending too much time cooking or baking. However I am working on learning how to cook tofu to make it really tasty (it is definitely a work in progress :)) ...after viewing a video on factory farming and also reading 2 wonderful books by Sy Montgomery, The Good Pig and Birdology I have found it increasingly difficult to buy, cook and eat meat. So I am making more vegetarian dishes,like a delicious Morrocan salad, a variety of tofu dishes such as tofu eggless sandwich filling and the dish of tonight, a red curry cauliflower dish. It has coconut milk which I love and it is very tasty on brown rice. yum! I have also started to eat hemp hearts which are very high in complete protein. I overdid the exercise about 4 weeks ago and have had to forgo cycling (I did do 30 km in the ride for Heart) as well as rowing for a bit....hope the physiotherapist is able to help me get back into these things soon. In the meantime, I am not gaining weight, due mostly to eating veggie most of the time (my thought anyway!)....happy cooking....more soon

Grand Canyon adventure

I find it interesting, that while life and of necessity both making and eating food continue, writing about this may not. At the end of April I was gifted with a 6 day hike in the Grand Canyon. My best friend and I decided last fall to do this trip together and it not surprisingly was our 'best trip ever'. We hiked long and hard and were gifted with being part of this amazing piece of our world. We of course ate many energy bars and trail mix as well as meals prepared by the lodges and hotels. My favourite meals were prepared by our 2 guides, Travis and Marc, Travis being a foodie extraordinaire. A banquet 'fit for royalty' was prepared at the bottom of Havasu Canyon on a small BBQ. (..and yes, our guides carried all ingredients all of the way down in their packs) It started with grilled Brie with blueberries (see photo)on French bread; grilled fresh salmon served with home-made pepper, onion, cilantro, pineapple salsa (see photo) and chicken grilled in balsalmic vinegar and olive oil; grilled portabello mushrooms and couscous with grilled zucchini and asparagus....since I have been back, I have made a conscientious decision to become vegetarian. Knowing more about factory farming as well as reading the amazing book "Birdology" by Sy Montgomery has opened my eyes and heart to the creatures who have graced my table with their flesh. So....I am experimenting with tofu, have started to include 3 Tbsp of hemp hearts in my breakfast porridge and have opened a new chapter in my life and love of food. In actual fact, I think that I am just picking up the pieces of my initial venture into being a veg that started about 25 years ago and just fell by the wayside over the years. Stay tuned for more recipes and learnings.....Love to all

pot luck dishes

I recently went to a pot-luck and decided to bring a salad and dessert...healthy for the former and decadent for the latter :) I found a grain salad recipe in the Stop cookbook (I have not yet found a recipe I don't love from this cookbook!). The options for ingredients are pretty much endless and I used quinoa and bulghur as the grains, sweet red pepper, carrots and cucumber for the veggies, cilantro and parsley the herbs, cumin, curry and paprika the spices, grapeseed oil with lemon (yum!) for the oil with cider vinegar and cranberries, pecans, pumpkin seeds and dried apricots....it made a large bowl and was absolutely delicious as well as colourful and of course very healthy. It is one of those dishes that I can feel my body saying thank you for.

The dessert I decided upon was for a chocolate pie. I got the recipe from the internet which included an oreo cookie crust. I wanted to make the filling from scratch of course and used a high quality chocolate. It was well worth it and while a bit like a pudding filling rather than a solid pie, it got raving reviews. I used an organic cane sugar for the sweetener. I intend to experiment with agave soon, not in this recipe but perhaps for granola...who knows???

Sis' granola

A while ago (months actually) my sister gave me her recipe for home-made granola and I have just made it for the first time.....it is absolutely the best, most nutritious granola I have ever had. Thanks Sis!!! I had a blast buying various types of grains and nuts to try and then mixed and matched when it came to putting it all together. As I love cranberries and dried apricots, these were the fruits I chose to add...As it makes a large batch I am hoping that it won't get stale before I eat it all, if I decide not to give any away, which I may. I am thinking that I will post the recipe at the local bulk store where I have made friends of the owners and they are teaching me some of the business, as well as bring some in for them to try. The world can only get better with happy thoughts and bodies, fueled by good, healthy food...YUM!!!

...best ever zucchini loaf

I actually have been both baking and cooking over the last couple of weeks and just haven't made the time to post. I am the proud owner of an amazing cookbook from The Stop, a community kitchen in north-west Toronto. In fact, I was so blown away by most of the recipes in this book, I took the folks there a Christmas braid as a treat. As my sisters will testify, these braids are a family gift tradition that are usually reserved for good friends. The recipe for zucchini loaf has cranberries and pecans as well as being sweetened with mostly apple sauce. It was a huge hit at my 'condo-warming get together, as was the delicious minestrone soup from the same cookbook. The soup had fennel, beans not too much tomato....YUM!!!

...on the bake again...hehhe

Well, after the visitors, came preparing to move and once I started to empty the cupboards of flour, bran, wheat germ etc etc and after that the baking dishes that found their way into boxes....well it seemed like baking was just not going to happen for about a month....and that is just how it is.

So now that I am nicely (or at least 'good enough') settled in to a new condo with a brand new stove....I have started to re-stock the baking cupboard and tonight I made both a chocolate 'wacky cake' (it is a simple recipe, not all that healthy, but not to unhealthy either that can be made right in the pan:)) and also some carrot muffins and cake. I am wonderfully pleased with the oven, which is cooking at the temp it says it is and doesn't have any 'hot spots'..so YES I do intend to bake, cook and write more in coming weeks. The carrot muffins have both whole wheat and spelt flour and the sugar is reduced a bit and is an organic something or other....will follow up on this soon.

Day 18???...whatever

It has been 'many a day' since I have done much cooking or baking, hence the posting has not happened either. I was busy entertaining a friend and her daughter from out of province and somehow just got busy doing other things this past week, which did not include baking. I did make some banana muffins with whole wheat, flax and limited butter....they are terribly wholesome...and a bit on the dry side. So next time I will add some applesauce. After all, if it works for blueberry muffins, why not banana? So now I have some company...again....here is the photo...will bake and write more soon.

Day 17....same day, more baking

Well then, since I had already dirtied the large bowl for the pizza crust, I figured that I might as well re-use this as well as the flour and other items on the counter and throw together the ingredients that I had ready for some energy bars. The recipe called for sunflower seeds and dried fruit, in addition to granola, flour, rolled oats, an egg, a bit of oil and some spice...I added coconut and used maple syrup as I had forgotten to buy honey... I also do not own an 8" cake pan so I made them in a round pie plate. Into the oven they went, right after the pizza was done as they needed a much lower temp. About 25 minutes later and they were a nice light brown on the edges and pronounced done. A little while later my friend arrived for her pizza critique and ended up munching on the squares, for at least 10 minutes, in spite of announcing that she doesn't like this type of thing....seemed to be making an exception. At any rate, they tasted even better the next day.

Day 17.....

Time on my own with good music in the background, a nice drink and making good food is one of my favourite ways to spend a Friday evening, and that is what I was doing on this particular night. I truly had a wonderful time making this pizza....and I had the additional pleasure of sharing the product with a new friend too! The recipe came from a friend and colleague at work with tales of gatherings of friends for a night of pizza and wine, good times with good friends. The dough is a combination of whole wheat flour and a bit of white and corn meal. The toppings include marinated artichokes, black olives, fresh tomatoes, green onions, basil and both mozzarella and provolone cheese. Next time I intend to play with the dough recipe a bit so I can spread it out a bit thinner and add just a bit more flavour, maybe with butter and more herbs in the dough itself...will also add some goat cheese. It was delicious and of course nutritious! My friend however is not a huge olive lover, so I got double :)

Day 16....

It does seem a bit silly to use a numerical system for the postings, however it works for me, even though I do not make an entry daily.

I did make a healthy breakfast bar yesterday, and while I thought they were actually rather boring and/or tasteless, the office administrator at work thought they were delicious...So I will wait for a bit more feedback before I do a final analysis. At any rate if I make them again, I will definitely add more dried fruit, perhaps including coconut. They are basically a healthy cookie-type bar with dates. They have only a bit of honey and maple syrup for sweetener as well as unsweetened applesauce. I just thought that with the orange and lemon juice, they would be a bit more flavourful.

Day 15.....

There will be no photo nor self-appreciation for baking today...this week is full of visiting with a friend or 2, going out to dinner and getting together with my sisters...as well as working of course. So while I had initially envisioned something just a bit like "Julie and Julia" for this blog, I also promised myself that this is all about fun, hence nothing new to report. This week has been spent making something quite edible out of eggs, cheese, vegetables and the second loaf of bread that I made 2 weeks ago, as well as thawing and sharing the rest of the banana bread. As I live alone, even though I bring a lot of the baking to work, I do not want to fill my freezer nor waste anything. So for me, in addition to the social commitments, this week has been all about re-using/re-eating/re-heating...

...stay tuned maybe Sunday or early next week, for at least a post and maybe even something new. I did get a recipe for another pizza with corn meal in the crust and a topping with olives, artichokes etc....sounds like something to make when company is coming! That and a nice bottle of wine would be lovely.

Day 14....

I made the buckwheat blueberry muffins which turned out to be quite flavourful and they looked nice too. Next time I will make them with paper liners as recommended as they did stick to the pans, even though they are non-stick. These muffins couldn't be much healthier with only 1/2 cup sugar and 2 tbsp oil as well as cooked squash.

The wheat berry salad is also very healthy and delicious. The ingredients in the salad and dressing include apples, dried apricots and cinnamon, so it is a combination of vegetables and sweetness. Different and lovely. I wouldn't change a thing in this recipe but will find another one with wheat berries that does not have the sweet component.

Day 13...

After gathering a few extra ingredients, I am ready to make both the muffins and wheat berry salad later or tomorrow.

This morning I experimented with making some whole wheat cracker 'bowls' for the delicious but somewhat difficult to transport and sticky to eat trail mix....now as a trail mix, who cares if it's messy and really you just pop some in a bag and off you go. But if I am going to sell it in the Pantry it should be presented nicely as well as taste good and be healthy, right? So this was a good first attempt. I rolled the dough in sesame seeds which are a nice touch. Next time I'll add a bit of honey and increase the liquid so that I can roll them a bit thinner...but they do taste good, as far as a home-made cracker goes....:)

Day 12....

I have been eating the pizza all week and will take the second loaf of banana bread to work tomorrow to share with my colleagues. If I don't do this I will most definitely eat far too much of my own baking. One of my beliefs is 'everything in moderation' which extends to the amount of food I eat, regardless if it is 150 times healthier than fast food LOL. So I haven't made anything new yet this week, but am planning on making some buckwheat blueberry muffins on the weekend as well as a wheat berry salad that looks delicious. I just ate a yummy bowl of plain yogurt, sweetened with a small amount of stevia (a natural herb sweetener that you can buy at the bulk store) and some blueberries and granola on top. I have to confess that the granola is the store bought variety with a high percentage of saturated fat...but it tastes so good....I will experiment soon with some homemade recipes. I generally eat steel cut oatmeal in the morning, which is very healthy and really good.

I have a story about experimenting with baking in an effort to use up some 'left-over' porridge. First of all you have to know a couple of things about me- one is that I am very frugal (but not cheap) and two (which may or may not be related to the first) is that I do not like to throw away food. Friends were visiting from out of town and I decided that I would make some oatmeal muffins with the leftover porridge...after all why wouldn't it work? Well it didn't. They were a soggy mess and the whole batch ended up in the compost...at least I was feeding the earth.

Day 11....

The pizza dough, with a combination of spelt, whole wheat and all-purpose flour turned out lovely. I did leave it wrapped in the fridge overnight and do not recommend this, as the dough rose for a second time, some of it escaping from the plastic wrap and bag...I guess that the answer to making the dough ahead of time is keeping it in the freezer if left for more than an hour or so. I made 2 pizzas with very different ingredients. One had a tomato sauce on the bottom and vegetables, including asparagus and portobello mushrooms, goat cheese and sun dried tomatoes on top....the tomato sauce was much too acidic and strong and overpowered the rest of the flavours. So, after the first piece, I scraped off most of the sauce and put the toppings back on with a tapinade as the base and this was very tasty. The other pizza was my idea of a breakfast pizza, with an eggs benedict type of base sauce, a mixture of scrambled eggs and cooked bacon as well as some bruschetta tomato sauce under the eggs. This was then topped with some grated cheddar cheese...I would 'play' with the base sauce a bit, but overall this pizza was delicious.

Day 10....

Interesting how 2 or 3 days can easily go by and yet my 'days' of writing here seem to stand still :) ....I have just tried adding a photo to this blog, copied the pic of the scones, but it looks like a bunch of letters and numbers to me LOL...we'll see what happens when I hit the publish button. YES! when I saved a looked at the blog, there they are!

I made the 'healthy' banana loaves yesterday. They turned out looking beautiful and tasting pretty good too. I will add this photo later. They are nice and moist, and since I used whole grain flour mostly and reduced the sugar to half of the recipe they are definitely healthier. Next time I will figure out how to use less butter, and also intend to add chocolate chips to some of the batter, for those folks who want a bit of decadence with their morning nutrition. I am having a friend over today and will get her feedback on the flavour. I also made the dough for the pizzas and will be experimenting with her on this one too :)....I wonder where the little symbols are on this program, as I'd like to put in happy faces periodically. Perhaps it is just as well that I don't find them.



Well now, I was able to figure out how to both add the photos as well as move them around in the blog...the photo here at the end is of course the banana bread. I have packaged up 3 other pieces to take to my dance class today to share, get feedback and ensure that I do not eat all of my 'goodness' myself!

Day 9.......

Hello fellow foodies...well the scones were well received by all. However I found that they were SO much better when they were warm from the oven than cold the next day.....so I intend to make them with honey for the sweetener next time (to increase the sweetness and keep them on the healthy side) and will definitely offer them warm as an option :)....my next project will be a healthy banana bread and also something that I am going to call breakfast pizza....so stay tuned

I am finding that I am having fun experimenting in the kitchen and writing about it with this venue. I am less energized at this point to write about past experiences with food that I have had with my children. However there are many stories to tell, including something called 'dippy eggs' as well as 'bread and jam' recipes and of course the home-made baby food.....and a few years later my experience of feeding a family of four on a small sailboat for more than 2 years when we were crossing the Pacific Ocean. The Importance of Food is central to life on a boat, especially when you are in the middle of an ocean, out of site of land or stores for more than 3 weeks!

Day 8....

The 'tasty bread' is indeed tasty and actually is better without any butter, so even healthier! On the 'needs improvement' end of things, the bread is rather crumbly, so a plate is a necessity and I am not sure how to alleviate this issue. Given that I do not actually intend to sell slices of bread, but would like to share my love of making bread with others, perhaps it will not be that critical at Penny's Pantry.

This evening I made some cranberry whole wheat scones that are both delicious as well as very low in fat and sugar and the flour mostly whole wheat. Since my goal is not to eat everything I make, I will be bringing some scones to work tomorrow to share with my colleagues and solicit their feedback. I am sure that the reviews will be mixed, with some folks rather missing the sweet 'goodies' that have come from my kitchen in the past. Stay tuned for the reviews....

Day 7.....The Power of Food

I have now missed posting something for a couple of days, so while I have entitled this day 7 there will no longer be a direct correspondence with the day of the month...I will think of it as the 7th posting...As I am rambling about related themes here is another. I am an avid reader of horoscopes and last year focused on my capacity to be an agent of change for myself, which I did. This month, according to one horoscope, I will do well to commit myself to my life's path, and I have decided that 'Penny's Pantry' is part of that path. The other big part is learning more about how to express my love for others more deeply. Making and sharing healthy and delicious food is part of both of these journeys. for some folks that may be a stretch, but one that most foodies can relate to. Today I will buy some ingredients to experiment with a bit of baking using less sugar and more wholesome flours. An internet search has resulted in some great sounding recipes but not very many that are as healthy as I would like to offer. For Christmas I was given a daily calendar with words of interest and guidance. Today's words are about a worthwhile goal being like a good stretch and on the back it notes that the average person eats about 35,000 cookies in a lifetime...now that is an inspiration to make healthier cookies.

After the above rambling, I would like to share something 'substantial' related to baking. I did indeed by a variety of healthy grains, nuts and honey at the bulk store and this afternoon I made the 2 lovely loaves of bread that you now see on this blog. They are called 'Claire's Tasty Bread' as they are an old family recipe from my in-laws and one that I had never made until today. It is indeed a delicious bread and loaded with goodness :) I also made a trail mix that is delicious, however a bit 'sticky and buttery' for the trail...I will think about making it into bars perhaps or cutting back on the butter and maple syrup. So today's baking was an overall great success!

Day 6....The Power of Food

I was thinking of my summers as a child and the 2 weeks that I would often stay with my grandparents who lived in a lake-town. My grandfather and I would often get up early and go down to the dock to fish. We would take the rods and reels and some worms and the bucket for the perch we caught and off we would go. I still love the early mornings best....the sound of the water against the shore is so calming and beautiful. There would usually be a couple of other people there, just sitting on their little stools as we were, very quiet and intent on fishing. We would usually bring home at least enough fish for lunch. We would clean them in the garage and Grandma would fry them up and serve them with cottage cheese, homemade coleslaw, maybe pickles and white bread and butter. We would have fresh raspberries from the backyard if they were in season or peaches for dessert. I loved the smell of their home in that town and loved to sleep in the front bedroom, with the cool night lake breeze blowing into my dreams.
....memories are wonderful. Wholesome and simple food... love and acceptance.

Day 5...The Power of Food

I have to laugh that here I am at 3:30 a.m. making steel-cut oatmeal (with both walnuts and coconut as well as cinnamon today), drinking a coffee and writing. I am happy. It seems that 2009 was a year of huge challenges and change for the world and my life was the same. We do not know what 2010 will bring and I am open to the possibilities...
As a young child, I was always very proud that I had more grandmothers in my life than practically any of my friends. With 2 grandmothers and 3 great-grandmothers that I remember, I was indeed fortunate. One of my great-grandmothers lived on a farm and made the best buns (called air buns) for dinner. At Christmas we enjoyed her home-made shortbread cookies in the special log jar. This particular shortbread cookie recipe has been handed down through 4 generations now and continues to be shared with family from the same jar at gatherings. The ingredients are of course simple, just flour, brown sugar and butter, but it is an art to knead the dough to just the right consistency to ensure a melt-in-your-mouth cookie. It takes time, patience and love.
There are just some recipes, like shortbread, that are not to be tinkered with. The air buns would no longer be air buns of course. With a greater density of ingredients I am sure that the outcome will be heavier than air...they will most definitely need a new name. White sugar, shortening and white flour...to be replaced with ???? ...part whole wheat flour....Suggestions are welcome! I will report the results in a future posting.

Day 4...The Power of Food

I am sitting here smiling, remembering some happy childhood memories that involved food. Our mother made cookies quite often and peanut butter (this was of course before so many children seemed to be allergic to peanuts) or oatmeal were the types I remember the most. After school we were allowed to have a glass of milk and 2 cookies each. I had at least one friend who loved being invited over to play after school as much for the cookies I suspect as to play with me...it was all good!

My best friend and I and sometimes my older sister frequently had what we would call 'toast eating contests' on Saturday mornings. We would make toast with margarine and cinnamon sugar mix on top, and eat until we almost burst. I seem to recall consuming at least 8 pieces of toast, maybe more.

It is now that very busy day before school goes back after the Christmas holidays and I have made a large pan of enchilada casserole for my 2 university aged children. This is a great recipe, which I found in the Crazy Plates cookbook, authored by Greta and Janet Podleski. I use whole wheat wraps and it has protein and also veggies. When served with low fat sour cream (you could also use plain yogurt but I haven't) it is nutricious and delicious and a kid-friendly dinner.

Day 3....The Power of Food

I am finding that the timing for writing may vary depending on the day. This may seem intuitive to some people, but not for me. I had somehow assumed that I would just sit down and write this every morning. This morning I just knew that it would not be a good time. Here it is, after midnight and I am now feeling energized to write about food and my life as a foodie. I have just had a lovely glass of wine and a bit more than 2 slices of delicious thin crust spinach and cheese pizza....absolutely delicious!! And yes, I did eat dinner earlier, but also went out into this frigid evening and skated on an outdoor rink for an hour...activity is not only fun, and conducive for generating positive energy, it also burns calories so I can eat more!

One of my three sisters has shared that as far as she knows, none of us were breastfed. So, while I am not going to go back and change prior postings I must come clean with the likely truth here. We know that breast feeding is not necessary for developing a strong mother/baby bond and I guess that for my sisters and I this is true. For we were definitely all loved deeply by our mother and all turned out reasonably well, happy and productive I believe. So there you go....I will share my experience with breast feeding my 2 children in a future posting. One thing is that it was most certainly easier for me than bottle feeding, so I consider myself fortunate in many ways.

And finally, a note about steel cut oats...they are very high in protein (7 grams per 1/3 cup uncooked compared to oatmeal which has 4 grams) as well as delicious! I also often put coconut or walnuts and apple in the oatmeal- YUM!

Day 2....The Power of Food

First of all Happy New Years everyone!

I think that I need to decide between The Power of Food and Penny's Pantry...so for the blog I will stick with the former. I had actually been thinking about writing a book by this title and realized that a blog might be a great way to put these thoughts down on 'paper'. I am part of the generation that did not grow up with the internet, so all of this wonderful technology is not naturally part of my realm of 'normal'. Having said that I am a bit of an adventurer and love to dive into new things with enthusiasm. So I must be able to print what I have written at some point, right????

My intention is to start from the beginning of 'My Life As a Foodie'...I actually do not have any memories of my own about being breast-fed (though I was), so I'll start with one of my earliest memories and will get back to the wonderful world of nursing with the story of my own children, from a mother's perspective of course.

When I was about 5, my best friend lived across the street. We lived in a small town in Ontario, Canada, not too far from Lake Erie and the homes on this quiet street ranged from the rental where I lived to the large fairly luxurious home across the street where my friend lived. My friend had a housekeeper/nanny as I recall and one of the things that we did with this woman was bake. I remember learning how to make strudel with her...visions of flour everywhere and rolling the lovely pastry, putting it in the oven and then later relishing the fresh light pastry with sweet fruit inside. The 'feeling' was one of warmth and caring all around. We worked together from the start of gathering ingredients to sweeping the floor at the end, all the while maintaining a constant chatter and laughter.

For those interested in exploring a healthier diet and/or the development of Penny's Pantry, I will end each blog entry with a recipe or tidbit of information that someone may find useful. I would like to share that while my diet could be healthier in many ways, I think that I am doing a lot of things 'right'....I must be, as I am strong, fit and energized! So to get started with this part of the blog, today I started with a coffee, not all that healthy but something I enjoy! (generally 2 cups/day...and the 'experts' say now that this may even be a good thing) I have a pot of steel cut oats on the stove. I make enough for 3 breakfasts, as it takes about 30 minutes to cook and the leftovers go into the fridge for when I am a bit more rushed going off to work. I like to put cinnamon in it and put fresh berries on top. I use stevia as a sweetener, apparently a natural herb. I find that I have gotten a lot less sugar highs and lows since using this. Part of Penny's Pantry will be to explore what to use in baking to make healthy but delicious muffins...