Vegan Banana Bread

Well hello again!! I know it has been a while since I’ve been on here and in that time I have really enjoyed the time off the computer and trying out a few new recipes. There is a lot to be said for down-time from the screen and sampling baking 😉

Parked up at Cass

After being parked up in Kaikōura for nearly 9 months last year we are now back on the road in our bus enjoying life on the road. This summer has been an absolute scorcher and on the days when we have struggled for shade our little tin can has nearly baked us alive! Thank goodness for cool winds, big trees, clear rivers to splash in and the ability to get to them with our home.

Swimming at Wai-iti Domain

We have made our way up to Kāpiti again for me to teach some Infant Massage which is always a highlight for me.  It also means that there is weekly baking to do in order to keep those parents sustained as well as extra baking for all the catching up with family and friends we are doing.  With himself still being Vegan I have been signing up to a few more cooking blogs in order to get a good range of things to offer, some with success and some which I’d rather not discuss 😉

I’m always on the look out for good Vegan recipes that can replace our old favourites … baking two cakes at a time is a bit too much of a mission for me.  This recipe I found in a free magazine which a local health shop issues and came up a treat even with my adaptions.  It comes from a book by Daisy Dagg and Amber Vito called Kai for Kids eBook and while the original recipe had honey in it we have just replaced this with Maple Syrup without much change to the flavour.  Likewise we have used GF flour instead of the regular wheat flour they had listed and as with so many of the recipes I enjoy enough to share it is pretty much a one pot wonder 😉

Ready for morning tea.

1 3/4 Cup GF self-raising flour

1/3 C melted coconut oil

1/2 C pure maple syrup

4 mashed bananas (large)

1/2 C shredded / desiccated coconut

2 Tb chia seeds

1/2 C rice milk

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla essence

sprinkle of salt

1/2 tsp mixed spice

• Melt coconut oil in a pot and stir in the maple syrup, rice milk, vanilla essence and mashed banana
• Add in the chia seeds and stir well
• Add in all the other dry ingredients and mix until blended well
• Pour into a baking paper lined tin and bake at 180 Celsius for around 35-40 mins or until a cake-tester (skewer) comes out clean.
• Cool and Enjoy

Hope this finds you enjoying the new year, trusting in yourself and loving the life you’re in.

Arohanui

Y

www.becominghealthy.co.nz

 

Can a leopard really change its spots?

I grew up with lots of those old sayings being.  They were said so often that part of me took them as truth.  Sayings such as   ‘A leopard doesn’t change its spots’; ‘You can’t teach an old dog new tricks’; ‘Better the devil you know’;  ‘Tide and time wait for no man’ and ‘Better safe than sorry’ all made me think that life just was…. no chance to change what you had because that may lead you into danger of some sort.

Can a leopard really can its spots?

I still carry those beliefs deep down I think, and maybe you do too,  because every now and then they resurface when I am facing a ‘new’ path or re-thinking how I am living my life. I find myself doubting that anything I do will actually change how I live, how long I survive or how well I live. Thankfully though,more and more when I encounter new possibilities I am breaking though those old saying and entrenched beliefs.

Just the other day I saw a photo about how the body constantly rebuilds itself cell by cell, which (exaggerated as this photo may be) made me think.  If we are constantly re-building cells then surely if we are carrying out a habit for long enough we can effectively be the leopard who did change its spots.  We can create a new us that doesn’t have to fit within the constraints of other people’s beliefs.

Thanks undergroundhealthreporter for the image.

I have read about lungs repairing themselves once people stop smoking, about seemingly miracle cancer cures once people changed their mindset and life styles and seen pictures of 70 year old women who look in their 40’s so maybe the same is true on a smaller scale. Maybe in sticking with a new habit long enough we are sending powerful messages to ourselves which enable us to feel different and truly be different than we were before.

Maybe that change in eating habits, those regular catch ups with positive people, that releasing of negative emotions and that regular exercise can all create a ‘new’ us who can enjoy life to the fullest simply because we are taking actions that nurture us and nourish us. Simple actions that make us feel better. It is food for thought that I’m going to chew on anyway next time I have an ‘attack’ of scepticism. 🙂

Hope this finds you chewing on your own food for thought.

Arohanui

Y

http://www.becominghealthy.co.nz

Some sucrose facts to chew on

Been away for the weekend – yes another one 😉 – and still catching up on the household bits so thought I would re-post an old post from my old blog which I read before beginning a bit of a sugar-free challenge  back in 2011. Back then I just cut out the white stuff (including sugar in foods where labelled) while consuming heaps of honey and dried fruit so not sure how ‘sugar’ free is was 😉 

Anyway …….. I found this interesting article in an old edition of ‘Her Business’ Issue 58 July 2005 which my sister had given me and it was the impetus to begin thinking more about the food I was putting in my gob. 

It all makes good sense no matter how delicious the stuff is – and how hard it is to give up!

1. One can of Coke raises blood sugar to five times its normal level for four hours.
2. The indigestibility of sucrose means the initial buzz you feel on chugging that coke down is simply the ‘fight or flight’ adrenal reaction of the body.
3. Sucrose blocks digestion and ‘tricks’ the body into accommodating ever-higher levels of contaminants and sticks to proteins like meat, forming new complexes that enzymes can’t break down.
4. Sucrose destroys the ‘good’ bacteria (flora) in the intestinal tract producing a half-digested carbohydrate mass that seeps into the bloodstream, causing problems in joints, muscles and organs.
5. Sucrose disrupts the alignment between phosphorus and calcium, which can lead to osteoporosis, and permits calcium to solidify in the organs in the form of gall, liver and kidney stones.
6. Sucrose is also a factor in asthma because undigested sugar can lodge in the bronchioles of the lungs.
7. Sucrose depletes muscle mass because the body’s elimination attempts use up valuable calcium, magnesium, and chromium.
8. Drugs, in the form of synthetic insulin have never cured anyone of diabetes: the only way to reverse adult onset diabetes – the most common type – is giving up all sucrose, alcohol included.
9. Alcohol places an enormous strain on the body because it’s essentially refined sugar; bypassing the digestive system altogether, it’s absorbed immediately into the bloodstream and speeds up the ageing process.
10. And finally, lest you thought is was safe to crack open the sugar substitute, consider this: two of the three core molecules that make up aspartame – the #1 food and beverage additive in the world – are aspartic acid, a major neurotoxin linked to a variety of neurological disorders and methanol (wood alcohol) which converts to formaldehyde in the body!

Hope this finds you all dry, warm, happy and healthy.

Arohanui

Y

www.becominghealthy.co.nz