Ice Cream for Breakfast

Today I'm going to show you how to make a healthy and nutritious breakfast that the whole family can enjoy.  We're gonna make ICE CREAM!!!  Yep, that's right, you heard me.  With ice cream this good for ya, you can have it for any meal of the day.

You're gonna have to plan ahead a little bit on this one.  It all starts with bananas.  I think we have all had, at one time or another, some overly ripe bananas laying around.  You just peel 'em, break 'em, toss 'em in a container, and freeze 'em.

Then you break out your trusty Ninja, or a food processor. 

Frozen bananas are also great for smoothies.  That's why we're missing a few here.

Just toss your frozen bananas into your ninja or food processor and start pulsing.

Pulse, pulse, and pulse some more.

Sneak a peak.  Good things are starting to happen in there.  Go ahead and scrape down the sides while you have the lid off.

You don't have to pulse any more.  You can just blend.

Mmmm.  Creamy.  Dreamy.  Smooth.

It's pretty much the exact consistency of soft serve ice cream.  And that's JUST BANANAS in there.  No cream, no milk, no yogurt.

Now, you can just stop right here.  Grab a spoon and start digging in (Belle and I did).  Banana ice cream is delicious by itself or with something sprinkled on top, like crushed nuts or granola.

We decided to take it up another notch after a few yummy spoonfuls, so I tossed in a handful of frozen mango chunks.  And pulsed and blended and all that crazy stuff.

Now we have banana-mango ice cream.

Apparently, Belle was tired of waiting.  She went and got her own spoon and bowl and helped herself!

Stir Fry with Water

Did you know that you can stir fry food in water?

Whhhhhaaaaaahhhhhhhh?

But aren't we supposed to use olive oil? What about healthy fats? Is it not our privilege and our DUTY to glug copious amounts of "healthy" oil all over our food?

Actually, calorie for calorie, olive oil (or any kind of oil) is not a good source for healthy fats. You're better off eating avocado or munching on some nuts.

Start out by covering the bottom of the pan with water. You want it to be sizzling and bubbling up a little bit. It helps to keep a little cup of water next to you on the stove so that you can re-wet the pan if the water all evaporates.

Get ready to add your veggies.

I cooked the snap peas and carrots first. It only took about 3 minutes of stirring them around to get them to the perfect "crisp-tender" state. They are best when then are cooked just enough to heat them up and take the edge off. You still want a little crunch and you still want them to taste like carrots and snap peas. They're yummy and sweet!

This green leafy stuff is called tat soi. It's only the second time we've ever had it.

Now, I'm not very good at cooking the stir fry all at once, so I took out the snap peas and carrots and added the shrooms, scallions and garlic. Then I let that stuff cook down before adding the green leafy stuff. Green leafy stuff cooks pretty fast. I do know that.

Once the green leafy stuff was cooked down, I added the peas and carrots back to the pan. I finished the stir fry off with some bottled stir fry sauce.

Dinner is served! ...with brown rice. Ignore that square stuff on the stick. More on that later.

Belle gets to eat some stir fry too!

We all liked our veggie stir fry! The flavors of the veggies really shined through. Next time I don't think I will use the stir fry sauce. It took away and distracted from the true yumminess of the meal instead of adding to it. Just a little soy sauce served on the side is all you really need for this!

So, have you ever tried stir frying or sautéing with just water before? Do you think you will try it?

Hello and Welcome!

Hi Family and Friends! Thanks for stopping in to check out my new blog!

Before we start, there are a few things that you should know about me (if you don't already). First of all, I love food blogs. All kinds of food blogs. I love the recipes, the gorgeous photos, the ideas and creativity. Secondly, my second daughter, Maddie is not such a great sleeper. I spend a LOT of time rocking her to sleep. Therefore, I have a LOT of time to spend surfing the web, looking at my beloved food blogs. Baby asleep in one arm, the hand of my free arm glued to my mouse track pad, I just sit there clicking and scrolling to my hearts content!

When I recently began trying to get rid of the last little bit of baby weight my surfing shifted to blogs that focus on healthy eating, organic food, "real food," diet food, raw food and even vegan food. I began to realize that the food we eat can do so much more than provide the calories that you need (or don't need) to get you through the day. Food is very powerful. It can reduce (or increase) your chances of developing heart disease. It can reduce (or increase) your chances of developing cancer. It can reduce (or increase) your chances of getting a myriad of illnesses. It can make you feel energetic or it can make you feel sluggish (well, I think we all already knew that one).

I decided to take a better look, not just at the food I am eating myself, but at the food I am feeding to my family.

This little munchkin.

And this one.

It makes my heart happy when I see them eating things that are good for them.

I know it can be really confusing at times. Should we be using olive oil this month? What about soy? Does drinking green tea on the third friday of each month prevent blindness?

I've been researching, and trying to figure things out myself. I started this blog so that I can share the information that I find with you guys.

So, if you're up for it, please join me on this journey as we try out new foods, new cooking methods and new ideas. Just TRY IT! You might LIKE IT!

Are you with me?