"WHAT'S COOKING WITH RUTHIE?" Well how about some fabulous Banana Bread & Recovery Smoothies! YUM!

Last week we had a "workshop" in Relief Society. One of the classes was about Menu Planning. I was totally inspired! I can't wait to get settled in our new home over this week. Next week, my goal is get MUCH better about it. I mean, it is the best thing for your budget and your waist line! I know, for me, if I have a plan, I plan healthy. If I don't, I eat whatever is easiest. Generally not the best choices.

Sometimes I get in a bit of a recipe slump. I have tons of great recipes, but it is always fun to switch things up and try new recipes. For this, I have to say, the internet is one of the greatest tools around! SO many amazing cooks post their recipes with step by step how-to's. I love that. What is real magic is when you find a blogger that posts recipe after recipe that just sings to ya. You know what I mean?

Well recently my friend Ruth started a food blog. It is called "What's Cooking With Ruthie". I love how personal she makes each recipe & post AND the fact that they are practical & realistic family meals, treats, etc. PLUS, she comes from famous cooking stock! Her grandma had a cooking show on TV in the 60's called, "What's Cooking With Louise Connolly". How cool is that?! Check her blog (the link above) to see a picture of her grandma from the TV Guide. Pretty cool!

Anyway, I wanted to share Ruth and her blog with you! What better way than to share a couple of her recipes with you, right?! So, I asked Ruth to do a little guest post for me and she was kind enough to obligue! Thanks Ruth! :) Here you guys go! Be sure to check her blog for more SUPER YUM recipes to try and then add to your next Menu Plan!

Take it away Ruth!

One of my most frequently used recipes of Grams is her Banana Bread.  It's hands down the best I have EVER tasted!  Gramma Weza was always happily busy in her kitchen.  We have a large extended family and she frequently hosted dinners for all of us... one of my uncles has 13 kids! Anyway, I miss Gram.  She died of Breast Cancer in 1996 at too young of an age. I wish my kids could of known her...maybe through my cooking, they do a little bit...

Gram is one of my hero's. She was a single mom of 5 in the 60's and 70's when people did not get divorced.  I am a divorcee and at that time a mother of 3 young children, the example Gram set of strength and determination has helped pull me through some pretty tough times... as my Aunt Jinny reminded me, "We come from tough stock, we are strong women."  

I'll share her original recipe and then my, slightly healthier version.  I think both are really good and for some reason using fresh lemon juice makes it super amazing!

 Louise's Banana Bread
In large mixing bowl, beat well:
1/2 C butter
1 C sugar
 2 eggs

Add:
2 large overripe bananas

Add:
2 C flour

Hand stir remaining:
1 tsp soda (dissolved in 1 Tbls water)
1/2 C walnuts (optional)
1 Tbls lemon juice

Spray 1 glass loaf pan with cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours.  Toothpick in comes out clean when done. Spread butter across the top of warm bread and sprinkle with sugar.
Note: Gram lined the inside of the loaf pan with foil or waxed paper-- before cooking spray.

Ruthies Banana Bread
Blend:
1/2 C butter
1/2 C applesauce
3/4 C sugar
2 whole eggs and 4 egg whites (I use that combo for higher protein and lower fat/cholesterol or use 4 eggs )

Add:
2 2/3 C flour - half at a time

Add: 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice (about 1/2 a lemon)
1 tsp baking soda
4 overripe bananas- add one at a time

Mix for 2 minutes on high to blend well, batter will appear glossy.
Pour into 3 glass loaf pans or lined muffin tins... my kids favorite part is sprinkling the tops of the batter with brown sugar. (a trick I learned from my mom)
Bake at 350 degrees.
 Loafs- 35-40 minutes, muffins- 18-20 minutes. Poke with a toothpick, done when clean.
Let cool in pans on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then turn them out on the rack to finish cooling.



Mix batter, add bananas (the blacker the better)



Sprinkle with brown sugar before baking



Oven ready



Cool 5 minutes on wire rack



Turn out to finish cooling

Banana Bread always reminds me of Gram. I hope when my kids make this recipe for their children, they'll talk about Gram, and this Banana Bread recipe will continue to connect the generations... Maybe this post will start some new banana bread generations out there?

And how about another.....

RECOVERY SMOOTHIES

I keep myself physically active... my family is too.  For the past 12 years I've been a runner at almost every level.  My first 5K meant as much to me as my first marathon... there was a period in my life when I was over weight, unhealthy, and out of shape. 12 years ago, I made some changes and started to learn what a balanced, healthy life style was all about.  I learned to eat and exercise intuitively (a super great book, "Intuitive Eating" by Tribole and Resch talks about this concept).  I have tried to teach my kids these principles in hopes that they won't struggle, as I did for many years. I love that my body can do almost anything I ask of it and I am so grateful.... really, our bodies are amazing!
 

Recovery after exercise is vital... part of this is adequate rest, the other part is good nutrition.  This smoothie recipe is a favorite of our families.  The kids like it in the morning for a quick breakfast!  They also ask for them after football or basketball or dance practice (depending on the kid). There's a 30 minute window, after exercise, to get the best recovery nutrition to your muscles.  I'm so glad that they are aware of their bodies and are learning how to take care of them. 



Didn't I have glasses like that in the 80's?

 Recovery Smoothie
1 C water
1/2 banana (I buy on sale, remove skin, break in 3rds, freeze in ziplocks)
1 scoop whey protein (I buy at Costco)
1 packet Emergen C (Costco, again!) 
1 Tbls Flax seed (don't skip this one... it's so good for you)
1 tsp Glutamine powder (this is specifically for after intense workouts)
1 C frozen fruit (yep, Costco)
 (optional 1 tsp lemon juice, if you like a sour twist!)

Blend the first 6 and then add the frozen fruit.  (I have to triple this recipe for our family.) *I got this recipe from my Rockin Awesome trainer friend...


Add water



The ingredients



Add frozen fruit



 Bottoms up!

 Another really good and simple one to try is:
1 C Milk (even soy)
1 banana
1 scoop of whey protein Blend

Live, Laugh, Love.... to do that we need a balanced diet, exercise, and take good care of our bodies! After all we only get one!!!

GUEST POST: Life Lessons From Melissa Lombardo and 2 Potty Training Kids!

Our dear friend Melissa is such an inspiration to me. I have been thinking a lot lately about a little something I would like to do with this here lil' blog. I find so much inspiration from so many different people all the time. I wanted to find a way to share them here. Tomorrow I am going to show you just how that is going to happen. It will be fun and it will be a great way for all of you to share something that has inspired/motivated/influenced/made you laugh...whatever, with all of us!

Until then, I want to share a recent post of Melissa's with you! She is such a good Mom! Right now Melissa is potty training TWO kids at the same time! Seriously....EEK! We all know how "fun" potty training is, but few ever get the opportuntity to do it with 2 kids at once!

I LOVED this post because what started as a desperate attempt for success ended with a life lesson for all of us! Thanks for letting me share this with everyone Melissa! LOVE YA!

The long awaited post that I've been waiting to blog about is FINALLY here! Abigail, Nathan and I did a 3 day, intense potty training course, with MUCH success.  Seriously folks, I had my reservations, but I followed "the potty training queen" advice to a tee! I sent out an e-mail to family and some friends letting them know I would not be unavailable for the three days, both by phone and e-mail. I made arrangments for Hannah to get to school so I wouldn't have to leave the house for even a second. I got all the underwear required (20 - 30 pairs each), frozen dinners to whip out, treats, juice, stickers, rewards...you name it, I was ready! First day, the diapers came off after they woke up. I had Nathan and Abby throw away ALL diapers left in our house. Showed them their new underwear, then introduced them to their new spot to use the potty.

We spent a lot of time in here. Their sticker charts started out like this.

Actually, I was impressed that there was not ONE accident in their underwear this day at all. Too good to be true. But then when the night came and there was no more diapers, I thought for sure we were in for a long night with two kids waking up wet. You guessed it, Nathan was totally dry all night. Abby, not so much. I don't think she wet herself though until that morning.

Day 2: same as day 1. They both did great! Can this really be happening, I thought. However, neither of them had pooped yet, so I was just waiting for it. Night came, still no poop. They went to bed. They both woke up wet. Darn! By the third day, they had it down. (the pee part atleast).

 I'll spare you all the details of #2, but lets just say, Nathan gets it and Abby is still going to really need some practice, but overall.....I just can't believe it! We are OUT of diapers!

So, I entitled this post "In Training" because I learned some really interesting things about myself these last 3 days. There wasn't a second (and I mean a second) that I wasn't with both Abby and Nathan. I abandoned all the "things" I normally do in a day so I could put all my attention on them.

And do you know what? They loved it and so did I. We read books together, watched movies, folded laundry together, made snacks, colored, and spent a lot of time in the bathroom. There was much cheering and praising in these 3 days. Nathan was the best behaved he has EVER been. He didn't get in trouble for anything. He cuddled with me during the movies. He was nice to Abigail. His only melt down was when he didn't quite make it to the toilet for #2 and he was devastated because there was a very special reward for getting this one down, and he really wanted it. I just loved spending so much "time" with my kids like this. I realized that I spend/waste a lot of time doing things that I have thought were necessary when in reality, their not. My house was never so clean then these 3 days because we cleaned together. I never realized just how much work I do without my kids only to realize that while I'm cleaning they are making a huge mess somewhere else, so my work never seems done. Plus, not being on the computer was really hard for me. I must be glued to this sucker, because I really did miss it, but I realize that I am on this thing WAY. TOO. MUCH! and way more than I thought. I also found that I LOVE "How to Train Your Dragon" and "Toy Story 3". I never got sick of watching those 2 movies and the best part was having Nathan and Abby cuddled right into me. I thought I might be sad to have both my babies potty train because somehow that means they are no longer babies right? But I have to admit not one tear was shed seeing that last trash can of stinky diapers in the garage being thrown away. Hoo-Ray!

So, because they did so well, we had to have a celebration. I invited a few of Nathan and Abby's friends over for cake and to play, 'Hungry hungry Hippos" with us. (Nathan's big reward).

I let Nate and Abby decorate their cake and pre-warned all who ate it that it was deffinately not sanitary since I really let them do whatever (like lick over and over again the frosting as they frosted).

 I did a little jig to show my true excitement of this monumental moment in our families life.

Let the games begin!

There was lots of hugs and kisses being spread around to these two

And their charts quickly filled up by the 3rd day

Guest Post by Courtney@VintageGingerPeaches.com: TURNING CANTS INTO CANS

...and dreams into plans.

I guess that's what I'm all about! Hello, my name is Courtney and I'm blogging-in for Amy today! I'm here to get your creative juices flowing!

I blog over at Vintage Ginger Peaches, a blog I share with my 2 sisters (and soon we hope to have another few contributers, so stay tuned). Our "thing" over there is trying to inspire people to be creative... to DO something... to TRY something... we think that everyone has creativity inside them and it takes experimentation to find out what your THING is.

And it's important to have a creative outlet, don't you think? Between the 3 of us, we've done a lot of stuff and we share our knowledge, or misadventures, with you!

Recently, we sewed, styled, photographed, and photoshopped our way through Halloween:

 As soon as we saw Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, we knew...

 ...what our next big project would be. We've been out of control for Halloween before :)

 You can see past years, as well as more of this year on our costuming page.

 If you're a fan of Wicked (the musical), you'll for sure want to head over!

How about a few more randoms about what's going on in my head right now? Let's face it, I do a fair amount of flitting around!

Something I'm working at right now:

But I can't really tell you why yet :)

I just got the concept for my Christmas card in my head and I'm way excited about it! It will include some shots of these four cuties...

As well as...

My sweet new baby :) I tried to convince my husband to name him Ender, but no deal :) He's the only one currently awake as I write this... I keep tickling his belly to keep him awake a little longer so he'll sleep good tonight!

Also, my 10 year old daughter just begged me to sew some sequins on her socks for church tomorrow, so you know that's going to be hot :) But hello time consuming... not... looking... forward... to that.

Anyway! That's a little about us in a nutshell... hope I can help you get your creativity on!

PS--Thank you Amy for letting me play here today :)