Terre Pruitt's Blog

In the realm of health, wellness, fitness, and the like, or whatever inspires me.

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Posts Tagged ‘granola’

Creamy Dreamy Cold Fruit Dessert

Posted by terrepruitt on May 14, 2013

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, ZumbaOh my!!! Easy-peasy, just takes forethought of freezing the bananas!

The recipe is from the Blendtec website – I am not sure it is in my recipe book because I think the Twister Jar is new!

Appliances:  Blendtec blender and Twister Jar

INGREDIENTS
2 bananas , peeled, quartered and frozen

INSTRUCTIONS
Peel and quarter bananas; freeze until solid. Add frozen, quartered banana pieces to Twister jar, and place lid on jar. Hold lid firmly with one hand, and with the other hand press “Pulse” 15–20 times or until smooth. Turn Twister lid counterclockwise during blending. Serve with fresh berries, drizzle with syrup, or sprinkle with granola for a little crunch.

——————–

Well, I don’t have a twisted jar and for $200, I probably won’t until I am rolling in the dough.  But I did look at a video of someone making “ice cream” with just fruit (bananas and strawberries) . . . . so somewhat the same thing as this, but with strawberries . . . and the twister jar is cool.  I makes the fruit very creamy AND I think it does it without heating it up too much.

I just made this recently and it was a little melty.  I think that might be because the blender does get a little warm.  That is why it can make hot soup.

Anyway . . . . I made it with two frozen bananas and a little splash of milk in my Wildside Jar.  I just let the blender blend on 1 until it was only blending “smooth”, then I stopped it and pushed the bananas close to the blade, then blended until it was only blending “smooth”, etc.  I probably did it about four times.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, ZumbaI was thinking if I didn’t want the bananas to be melty I could put them back in the freezer for a bit.

I had my bananas with almond slivers and chocolate port wine sauce.  My hubby skipped the almonds.

We don’t usually have dessert so when I told him after dinner we were having dessert he said, “No thanks.”  I knew he would say that because I told him RIGHT after dinner.  So we were full from dinner.  But I also knew that by the time I made it he would want some AND he would be interested because it was frozen fruit.  He is not much of a dessert eater and does not like cake and things like that so I know that won’t interest him, but he really likes bananas.  Also he is very supportive of my experiments with the blender so he was more than willing to try it.   I waited a couple of hours before making it.  He was happy and a bit surprised that it was JUST bananas (oh, the little bit of milk — I bet it was only about two tablespoons.  Next time I will measure.)

Of course, as I mentioned about the video I saw with the twister jar in it, they used strawberries.  I imagine you can use any berry you want.  You could probably use any fruit you want.  I am not a berry person or a sherbet person, so I will stick to bananas.  Awww, well, I guess, I should try some other fruit because my hubby likes it.  Yeah, I’ll do that . . . eventually.

The next time I make this though I am going to use three bananas!  And I will measure the milk and report back.

So what do you think about fruit ice “cream”?  Could you see yourself enjoying a dish?  What would you put in yours?

Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments »

Gout and Oats – There Could Be A Connection

Posted by terrepruitt on March 29, 2012

Seems as if my quest for something to eat for breakfast before teaching my Nia classes has turned into somewhat of a series on oats.  I know a body needs to eat to break the fast, but I don’t always have time to eat something before Nia in the morning.  I wanted something quick but healthy.  Oatmeal is always said to be one of the best breakfast to have, but I don’t like oatmeal.  I don’t think eating a processed breakfast or snack bar is the answer I was looking for.  I was thinking granola even though I used to not like granola, I have found a few that I like, but most often than not they have canola oil in them so I have been looking for recipes where I can make my own.  I found one that I like after I did a little bit of adjusting.  The whole process had me wondering about oats and oatmeal.  When I did a search of nutrition one of my favorite sites came up with some information on oats I found totally interesting.  As usual I learned something totally new to me.  I hear a lot more about Gout lately than I used to.  And the information about oats and gout had me looking gout up what gout is again.  I always forget it is a form of arthritis.

Here is what wiki says about Gout:

“Gout has increased in frequency in recent decades affecting approximately one to two percent of the Western population at some point in their lives. The increase is believed to be due to increasing risk factors in the population, such as metabolic syndrome, longer life expectancy and changes in diet. Gout was historically known as “the disease of kings” or “rich man’s disease”.”

According to PubMed Health there is:

“Gouty arthritis – acute; Gout – acute; Hyperuricemia; Tophaceous gout; Tophi; Podagra; Gout – chronic; Chronic gout; Acute gout; Acute gouty arthritis”

This type of arthritis that occurs when uric acid builds up in blood and causes joint inflammation.  So just like other types of arthritis there can be flare ups.  With the different type of gout the flare ups are different.  One joint is affected by pain and inflammation in the case of acute gout, but in chronic gout it can be in more than one joint.

While they know what causes gout, they don’t know what causes the cause.  Too much uric acid in the synovial fluid causes crystals to form.  The crystals are what cause the pain, swelling and inflammation.  But they don’t know why a body might make too much uric acid or have difficulty getting rid of it.  They have a list of what they consider to be risk factors.  Risk factors include: being over weight, consuming too much alcohol, eating too much red meat or fish or foods high in purines.  Gout is more common in males than females, although woman after menopause seem to be at greater risk.  Certain medications might contribute to gout.

These risk factors could be what contributed to the historical nicknames as probably kings and rich men were more often the ones overweight, drinking too much alcohol, and eating too much red meat and fish.

It is the food high in purines that got my attention.  Oats are high in purines.  So oats might not be good for people with gout or with high levels of uric acid because they could cause gout. Even though oats are a good source of antioxidants and are believed to help lower cholesterol if you have too much uric acid you might not want to consume them every morning.  Another uric acid related health issue is kidney stones.  So monitoring your intake of oats, might be prudent if you are prone to high levels of uric acid.  Although the site does go onto say that recent research is showing the purines in the meat and the fish are the real culprits in producing too much uric acid contributing to the health issues and that the vegetable/plant purines are not, it still might be a good idea to keep it in mind if your body is prone to gout or kidney stones.

Just another thing that is so great for you, but depending upon your individual body might not be so great.  I really believe that our diets are a main factor in our health.  It is important to know that even foods that have so many health benefits and are so full of nutrition still could affect your health in a negative way.  It really depends on your body.  I think it is always a good idea to look at the diet when there are health issues.

Did you know that oats could aggravate gout?

Posted in Food, Oats | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 31 Comments »

A Granola Recipe I like – Sort Of

Posted by terrepruitt on March 22, 2012

It is important to eat breakfast.  I don’t always have a chance to eat before my Nia class, but I have been looking to try to change that.  Oatmeal is always touted as being one of the best breakfast foods.  I do not like oatmeal.  I used to not like granola, but I have found a few I like, but most often than not they have canola oil in them so I have been looking for recipes where I can make my own.  I found a recipe that looked simple and quick and had ingredients I could live with.  Oats is a main ingredient in granola so I can get my whole grain oats in granola instead of oatmeal.

Do you ever wish that you would have followed your instincts?  The first time I make a recipe I follow it.  Then after I make any adjustments.  Well, with this one I made a few measurement adjustments and as I was cooking it, I had a feeling that I should also make some procedural adjustments, but I didn’t.  I thought, “No, I will do what it says and it will turn out fine.”  Honestly it DID turn out fine if you want crumbly granola and that is what this recipe is.  So had I really thought about it I would have realized that I wanted more like bars.

I am not sure where I got this little booklet from but the recipe on the website is a little different from the one in the booklet, but that is the beauty of it you can add whatever you want to your granola.  I opted for plainish because that is one of the things I don’t like about granola and granola bars they often have dried fruit in them.  I don’t like dried fruit.

I altered the recipe to be:

Dance Exercies, Nia, Nia Campbell, Campbell Nia, Nia classes in Campbell, evening Nia, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, SF Bay Area Nia, Dance workout CampbellGranola:

3 1/2 to 4 cups rolled oats
1/3 cup olive oil
a little over 1/4 cup raw honey
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
a round heaping 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon**
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2 1/2 cup roasted almond slivers
          (you can add in anything you’d like)

Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Mix together the oil, honey, brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt. 

Pour over the oats and mix well. 

Spread the coated oats onto the baking sheet.  Stir every 5 minutes.  Bake about 20. 

Then let cool completely then mix the oats with your add-ins.  Store up to 2 weeks.
 

Well, I will probably use less salt or omit it all together (YES!  ME, saying I will use LESS salt or remove it all together . . . . hmmmmm . . . . )  And I will cook it less than I did.  I think I cooked it for more than 20 minutes.  I won’t do that, but it didn’t look like it was cooking at all.  I will put my add-ins BEFORE it cools, maybe even before I bake it.  Depends on what they are.

I am also going to try using less oil and sugar.

Anyway, this is a granola recipe I like — finally– after I made my own adjustments (I use olive oil instead of canola and more oats).  With this recipe after a bit more tweaking I can experiment with anything now.  Now that I have a really simple basic recipe I can go from here . . . . or not.  I is really good on its own.  I can see having it warm as a hot cereal.  Not quite making it oatMEAL, but making it a meal of oats.  🙂

Do you like granola?  Do you like oatmeal?  Do you eat oatmeal?  What type? 

 

**As I was making this today and using my posted recipe I realized I typed this incorrectly!  It is NOT a full teaspoon of cinnamon, but a 1/4 of a teaspoon!!!

Posted in "Recipes", Food, Oats | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments »

Fresh and Easy

Posted by terrepruitt on March 8, 2011

Yay!  There is a grocery store in Willow Glen in the neighborhood where I have my San Jose Nia Classes.  This means I can pick up some things on the way home.  I can anyway because my regular grocery store is not that far past my house, but sometimes I take the exit for my house before I remember I wanted to go to the store because I start thinking of all that I have to do.  Once I am off the freeway and I actually have to pass my house to get to the store, I can easily talk myself into NOT going to the store.  Ya know?  So this store is pretty much right on my way home.

It is a tiny little market.  The isles are so small two carts can barely fit down the same row.  Just like the bigger stores they have so many extra bins and displays in the aisles (on the ends) there is no way to have two carts going down that way either.  So it is kind of  a place where you can actually run into your neighbors.  🙂  I was excited when I saw that there was no added trans fat and high fructose corn syrup.  I had walked by the sign quickly so I had thought that all products in the store were like this.  But as soon as I saw some products I am familiar with having those ingredients I realized that the sign said that Fresh and Easy products don’t have those ingredients.  But they DO have Canola Oil so depending on what you believe in regards to that oil you will have to take that information with a grain of salt.

I did have a yummy sample of vanilla yogurt and granola.  I was going to buy some of the granola because it tasted really good in the yogurt.  Even though it didn’t have HFCS in it, or any partially hydrogenated oil, it did have canola oil in it so I didn’t buy it.  Canola oil is not easy to avoid so when I don’t need the product I am not going to buy it.  I am not going to buy a product new to me that has Canola oil in it.

They do have their own brand of Teryaki without HFCS.  YAY!  I have had teryaki in months because I’ve only seen kind with HFCS in it.  It doesn’t taste very “teryaki-y”.  Its first ingredient is soy sauce and that is pretty much what it tastes like.  But it is not bad.

I think they have a lot of interesting looking prepared food.  I didn’t look at all of them to see the ingredients, but I will check it out as I have the need.  They did have water crackers about $3.00 cheaper than my regular store.  I was excited to try them.  The box I open is very crumbly.  They are dry.  They are not as good as the water Crackers at Trader Joe’s that are the same price.

One thing that will keep me from filling up my cart and doing ALL my shopping at this new little neighborhood market is self-check out.  I don’t want to spend my time shopping and checking out the ingredients, looking, deciding, menu planning and thinking—-just to have to spend even MORE time checking myself out.  I only had a few items and it took me what seemed like forever to just find the bar codes on the items.  I understand that this is one way that a store can keep the prices down, but I did notice and I heard other people say that many items in the store were MORE expensive than other stores we frequent.  I don’t have to check my own groceries at the other stores.

And I don’t need to mention how great the checkers at Trader Joe’s do I?  I love the checkers at Traders Joe’s.

Anyway . . . I am excited to have a little market to stop in on my way home to pick up a few things.  As I said, I won’t be doing the bulk of my shopping here but it really is a great thing that this area of Willow Glen has a grocery store.

Posted in Misc | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »