Afternoon Slump

It's that time of the day again. I had a great breakfast and a great lunch, packed with green vegetables and protein. After each of those meals I felt satiated and happy, so why do I struggle with this time of day? Perhaps it's that memory addiction....coming home from school and mom having delicious homemade chocolate chips cookies or cherry pie waiting on the kitchen counter for me. Or when Grandma was visiting the smell of her homemade Italian bread with leftover pieces of dough fried in vegetable oil and sprinkled with sugar would greet me even before I opened the front door. And now, I find myself baking up all sorts of "healthy goodies" for my children too. It's such an expression of love for me and I imagine them feeling comforted just as I felt comforted.

So, I guess I haven't broken the cycle and my real confession is that I don't want to! I mean in my mind I know the way to stop these cravings is to take a walk or make a cup of tea or call a friend and chat my way through the craving but I just haven't done that...so in the mean time what's a girl to do? I try desperately to make healthy treats. I scour the internet looking for inspiration and when I do find something that I think will work, I tweak it to suit my taste buds and my belief that food should nourish the body. Here's what I came up with today based on a recipe I found online.

Fudgy Banana Bars
1/2 cup walnuts
1/2 cup pecans
1/2 cup pitted medjool dates
1/4 cup cacao powder
2-3 bananas (I used pretty ripe ones)
4 tblsp. maple almond butter
1/3 -1/2 cup cacao powder
honey to taste (optional)

Combine walnuts, pecans, dates, and cacao powder in food processor and blend until nuts are ground up nice and small and everything sticks together nicely. Scoop into a square baking dish and pat down to make an even crust. Wipe out the food processor and then put in your bananas, maple almond butter, and cacao powder. Blend until smooth and creamy. Now taste it. If it is sweet enough for you, then no need to add honey. If your taste buds require a little more sweetness add some honey but not more than a tablespoon or so. (I used very ripe bananas and therefore didn't need to add any honey). Now pour the banana and cacao mixture over your crust and freeze until it is set and you can cut it with a knife and place it on a plate without it spilling. I wanted to make this before my kids came home from school so it would be ready for them which meant I got to lick the bowl! Yum.

If anybody has any memory cravings/addictions I would love to hear about them or if you have any ideas on how to get past the afternoon slump without a treat, please, pass them on to the rest of us!

Bye for now. Hope you have a happy and healthy afternoon.

-Andrea

About You

This blog is about you, not me. I just want to help you remember what you already know. Like you know you need to slow down and breathe more, get outside more, exercise more, eat real food more, connect face to face with family and friends more, and sleep more. I'm not being preachy here. Trust me, I'm right there with everyone else, but lately I've been trying to make changes. Like meditating 5 minutes here or there, chanting affirmations in my head, and for me above and beyond everything else eating well.  I have finished with eating processed food! Everything I eat and serve my family is real, homemade food. I would love to share some of my recipes with you. And I would love sharing some of my successes and failures with you on the things you and I already know but constantly have to work on.

For now, I would love to hear about some things you already know....

Before I sign off I'd like to share with you what I made my kids for breakfast this morning.

Breakfast or After-school Smoothie
2 cold bananas
1 large handful baby spinach
1 scoop of nut butter (I often use peanut or almond butter but cashew, macadamia or sun butter would work as well)
1 Tbls maple syrup or local raw honey
3 cups almond milk (preferably homemade), or any other kind of non dairy milk (coconut milk is delicious too)
A dash of cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice (optional)

Place all ingredients into a high speed blender and blend until smooth. In my family this serves 3 kids. Recipe can be easily doubled.

Along with this smoothie I baked up an easy batch of grain-free, dairy-free orange scones, served with blueberry jam from our local farmers market. Kids are happy and mom is happy too.

I'll be back but for now happy days to all.