Whole Wheat Flax seed Bread

Hey hey everyone. Happy Memorial Day. It's a day to honor those that served our country. I hope you guys are having a great Memorial Day Weekend.
So, I made Whole Wheat Flax seed Bread during the weekend and I thought that it'd be best to share the recipe with you guys. It tastes really good, especially with peanut butter or nutella. I know, it looks kind of small but it tastes great! It takes a while to make though, as bread always takes a while to make. At least it's faster than making the Chinese buns I usually bake. This is also a lot healthier. So, here's the recipe and I hope you guys enjoy it. It takes a total about 4 hours from start to finish. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• about 3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup whole flax seeds
• 1 tsp salt (optional) 
• 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1/2 cup warm milk 
• 1/2 cup honey (I used raw honey) 
• 1/4 cup olive oil

Directions:

1. In a bowl, mix together the water, milk and honey. Then, add in the yeast. Let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes to let the yeast begin its work. 
2. While waiting, mix together the flour, flax seeds and salt. 
3. Add the olive oil to the yeast mixture. 
4. Then, pour the flour mixture into the yeast mixture. 
5. Knead it until a dough forms. If it's too sticky, add more flour. 
6. Put the dough in a bowl and cover it. Let the dough rise for an hour or until it doubles in size. 
7. After an hour, punch the dough down and put it into a loaf pan. Let it rise for another hour or so until it doubles in size. 
8. Preheat the oven to 375 F. 
9. Bake it at 375 F for 15 minutes and then lower it to 325 F. Bake the bread for another 20 minutes. 
10. Take it out, let it cool and then enjoy! 

This weekend was a busy one. We still did a lot of things, even though my mom isn't feeling that well. I hope she gets better soon. 

So, I went to my cousins graduation. He graduated from Sac State. Congrats, primo! I'm so proud of him.  He helped me so much through my first year of college. Thank you so much, primo. You're the best! I can't believe it went by so quickly! I'll write about my thoughts of the first year of college in another post. 

Then, yesterday was another cousin's birthday party. So fun. I also organized some of my shoes yesterday and guess what. I have like 22 pairs of shoes collected from over the past 6 years. I don't even like shoe shopping. 

I also bought dumb bells since I won't be able to use the school gym until the fall semester. I don't want to lose the muscle I gained. I didn't buy the heavy ones I wanted but what I have will do. 

Last week, I bought some food from Big Lots. I bought the Brown Rice with Red Beans Roasted Red Pepper Triscuit, Kashi Simply Maize cereal, and a nutella knockoff called Cocoa Hazelnut Spread. There's also a single serving Kashi cereal too. I can't wait to try the Triscuits.

 I also bought the Jamba Juice  thai-style chicken & sweet chili protein wrap. It was so small but hey, it was only 250 calories. It tasted pretty good though.

Anyway, I guess that's it for now. Have a great Memorial Day!

What's your favorite type of bread?

Do you like shoe shopping? I don't but I ended having a lot of shoes.

Have you tried making home-made bread?

Healthy Groceries at Dollar Tree?

Hey everyone. What's up?

I'm here to talk about shopping healthy on a budget. As you know, some healthy grocery items people buy are more expensive than others. Well, I'm here to tell you about one store that has offered some healthy options. And, you guessed right. It's Dollar Tree. Here's a few things I bought or saw at the store:

They have brown rice, whole flaxseeds and sweet potato chips. I can't believe it. Of course, you would expect them to have oatmeal, right? Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that eating healthy doesn't mean having a skinnier wallet. Just look for the deals and keep it as simple as possible.

On the other hand, my siblings bought unhealthy stuff at Dollar Tree. This is NOT what you want to buy.

They bought chips and cookies. Please limit these kids of foods.

Anyway,

I guess that's it for now!

Do you have any tips for shopping healthy on a budget?

Are you surprised that Dollar Tree is now selling some healthier foods now?

Tip of the Day

Hey everyone. How are you guys doing today?

I can't believe that finals are over. It's summer vacation for me now. And, my first year of college is over. The year pasted by so quickly! I enjoyed my 2nd semester better than my first. I guess it was due to the adjustment. Anyway, it is summer until I start my summer classes next month. What was scary there was an earthquake in Northern California yesterday and my city felt the aftershock of it. I was so surprised! My cousins who live 10 miles north felt it but I didn't feel it. But, then, someone 1 mile East of where I live felt it. Strange.

Anyway, I know that I posted about HoW and the Spanish post each week but it's too much. I'm sorry I haven't been doing that. I will be discontinuing it. Instead, I will have a daily tip of the day.

The daily tip of the day will be about nutrition, health, and fitness. It will be a quick tip. I feel that having a daily quick tip is more beneficial than doing a HoW. Having a daily tip will reinforce the idea of living a health lifestyle.

I will be starting this on June 1st, 2013. If you guys have anything you want me to post tips on, feel free to email me or comment on this post. You can also follow me on twitter and tweet me. Thanks!

Protein Chocolate Cake

Hey hey everyone. How are you guys doing today? I can be better. I'll talk more about it later. But, for right now, it's protein chocolate cake time. Who doesn't love chocolate cake?

What I love about this cake is that it's healthier than other chocolate cakes. You also get protein from it too. You won't regret making it.

 So, here's the recipe!

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1/3 cup protein powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/3 cup almond milk
• 1 tsp coffee granules (instant coffee)
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup agave
• 1 banana, mashed

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. 
2. Sift together the protein powder, cocoa powder, baking powder and coffee granules. 
3. In another bowl, mix together the wet ingredients. 
4. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix.
5. Spray a loaf pan with non-stick spray. 
6. Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 30 minutes. 
7. Let it cool and enjoy. 

I hope you guys like this cake recipe. It's healthy and delicious! The texture is a little bit different but the taste is great! 

Anyway, I have two more finals tomorrow. It's my bio final and my family and social issues class final. Wish me luck! This week has been crazy! I'll talk more about it later. 

Do you guys like chocolate cake?

Do you like taking exams?

They're so stressful because of all the studying I have to do!

Quick Food Eats Update

Hey hey everyone. I just wanted to post some pictures of what I ate last week. Of course, there are other things I ate like oatmeal, brown rice, chicken and all of that. These are just some other things that I don't eat as often.

This burrito is from Fluid, that coffee shop I've been talking about. I go there once a week.  They have the best coffee and baked goods. Their cookies are amazing, especially their oatmeal one and their whole wheat chocolate chip cookie one. They have organic fair trade coffee too and it's amazing! It's Red bell peppers- roasted with garlic & pesto, spinach, eggs, and dill Havarti cheese. It sounds delicious, right? It was! The picture is only half of the burrito. This was on Friday that I bought this. I'm so glad I did. 

On Thursday, I bought a turkey whole wheat pita. I know that packaged foods aren't the best but I forgot my lunch. So, this was the healthiest thing I can find. I somehow remembered to bring my green tea drink though. I bought it at the asian store. I've been trying to find the green tea drink that I drank a lot of at China. It's so hard to find it. I haven't found it yet, actually. I thought that this would be the closest but it was so plain and bland!

 I also tried this Light & Fit Blueberry Greek Yogurt. I say it tastes fine but my aunts didn't like it.

I bought these two things at 99 Ranch. It's the Hazelnut Duo Nusco and a green tea drink. This green tea drink is the closest that I had in China. The Hazelnut spread is so good! It's like nutella with milk cream. I bought it because it looked interesting. My family loves it.

Anyway, I kind of forgot what I did last week. I worked on my psychology project, I had a psychology presentation and that's about it.

During the weekend, I watched the movie 42. It was so good! It was very educational and funny at the same time. It really tells how the culture was like back then. I also went shopping for a bit after.

On Sunday, yesterday, I spent the whole day at the school library studying. It was more like 6 hours. Hey, it's finals week. The library was packed and so was the 24 hour study building. That building has 4 floors! There was that many people studying during the weekend. I was lucky enough to get a group study room (I rushed in right when the library opened). I was brain dead after studying. It's a good thing my cousin brought snacks.

Today was my history final. I think I prepared pretty well for it. I did the best I could. I also baked this chocolate protein cake. It still needs a bit of tweaking but I'll post it anyway. The taste is good but the texture is a bit off.

So, how are you guys?
Do you like studying for 6 hours straight? Would you be able to?
What's your favorite snack?

Secretly Healthy Mocha Vegan Brownies

I know. I know. I've posted a lot of vegan brownie recipes already.

The first one I posted was this one (click on the word) and my 2nd one was this one , which I personally like better than the first. Everyone that has made the 2nd one loves it! It also helps that it's fat free and mostly all healthy ingredients are used (except for the sugar).

Well, this one is a bit different. As you know, I baked cookies with avocados the other day. That inspired me to bake some brownies with avocados. I know. I'm getting obsessed with baking with avocados. Hey, avocados have healthy fats in them! It's better than using butter. Anyway, I plan on baking a cake or cupcakes with them. No one notices that avocados were used to make these baked goods! Trust me on that. I baked the brownies just last night and there's only one piece left, I think. Wait, there's no more.  My father ate a lot of them (yes, I'm also guilty of eating one too many, or two).

Anyway, I guess you guys really want the recipe now. Well, here you go.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup mashed avocado (about 1/2 of an avocado)
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 tsp instant coffee granules
• 3/4 cup water
• 2 tsp baking powder

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. 
2. Cream together the avocado, oil and sugar. 
3. Mix in the rest of the ingredients. 
4. Pour into a greased pan and bake for 25-30 minutes.
5. Let it cool and enjoy. 

I do warn you though, the bottom can get a bit sticky. These are more like fudgey brownies! You can bake them a little longer as long as they don't burn. Use the toothpick test.

I hope you guys enjoy these brownies. It's good to experiment once in a while with baking. You never know how the product will turn out. In this case, it turned out good!

I also had a fun day today but I'll talk more about that the next post. I watched a very educational movie. I'll leave it at that.

Do you like brownies?
Do you like watching educational shows or programs?

Whole Wheat Chocolate Sugar Cookies

You won't believe what are in these cookies. And, guess what? They taste great! If you're looking for a healthy cookie for people to enjoy, you've come to the right place. Here's the recipe. 

Ingredients:

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 small hass avocado
• 1/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• chocolate chips (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. 
2. In a bowl, cream together the avocado, olive oil and brown sugar. 
3. Mix in the rest of the ingredients. 
4. Drop by 2 tablespoonfuls onto a greased cookie pan. I just put it on aluminum foil. 
5. Bake for 13 minutes. 
6. Take out and enjoy. 

You won't believe that there are avocados in this recipe. Trust me. No one will notice. I suggest you guys make these the night before. They taste better after sitting overnight.

All of the taste testers said that these cookies were good. One of them was my professor and he says he's not very fond of avocados. All of them were surprised that there were avocados in them. I dare you to make these and test them on your friends and family.

Anyway, I guess that's it for now. I have finals coming up and I have to study. Then, it's summer vacation! Well, until my summer classes start.

Have you tried any desserts made with avocado?

Do you think it's weird to add avocados to desserts?

If you're in school right now, are you ready for summer break?

My past week

Hey hey everyone. How has your week been going? Well, my week was spent mostly at school, thank you very much. Here's what I did.

On Monday, I stayed at school all day since I had to attend an event after all of my classes. The event was in the really late afternoon. It was fun though and I met new people. Before that, I ate a snack. It was this:

It's the Heart Thrive Cranberry bars. I love that they're vegan, healthy and delicious. It sure filled me up. These are a bit chewy though.

Well, on Tuesday, I waited for my cousin while he finished his essay. It was fine. I worked on some homework and talked to a friend while waiting. In my biology class that day, we learned about respiration, the nervous system and the endocrine system. Anyway, after class snack was this:

It was the Alternative Baking Company Gluten Free Chocolate Explosion cookie. This cookie is also vegan. This cookie was delicious! It tasted like a regular chocolate chip cookie. I know. I've been eating a lot of sweets. They're my weakness. At least I'm trying to make healthier choices when it comes to sweets, right?

Anyway, on Wednesday, I stayed to work on my group psychology research project. We talked about how to present our research proposal and how we're going to design the poster board. Again, I had another sweet. I ate a peanut butter cookie from the bookstore cafe and a tuxedo iced latte. In my defense, all organic ingredients were used.  Alex, who's in my group, ate like half of my cookie. So, I don't feel too bad about  the sweets.

Thursday, it was my group debate for my sociology class. I feel that our group won the debate. However, there were no winners or losers for the debate. We were graded on the quality of our arguments.
My psychology exam was that day too.

What was also cool was that the Farmer's Market was there. There were organic strawberries, vegetables and all of that stuff. There was even freshly baked bread a bakery was selling. I wanted to buy the strawberries, but I would be carrying them around with me all day if I had bought them. Instead, I bought the Flaxseed Bread. It's so good! I bought two small loaves. Yea, people at school looked at me weird, probably wondering why I was carrying around two loaves of bread in a bag. Hey. The bread is yummy and healthy.

Friday was work. After work, I went to Starbucks because of the half of frappacinos. I ordered the mocha cookie crumble without the whipped cream and with non-fat milk. It was delicious.

Saturday was suppose to be homework day. I worked on my biology essay and on my history essay. I started typing things up for the psychology poster board too. Then, I went food shopping with my dad. Some things we bought were brown rice and unbleached whole wheat flour from the bulk bins. They're so much cheaper. The brown rice was 60 cents a pound while the flour was around 46 cents a pounds.

On Sunday, we went to another grocery store to finish up our food shopping .We bought organic fuji apples, which were on sale. We bought watermelon and this Spectrum Decadent Blend Chia & Flax Blend with Coconut and Cocoa. They were on sale. I'm adding this to my daily oatmeal.

It was also Mother's Day. We celebrated by going to a family Mother's Day potluck. I baked some brownies and some deviled eggs. At the potluck, the moms got to relax and one of my uncles brought flowers to give to all the moms. I also sang karaoke with my cousins, which was so much fun. 

Anyway, that's how my week has been. 

Do you like karaoke?

Do you like singing?

How was your Mother's Day? 

Mini Donuts!

 Hey hey everyone. How are you guys doing today?
I'm doing fine, thank you very much. I'm here just to post my recipe before I go about my day.
It's been a long time since I last ate donuts. But, they are saturated with all of that fat! No me gusta.
Well, what's a girl got to do when she wants a healthier donut? She makes her own, of course. She makes mini donuts because they look cute and they're so much easier to eat.
I cooked these donuts using a mini donut maker. It cooks up really quickly. You can also pour the batter into a donut pan and bake them. However, I like using the donut maker. It's so much fun (and, I don't have a donut pan). Anyway, these aren't the healthiest donuts ever but they are yummy and healthier than your average donut. Here's the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 egg
• 1 cup nonfat milk
• 2 tablespoon nonfat greek yogurt
• 3 tsp olive oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Here's the link to my icing/frosting recipe. 

Directions:

1. Mix all the ingredients together. 
2. Heat up your donut maker and spray with non-stick spray.
3. Once it's heated up, pour 2 tablespoons of the batter into the donut maker and close it immediately. 
4. It should tell you once the donuts are done cooking. 
5. If you want some frosting, make some frosting! Here's the link. 

I hope you guys enjoy your donuts! It's that quick and easy to make.

So, do you like donuts?

If so, what's your favorite type of donut?

What's your favorite breakfast food?

How was your week?

School Lunches: Are they Healthier?

Look at this Elementary School Breakfast and Lunch Menu:

Compare it to the High School lunch menu:

 

These are the lunch menus for the school district that I live in. They are available online.

What I am here to write about today is the difference between the meals the schools have served in the past and the meals they serve now. Before I get into the differences between the past and the present, I would like to point out that the high school menu has more variety than the elementary school menu. I personally don't know why this is the case but here are a few points that you should consider when thinking why the menus are different between elementary school and high school:

• First and foremost, teenagers and children develop differently. 
• Teenagers and children have more nutritional needs. Technically speaking, teenagers need to consume more calories for their rate of activity and growth. 
• Variety is good.  

Image from foodhappy.ca

As you know, Michelle Obama promotes the fight against obesity. She created the Let's Move campaign. She wants children to get moving but she also wants school's to provide nutritious food to children as they are in school. And, it seems that her campaign is working. 

What I notice from the lunches from when I was in Elementary school to current lunches, the changes are there, being made in the process. 

• There are now salad options in the Elementary menu.
• They have switched to using whole grain breads. 
• They are now using brown rice in place of white rice. 
• The meals are more balanced.
• There's a switch from full fat milk to 1% to nonfat milk. 
• There are now fresh fruit options instead of canned fruits.
• It caters to vegetarians now.
• There are now two choices for lunches instead of one. 

Yes, I know that they are still using frozen foods. We don't know what "whole grain" really means unless we see what type of breads they actually purchase. However, it is a step in the right direction. 

Now, let's compare the high school menu from when I was in high school to now (only a one year difference).

• There is now an outdoor grill instead of heating up frozen patties in the oven. 
• They cut the portion of the spicy chicken wrap in half. 
• A couple years ago, there used to be a buttermilk bar , which was all covered in sugar frosting. Now, they took that off. 
• Lower fat milks are now offered. 
• The lunch cost has increased. 
• There is now the use of brown rice instead of white rice. 
• There is now a REAL fresh salad bar. 

Other than that, the high schools are pretty much serving the same food I've eaten since I was in high school. However, once again, it's the step in the right direction. 

Really, I advocate for schools to serve nutritious meals to its students. It's good for the mind and the body. Nutrition is important because children are growing and developing. They also need the energy to get through school and learn what they need to learn. 

Schools now how have to meed new federal guidelines for school meals, which can be found on the USDA website. 

Schools are doing a good job on implementing these guidelines. Hopefully, we will see more healthy options at schools.