Banana Walnut Polenta Muffins (4 Points on Weight Watchers)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup loose Polenta (I bought the Golden Pheasant brand from Safeway on Tassajara Road and Dublin Blvd.)
• 1 cup flour
• 3 tsp. baking power
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ cup walnuts or pecans (optional)
• 2 mashed Banana’s
• ½ cup Reduced Fat Buttermilk
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg

Directions:

• Pre-Heat oven to 425 Degrees.
• Combine all ingredients in your mixer and mix on a low speed.
• Pour into muffin tins and bake for 22 – 25 minutes
• Makes 12 muffins

A Person of True Inspiration

      The link I pasted below is proof that no matter what your age or circumstances in life, anything is possible. If you need a little encouragement, check out this video on www.cnn.com about a man who learned to read and write at 96 years of age. And at 98, he wrote a book. We all can accomplish anything we want to when we put in the hard work. 

http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/us/2011/11/21/hln-man-learns-to-read-at-96-writes-book.wtic#/video/us/2011/11/21/hln-man-learns-to-read-at-96-writes-book.wtic

Quotes of the day by Ella Fitzgerald

"It isn't where you came from, its where you're going that counts."

"Just don't give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don't think you can go wrong."

Become a Work in Progress

I have decided to become a work in progress. When I give myself permission to be a work in progress, I give myself room to recover from mistakes and slip-ups.  If I can give myself permission to make mistakes and recover, then I have the room and grace I need to pick myself up and move forward. The point of living a healthy life is never perfection. We are all human. Part of being human is living with a balance of mistakes and victories. Going into this holiday season, it is EXTREMELY important that everyone realizes that they are not perfect. It becomes about making choices. Choices to skip the second drink so that you can eat "Aunt Ina's famous pie," choosing to get out and exercise an extra day during the week, and most importantly, to make the holidays about the people you are with and not just the food. I am half Italian, I know the importance and tradition that food can take during the holidays. But I sometimes think we forget that those foods are attached to memories surrounding people during the holidays. I was reminded of this by a wonderful leader at Weight Watchers named Louise. She told an amazingly heart felt story about her family's thanksgiving growing up. At the end of the day, she remembered the people that made her feel special, and not food. So let's start the New Year's resolutions early. Let's challenge ourselves to become works in progress, to expect movement forward and not perfection, and to actually make the holidays about our family and friends and not food.

Not your Boring chicken salad recipe

Need a new recipe to use up leftover chicken or turkey? See the recipe below to find a great new way to use leftover or make chicken more appetizing. It can feed a crowd and not be your same old boring chicken recipe. Remember two things: (1) it's often cheaper to buy a whole chicken even if the pieces have been cut up (my bone in, skin on cut up whole chicken by foster farms cost $5.75 at Safeway with my club card. Costco has good deals too) and (2) this is a dish where the longer it sits, the more intense the flavor gets. Greek yogurt is a fantastic and healthy substitute for mayo. It's low in fat and calories, and has high amounts of protein and calcium.

Curry Chicken Salad

Ingredients:

• 1 whole chicken
• Curry
• Tumeric
• Garam Marsala
• Italian herb seasoning
• Salt (I like Celtic Grey Sea Salt) and Pepper
• 1 Green Apple, diced
• 1 orange
• ½ yellow sweet onion and/or green onion diced
• Diced Celery (1 small pre-cut container)
• Non-fat Fage Greek Yogurt

Directions:

• Place the whole chicken in a pyrex dish and pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Using a Microplane, zest one whole orange over the chicken. Cut the orange in half and squeeze the juice of the orange over the chicken. (you can place the two orange halves inside the chicken for more flavor to be infused as you bake it. You can also use a cut up bone in, skin on chicken instead of the whole chicken).
• Sprinkle the Curry, Tumeric, Garam marsala, Italian herb seasoning,  and pepper over the chicken. Make sure that it is covering the side that is showing. Sprinkle a pinch of salt over the chicken.
• Bake at 350 for 1 hour. Pull out an let cool
• You can easily bake this the night before  or skip this step and just use leftover chicken or turkey when you go to make the chicken salad.
• Once the chicken has cooled, pull apart the meat from the bones. With your fingers, tear the meat into small pieces and place in a large bowl.
• Cut up 1 Granny Smith apple into small pieces and put in the same bowl.
• Add the green onion and/or yellow onion, celery and greek yogurt into the bowl. Shake a hefty dose (up to 2 tablespoons or more depending on your taste buds) of Curry, Tumeric, Garam Marsala, Italian herbs, and pepper. Add sea salt (1-2 teaspoons).

Mix ingredients well. If you like a creamier texture, add more greek yogurt. Seasoning amounts can be adjusted depending on personal 

Roasted Veggies

Trying to figure out how to use the veggies you bought at the store? Try roasting them. Marinate them in Olive oil, salt, pepper and any herbs in a zip lock bag up to 24 hours ahead of time. Roast in the oven at 450 degrees for around 25 minutes. Shop your local ethnic markets for rare spices and herbs that add flavor without the fat content to your veggies for a good price. My roasted veggies will often last me a full week. Then I don't waste money or food because I've let my veggies spoil. My personal favorite is to roast Eggplant with olive oil, salt, pepper, and Italian Herbs or Schwarma spices.

Tip of the Month: November

§      Learn to be truly thankful this month. In these rough economic times, I am constantly reminded by events surrounding me that I am fortunate. Fortunate to have a family that loves me, friends that support me, a roof over my head and food to eat. Give of yourself this month. Give in a small way (a smile to a stranger) or a big way (leaving groceries on the doorstep of a family in need).  At the end of the month it won’t be the food you ate on Thanksgiving that you’ll remember, but the lives you touched. Give of yourself and your life will be given the amazing gift of gratitude.