The trouble with most baked goods is the combo of sugar (the refined white stuff) and flour (the other refined white stuff) and unhealthy fat. Traditional white flour and sugar has been processed to remove the fiber and virtually all of the nutrition right along with it, leaving not much other than sugar and starch (which to the body might as well be sugar). Whole grain flours (and whole sweeteners too) still have their fiber and nutrition in tact, which helps to slow the absorption of sugar/starch in the blood stream. That, plus the added fiber from the bananas, keeps you from feeling those sugar highs and lows. You get a steadier energy and can finally exit the sugar roller coaster ride.

Once the batter is whipped up, I add chopped walnuts and also dates, which give some extra whole-food, natural sweetness. These little treats are my new favorite breakfast, snack, bread and dessert. Wholesome. Sugar-free. Dairy-free. Gluten-free. Sweet. Dense. And soul-warmingly delicious. Ba. Nanas.

Banana Nut Muffins

Ingredients:

1/3 cup almond milk
1/3 cup virgin coconut oil
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
5 bananas
250 g flour*
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. sea salt
1 cup chopped walnuts
½ cup chopped dates

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. In a food processor or blender, combine the almond milk, coconut oil, vanilla and bananas. Blend until smooth.

Put the dry ingredients in a large bowl and whisk to combine. Pour in the banana mixture and stir until evenly mixed. Fold in the nuts and dates.

Pour the batter into a greased or lined 12-muffin pan. Bake at 350F for about one hour. [Note: The toothpick trick doesn't quite work on this one because they're just so dense. You'll have to cut into one halfway to check if they're still gooey in the middle. If so, continue baking 10-15 minutes, until cooked through.]

Makes 12 muffins.

*To make these gluten-free, I started with a homemade combo of gluten-free flours: 150g buckwheat, 150g brown rice, 50g garbanzo bean, 75g white rice, 75g tapioca and 1 tsp arrowroot (note: this yields more flour than what’s needed for recipe). I thought the nutty flavor of the buckwheat was just right for banana nut. By no means do you have to use this exact combo, I just wanted to give you an example. There are so many flours you can work with. Play around, experiment. Pretend you know what you’re doing (full disclosure: I so do not.) and find the combo you like best. Have fun!

(Yes, that is a football stadium made out of junk food, right there.)

Diet. Fail. But what if I told you it doesn’t have to be that way? You can have your nachos and eat them too. Literally. There is such a thing as healthy indulgence. Some of the healthiest foods that exist are true indulgences all by themselves…. avocado. a perfectly ripe tomato. goat cheese. sweet potato. raspberries. chocolate. cinnamon. Oh, I could go on…

Sounds a heck of a lot better than Velvetta and Beanie Weenies, huh? I’ve had my eye out all week for tasty game day recipes that are healthy (or at least healthier) too. Here’s my list of game day go to’s….

What about you… What are you making for game day?

Healthy Game Day Favorites

• Artichoke and spinach dip
• Black eyed pea nachos
• Coriander-chile pinto bean dip
• Oven baked sweet potato fries
• New England/Manhattan clam chowder
• Black bean dip
• Sesame encrusted baked chicken tenders
• Loaded sweet potato skins
• Vegetable salsa
• Classic beef chili
• Slow cooker white chili
• Chipotle mushroom and goat cheese queso
• Eight layer Mediterranean dip
• Berry pizza
• Cinnamon walnut oatmeal cookies
• Gluten-free oatmeal chocolate chip cookies
• Peanut butter rice crispy treats

I may have mentioned before that I was a picky eater as a kid. Until college, my diet consisted mostly of carrots and turkey sandwiches on wheat bread. Like most kids, I had very strong opinions about certain foods that would never (never) enter my mouth. I couldn’t tell you where these strong opinions came from. They were certainly not based on taste. Because I knew with the utmost certainty that something dreadful would happen if I ate that. As you might imagine, a food labeled “fungi” fell into this category. And I may or may not have pitched a legendary fit over a certain mushroom spaghetti sauce that went down in the annals of my childhood. And here I am 20+ years later eating, cooking and telling you to try nothing other than… mushrooms. Oh the irony.

I’m not sure exactly what turned me on to mushrooms, but now they’re a regular staple of my grocery list. With some dark leafy greens and a little onion, you’ve got one of the quickest and healthiest weeknight meals you can make. Mushrooms are one of the most powerful healing foods on the planet. They’re a staple of Chinese medicine and have been used for thousands of years to treat everything from viruses to tumors. There are more than 200 varieties used medicinally with different powers and properties. But even the most common of mushrooms will do your body good.

Generally, mushrooms are natural immune boosters and also work in the body to help regulate inflammation. I’m talking about the kind of inflammation that can exist and linger at low levels in the body and contribute to all sorts of diseases, like heart disease and Alzheimer’s. We’ve also learned that mushrooms help balance the level of estrogen in the body, essentially helping to prevent certain estrogen-related cancers, like breast cancer. In the world we live in today, where we come into contact with estrogens regularly from plastic bottles and containers, and added soy in so many foods, mushrooms work to block it. They’re also high in vitamins and minerals that are critical to cell and immune function – selenium, riboflavin, niacin, potassium, phosphorus, zinc and manganese.

Superpowers aside, mushrooms are incredibly flavorful and add a richness to whatever it is that you’re cooking – like this soup, and I’m sure too that spaghetti sauce I turned my nose up at when I was five.

Mushroom and Rice Soup

Ingredients:

1 cup brown rice
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 yellow onion, diced
salt and black pepper
1 large carrot, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
20 ounces button mushrooms, sliced
5 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
2 bay leaves
2 tsp dried thyme

Directions:

In a medium-sized pot, bring 2 cups of water to a boil. Add a little salt and 1 cup of rice. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer until all of the water has been absorbed, 30 to 35 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a large pot heat the oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and onions, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Saute until the onions are translucent and soft, 5 to 7 minutes.
Add the carrot and celery and cook, covered, for 6 minutes more.
Add the mushrooms, increase heat to medium-high, and cook, covered, until they release their juices, about 4 minutes.
Add the broth, bay leaves, and thyme and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes.
Stir in the cooked rice; remove and discard the bay leaves. If desired, season with additional salt and pepper.

With real ingredients, all natural sweeteners and protein-rich peanut butter, could it be that one of the funnest foods ever created could be healthy too? Don’t tell the kids!

Peanut Butter Rice Crispy Treats

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups organic brown rice syrup
3/4 cup organic peanut butter*
2 tablespoons organic virgin coconut oil
6 cups brown rice cereal (gluten-free)
1/4 cup cacao nibs or dark chocolate chips (optional)

*I used fresh ground, organic peanut butter. Look for one with as few ingredients as possible – just peanuts and oil. No sugar or anything you can’t pronounce.

Directions:

Line a 9×13 baking pan with parchment paper so that the paper covers the bottom and all four sides of the pan. In a small sauce pan, heat the brown rice syrup over medium heat. When the syrup begins to bubble, add the coconut oil and peanut butter and continue stirring until you have a good mixture.

Place the rice crispy cereal in a large glass bowl. If you like, stir in some cacao nibs or dark chocolate chips for some added chocolate flavor. Slowly stir in the warm syrup mixture using a silicone spatula to evenly coat the cereal. The syrup will bind the cereal together.

Pour the mixture into the lined baking sheet and spread it out evenly to cover the bottom of the pan and extend to all sides and corners. Press the surface with a spatula, or use your hand with a sheet of parchment paper to flatten and smooth it out.

Chill in the fridge for about an hour, until firm. Remove from the pan and cut into squares with a knife.

When I make salads with dinner they usually get thrown together in the three minutes before we sit down to eat. Sometimes there’s rhyme or reason to the combo, other times not so much. My approach to salads is anything goes! And the more the merrier. Lettuce is just one ingredient mixed in with all sorts of stuff.

I love salads with crunch, which I got with the apples and cabbage here. And the pecans and pumpkin seeds make it heartier. I added some hemp seeds for protein. Yes, hemp, as in the hemp bracelet you had in 1995. Turns out the seeds from that same plant are one of the best and most complete sources of plant protein around. They’re also one of the easiest for our bodies to digest, absorb and assimilate. Three tablespoons have 10 grams of protein.

I’ve listed everything I used, but don’t feel like you have to go by this exactly. I didn’t use measurements because I really did just throw things in a bowl. Just wanted to give you the gist. You could pare it down to greens, apple, pecan and red onion, and you’ll still have something totally crave-able on your hands.

What I used:

mixed greens
red cabbage, shaved
apple, chopped
pecans, chopped
red onion, cut into thin crescents
currants
pumpkin seeds
hemp seeds

For the dressing:

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp Dijon mustard
salt and pepper

Drink water. First thing in the morning, right when you wake up, before coffee, tea, breakfast or anything else, fill a big glass with water and drink it all. You’ve just gone all night without having anything to drink and your body is screaming “WATER!” Starting your morning with water gets things going and helps to flush the system. You’ll feel more awake and energized, even before you have that can’t-function-without-it cup of coffee.

Get the rest on GlassHeel.com.

Anyway, I thought instead of selfishly hoarding all of the information I consume in my own brain (where it’s sure to be lost never to be found again), I should share the little nuggets that I think you might find interesting too. So here goes… here are a few things that caught my eye this week…

A Recipe for Simplifying Life: Ditch All the Recipes

A Medical Tell-All Can Be Found in Urine

FDA: Some Livestock Antibiotics Will Be Limited

Stopping Superbugs: Time for Congress and Industry to Catch Up With American Consumers

Mark Bittman: The Last of Last Year’s Food Links

12 Healthy Foods to Try in 2012

10 Things I Say No to and Why

What about you? Anything catch your eye that’s worth sharing?

Black-eyed peas, like all beans, are an extremely low-fat, fiber-rich source of protein. They’re rich in potassium, which the body needs for healthy cell growth, function and (most importantly the day after a few cocktails)… repair. Alcohol depletes you of potassium along with other important minerals, hence that ache you may have woken up with this morning. Replenishing your body’s store will help get you back to feeling in balance. These lucky little beans are high in zinc too, which supports immune function and wound healing — also needed after a few too many… Like other beans, black-eyed peas have iron, which helps get oxygen to the blood.

Here’s to getting your new year off to a healthy and, if the superstition holds true, lucky start. I wish you and yours a very, very happy and healthy 2012!

Black-Eyed Pea Recipes

Black-Eyed Pea Dip (Eating Well)

Black-Eyed Pea and Sweet Corn Salsa (Mayo Clinic)

Swiss Chard with Black-Eyed Peas  (Whole Foods Market)

Greek Salad with Orzo and Black-Eyed Peas (Epicurious)

Black-Eyed Pea Soup (Whole Foods Market)

Black-Eyed Pea Curry (Savvy Vegetarian)

Black-Eyed Pea Chili (She Knows)

For such a fresh and nutrient-loaded meal, you wouldn’t know it by the time spent slaving in the kitchen. For the peas, corn and even carrots you can use frozen. That just leaves the onion, garlic and greens. Cut the onion into crescents. Mince the garlic. And after washing the greens, team up with your roommate, husband, kids and go to town tearing them into bits. Remove the hard stems and rip those leaves a new one. After a long day, I find this can actually be somewhat therapeutic. Take it out on the vegetables.

As for the crust, this recipe uses a combo of millet and amaranth. A what? I’ve actually had amaranth in my pantry for some time now but this was my first experience with the ancient grain. Amaranth was a native grain to the Aztecs and was so important to them that they used it in rituals and, in particular, what was the equivalent of their Christmas celebration. The conquistadors didn’t approve and outlawed it along with other “false idols.” It disappeared, but has been sort of rediscovered. The high-protein (5g per 1/2 cup cooked, versus 2g in wheat), gluten-free grain has resurfaced. And some even seem to think its resurgence will only continue given that it can grow just about anywhere and is easily cultivated, oh ya, and cheap. Millet is another grain alternative to wheat and is incredibly versatile. It can be prepared smooth, like a mashed potato consistency, or grainy, like rice. It’s high in magnesium, manganese and phosphorus, important minerals for heart and bone health.

Together, the amaranth and millet make a bread-y, crust topping that’s sort of like cornbread. No ancient grains on hand? Shocking. Instead, you could use cornmeal or polenta to make a cornbread-style topping. Or you could make one out of rice like I did here.

Warm, comfy, cozy – everything you want this time of year. Comfort. And joy. In a pot.

Veggie Pot Pie

What you need:

1 yellow onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
3 carrots, chopped
1 bunch kale
1 bunch collards
1 1/2 cup corn
1 1/2 cup peas
1/3 cup amaranth
1/3 cup millet
3 cups vegetable broth
1 tbsp arrowroot*
2 tbsp mirin
parsley
salt and pepper

What you do:

In a sauce pan combine amaranth, millet and 2 cups of vegetable broth. Bring to a boil and then simmer, about 15 minutes or until all of the liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat, fold in parsley and salt and pepper to taste.

In a dutch oven, heat 1 tbsp olive oil over medium heat. Add onion, garlic and carrot and saute about 5 minutes, until tender. Add peas and corn and stir. Stir in mirin and add greens in batches. Allow greens to cook down, 5-7 minutes. Meanwhile, in a small bowl combine arrowroot, 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup vegetable broth and stir. Add sauce to the vegetables and stir until it begins to thicken, about 2-3 minutes. Flatten out vegetable mixture and top with grains, spreading out evenly across the top to make a crust. Drizzle a little olive oil over the top. Place under broiler about 10 minutes, or until the crust browns.

Let it cool before serving.

* Arrowroot is used to thicken the sauce. No arrowroot on hand? You can substitute with cornstarch, as long as that’s OK for you. Be sure to look for non-GMO.

Photos courtesy of My New Roots

My New Roots is one of the blogs I follow and Sarah B., the nutritionist and chef behind the blog, has given me plenty of inspiration in the kitchen. I was completely flattered to learn that this time I inspired her. It was with my cranberry & pear tart recipe that I submitted in her reader recipe challenge. And it won! I won! I won. I won! I feel like I’m back in fourth grade and just got first prize in the science fair. But this is so much better. And cooler.

Sarah tested out my recipe and had a photo shoot with the finished product, which is quite photogenic on it’s own and Sarah’s photographs makes it look even more gorgeous. I can’t stop looking at it.

This dessert is an anomaly. It’s vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free and made with all natural sweeteners (no refined sugar), but you don’t have to tell anyone that. They wouldn’t believe you anyway. So just let them enjoy. It’s pure, guiltless, holiday indulgence.

So hop on over to My New Roots and check out my winning cranberry & pear tart (OK, done bragging now). And thank you Sarah B., I am sincerely flattered and honored to be featured on your blog.

I’ll be making the tart again for Christmas. So Family, you’re in for a treat. I can’t wait for you to try this.

To all, here’s wishing you a very merry holiday with lots of love, delicious treats and happy memories. Cheers!