Mindful Eating in the New Year: Make It Delicious with Honey!

I received another batch of recipes from the National Honey Board and want to share them with you because they sound wonderful:

January, 2011

About this time every year people start making a list of their goals and New Year’s resolutions. They begin the year with hope and optimism, with a sense of joy and forward thinking. But somewhere along the way, amidst the trappings of everyday life, it becomes difficult to stay on track.

If your New Year’s resolution is to be more mindful of your eating habits, the National Honey Board has some great recipes to give you the boost you need to push through those difficult moments. Try these simple recipes to sustain you throughout the day (and year!). 

Honey Cherry Granola Bars
(makes 12 to 16 bars)

Snacking can be a blessing or a curse when you’re trying to be mindful of your daily diet. Whether you’re going to work, school or just running errands, make a batch of bars at the beginning of the week and package it in individual servings. You’ll never have to reach for candy or cookies in the afternoon because you’ll never be without a delicious snack!

• 1/3 cup pure honey
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 3 egg whites
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon almond flavoring
• 3 cups low-fat granola
• 1/2 cup almonds, coarsely chopped
• 3/4 cup dried cherries

Preheat oven to 350°F. Whisk together honey, butter, egg whites, cinnamon and almond flavoring. Stir in granola, almonds and cherries. Spoon granola mixture into 9-inch, nonstick (or well greased) square pan. Using a piece of wax paper, firmly press granola mixture in pan. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove pan from oven and place on a cooling rack. Cool completely; cut into bars.

Tropical Bloom Smoothie

(makes 4 servings)

Need a quick breakfast, but also want something that won’t crush your everyday diet? Try this simple smoothie with low-fat milk, protein-rich yogurt and bananas.

• 1-1/2 cups low-fat milk
• 2 medium ripe bananas, peeled
• 1 cup plain yogurt*
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 teaspoon vanilla*
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ground nutmeg
• 5 ice cubes

Combine milk, bananas, yogurt, honey, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg in blender; process until thick and creamy. Add ice cubes, one at a time, and blend until smooth.

Chicken Lettuce Wraps
(makes 12 servings)

A light, refreshing lunch is just what you need to get through the last half of your day. If you’re in a rush for work in the mornings, make the filling the night before and fill the lettuce at lunch when you’re ready to eat.

• 1 Tablespoon walnut oil
• 1-1/4 lbs. skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
• 2 Tablespoons rice wine vinegar
• 2 Tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce
• 2 Tablespoons honey
• 1 cup shredded carrots
• 1/3 cup sliced almonds
• 12 leaves Boston Bibb or butter lettuce

Rinse whole lettuce leaves and pat dry. Add 2 teaspoons oil to a large skillet over medium heat, sauté the chicken until cooked thoroughly, about 7 to 10 minutes. In a medium bowl, whisk together remaining oil, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce and honey until thoroughly mixed. Add chicken, carrots and almonds. To serve, allow guests to scoop chicken mixture onto a lettuce leaf. Wrap the lettuce around the meat like a burrito.

Honey Smoked Salmon
(makes 4 servings)

If you come home after a long day and just want to grab a bag of chips and some dip because you don’t feel like cooking, WAIT! Put down the chips! Fish is a quick-cooking and easy meal component to make for dinner, not to mention it is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which play a crucial role in brain function. Add some steamed veggies to your plate and a slice of whole grain bread and you’ve made a quick weeknight meal!

• 1/4 cup butter or margarine
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 Tablespoon liquid smoke
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 cup dried bread crumbs
• 4 skinless salmon filets (6 to 8 oz. each)

Preheat broiler high for 5 minutes. Place butter in 13 x 9-inch pan; heat under broiler until melted; set aside. In small bowl, mix together honey, liquid smoke and salt. Place bread crumbs in separate small bowl. Rub salmon fillets with honey mixture, coating all sides. Roll each in bread crumbs. Place salmon in pan and turn once to coat with melted butter. Broil 2 inches form heat source 10 to 15 minutes, or until fish is cooked, turning once.

Enjoy and happy eating!

(did I hear someone say Honey?)

"Mommy always tells me I'm her favorite honey bee"

Communing with the water fowl

Gizzy and I have been spending a lot of time outside these days. We both love this weather! I can actually breathe easy and not be plagued by insects.

At the end of our walk around the lake, we always sit on one of several park benches to brush Gizzy's coat and spend quality time together. It's become tradition, that no matter where I chose to sit, Victoria, the Goose, will eventually swim over and walk out of the water to be near us in spite of Gizzy's barking (that I manage to control for the most part.)

Here she is walking up to get some kibbles:

She's very cautious and hesitant in approaching us, always looking at Gizzy who is sitting on top of the table, watching her..watching him...she's very smart (for a Goose!)

(observing through the slots of the park bench)

doing a little stretching

...or the hokey-pokey

 observing one another

 taking a break

and getting sleepy...eyelids are getting heavy

time for a snack...

walking over to where the ducks have a stash of cracked corn

best to eat quickly whilst their heads are in the water

oh-ohhh....here comes Mr. Mallard. For being so small, he always chases Victoria (and her two duck friends) from the food - and she lets him! I keep telling her she could whip his tail feathers if she wanted to...

Mrs. Mallard looks as if her feathers are getting lighter

For being so handsome, he sure is aggressive and very, very bossy!

What a handsome couple

Mrs. Mallard is the quackingest duck I have ever met...she simply cannot fly without quaaaaacking non-stop!

finding some nibbles...

That concludes our visit with the birds and I'll be back soon. I've been slacking in visiting everyone, but this is "my" time of the year when I want to be outside instead of sitting in front of the computer. When summer comes and I'm confined to the indoors with the air conditioner running, I'll be more actively blogging. I hope you understand.

Show & Tail: Meet my Gizzy boy - again!

I'm joining in Tuesday's Show & Tail with Angela today - please visit her blog called West Virginia Treasures, to read the rules and join in the party!

This is my first time participating, but to me it's business as usual, because I talk about my boy so much anyway that it won't seem any different to you guys!

I'll start out by talking about his stats:

Name(s): Gizmo, Gizzy, Gizzyfur, the Giz, the boy, momma's peekaboo and more

Born on Nov. 1. 1997 to Sire Mighty Alex and Dam Mart's Babydoll Patches he is a Pedigreed Pekingese in white/biscuit parti color. 

He was named Zeus by his first human parents, but when I adopted him (at the age of three) I could see that he is not a Zeus, but a Gizmo. He's not even a dog. He doesn't know what a dog does and how a dog lives....he's just a little Gizmo that thinks life's a bed of roses consisting of walks, ducks, treats, toys and long naps in soft, pink beds...and me, of course - after all every Gizmo needs a slave mommy who loves him and spoils him rotten.

Strange thing, that years later, I discovered that his previous owners were actually tossing names around for him and one of them was Gizmo, so this name bounced back to him through me.

I have never owned a male dog before Gizzy and never a pug nosed dog - all my previous dogs where females with long noses, you know, proper dogs (LOL) - just kidding! Gizzy behaves exactly the way he is supposed to based on his breed.

PEKINGESE, aka Lion dog, Foo Dog or Pelchie dog

The Peke, despite his petiteness, is courageous and bold. His independence and confidence should imply combativeness rather than delicacy. The dog is accustomed to being unchallenged and foremost in his master's eyes. His coat requires extensive grooming. (from the Mini-Atlas of Dog Breeds by A. De Prisco and J.B. Johnson) --- and that's my boy to the T!

Gizzy is a very entertaining and versatile dog. He lets me do anything to him, but he is quirky with strangers to the point of being down-right rude sometimes - very un-Southern, you might say!

Here are a few photos of his various personalities:

Babushka Gizzy

Looking like a Sheik after his bath

Being mommy's bumble boy

This outfit has brought him two trophies at the Honey Bee Festival

My trophy boy's wall

Looking cool in his Clifford sunglasses

Being a lazy boy on the La-Z-Boy snuggling with his ducky

Christmas Gizzy

Pleading Gizzy "let me outaheeeeeere!"

Banks Lake Gizzy

Napping Gizzy (almost)

Upside down Gizzy

Gizzy's "planter" pose

Swinging

Done swinging

Riding on momma's walker around the lake

Gizzy, the explorer - hitting the nature trails!

Life must be wonderful if you're a Gizzy...I sure hope he thinks so, because I want him to enjoy this ride for as long as we can - we're a team!

Happy New Year!

Happy 1st of January 2011, dear friends:

Silvester or New Year's Eve

Silvester, Brandenburger Tor, Berlin, Germany

The last day of the year is called Silvester. It is named after Pope Silvester I who died on December 31 in the year 335. Because he possessed incredible healing powers and was believed to have baptized the Roman Emperor Konstantin (which was later disproved) he was declared a Saint and December 31st is his namesake day.

The calendar reform under Pope Gregor XIII in the year 1582 made January 1 in the Christian world New Year's Day and therefore Silvester became the last day of the year. Until then the 25th of December was in many parts of Germany the beginning of the new year.

The fact that so many people want to spell Silvester with a "y" probably stems from the American icons that are known for their first name of Sylvester. Sylvester Stallone is today more known in Germany then the Pope who died 1675 years ago; as well as the famous cat Sylvester who continues his unsuccessful quest in beheading the yellow canary Tweety.

Der letzte Tag im Jahr heißt Silvester. Der Name geht zurück auf Papst Silvester I., der am 31. Dezember des Jahres 335 starb. Weil man ihm wundersame Heilkräfte nachsagte und lange Zeit glaubte, er habe den römischen Kaiser Konstantin getauft (was sich jedoch als falsch erwies), wurde er heilig gesprochen, seitdem ist der 31. Dezember sein Namenstag. Erst die Kalenderreform unter Papst Gregor XIII. im Jahre 1582 führte dazu, dass sich in der christlichen Welt der 1. Januar als Neujahrstag durchsetzte und Silvester somit zum letzten Tag des Jahres wurde. Bis dahin galt in weiten Teilen Deutschlands der 25. Dezember als Beginn des neuen Jahres.

Dass viele den letzten Tag im Jahr Silvester mit "y" schreiben, mag - wie so oft - an den amerikanischen Vorbildern liegen. Dort heißt der 31. Dezember zwar ganz anders, nämlich "New Year's Eve", aber man kennt den Vornamen Sylvester. Und ein Hollywoodstar wie Sylvester Stallone ist heute wohl auch in Deutschland mehr Menschen ein Begriff als jener Papst, der vor 1668 Jahren starb. Ebenfalls bekannter dürfte Kater Sylvester sein, jene "böse Miezekatze", der es trotz zahlloser Versuche leider bis heute nicht gelungen ist, dem nervtötenden Kanarienvogel Tweety den Kopf abzubeißen. 


von Spiegel/Kultur/Zwiebelfisch

It's almost next year!

Gizzy is my model for this doggy coat (or cat sweater) that I finished this morning:

I woke him up to do this photo shoot, so he looks quite sleepy, poor boy!

This snowflake doggy/cat sweater is for sale in my Etsy shop. (I can also make it in other colors!) Again, any and all my followers get a 10% discount!

I also want to share a popular German New Years Eve alcoholic punch recipe with you, but it needs to be started the night before (Thursday) so you'll have it ready by New Year's Eve! The measurements are approximate and you can ad-lib, but for your first-time, I would recommend sticking to this recipe till you've tasted it once.

The punch drink is called Bowle and you can make it with different fruit and there are a lot of different recipes, but this is the way we made it at the Sturm household.All you need is this:

1-2 cans pineapple chunks or fresh cut up pineapple
1 bottle white wine
1 bottle champagne
1 bottle seltzer water
1 bottle 7 Up (optional)
some dark (or light) rum
3 Tablespoons sugar
Punch bowl set and ice (optional)

At home, we always made this with pineapple, because we all liked pineapple, but it also holds its shape nicely and absorbs the rum without getting mushy. You can make it with fresh strawberries (not frozen - don't use frozen fruits at all) and use pink champagne for a pink strawberry bowle for a Valentine's party perhaps -  and instead of rum, you could use cognac or brandy for it - the possibilities are endless.

Ananasbowl or Pineapple Bowle 

(don't you just love the German word Ananas? It means pineapple - how fun is that?)

Start the night before the party and place one large can of drained pineapple chunks in the bottom of your punch bowl. Sprinkle with about 3 Tablespoons of sugar and add enough dark rum (good quality) to cover fruit entirely. Cover punch bowl and allow to soak overnight!

Right before the party, pour in a bottle of decent white wine (such as Fetzer or Sutter Home or similar) and a bottle of Champagne (white, not Cold Duck or Asti Spumante) - and a bottle of club soda (for extra bubbles) and (if your punch bowl is big enough) a liter bottle of  7-Up....stir gently and serve. 

NOTE: You can add chilled beverages and place the punch bowl on ice to keep everything refreshing, but you don't have to...just don't add any ice cubes to the punch, please!

Serve each guest just 2 chunks of pineapple with each cup or else you run out of pineapple before the punch is gone...and everyone wants to taste the pineapple...if you really want to, you could marinate an extra can of pineapple chunks in a separate bowl overnight  with the sugar and dark rum so that you could add more fruit if needed...trust me, this punch won't last!

Prosit Neujahr! (Pro- zit noy-yar)

Here you can read about some German New Year's customs and why we call New Year's Eve Silvester.

Growing up, we exchanged little symbols of good luck (tokens) made out of chocolate or marzipan to wish each other a happy/lucky New Year, such as:

toadstools (red mushroom with white dots)

chimney sweep

shiny new penny

little piglet

four-leaf clover
ladybug

and sometimes my Oma would do a little led pouring (bleigiessen)

German New Year's always includes a big Fireworks display. Everyone gets fireworks and lights them at home. This is Germany's biggest fireworks time, because there is no Independence Day over there, so New Year's Eve is IT! --- BIG TIME!!!

If you still need another New Year's Resolution, take a look on About.com and see their German Word of the Day section. Now you can learn a German word each day - at your own pace - and if you get stuck, you can ask me or one of my other fellow German bloggers!

I want to learn Spanish and will give About.com a try in their Start Learning Spanish section. Learning another language or an instrument is good brain acrobatics, did you know? It helps keep your brain churning and therefore more nimble for a longer actively thinking mind. (God knows I can use all the help I can get.)

Happy New Year! 

Gizzy and I are going to stay home, light some sparklers (outside, this time) have too many snacks, call a couple of people and watch a movie - or two! That ought to keep us out of harm's way!