Tag Archives: Peanut butter recipe

Smorgasbord Health Column – Cook from Scratch with Sally Cronin and Carol Taylor to prevent nutritional deficiencies – Vitamin B3 – Niacin

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Time for the next post in this series as you know over the next few months Sally and I are going to be working our way through the most essential of these nutrients and I will share the symptoms that you might experience if you are becoming deficient in the vitamin or mineral and list the foods where you can find the nutrient. We hope you both benefit nutritionally and enjoy the recipes xxx

Smorgasbord Blog Magazine

In this series we look at cooking and your diet from a different perspective. Usually we emphasize the health benefits of food and how they can be incorporated into your diet. But, what happens if you do NOT include them in your diet.

We wanted to share with you what happens if your body is deprived of individual nutrients over an extended period of time.

Thankfully most of us eat reasonably well, with plenty of variety, but if you take a look at a week’s worth of meals, do you find that you are sticking to a handful of foods, all the time.

Variety is key to good health, to provide your body with as broad a spectrum of nutrients as possible that the body needs. Taking a supplement or relying on shakes and bars to provide your daily allowance of vitamins and nutrients is not in your body’s best…

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No more Diets…Healthy Eating …

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BANNER CHOCOLATE CAKE peanut butter rice cakes

Hello and welcome… How is your healthy eating going are you still feeling enthused after all that Christmas Fare and ready to eat healthily, have more energy and keep the advancing years at bay? Or is that old enemy Will Power creeping into your life… He creeps about silently but deadly… He just loves it when you sneak a piece or two of that cake that is saying ” Eat me”

Taking a slice of chocolate cake

His little face lights up and he knows he is winning…

Did you know that the more you resist the temptation that he starts to disappear…He does like a willow the wisp…

The thing is the more you give in he grows bigger and like the gremlins, he sprouts out lots of little Will Powers they are so small they can sneak in anywhere…

gremlin smiling

They are so clever they plant little ideas and feed on your thoughts…and before you know it you are back to square one…

I will now turn you over to Sally @ Smorgasbord as she has some very sensible ideas on how to find some willpower unlike my little flight of fantasy…haha…So please pop over to Sally’s and if a Gentle Detox is how you like to start your New Year then Parts 1 & 2 will tell you all you need to know …Three brilliant posts full of good ideas and sensible easy to understand information to get you up and running…

https://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/2019/01/06/smorgasbord-health-column-the-gentle-detox-part-three-willpower/

Who remembers rice cakes??

processed rice cakes

Way back in the late 1980’s to 1990″s when I followed one fad diet after another…When low fat and high carbs were one of the Die(t) trends…Rice Cakes were touted as the thing to eat…Cardboard in taste although low-calorie at 35 calories a cake…Looking back they were nothing more than a mouthful or three which had minimal vitamins and minerals, no fat, no fibre and maybe just maybe a gm of protein…Refined carbs which converted very quickly into sugar, they were sprinkled with salt and generally sprayed with artificial flavourings…Did they take my mind off food…No! They left me feeling sluggish and still craving so I demolished the whole packet…

Please tell me they are not still on sale??

Healthy Snacks:

Greek yoghurt and berries with granola.

Hummus with veggies…Get the recipe here

Dark chocolate with 1 oz of almonds or walnuts.

Guacamole with red peppers

2 hardboiled eggs with some cherry tomatoes

A cup of homemade vegetable soup…When I was cold I used to keep a pot simmering and if I felt a bit peckish then I would just pour my self a mug full and it kept away the hunger pangs.

Salsa with baked tortilla chips or veggies.

To bake your own using corn or flour tortillas, a light brushing of oil or a spritz of cooking spray and a bit of salt, you can bake tortilla chips in your own oven and enjoy them while they are still warm.

Peanut Butter and a banana wrapped in a whole grain wrap.

To make your own Peanut Butter couldn’t be easier…

Rather than buying store-bought peanut butter which is full of nasties, it is easier and it is very quick to make your own.

It is the quickest easiest recipe to make ever, the kids can help blitz it and as well as being tasty it has no nasties.

Let’s Cook!

Take 500 gm raw peanuts. Put in oven on tray and cook on high for 10 mins. Take out of oven and reserve a few (if you like crunchy peanut butter) like me. Put the remainder of nuts in a food processor and blitz at 1 min intervals scrapping down the sides. Do this for 4 mins or until smooth.

Add 1 tsp of salt,1 tbsp oil and remainder of reserved nuts if using.

Blitz again for 1 min and put in a suitable container. Stores in fridge for 3/4 weeks…….IT’S DELISH!

Just a few snack ideas to keep you going… What is your favourite snack ???

We all know that to enable us to get healthy we need to up our exercise…

Exercise…That has always filled me with horror…I have braved the gym in the past but no more…I think that with exercise it needs to be something which you enjoy doing and  I enjoy walking and at my age, I think that is enough I have also and I think it is the time of year…I am a tidy person…A neat freak…I feel the need to clean out drawers and cupboards…So each morning I tackle one or two and it is surprising how all that up and down and cleaning out the cupboards is a good little workout…No cupboards today…It was my bathroom cleaning day my ensuite walls and floors and my grandson’s bathroom…What is so difficult about screwing back toothpaste tops, shower gel and shampoo lids etc …

toothbrushes toothpaste no lid

After cleaning 3 bathrooms and that is no mean feat…I went for my morning walk so I feel quite energised at the moment…

Tomorrow I tackle another cupboard…

What is your favourite exercise???

Thank you for reading and please keep the comments coming I love to hear from you it makes my day xxx

About Carol Taylor:

Enjoying life in The Land Of Smiles I am having so much fun researching, finding new, authentic recipes both Thai and International to share with you. New recipes gleaned from those who I have met on my travels or are just passing through and stopped for a while. I hope you enjoy them.

I love shopping at the local markets, finding fresh, natural ingredients, new strange fruits and vegetable ones I have never seen or cooked with. I am generally the only European person and attract much attention and I love to try what I am offered and when I smile and say Aroy or Saab as it is here in the north I am met with much smiling.

Some of my recipes may not be in line with traditional ingredients and methods of cooking but are recipes I know and have become to love and maybe if you dare to try you will too. You will always get more than just a recipe from me as I love to research and find out what other properties the ingredients I use contain to improve our health and wellbeing.

The environment is also something I am passionate about and there will be more on this on my blog this year

Exciting for me hence the title of my blog, Retired No One Told Me! I am having a wonderful ride and don’t want to get off, so if you wish to follow me on my adventures, then welcome! I hope you enjoy the ride also and if it encourages you to take a step into the unknown or untried, you know you want to…….Then, I will be happy!

Carol is a contributor to the Phuket Island Writers Anthology: https://www.amazon.com/Phuket-Island-Writers-Anthology-Stories-ebook/dp/B00RU5IYNS

Connect to Carol

Blog: https://carolcooks2.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheRealCarolT
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carol.taylor.1422

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/caroltaylor56/pins/

Thank you once again for reading this post I hope you all have a great week xx

Eat Smart! Eat Healthy…No to Diets!

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Good morning from sunny Thailand and I hope you are all well and getting in the Christmas spirit it is such a busy time of year coming up and sometimes we don’t have time to eat or eat on the run…Don’t we???

Today I am going to post some breakfasts which I hope will help sustain you until lunch and which you can prepare really quickly…

Firstly…Porridge…

If you don’t know already I had six children and a dog and a snake and a parrot and a horse…Get the picture….lol

So breakfast time was busy…My slow cooker was a lifesaver during the cold winter months …I put the porridge on at night before I went to bed and come the morning it was ready and waiting…So easy…Hubby was first out of the door having had his bowl of porridge and as the kids appeared they could get theirs as it was always fresh and hot…

You can serve porridge with honey, fruit compote, fresh fruit or even a sprinkling of brown sugar which was an occasional treat for me…

Other toppings:

  • Mango and toasted coconut
  • Bacon and maple syrup
  • Peanut Butter and grapes

I cannot pick a favourite out of these as I love them all…

 

How about some nice wholemeal Toast with peanut butter and sliced banana maybe a sprinkling of cinnamon and /or honey.

Or slice some strawberries..anything goes really or some mashed avocado and a hardboiled egg roughly chopped… Quick, easy and nutritious…

Love Peanut Butter then here is the link to make your own…quick and easier and no nasties.

Eggs are always a good way to start your day…

Softly scrambled or poached…they are one of my favourite things. Hubby has bread with his eggs I just eat scrambled eggs on their own sometimes I grill some tomatoes as I really love eggs and tomatoes.

Here is a lovely video on how to poach an egg something that many including me have had problems getting the perfect poached egg… And if everyone wants a poached egg this man shows you how to do six eggs at once…

A yoghurt is a great option if you don’t have time to eat it at home put it in a mason jar with a lid and eat it when you get to work…

 

What I love about these jars is you can take them you and any fruit of your choice you can layer it or just top the yoghurt with it.

Easy to make oats to top your yoghurt or porridge.

Quick crunchy Oats…

  • 1 cup of uncooked oats…
  • 1/4 cup of brown sugar…
  • 3 tbsp butter.
  • 1 tsp cinnamon powder ( optional)

Let’s Bake!

Mix all 3 ingredients together and bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 10 minutes stirring  I love to add a bit of cinnamon…

Allow to cool and top your porridge or yoghurt.

What is your favourite breakfast?

Thank you for reading I hope some of these breakfast ideas has made your tastebuds zing xxx

And just because I can…Iceland’s Banned ADVERT

https://blondieaka.com/2018/11/12/the-orangutan-versus-palm-oil-part-one/

This post from Christine is a response to a prompt and I loved it …A post on Christine’s body and food…I hope you enjoy it as much as I did… We all view food in different ways depending on our circumstances and health conditions … I know I go on about eating healthy but we also have to be happy in our skin and do what we can when we can as life can throw us curved balls …Can’t it???

https//imsickandsoareyou.com/2018/11/06/my-body-is-my-home/

About Carol Taylor.

Enjoying life in The Land Of Smiles I am having so much fun researching, finding new, authentic recipes both Thai and International to share with you. New recipes gleaned from those who I have met on my travels or are just passing through and stopped for a while. I hope you enjoy them.

I love shopping at the local markets, finding fresh, natural ingredients, new strange fruits and vegetable ones I have never seen or cooked with. I am generally the only European person and attract much attention and I love to try what I am offered and when I smile and say Aroy or Saab as it is here in the north I am met with much smiling.

Some of my recipes may not be in line with traditional ingredients and methods of cooking but are recipes I know and have become to love and maybe if you dare to try you will too. You will always get more than just a recipe from me as I love to research and find out what other properties the ingredients I use contain to improve our health and wellbeing.

Exciting for me hence the title of my blog, Retired No One Told Me! I am having a wonderful ride and don’t want to get off, so if you wish to follow me on my adventures, then you will be made welcome! I hope you enjoy the ride and if it encourages you to take a step into the unknown or untried, you know you want to…….Then, I will be happy!

Carol is a contributor to the Phuket Island Writers Anthology: https://www.amazon.com/Phuket-Island-Writers-Anthology-Stories-ebook/dp/B00RU5IYNS

Connect to Carol

Blog: https://blondieaka.wordpress.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheRealCarolT
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carol.taylor.1422

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/caroltaylor56/pins/

Thank you once again for reading this post I hope you all have a great week xx

Eat Smart, Eat Healthily… No to Diets!

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No more...Diets Healthy eating 30th October

Welcome to this Tuesdays Eat Smart, Eat Healthy post…

Last week quite by chance was a very Orange week and I am absolutely loving my new favourite smoothie Orange and Carrot… I still haven’t managed to take a photo but I will and it is the brightest Orange colour and if you didn’t know you would think it was loaded with forbidden colours but it is the natural colour of Oranges and Carrots and soooo delicious…

But back to normal and today the discussion is breakfasts… I don’t eat breakfast I eat Brunch as I only eat two meals a day but when I worked breakfast was very important and also it was also very cold and getting colder this time of year so I wanted something hot and also I wanted to send the kids off with something warm inside them…

Porridge is just the thing and my slow cooker was a godsend… I used to put it on before I went to bed and whatever time anyone got up they could have a nice hot bowl of perfectly cooked porridge…

I have ( when) I had a microwave cooked porridge in it and the mess when it exploded… The saucepan of porridge which I forgot to keep an eye on …We have all been there…Have we not???

Porridge eaten with a fruit compote was my favourite I just used to stew some mixed berries with some apple and keep in a pot in the fridge…

muesli-3186256_1920 porridge fruit

Served with fresh fruit it is also very nice or just drizzled with some fresh honey…

It will keep you going until lunchtime…

Toast, nut butter and chia seeds… A lovely slice of sourdough bread spread with homemade peanut butter or nut butter of your choice and topped with a sliced banana or berries and a sprinkling of chia seeds.

Peanut Butter on spoon

Eggs… I love eggs but simply done a lovely omelette, poached or scrambled anything fancier than that unless you have the time BUT for me before work and with 6 kids to get to school or college …I didn’t!

Herb Omellette

I have never eaten quinoa or been a fan of muesli or oat bars and things so if you wish to educate me and have some healthy recipes please share and I will link back to you and give you the credit… I like simple easy to prepare food that tastes good and just love simple flavours I don’t go for the latest fads and that BUT some may be good I just don’t know it so please feel free to let me know 🙂

Smoothies and Protein Drinks…Fresh fruit is found in abundance here so often my breakfast is a smoothie if I want to include protein as of course I am not an advocate for bought protein powders I add my own protein in the form of Greek Yoghurt as that is one of my favourites I have added the links here for alternative natural forms of protein to add to your protein shakes.

Raspberry Smoothie.

Raspberry Protein Shake

Doesn’t that look beautiful? To me, it just screams drink me the colour is awesome so vibrant.

Ingredients:

  • 3/4 cup of coconut water
  • 1/3 cup of greek yoghurt
  • 1/2 cup of frozen raspberries
  • 1/2 medium beetroot(raw) peeled and diced.
  • 1 tbsp honey ( optional)
  • 1 tbsp chia seeds ( optional)

Let’s, Blitz!

Measure all the ingredients into your blender and blitz away… The colour was amazing a beautiful colour and it tasted very nice not too sweet and I did add honey.

This smoothie can be drunk instead of a drink with protein powder and the like in it …An alternative to bought protein drinks…Having never had a protein drink I do not know what they taste like although I have listened to others who say well they don’t taste great I drink them anyway…Really!

I think I know which one I would rather drink…Don’t you??

Here is the link to your alternatives for protein rather than buy powders…

https://blondieaka.com/2018/07/20/papaya-and-banana-protein-shake/

Lastly, did anyone notice the chocolate in the header image ??? Well anyone who thinks that all I eat is fruit and vegetables and nothing sweet and delicious I don’t…I just practise moderation and have eaten so much in my life that it doesn’t hold that same appeal for me …All the time... But show me a bar of good mint chocolate or orange and I do the same as anyone else … It must be good chocolate and proper chocolate though…Only the best …

Lips-chocolate-woman

Lips and chocolate

I enjoy what I eat…Food is about enjoyment and you may not enjoy the same things as I do but find foods you really like and learn about them…learn how healthy they are or not and maybe like me and my chocolate learn to apply moderation but I eat it when I fancy it…Food is for enjoyment and at the same time it should be good for us and with all the choices in the world we must all be able to find our happy medium…Don’t you think?

Thank you for reading I hope you enjoyed my breakfast foods …What do you eat for breakfast? Please let me know in comments xxx

About Carol Taylor:

Enjoying life in The Land Of Smiles I am having so much fun researching, finding new, authentic recipes both Thai and International to share with you. New recipes gleaned from those who I have met on my travels or are just passing through and stopped for a while. I hope you enjoy them.

I love shopping at the local markets, finding fresh, natural ingredients, new strange fruits and vegetable ones I have never seen or cooked with. I am generally the only European person and attract much attention and I love to try what I am offered and when I smile and say Aroy or Saab as it is here in the north I am met with much smiling.

Some of my recipes may not be in line with traditional ingredients and methods of cooking but are recipes I know and have become to love and maybe if you dare to try you will too. You will always get more than just a recipe from me as I love to research and find out what other properties the ingredients I use contain to improve our health and wellbeing.

Exciting for me hence the title of my blog, Retired No One Told Me! I am having a wonderful ride and don’t want to get off, so if you wish to follow me on my adventures, then welcome! I hope you enjoy the ride also and if it encourages you to take a step into the unknown or untried, you know you want to…….Then, I will be happy!

Carol is a contributor to the Phuket Island Writers Anthology: https://www.amazon.com/Phuket-Island-Writers-Anthology-Stories-ebook/dp/B00RU5IYNS

Connect to Carol

Blog: https://blondieaka.wordpress.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheRealCarolT
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carol.taylor.1422

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/caroltaylor56/pins/

Thank you once again for reading this post I hope you all have a great week xxx

 

 

My 2nd ever blog post from 2014

4 Replies

old-2688341_1280

Update from 2014…Lily is now 5 yrs and at school…The farm has expanded and we are growing turkeys as well as other fruits and vegetables… I haven’t had another prang…since the last one! I hope you enjoy this earlier post…Happy New Year!

via Growing older is inevitable. Growing up is optional!

Growing older is inevitable. Growing up is optional!

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Well, that’s the 1st one over and done with.

Now I am asking myself how do I follow that?

You could hear a pin drop here it is so quiet. Why?
My little granddaughter who is 2 years old on the 17th is in Sakon Nakon with her mummy to help her other Nannie with gathering in the rice. A yearly ritual, plus side for me is I will get some lovely fresh young rice when she comes home.Lily nov 2014

Big brother is in Udon Thani visiting his mother which we did plan to do…. but sleeping Thai style on the floor …nooo my old bones would have seriously complained so we passed on that one.
Give me time to write in peace was my 1st thought.
Lots to edit from the writer’s retreat 2 weeks ago. If you ever get the opportunity to retreat..take it..it was amazing. Listening to the other very talented writers I was in awe and it most certainly helped those creative juices to flow and flow.

As a newbie, this has completely changed the way I read, write and see things.

Hence my tentative, toe-dipping into the world of blogging!

My head is just fit to bust with all these ideas…..But loving it!

Peanut Butter is this week’s little recipe.

Take 500 gm raw peanuts. Put in oven on tray and cook on high for 10 mins. Take out of oven and reserve a few (if you like crunchy peanut butter) like me. Put the remainder of nuts in a food processor and blitz at 1 min intervals scrapping down the sides. Do this for 4 mins or until smooth.

Add 1 tsp of salt,1 tbsp oil and remainder of nuts if using. If you want to add honey, Nutella or flavouring of your choice then add it to the mix now  and blitz again for 1 min and then put in a suitable container. Stores in fridge for 3/4 weeks…….IT’S DELISH!

Next week I will tell you how to make my favourite Thai dish… Thai Beef Salad aka Nam Doc Nua.Which is a wonderful spicy beef salad eaten with sticky rice.

My little frogs have gone!

008

But all is not lost, now we have lots of little ones (tadpoles) so hopefully when those little froglings grow a bit maybe …. mum and dad will return.

Well…….. quietly sitting at my desk wondering what to write, the heavens opened, another tropical storm, thunder so loud it rattled the house and then…..what’s that….oh no!  Something is flowing and its water through the ceiling……Time for emergency measures…Alan!

Well that’s what hubbies are for, isn’t it? …. putting down towels and mopping up. “Good Man.”

Well, it didn’t stop there:

Later on this week……

What started out as a lovely lunch with a friend at a lovely Suchi/Pot shop buffett….all you can eat in one and a half hours and some………………… ended…

Well I drove home …thought I would reverse up the drive…if I had driven straight up the drive trust me, girls,  I would have got the  ” Can’t you reverse it up? ”

Still with me? Lined it up dead in the middle and reversed………I know now why the menfolk go so close to the right-hand gate post……. as unseen by the naked eye is a crafty camber in the drive………The lovely, healthy ginger plant now looks a bit battered….. and my number plate just fell off…….I tried a few times to straighten the truck………Then gave up!

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I walked indoors number plate in hand.

Not to be greeted by ” Hi Darling, how are you? Nice lunch?”

But “What have you done now?” and in that tone.

Can’t think why! Can you ladies??

Bless him…number plate now back in situ and looking like nought happened.

 

Well, that’s it for this week.

Thank you for reading my blog.

I do hope you are enjoying reading it as much as I am enjoying writing it.