Quality of Life Chocolate Muffins

What a crazy couple of weeks.  I am so behind on my blog and I have had so many topics to write about that I did not write down so I forgot.  I have something today and if life slows down a bit, I may be able to jot down another topic this weekend.  My kiddos have strep so hopefully they sleep in.  I semi-caught up on my reading (I really never catch up) so I think I can manage a quick writing session because after all, this is an enjoyable activity for me and that is what I would like to write about—Quality of life.  

What is the definition of the quality of life?  I am sure we all have a unique definition, but I think that it encompasses that our body, mind, and spirit are in a balance that enables us to seek our aspirations and, well, just be happy.  Is this a right?  Are we entitled to have a great quality of life?  I think so. However, it is a group process, not just an individual and I guarantee that others will not ensure that your quality of life is up to par.  With that said, I also believe that the playing grounds are not fairly distributed and that although we should make the best of what we have available, we should also strive to achieve a more level playing ground.  It is not a hand-out as some people would like to believe.  

There is not a fair distribution of services, economic opportunities, air quality, exercise options, food security…The list goes on and on.  Is there someone to blame? Maybe, but why waste time investigating the perpetrator, when instead determining the reason or cause is much more productive, because that is what you can change.  When it comes to diseases related to lifestyle, I know that there are determinants that keep us from feeling better.  There are also responsible groups that contribute to these diseases.  But as hopeless as it may sound, you along with others can combat these determinants.  You can’t do it alone and others cannot do it for you.  

I don’t know about you, but I really think we are here to heal each other.  Who doesn’t enjoy friendship and intimacy?  I truly believe that breaking bread together is a way to accomplish many of our goals and enhancing our quality of life.  As a collective, we can do so much together.  If we made our lives more of a collaborative event, loneliness would not last as long, physical illnesses would not affect us so negatively, and lifestyles would be healthier.  Today, I think I am going to eat our last chocolate muffins with my kids and not feel one bit guilty about it.  (Well maybe the fact that I put zucchini in them does help).

Challenge:  Make something together or something that tastes good and enjoy it with a friend. Try this recipe for size.  If you feel like there is some aspiration that you cannot achieve, take a bite, talk it over and seize the day.

Zucchini Chocolate Muffins

1 cup of brown rice flour

½ cup tapioca starch

½ cup sorghum flour

1 cup of cocoa powder

1 cup of sugar

¼ cup of flax meal

1-2 cups of chocolate chips

1 cup of vanilla yogurt

2/3 cup of canola oil

4 eggs

1 tbls baking powder

½ tsp salt

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups of zucchini

2 tsp xanthan or guar gum

½ - 1 cup of buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a muffin pan with cooking spray. Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl except chocolate chips.  Mix wet ingredients except buttermilk and vanilla in a separate bowl or large measuring cup.  Combine both wet and dry ingredients together.  Add buttermilk to make a batter consistency.  Add vanilla and chocolate chips.  Spoon batter into muffin pan cups.  Bake in oven for 25-35 minutes. As soon as you smell that rich chocolaty scent, take out of oven and cool on rack for 5 minutes.  Remove muffins from pan and cool or eat with milk.  Mmm. Warm muffins and cold milk. This recipe makes enough for 2 dozen muffins and you can half it easily. 

Thinkin About Labor Day

As much as  dreaded starting another semester of grad school, not because of the work involved mind you, but the time management and strict schedule that I have to cede to so that I can get everything done in one day.   It is burdensome sometimes and I get burned out pretty darn fast.  I actually skipped running this evening to cook, blog, and play with my baby, while listening to the birds.  I can’t help but say that I am pretty excited to get my research started up again.  I do things like that on Friday nights. I sometimes have that glass of wine or a nice cold beer too.   Although simple, I am blessed that I am able to do them.  I have a body that lets me accomplish the tasks and enjoyable activities because I have health.  Health is definitely one of those elements that we take for granted and don’t even blink an eye at it until it’s gone or missing temporarily due to the stupid hangover or whatever little bug is floating around.  There might be someday when we do not have the physical capacity to just blow these minor discomforts off. 

And this week, I learned that although we have systems in place to treat any maladies we may have, but not necessarily because of care, but as my instructor says…”It’s a business.”  Unfortunately, prevention strategies are not part of this business although this strategy does not save money and so many policy makers and business people invested in medical treatment and technology are much more interested in making money.  We each walk around with dollar signs on our foreheads. After reading some of the articles I read this week, I really believe that there is money to be made on poor health, which in turn makes the rest of us financially poor. It really is sick and the only cure is to prevent it from happening. No matter how small, anything will work.  According to Stephen Woolf, prevention spending provides much more value with possible net savings, meaning  that prevention strategies give you more health per dollar spent as opposed to just testing and treatment.  A balance of these health strategies would provide us a value that we can swallow.  More  more health insurance companies are jumping on board to give their customers this option, but it can be better and I will remember this the next time I am shopping for health insurance.

So I hope this labor day,  you relaxed ate some salads with all those steaks and thought about how hard you work and how your good health helps you pay more and more to a system that sees you as a dollar sign or two.

Reference:  Woolf, Stephen.  2010. A Closer Look at the Economic Argument for Disease Prevention.  Journal of the American Medical Association. 301 (5). http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/301/5/536.

Your challenge this week….Take a seasonal veggie like cucumbers, tomatoes, green beans, or eggplants or peppers and make it into a salad.  It can be your disease prevention salad.

Recipe

Pod Bean Salad

2 pounds of pod beans like green beans

1 can cannellini, kidney, or garbanzo beans (rinsed)

¼ - ½ cup of good olive oil

½ chopped red onion

Juice from 1 or 2 lemons

Zest from half a lemon

1 tsp minced garlic

1 tsp dill weed

1 tbl chopped mint or fresh oregano

Salt and pepper to taste

1 cup of halved cherry tomatoes

1 handful of crumbled feta cheese

Method:

Blanch beans in boiling water for about 1-2 minutes.  They should be bright and still slightly crisp.  Place beans in an ice water bath to stop the cooking process.  Mix dressing everything except beans, tomatoes, and feta in a bowl.  Add beans, tomatoes and feta and mix gently. Place in fridge until ready to serve. 

A Recipe for Flappy Mama Arms

I am going to talk about something many of us ladies hate to bring up.  Men might even cringe or possibly reflect on the fond memories of the ladies in their lives.  Yes, I am going to talk about our arms, not the whole arm, but the little flappy thing in the back of our arm that happens as we get older despite all the babies we lift and the work we do.  All of us frown at the thought of flappy arms and swear to firm them up after our kids get older, next summer, or for the New Year.  I don’t lift weights like I should, but I do exercise and to my horror, I noticed that I am developing the flap on the backs of my arms.

Instead of crying over it and making promises that I know I can’t keep.  I decided to take another try on gluten-free flour tortillas, a challenge that I intend to conquer.  Why tortillas, you ask?  Well that flappy arm is the benchmark of an auntie, a grandma, or a mom that takes me back to when the women in my family made tortillas.  So I plugged in some music, (I could have turned on the TV to a novella too, but not my style), tied on an apron and got to work.  As I was working, I thought about why we get this flap when we women work our arms so much.  We lift babies, prepare meals, clean, and work out when we find the time.  Heck, rolling out tortillas takes some effort, but I distinctly remember that flap on my aunt’s arm going flappety flap as she would roll the rolling pin and flip the tortillas in effort to make them perfectly round.   My own mother used to joke about her arms and flex her bicep claiming that she isn’t going to get that flap and I dare not mention if she has or hasn’t. 

I have come to the conclusion that it should be a marking of pride and it sure is nice to get hugs from ladies with flappy arms.  Well it’s nice to get hugs from any arms.   Now I am not saying quit exercising. We need to protect our bones from deteriorating and our hearts need some physical exercise, but our hearts also need a hugging kind of workout not the ShakeWeight kind. (That thing is goofy.)  I know we read all these magazines that have strappy tops and dresses and tell ourselves how much we wish we could wear those things, but hate our arms.   What I am saying is flex that bicep and let the arm hang low with pride, you deserve it and it really is a thing of beauty and great memories.  It is one of the reasons I love to cook.  

This week’s challenge…Bake something new and seasonal.  You will know what goes in it and feel good about eating and sharing it.  I had all these apples from my apple tree and made apple butter.  I worked out my arm flap cranking the food mill.  I also tried another recipe for Gluten Free flour tortillas and had the most success so far.  Other ideas include zuchinni bread, peach cobbler, pecan cobbler, corn and zuchinni fritters. Or try tortillas.

GF Flour Tortilla Recipe (It still needs some tweaking)

1 ½ cups of brown rice flour

1 cup of potato starch

2/3 cup of a fat (I used butter which was tasty, but lard, or oil may work well here) I would guess you could use shortening or margarine, but I don’t endorse manufactured trans fats

2-4 tbls of warm milk or water

2 tsp xantham gum

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

Combine dry ingredients then cut in fat with hands.  Add the milk one tablespoon at a time to help dough to stick together and add more if needed.  Knead into a lump and it will feel like play doh.  Grab a small ball and place on rice floured surface.  Get a small rolling pin dusted with rice flour and roll it out as round as you can to 1/8 inch thickness.  This is the hard part.  Use a spatula to scoop the tortilla and place it carefully on a heated skillet.  I use a cast iron.  Let the surface get a little bubbly and flip it like a pancake.  Leave it on for about 30 seconds, remove and place on clean towel.  Eat them immediately because they didn’t keep well.  I will work on that and repost.

P.S.  Rolling GF dough prevents the flappety flap of the arm because it is a slower process and there is no gluten to fight with.