baby foot

follow up to last post

So that low sodium business actually works, ever the skeptic I didn’t know if I would actually be able to tell a difference. Well, my leg and ankle went back to ‘normal’ this weekend and it hasn’t been normal for a few weeks!! And I actually felt healthier since in order to avoid sodium you need to stay away from processed foods, Mrs Dash is all salt free so all my food still had flavor, and we found some yummy new meals!

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

So I decided to put myself on a low sodium diet hoping that it will help my leg/ankle swelling to go down. It's more like a try to eat less sodium diet. I figured I would beat the Dr to it and maybe it won't become a huge problem. I found this delicious recipe on the American Heart Association web site, at least sugar and chocolate don't have sodium in them :o) I made this tonight and it was delicious!

1 3/4 cups all-purpose four

2/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips ( I am pretty sure I almost doubled this)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 cup mashed banana

1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 large egg

1 tablespoon canola or corn oil

6 reduced-fat vanilla wafer cookies crushed (about 1/4 cup)

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 1/2 inch loaf pan with vegetable oil spray.

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, chocolate chips, baking powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Make a well in the center.

Add the remaining ingredients except the cookie crumbs, stirring until just moistened. Don't over mix; the batter should be lumpy. Pour into the loaf pan. Sprinkle with cookie crumbs.

(next time I may press the crumbs in a little so they don't fall off when it's done)

Bake for 55 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Invert the bread onto a cooling rack and let cool before slicing.

per serving:

Calories 129

Total Fat 2.0 g

Sodium 64 mg

not sure where I lost the rest of the nutritional facts.

**tornado sirens, probably better go**

Happy Birthday Sis!

Well for your birthday I was planning on having a picture of your new niece and nephew but it looks like things got postponed, until next week.

I was nine years old when you were born, I don't remember much about the baby stage, but I do remember when you were a toddler and my friend and I would dress you up in a million different outfits or just make you look silly, or pretend we were photographers and you were the subject. I think mom has tons of random pictures that I took, I wish I had a few so I could post them. I remember one picture you were supposed to look gangsta but you ended up just looking like a midget, that, was a funny picture. It was so much fun to play with you. A real live doll, every nine year old girls dream :o) The best part was if we made you cry on accident then we could just take you to mom and she would fix everything. Thanks for being such a good sport!! I love all the chats we have now and the days you keep me from getting bored at work with our email conversations. Love you.

P.S. Since I couldn't get a picture of baby today, this was the best I could get. Complete with a 'deer in the headlights' look and some shaggy hair.

Is it a Boy?

Something I wonder often, do I have a sweet little girl in my belly or a cute little boy? But I have always wanted it to be a surprise, so that’s just what I am going to do. For the most part I like not knowing. It’s amazing how many times I get asked that question, and really I haven’t even had “THE ultrasound” yet. It really is amusing, some people almost seem disappointed and others think it’s really cool and fun. The stubborn side of me thinks it’s funny when they are disappointed and helps me dig my heels and strengthen my resolve to not find out. I‘m not saying I don’t care because I am very curious and I know if make it past the ultrasound then, I will just have to wait. I think they will be that much more excited when they hear the news since there will be more news to tell. Don’t get me wrong if you are dying of curiosity with your own baby then by all means find out. I may even find out next time :o)

I was bored one day and looked up the Chinese Lunar Calendar gender predictor thing, and it said I was going to have a boy. There were actually 2 possible spots on the graph that I could fall under and they were both boy. I don’t put much stock in that, so we will see in October if it’s right. All I have to do is make it past the temptation during the ultrasound tomorrow.

Record high

If you notice in my archives the month of May was an all time high for number of posts! Go me! So I am going to challenge myself to write more often and beat my PR and set a new one for this month. It's going to be hard since we will be gone for a week, but a good challege since writing is not something that comes easy. As long as I don't become obsessed or addicted to blog life it will be ok.

chocolate chip muffin, Yum!

Chocolate chip muffin with sugar on top, that is what I had for 2nd breakfast this morning and it was worth every calorie! We had a fun weekend, we worked in the yard some more and after 4 years we are finally getting to know our neighbors a little bit. I guess we neglected our yard the past few years while we worked on the inside. We planted 3 shrubs and I transplanted about 8 daylilies from our neighbor's yard- I have no idea what I am doing so I hope they grow big and pretty. I will post some pictures later when we are closer to being done.
Saturday we spent the evening with our friends Sneaky and P.M. and their husbands, in honor of Peter Marie and her husband’s 5th anniversary. We had a marathon of stops, out to eat at Chef's Kitchen, then walked over to Snookie’s ice cream shop for dessert. From there we went over to a cool coffee shop and hung out until late, late for old married people:o) It was a ton of fun to hang out and catch up with each other. Happy Anniversary!!!
Sorry no pictures, I am really bad at remembering my camera.