Spiced Zucchini Bars with Raisins (Adapted from One Smart Cookie)

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons butter -- softened
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour -- (or regular flour)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup packed grated zucchini
1/2 cup raisins, white -- or dried cranberries


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, beat together butter and brown sugar until creamy. Mix in egg and vanilla - beat until smooth.

In a small bowl, whisk together flours, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, and salt.

Add the flour mixture along with the grated zucchini into the butter mixture. Stir just until combined and then gently fold in the dried canberries and pecans .

Scoop batter into an 8x8" baking dish lightly coated with nonstick spray. Bake until the top springs back when lightly touched near the center, about 25-30 minutes. Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack.

Note: whole wheat pastry flour can be found at the grocery store with a little looking.

A kick in the pants

I have several blogs that I like to check out (soon I hope to put up links oncee I figure it out!) and today I found one that created a spark in me. Perhaps if I blog about workouts, healthy eating and my personal goals I just might make the leap to being addicted to the workouts. I really do need to loose weight, more than I care to announce at this time, so I shall post and head to the gym. Hello treadmill!

Motivation

Where does it come from? I really need to find some motivation for myself as it really is lacking. Perhaps a quick search of motivational quotes will help me out.

Alright here is the quote of the day from Motivationalquotes.com

The good things of prosperity are to be wished; but the good things that belong to adversity are to be admired.

Seneca

Not sure if that does it for me, but I really should get to the To Do list. More to follow soon.

Organization - always a work in progress

So I read a lot on the Cooking Light Community Bullentin Board . I love reading new recipes and getting feedback from others about recipes they tried and liked. Lately some of my favorite recipes have come from the Great Food Board.

Yesterday I made a post about things I have made in the past to give for the Holidays. Of course I cannot find the recipe in my recipe stacks. Argh! I will have to go searching more this weekend as I have other things I need to be doing right now. Not to mention I really do collect recipes. Not that I try them all, but I collect a lot of recipes. Perhaps now is the time to toss some of the older magazines that I have not even looked at. I would never miss them, right?

Who doesn't love seeing an air show?

I must confess that my first airshow was this past weekend, but the Blue Angels were the best for a first air show.


The formations and the tricks were amazing! Flying so close and doing the slow gentle rolls across the bay was amazing. I am almost ready to sign up for the Navy if I could fly planes and look so smooth as the Blue Angels were at Fleet Week in San Francisco this past weekend. If only I had better photos. Yes, I took lots (hundreds) but that is the beauty of digital.

Pork Medallions with Red Peppers and Artichokes

It was time to try something new for dinner and to my amazement I flipped shortly through my Cooking Light Recipe 2004 Book and found something that sounded tasty and was under the super fast meals - not a bad combination when you are hoping to get dinner on the table quickly.

2 teaspoons olive oil
Cooking spray
8 (2-ounce) boneless center-cut loin pork chops
1/4 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
2 cups red bell pepper strips
1 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon dried rubbed sage
1 (14-ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained

Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Sprinkle the pork with Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper. Add pork, and cook 1 minute on each side or until lightly browned. Remove from pan. Add bell pepper to pan; sauté 2 minutes.
Combine the broth, tomato paste, thyme, and sage, stirring with a whisk.

Return pork to pan, and add broth mixture and artichoke hearts. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 8 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Remove pork from pan, and keep warm. Increase heat to medium-high; cook 2 minutes or until slightly thickened. Spoon the artichoke mixture over the pork.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 2 pork chops and 1 cup artichoke mixture)

NUTRITION PER SERVING
CALORIES 245(22% from fat); FAT 6.3g (sat 1.7g,mono 3.4g,poly 0.7g); PROTEIN 29.8g; CHOLESTEROL 74mg; CALCIUM 22mg; SODIUM 782mg; FIBER 5.7g; IRON 2.5mg; CARBOHYDRATE 17.4g

Cooking Light, SEPTEMBER 2003

Notes: Unfortunately the red pepper purchased for this recipe was used for something else earlier in the week. Despite missing a key ingredient, I really liked this meal and it will be part of the Favorites Cookbook.

Yummy!

Tip for the Day: For any spider bite, be sure your tetanus immunization is current.

I was bitten by a spider a few weeks ago. Actually it was more like a feast since I have about 10 bites within a 1/2 inch diameter. Unfortunately, I have been having some itchiness with the bites recently that make me think I should see a doctor. Or perhaps I need to try some hydrocortisone ointment twice a day.

Perhaps if I had a doctor I like, I would have been in to see a doctor sooner. Instead the battles of overpayment to the doctor I saw last March constantly remind me of what a creep he was. Time to search the website and look for someone new.