Healthy recipe Strawberry Jam vegan gluten free

Summer is the best season for delicious fruits like strawberries! I one time bought a bag of frozen strawberries. It tastes not too bad, but it just doesn't taste yummy like the fresh ones.

Benefits:
Strawberries are rich in Vitamin C (which tastes sour) and is a great weight loss fruit!! Great to know it huh? The sour tastes from Vitamin C stimulate our taste buds.

Free download recipe here

Healthy Recipes Daiquiri Fruit (stevia and green tea)

Obesity is not a news for America, but the statistics are still astonishing: 35.7% of Americans were obese, based upon the 2010 statistics!!! By 2018, this number will be 47.5%: every two Americans, there will be one obese. And that does not even include overweight!! I think nobody gains weights for purposes.  If you look at the cooking shows on TV, foods sold in restaurants, bakeries and supermarkets, it's much easier to find the answer!

Healthy Recipes Quinoa Muffin: Stevia recipe, banana, quinoa, whole wheat

Quinoa Muffin Banana, quinoa, whole wheat flour, stevia recipe

It was a beautiful and productive weekend!! Wonderful weather! I felt happy as I got my surgery done last week!! My surgery was completed last Thursday, but I felt a bit of fever in Friday afternoon. So I decided to walk to CVS (couldn't drive as I was on medication) to get one thermometer. I could not believe it took me quite bit energy to walk back and forth, only less than 2 miles. I walked so slow that one guy stopped me,

Are you ok, mam?

did not want him to feel I'm too sick, I used all my energy said, yes!

Healthy Recipes Whole Wheat Cookies (Mint & Stevia)

Did you watch the Oscar last night? I fully enjoyed Billy Crystal's opening speech and singing, even though I have never heard of him (Am I too young or too old? Well, I only can remember a few: George Clooney, Brad Pitt...they are the few who are often on screen...). And the Best Actor Jean Dujardin's speech was marvelous! I thought French are reserved...he was screaming and said the "F" word (Jimmy Kimmel said!!) Another aspect of French, besides the world famous French kiss...agree?

Tea Lifestyle-Stevia recipes-Whole Wheat Banana Yogurt Bread

I have been baking a lot of breads recently. why? Urrrrr.... I bought too much flour!!;)))) Urrrr... I also love breads, any kind!! Anybody has a better anwer?;))))

I told one of my friends yesterday that I stopped adding any sugar to the Lightly Alcoholic Blooming Tea Punch. She said, that's great because everything we eat and drink now contains sugar!!! That's right!! And it adds up over time.

So I finally tested the banana bread recipe. I brought some with me when I went to the Toastmasters' meeting last week!! Guess what? Everybody asked me the recipe!!! Hahaahahaha!!

In the beginning, everybody was a little bit hesitated because people are health caucious nowadays!!

When I told them I did not add any sugar, they then rushed to the table for a bite!;))

Amanda said, your bread is so soft, full of moisture and tastes soo good. Many breads use a lot of butter to keep the bread moist. Did you add a lot?

I said, Actually I normally cut the butter volume in almost all my recipe. Same with my Banana bread.  For this one, I replaced sour cream with Fat Free Yogurt!!

Ah ha!! that's my secrete ingredient!!!Listen, nothing wrong with sour cream, but I love fat free yogurt because it offers me a lot of calcium.

I got this recipe from Martha Stewart and made my own version;)) Hey, nothing can beat the customized bread, right?!!!

Benefits: rich in calcium and fiber, low fat, low cholestrol...and nice aroma!! When I was baking, the aroma from my overn filled out the whole room!!!

Tea pairing: The bread  tastes lightly sweet, soft, full of moisture, delicate aroma. Great to pair with Green or Herbal tea

Ingredients:

Ingredient A:

¾  cup whole wheat four

¾ cup all purposes flour

¼ tsp sea salt

½ tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

2 tbsp stevia

¼ tsp freshly ground clove

½ cup chopped pecan

Ingredient B:

2/3 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup Greek fat free yogurt

2 ripe banana

2 egg white

2 tbsp butter (room temperature)

Directions:

1.        Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease the loaf pan 9"x5"with oil and flour.

2.     Mix ingredients A

3.     Mix ingredients B-I used hand blender to help mix everything evenly and smoothly

4.     Pour ingredient B into Ingredient A and mix evenly

5.     Bake for about 1 hour, until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean



Tea Lifestyle-Stevia Recipes-Whole Wheat Gingerbread

I used to shop at local bakeries, but found most of the stuff I bought are way too sweet for me. Many bakeries use food colorings and that bothers me a lot!

I'm a super picky shopper and eater;(( My foods have to taste not only good, look pretty, but also provides enough health reasons!! That's one of major reasons I decided to bake for myself-healthy, light, FRESH and BALANCED nutrition. I control what I eat and what ingredients to use. I like "She controls"!;))

My neighbor, Jill, told me that her boyfriend is in chemotherapy. She is so stressed out that she looks like a paper doll!!;((( The other day I made few breads and granola and shared most of them with her. Jill knocked my door almost every 5 minutes, trying to tell me she loved everything! HA!! I promised her I will make more...

I try to use Ginger more often in my cooking in case I forget to drink ginger tea! Flu season, babe! I need to be extra careful!

This morning I decided to make a Gingerbread. I found a recipe at All Recipes. The original recipe is actually Pumpkin Gingerbread, but since I do not have pumpkin any more, I simply just make a simple version of Whole wheat Gingerbread...

Honestly I made it twice. The first time, Jill said it tasted great, but would be better if I added little bit more sweetness and cinnamon. And we both did not like the all spices in the recipe...I then made a revision, and...here we go, Yum Yum!!

Benefits: Lowe calories, Low cholestrol, fresh ingredients...that's GOOD enough!!
No sugar added-Less calories
Less oil used-Less calories and Cholestrol
Only use egg white-less cholestrol
Fresh ginger zest (juicy!!) and fresh ground clove (the aroma is so strong that I have hard time to clean my grinder!): I use fresh ingredients as much as possible

Food pairing: good with green tea and black tea. Also tastes great with Jam. I tried it with the Mango jam I made....goody goody!!

Ingredients: it makes 1 loaf (9x5 inch)

A:
1-1/4 cups of all purpose flour (I always use unbleached)
1-1/4 cups of whole wheat flour
4 tbsp stevia
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground clove
Cranberry raisins and pecan (optional)

B:
4 egg white
4 oz olive oil (or veggie oil)
*3 tbsp freshly grated ginger (or you can use 1 tbsp ginger powder, as in the original recipe)
1/2 cup of vanila soy milk (I used organic one bought from costco, light aroma)











Directions:

1. Preheat oven 350F. Lightly greese and flour 1 9x5 inch loaf pan
2. Mix all ingredients B
3. Mix ingredients A and pour the mixture of ingredients B into A.
4. Bake until toothpick comes out clean, roughly 45 minutes (i used)

*Clean ginger and peal off the skin. Use a fine grater to get both ginger juice and ginger zest.
*Almost all gingerbread recipes, such as the cookbok "Joy of Cooking" recommend using ground ginger, instead of fresh ginger because fresh ginger has too much juice and hard to control the moisture of the bread. I did test few times and this one came out great!!

PS. I shared many of my foods with my neighbors;))) they loved it!!! As long as they continue to say "Jane is a good cook", I will continue to share my foods with them;)))) hahahaha!!

Tea Lifestyle-Stevia recipes-Pumpkin bread No.1

I had no internet and phone for a few days because of the snow storm;(( Can you imagine how bad it was? I had to drive to the closest Fedex office everyday to check my emails.

Today I decided to give myself a treat, a real treat I always wanted!! I cooked some pumkins last night and had some left-overs. So I decided to make a Pumpkin Bread this morning. While baking the bread, a technician from Verizon, Joe, came in to fix the internet issue.

Joe could not resist the smell of the bread and started asking me questions. HAHAGIGIGAGA!! He was cute;))

Joe-Smells really good.
Me-Pumpkin bread
Joe-It smells like Pumpkin bread. He smiles
Me-I use stevia instead of sugar and all fresh ingredients for my cooking.
Joe-Used to eat a lot of sweet foods. That's why I'm fat (I do not think he is fat). Lost 50 lbs and was a pre-diabete. Used to go to McDonalds or Donkin Donuts 5 times a day because of my working schedules. Now my wife prepares meals for me at home.
Me-Well, this might be the perfect bread for you. No sugar added and I used some Whole Wheat in my bread. It tastes delicate. Try this Earl Gray Cranberry Jam I made (I was trying to sell my jam to Joe;))) with the bread.
Joe-It tastes really great with the Jam!

I was soo flattered that I decided to ask him to take half of the pumpkin bread home after done;)) He happily did it;)))

Benefits:
Low calories, Low Chalestrol, low fat, low salt, no sugar added. It tastes lightly sweet, delicate, smooth, subtle....and...yum yum!!

Traditional Chinese Medicine believes Pumpkin is good for the "Chi" in your body. It is rich in Vitamine A, and minerals such as Phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, calcium, etc

Pumpkin is good for eyes and skin. Pumpkin seeds can help prevent kidney stones (Phosphorus) and prostate cancer.

But avoid overeating it or eat it when you are taking Chinese medicine.

I got this recipe on All Recipes, but made few changes so that it not only tastes good, but also healthy healthy!

Ingredients (it makes roughly 1 loaf of bread) 

1/2 cup freshly cooked pumpkin puree
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup stevia (or adjusted per your preference)
2 eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup Whole Wheat flour
1/3 tsp baking powder
1/3 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp light salt
1/3 tsp ground cinnamon
1/3 tsp ground nutmeg
1/3 tsp ground cloves

Directions:

1. Steam 1/2 Pumpkin* until cooked. Roughly 15 minutes. Then spoon the flesh out in a bowl. Mash it with a spoon. (I let the pumpkin cool down and mashed it with my hands. I love to touch my food and it's fun!!)

2. Preheat the over to 350 F. Greese and flour the 9x5 inch loaf pan.

3. Mix the Pumpkin puree, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, , eggs, stevia, and olive oil. Add all flour in and mix well.

4. Bake for 1 hour until a toothpick inserted in center come out clean.

Food Paring:

You can eat the pumpkin bread with green tea, or herbal tea. It's great for afternoon tea. 

Tips:

1. *I used Butter Pumpkin, smaller in size and taste very smooth! When you steam pumkin, do it with skin. Afer the cooked pumpkin cool down, use spoon to get the flesh out. This is the laziest way to eat pumpkin without spending half hour to peal off the skin;)))

2. Pumpkin seeds-I do not like to waste any thing. I clean the pumpkin seeds and put it in a heated pan (no oil added) until cooked. The seeds are the perfect snack food. You can eat them with their shell!!! Good way to exercise your facial muscle, your draw;)))) HA!

Tea Lifestyle-recipes-Whole wheat Matcha faces inspired by funny cat pictures;))

My friend's daughter was very upset because her dog died yesterday!!!;(( so sad! The puppy was trying to jump up on the bed, but failed. He was just 4 years old! The doctor said it was due to heart failure;(( I wish the little puppy found a home and friends in heaven!

I was trying to cheering her up and made this recipe!

This recipe was inspired by these two pictures I found on Flickr!! ;)) They belong to Mdf1281

Funny cat faces by Mdf1281 on flicr

Funny cat faces by Mdf1281 on Flickr

Benefits: It makes you and your stomache huppie;)) A happy ending all the time!! Low fat, full of fiber, delicate aroma, sour and sweet taste!

Ingredients:

A.

1-1/2 cups of whole wheat flour

½  cups all purpose flour

½ tsp light salt

2-1/2 tbsp baking powder

2-1/2 tbsp stevia extract

B.

1/3 cups butter

1 cup of vanilla soya milk (i use organic vanilla soya milk bought from costco)

1 tsp lemon juice (or half lemon)

Lemon zest 

C.

Grapes

Matcha-roughly 2-3 tsp

1.       Mix A evenly

2.       Add B into A and make a dough. Sprinkle a little bit all purpose flour so that you can roll it.

3.       Preheat the oven 450F

4.       Roll the dough to a square shape, roughly ½ inches thick, and cut into 2” by 2" square shape roughly 36 pieces. That's the skin.

5.       Use the skin to wrap the grape and make it a ball like shape

6.       Put in oven for about 12-15 minutes

7.       Matcha paste-mix matcha with very little water to make a thick match paste, more looks like paint.

8.       12 minutes later, take the whole wheat balls out and paint them with matcha paste!!

Have fun my dear tea friends!! Happy every day!!!;)



Weight loss-Stevia vs Sugar?

What's stevia? Stevia, is a plant. Also called sweet leaf, it originates from South America. It tastes sweet, but slightly different than sugar, and has a long lasting after taste.

Benefit of Stevia:
1. NO calories. (but that does not mean you can eat tons of them, in my opinion)
2. Approved by FDA as food addictive in 2008. It is commonly used by diabetes as a sugar substitute because it has no impact on blood sugar level. The herb is sold in some South American countries to aid diabetics and hypoglycemics, Candidiasis. The plant has been used widly in Japan for decades.
3. NO worries about teeth cavities (but that's a bad news for dentists, sorry)

dot dot dot....

How much more should I say? Sounds good enough to use it often, right? That's not the end of the story.

I met a lady at a tea tasting event who told me, you should drink tea with sugar, not stevia. She said her nutritionist told her that when people drink sugar sweetened beverage, they are cautious about calories. So they drink less. When people drink beverage sweetened by stevia, they intend to drink more because they know stevia has zero calory. The result is people can gain weight!


I get the point: suppose we drink 1 gallon of sugar sweetened tea per day. if we switch to stevia, according to the nutritionist's theory, we will intend to drink 2 gallons? Does the real world really work that way? if that's the case, we need to make sure to install a rubber stomach to hold that much water/food! Everybody would walk like a pregnant woman.

I found her nutrionist's advice is amusing! what do you think? have you tried Stevia? Do you like the taste?