The Perfect Loaf of Banana Bread

Weight: 153.6 (down .6 lbs or 6.4 lbs from the beginning!)


I don't know about you but I love banana bread, I mean I LOVE banana bread. For the last couple of years I have been desperately searching for a healthy recipe that does not sacrifice taste. Ladies and gentlemen, I think I have found the perfect loaf of banana bread!

This blueberry banana bread will blow you away. It is so moist, delicious, filling and get this... not one drop of butter or oil in it! It's whole wheat, it's flax-y, it's low-calorie, it's low-fat, it's high fiber, it's healthy, it's amazing!


Since I have discovered this recipe about a month ago, I have been poping 2 piece in the toaster every morning for breakfast and having it with 1/2 a cup of yogurt and I can honestly say it keeps me full until lunch... a good 4 hours!

Bust out those old, bruised bananas and eat your heart out people!

Baked Scallops

Weight: 156! Eeeek!

Damn it, damn it, damn it! I hate the weekends! And a long weekend?! My calorie counting always falls by the way side when Friday rolls around... what to do, what to do?! I think it may just be the cookies that Bevan (the significant other) baked on Saturday... and I proceeded to snack on all weekend long.

We went for a 1 1/2 hour walk yesterday... I didn't wake up until 10 so my eating time was cut short. I even stopped eating after 7pm last night... and STILL?! Well I guess I'll see what tomorrow has to bring.

My weekend was pretty sedentary actually because of my back. I am not sure what happened but based on the bruise on my lower spine I am thinking... I ran into something backwards at high speeds? I have no idea... I am trying to break free from the pain and just work through it. I have been doing that since last Wednesday to no avail.

So I am making scallops to cure my pain! Ever since my wonderful vacation out East to visit my in-laws in Nova Scotia... I have fallen in love.


A deep, delicious, heavenly love with... scallops (and seafood in general)!

Four-Cheese Baked Pasta

Weight: 154.6 lbs

Who doesn't love a nice dish of creamy, cheesy, delicious baked pasta? How about creamy, low-fat, high fiber, cheesy goodness? Yes my friends, it is possible! Guilt-free, healthy comfort food - here we come!

Four-Cheese Baked Pasta

Kinda, sorta from this recipe

Perfect Lunch

I worked out at a gym yesterday (I haven't been to one in awhile, I love stay home in my humble abode to work on my fitness) but I enjoyed it! My girlfriend and I worked HARD and we are both happy to be feeling it today! I also went to a movie on the weekend and refrained from allowing anything harsh to enter my body! Yay for will power!

Today's recipe: Roasted Onion and Garlic Bisque with Whole Wheat Garlic Knots (can we all say 'yum' together?!)

Don't only enjoy this meal to ward off vampires - garlic is full of calcium, potassium and vitamin C. Parsley is an herb that is chalked full of vitamin A, C and K, as well as folic acid. Onions support cardiovascular health, especially because

The Master Dough!

I know right... enough bread already! Let me explain, I was typing up a post on this amazing soup and garlic knot bun type things I made yesterday and remembered that I haven't written anything about the Master Recipe dough from the cookbook Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day. I also realized that I made the garlic knots with that master dough. So for you to make the next recipe you have to make the master dough. Thus, this post!

My favorite new recipe book (discovered at our lovely public library!) is Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day. I am so excited about this way of cooking! I have posted other recipes from this cookbook (Guacamole Bread & Simple Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread) and now I am posting the Master Recipe (that will keep for 14 days!)

The idea is that you make the dough (no kneading necessary) and store it in your refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Whenever you need to make a loaf of bread, you grab some dough, let it rest and pop it in the oven. Seems too easy to be so good,

Low-Fat Almond Biscotti

Weight: 156.2

No more falling off the bandwagon during the weekend (time to test the will power starting today... FRIDAY!) I was down to 155 and 1 weekend of not calorie counting ended up like this... it's now 1 week later and my weight hasn't gone back to pre-weekend blunder weight. Not going to lie, I am feeling pretty discouraged.

I was very active this week and watched my calories. I was busy with wii fit, boxing, swimming, water aerobics, chasing kids around the indoor playground and I even made and effort to walk instead of drive many times this week... what the heck?!

Anyways... I tried out a recipe for low-fat almond biscotti in my Clean Eating cookbook and it is heavenly! So I had to share. Biscotti goes wonderfully with

More Fresh Bread

I am definitely not a no-carb kind of person. I believe in a complete and balanced diet - carbs INCLUDED! As long as you count it in your daily calories, there is nothing wrong with a little carbs in your life.

If you like crispy Artisan bread, you are going to L-O-V-E this recipe! I tried it because I had an excess of avocados in the house but what came out the oven what a very pleasant surprise! Yum!

What is so perfect about this recipe is that you prepare the dough and store it for up to 5 days! Just rip some off and bake it!

Fresh and Simple Bread

If you haven't read or heard of Michael Pollan's book In Defense of Food, I suggest you run to your local library or book store and grab a copy. It changed my life by completely re-vamping the way I eat. One of Pollan's eating suggestions that really changed me was:

Don't eat anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food. Imagine your great grandmother at your side as you shop. You are at the dairy case and she picks up Go-Gurt Yogurt tube - and has no idea what this could possibly be. Is it food or toothpaste? If she wouldn't think it was edible, don't put it in your cart! Let's consider bread now... your grandmother would tell you that bread is made using a remarkably small number of ingredients: flour, water, yeast, and a pinch of salt will do. But industrial breads have become much more complicated. Here's is a complete list of ingredients in Sara Lee's Soft & Smooth Whole Grain White Bread.

Pizza, pizza!

Mmmm I love pizza night at the Olson/Iwaskow household!

I found this recipe about 3 years ago and have never gone back. It is from the lovely cookbook Eat, Shrink & Be Merry. This is by far, the best whole-wheat dough you will ever encounter and it really is so easy!