Showing posts with label baking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label baking. Show all posts

Monday, 7 September 2020

Podcast Interview with Orlena Kerek: Fit and Healthy Families

 



As a mom I want to make sure my kids are eating well and being healthy. It can be so hard sometimes to mange everything and take care of myself too. I am so pleased to have Dr. Orlena on the podcast this week. She is the creator of the Fit and Fabulous Family Program.

Dr Orlena trained as a pediatric doctor in the UK. In 2011 she moved to Spain with her husband and 2 young kids. To cut a long story short, she "accidentally lost" her medical career and turned to the internet to keep herself busy (initially as an outlet from parenting.) She started off helping parents of picky eaters teach their children healthy eating habits. The loss of her career (or self identity) combined with parenting 4 young children (twins came along in 2012) led to an inner emotional turmoil. When she looked at herself, she didn't see the happy joyous mother she aspired to be. When her husband became unwell, she realized that they both needed to prioritize self care. In the last few years, she has pivoted to teaching frustrated professional mothers to lose weight by leading a healthy life so they can feel fit and fabulous. The 4 pillars of self care that she teaches are nutrition, exercise, sleep and emotional wellness. She draws from her own experiences (still walking the trenches of parenting!) as well as the latest scientific research and thinking.


During the podcast we talk about:
  • Her Story
  • Tips for a healthy life style
    • 4 Pillars of nutrition, exercise, sleep and emotional wellness
  • Habits
  • Self care
  • Tips about healthy eating 


My short history (by Orlena):

Paediatric doctor, moved to Spain for lifestyle reasons. “Accidentally lost” my career. Started on line helping people who had picky eaters. I clearly remember one of my kids sitting on the toilet crying because they were constipated. Healthy eating for kids isn’t as easy as presenting them with healthy foods. At that time I was facing my own “inner turmoil”. I’d lost my career, identity and feeling of self worth. I had 4 young kids. I hit rock bottom. I wasn’t turning up to life being the person, mother, wife that I wanted to be. Eventually I started prioritizing my own wellness. I started swimming and reading self help books. Now I help mums who want to lose weight but also have kids who they want to teach healthy eating habits to. For me, weight loss is about leading a healthy life and feeling fit and fabulous, rather than how we look. (I love my own body but mostly as it helps me do all the fabulous things that I want to do such as swimming, cycling, yoga.)

YouTube Podcast: 





What about kids? How do you get kids to eat healthy food, especially if they’re picky? 

1. Don’t pressure 
2. Step back and look at all the food they’re eating
3. Balance and limits 
4. For picky eaters “pic nic” food, always making sure there’s something acceptable. 

Weight loss for mums and healthy eating for kids should be aligned so that you’re eating the same (or similar) foods, cooking one meal for everyone.
 
Here's the link to the "systems video" (the system I use for buying and cooking.) https://www.drorlena.com/healthy-family-meal-plan





Contact Dr. Orlena Kerek




Thursday, 23 February 2017

Banana Bread

I've been trying to make some healthier snack for the boys.  When I asked which types of muffins they liked banana came out as a definite favourite.  Next time I went grocery shopping I happened to see a whole bag of bananas on clearance.  So a few days ago was a banana baking day.

don't we all bake in our PJ's?

Rather than have us all do one recipe, or baking alone, I figured I'd try out something a little different. Each of us made our own batch of banana bread and the boys could make slight variations based on what we had in the cupboards.  They loved the ownership this brought!

So here is the basic recipe we used.  It is from "Company's Coming"

Banana Bread
1/2 cup Butter
1 cup Sugar
2 Eggs
1 cup Banana (about 3 medium ones) mashed
2 cups Flour
1tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1 cup Chopped Walnuts

Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs one at a time, beating until smooth. Blend in mashed bananas.  In a second bowl stir flour with baking soda, baking powder, salt an nuts.  Add to banana mixture, siring only to moisten. Transfer to greased loaf pan. Bake at 350 F for about an hour.

TJ's banana bread

TJ's variation
Substitute 1/2 cup brown and 1/2 white sugar
Substitute 1 cup Spelt, 1/2 cup bread flour and 1/2 whole wheat flour
Add in 1Tbsp apple cider spices
Add 1tsp vanilla
Substitute 1 cup of a variety of chocolate chips for the nuts

You could really taste the brown sugar in this loaf.  Very tasty with all the chocolate too!

MJ's banana bread

MJ's variation
Substitute 1 cup bread flour, 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup Spelt
Substitute 1/2 cup honey and 1/2 cup white sugar
Add in a few shakes of pumpkin pie spices and gingerbread spices
Add 1tsp vanilla
Substitute 1 cup of a variety of chocolate chips for the nuts

This loaf was lighter than the others.

Mommy's mini loafs

Mommy's version
Substitute 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup Spelt and 1/2 cup bread flour
Substitute 1/2 cup Brown sugar, 1/2 cup white sugar
Add 1tbsp cinnamon
Omit nuts

JJ had fun playing with al the ingredients with his own little bowl and spoon.

They all ended up tasting delicious.  It was really interested to note the subtle differences in taste.  I could totally taste the brown sugar in TJ's loaf after having some of MJ's.

Boy was I thankful to have my Norwex cloths around.  After our awesome baking fun there was lots of sticky goo all over the table and counters.  The netted dish cloth scooped it all up in a breeze and rinsed clean off the cloth!  Then I was freed up to do a through wash with my enviro cloth and just water.  baby JJ even helped me mop the floor.  Have I told you how much I love Norwex.  I feel so much safer knowing that we aren't using harsh chemicals to clean our home. If you want to learn more check out my FB page or ask to join my VIP group.

I'd love to hear some of your favourite recipes.  What are you baking this week?

Where did I go?

 You'll notice this blog stopped posting a few years ago. I made a big announcement about moving to a new website... but that website do...