Healthy Changes

    

     In the last few months we've been making some changes in how we eat in an effort to be healthier. We bought a bread-maker, which has been wonderful and easy, once you get the hang of putting all the ingredients together. I have a book of bread-maker recipes, although I tinker with almost all of them.     
     One of our favorites is the Banana Cherry loaf. It's not a dessert bread, but more of a hearty wheat loaf. The banana's inclusion gives it a denser texture. The original recipe called for raisins but I altered it slightly, adding chopped up dried cherries instead, to give it a bit of tartness.

The Donvier Yogurt Making Machine. Not high tech at all.

     We've also been making our own yogurt, with organic milk, which is also easy and tastes great. My husband takes a little jar to work every day with a spoonful or two of some jam mixed in. I first got the idea from the book French Women Don't Get Fat, by Mireille Guiliano, which is actually not a weight loss book, but a book about eating healthy.
      It seems extreme, but it's actually a pleasure to have fresh baked bread and fresh yogurt on hand. With practice it isn't that much of an effort.  It becomes natural. Does anyone else make their own staple foods?

Cherry Banana Loaf (for a small bread maker machine)

1/3 cup Milk
1 Egg
1 1/2 tablespoons Butter
1 mashed ripe Banana
1 teaspoon Salt
1 1/2 tablespoons Honey
1/4 cup rolled Oats
1 1/2 cup Bread Flour
1/2 cup Whole Wheat Flour
1 1/8 teaspoons Dry Yeast
1/2 cup dried Cherries (chopped)