Book Recommendation - Kisses From Katie

I don't normally do book posts on here but I have to share about a wonderful book I'm reading.  The title is "Kisses From Katie" by Katie Davis.  This book is autobiographical and is very inspiring.  Katie shares how she chose to walk away from all that the world calls successful, to truly die to self and follow God's leading to Uganda.  She is honest and open about the heartbreak, poverty, war, and disease faced by the children she works with but also the joy, mercy, grace and unending love that God has for these children. 

Katie left the US right after high school and moved to Uganda to teach kindergarten in an orphanage.  She now lives there and is adopting 14 Ugandan girls.  Her mission Amazima helps to feed hundreds of children and to send them to school all while sharing the love and Gospel of Jesus.  To read more about Katie and the work God is doing in Uganda you can follow her blog The Journey. 

I highly recommend Katie's book.  I guarantee you will be challenged, blessed and your perspective everyday life will be changed. 

Goal update...a bit late..and another low cal treat

So, here is how I did last week on my goals:
1) Read chapter in "Be Satisfied" - Nope
2) Clean off desk - I'm calling this done because I did clean off all the old papers, even though some have been replaced with new things I need to deal with
3) Finish last week of bootcamp. - DONE
4) Run 5K on Saturday - DONE and I beat my previous time by over 5 min!
5) Have family for dinner on Friday - DONE
6) Keep up with daily housework - DONE
7) Finalize plans for teacher gift - DONE
8) Get (and mail) card/gift for friend in hospital. - DONE
9) Decide on next verse/passage to memorize. (Yes, I finally finished Matt. 5:1-12) - Nope, forgot all about this.


So, this week I do have some goals but since it's Thurs. I'll just wait until next week to post new goals.  In the mean time, here is another low cal treat for you to enjoy.  I'm sure this could easily be made with gluten free flour for those with diet restrictions.  It is also egg free and could easily be made dairy free by substituting a non-dairy yogurt (such as soy or coconut based).

I love "mug" desserts but even those single servings can be very high in calories.  Here is a low calorie version of the mug brownie.  I really enjoyed it!

Weekly Goals 5/14/12

Despite thinking about, and wanting to, write down goals last week it obviously didn't happen.  We had a very busy week and I did get a lot accomplished.

Here are my goals for this week:
1) Read chapter in "Be Satisfied"
2) Clean off desk
3) Finish last week of bootcamp.
4) Run 5K on Saturday
5) Have family for dinner on Friday
6) Keep up with daily housework
7) Finalize plans for teacher gift
8) Get (and mail) card/gift for friend in hospital.
9) Decide on next verse/passage to memorize. (Yes, I finally finished Matt. 5:1-12)

Low Calorie Pumpkin Bread

Since I've been eating healthier I've had a few days where I really miss baked goods.  The other day Keira asked for Pumpkin bread so I decided to go on a search for a lower calorie version.  Many recipes replace the oil with applesauce but since Keira is allergic to apples this wasn't an option for me.  I finally found this recipe over at Dame Good Eats.  It was okay but I wanted to see if I could reduce the calories even more (I was aiming for 100 calories per slice).  This comes close with only 117 calories per slice (compared to the 384 in a "normal" slice).

Here is what I did:
Low-Calorie Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients:

1 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1 cup solid pack pumpkin puree
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 TB ground flax seed in 3T warm water**
2 tablespoons butter, softened

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).



Place the ground Flax seed in the water and allow to "bloom" for 10 minutes

Sift the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and allspice into a large bowl. Mix in the pumpkin, brown sugar, buttermilk, egg and butter until well blended. Pour into a 9x5 inch loaf pan and smooth the top.

Bake for 1 hour in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

**I had seen soaked flax seed used as a substitute for egg in other recipes but had never tried it myself.  I was very pleased with the results and will definitely be using it again. These measurements are to replace 1 egg.

The Verdict:
This bread may be low in calories but definitely not in taste!   It is moist and delicious.  My kids all love it!  I doubled the recipe to make 2 loaves since I knew 1 wouldn't last.  The second loaf is already almost gone and was the first thing they asked for as a snack after school.  Keira has already asked when we can make some more.  Enjoy!