Smoothie suggestions list for you!

           This is a list of potential smoothie ingredients along with a one or two word description of what they can do for you. I figure, whether you know what they are doing for you or not, they will do their good work. But, I find it nice to be aware of what benefits I'll be getting and picking and choosing according to what I think I may need in the moment. 

            I usually use two or three from each category. 

                                  THE GREENS

SPINACH – everything                            CUCUMBER – cleansing 
KALE – health                                       CABBAGE – cancer fighter
BOK CHOY – slimming                            CARROT TOPS - cleansing
SWISS CHARD – balance blood sugar       CILANTRO - detox
COLLARD GREENS – fiber                       PARSLEY – filter flush
ROMAINE – vitamin C                             MINT - detox
ARUGULA – vitamin packed                    CELERY – antioxidant 
BEET GREENS – better sleep                   BASIL – detox

                             THE SUPERFOODS

CHIA SEEDS – everything                        GOJI BERRIES – vitamins
COCONUT OIL – metabolism boost          SPIRULINA – protein
FLAX SEED – detox                                HEMP PROTEIN - protein   
CACAO POWDER – immune system          MACA POWDER – power! 
CAMU POWDER – vitamin C                     ACAI - filling    

                                       THE FRUITS       

GRAPEFRUIT – weight-loss                       CARROTS – skin
LEMON – diuretic, cleanser                      PEACH – cleanser
ORANGE – fiber                                      AVOCADO – liver, vitamin E
LIME – skin, heart                                   BANANA – fat burning
APPLE – fiber, Alzheimer’s  fighter          BLUEBERRIES – brain
FIGS – fiber                                            CRANBERRY – respiratory 
KIWI – wrinkles                                       DATES – iron
PINEAPPLE – fiber                                   MANGO – kidneys
PEAR – cleanser                                      BEETS – anti-inflammatory 

                                   THE ADD-INS

RAW HONEY – antibiotic, allergies            VANILLA EXTRACT – stress
MAPLE SYRUP – skin, stomach                   NUT BUTTERS – protein
RAW AGAVE – energy                               YOGURT – probiotic
CINNAMON – menstrual balance                GINGER – anti-inflammatory
TURMERIC – anti-inflammatory 
   

Months are 30ish days long.

    Last April I jumped on board a 30 dresses in 30 days group project on Facebook. A friend started this a few years ago and I had admired another friend's photos that she would post when she was part of this challenge. The premise is that you wear a dress every day for the 30 days of April and take a photo of yourself in the dress and post the photo on Facebook, on the 30 Dresses in 30 Days group page. It took a few years to realize I could join in this event and when I did I fell in love with a few things. 

    My camera was the first thing. Being an artist and a stay at home mom can be frustrating. I have a hard time finding time to be creative or make art while I am caring for my alien. Teaching him all the ways of planet earth takes up a lot of time and brain power, not to mention energy. So "finding" my camera was a gift. Taking photographs is fast, it is immediate gratification, especially when they are digital. I am a painter so taking a photograph that looked like a painting was so soothing to me. So much less work than actually painting. I tried every setting on my camera, in all different lighting and settings. I learned a lot. 

    I remembered what it was like to put together an outfit for the day. One that I enjoyed coming up with. Most days comfort is king. But there was a time when I had time to "play" in my closet and come up with interesting things to wear. For the month of April, I played dress up. I wore dresses and skirts I had not worn in years. I fell in love with my clothes again.

    Having an assignment for the day that had nothing to do with my son, my husband, my house, or my dog, was GOOD for me. Every day, I spent time deciding what to wear, then deciding where to take a picture, then I would take a mizzillion pictures and pick one to post. It was not easy to take an interesting and flattering picture of myself every day. It took some patience and thought.  I fell in love with a daily creative outlet. 

   My favorite day was going to a small graveyard by myself and running and jumping around in the cold barefoot..... I would not have done that otherwise. Running around a graveyard barefoot on a 40* day would not have made it onto my list of things to do. And it wasn't where I planned to go that day, it just happened. And one of the last days, I went to a park in town with my friend who I enlisted in the 30 dresses endeavour, with 30 balloons as the sun was setting, wearing sequins. That would not have been on my to do list either.

                                

    Of course as April ended I thought I must come up with next month assignment! I came up with the idea of doing a portrait a day. I invited people to join me. So many people jumped on board on Facebook. The group page is still there, 176 people are in the group. 31 Portraits in 31 Days. And although I started off strong, it sort of peetered out for me. I had a hard time keeping up. I had such high hopes. But after the dresses of April, my house suffered. It was a mess and there was no food in the fridge and my clothes were everywhere. It took quite a bit of extra time. And the portraits were not as much fun. I don't know why exactly. I drew some, painted some, took some photographs too. I thought I would paint them all. 

   I did love seeing everyones posts and at the end of the month the portraits group started a new group and the assignment was landscapes for the month of June. I bowed out. I couldn't keep up. 

                                         

    I have a vague memory of deciding to do a daily monthly assignment that I totally bailed on. I cannot even remember when or what it was.

    Last month I decided to write haikus every day. This seemed easy enough but still I missed some days. And some days, I wrote 3 or 4....

you've driven me mad

meet me in the snow filled field

leave your gloves at home

let my mind rest now

just scooch over a little

I might  miss something

answer me quickly

this loud calling through the woods

may wake all the bears

     Lately I have been thinking about taking photographs of things I do every day. Ordinary things. Then somehow I got into a conversation with someone about those kinds of photographs. Other peoples photographs of their every day life. How interesting they can be. I think they are interesting and also boring. And there is something about the things we do every day that are boring and lovely at the same time. This day to day life that can be so dull, that I may miss some day. I think about the day to day things I used to do, in other houses or apartments, with other people that were in my life that are not around anymore. 

    The idea of using my camera every day makes me happy and hopeful. So, I have decided for the month of February, to take photographs every day of everyday things I do. Either things I do every single day or things I do at least a few days a week. I imagine it will be a 28 day waltz with a tripod around my house. So far, I have 11 people joining me on Facebook to post a photo every day of their own everyday. February Everyday. And this time I want to write about it. Because I am itching to write. Something. 

    Happy February. Another 28 days of winter. 28 days of everyday living, God willing. 

   

   

Astronaut Cake

   Last week, I whipped up a quick and simple yogurt bundt cake for a friend's birthday, in a super flurry before my little one and I ran out to the gym, where we would see her. Brought that hot out of the oven cake right into the gym. A gym without a cake is a safe place. A birthday without a cake is a sad thing.  She works there, so we brought it along. But making a cake with a three year old is tricky business. If the three year old does not get to eat the cake, it is a bit like torture. Even though he got to lick the spoon and the bowl. And we were invited to go over our friends house after nap time to try the cake, which was delicious. 

   (Here's the recipe for the yogurt cake, 4th one down on the page. Really nice. I think I used  3/4 C of sugar to cut down a little bit. http://chinadoll-bakingdairy.blogspot.com/search/label/Cakes)

    So, he wanted was his own birthday cake.  "It is not Nikki's birthday! It is my birthday!" Yes, I know, you are three. Every day is your birthday. And everyone else's birthday is yours. I know. "I want an astronaut cake for my birthday!" Of course you do. 

   So, why not. It's not like we had anything better to do than bake a cake. I mean, another cake. Our days at home this winter are so lack luster, I must say. He takes a long, fantastic nap in the middle of the day which I wouldn't trade for anything because it gives me time to rest my brain. But when he gets up it's nearing dark and it takes him some time to wake and be ready to "do" something. So, they are funky days. We bake cakes. We eat cakes. I usually eat too much of the cake and then throw it away or make my husband bring it to work. I never wonder why I can't lose those last five pounds of post baby weight. I know exactly why. 

    Even though his birthday is in July and we then talked about  having an astronaut party at the campsite where we'll be for his birthday, we were going to need to make an astronaut cake right away. You know, to practice. He is still wondering when we are going to cook hot dogs at the campsite for his birthday party. I will do a lot of things for this kid, like bake and eat many cakes, but I will not go camping in January.

    First thing we had to decide was what flavor cake would it be? After listing many flavors he jumped on ginger bread. A ginger bread cake with frosting. It would look like the moon and we would put astronauts on it. So I found a recipe for ginger cake that looked pretty good. Here is the recipe for the cake. It turned out to be really good. My husband loved it, I love it and of course the little guy just wanted to eat the frosting. He ate the cake too, but mostly the part that had the frosting attached to it. 

                     

     http://www.ecurry.com/blog/desserts-sweets/spiced-ginger-cake/

* I used whole wheat pastry flour, I did not have candied ginger so I omitted that, I left out the pepper too since it was for a little guy, although I bet it would be really good with it in there, I replaced the vegetable oil with coconut oil, and I used 1/2 C molasses and 1/2 C honey instead of the sugar.*

    The frosting, I had to make up with things I had in the fridge and cabinets. It was not great but it was okay. I learned you can add flour to frosting to thicken it instead of powdered sugar. White flour is okay but oat flour is not. You can also add cornstarch. Too much yogurt will make your icing too runny. You know, experiment frosting. By the time it resembled frosting, I had so much of it, it was ridiculous. I had a great sort of healthy recipe for frosting somewhere but it seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle of bookmarks, pins and cookbooks. The frosting had powdered sugar in it which kicked my ass. I ate spoonfuls of it. Dumb crack sugar. I was able to slowly throw it away. I should know better. 

   And here is the pretty cake we made. And the little love who requested it. 

       

Bat Balls Recipe

1 C  uncooked rolled oats

2/3 C unsweetened coconut flakes

2 T  unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 C  ground flax seed or wheat germ (I like the flax seed better)

pinch or two of salt

1 t vanilla extract

1/2 C peanut butter or nut butter of your choice

1/3 C honey

1/4 to 1/3 C raisins

1/4 to 1/3 C unsweetened 100% dark chocolate bar cut into small pieces like chocolate chips

   Mix the first 6 ingredients in a large bowl. Then add the honey and nut butter. When everything is well combined, add the raisins and chocolate chips.

   Use your hands to roll into small balls. Enjoy!

Marshmallow love.

   I have been on a bit of a quest to find or come up with a perfect recipe for some healthy marshmallows. Desmond, my three year old, loves marshmallows, as do I. But I don't really buy foods with preservatives or food coloring and all that jazz. That stuff is bad for you, dontcha know. And the marshmallows at the health food store are $5 or $6 bucks a pop! AND they have corn syrup in them. 

   I had made some marshmallows when my son turned one. For some recipe, I forget what it was, maybe a s'mores cookie? It was such a sticky mess, I thought I'd never do it again. But then I got it in my head to try again and looked for a different recipe on line. Because we had to find a healthy way to satisfy our love of marshmallows.

   I found one for a homemade marshmallow made with corn syrup and sugar. This was a better recipe, because I did not have a gooey mess and also better because it had no preservatives, but these were a little like crack to me. I am convinced that some day, corn syrup, especially high fructose corn syrup will be like the cocaine that used to be in Coca-Cola. (I have never actually tried crack, FYI) 

   Then I found a recipe for marshmallows using only honey as a sweetener. YUM! These were very good! Tasted a little different than the marshmallows made from sugar but had a great texture, soft as a baby's bottom and tasty too. 

   I started to think about the gelatin. I am not a vegetarian but I got the sense that gelatin is not produced in a healthy way. I googled it. It's not. AND I recently read that most inexpensive gelatin has aluminum in it. Huh. 

   I read about agar agar as a gelatin alternative and so I got some, even though it was super expensive compared to gelatin. Odd that seaweed would cost more than an animals life, right? Odd but true. But, I had no luck at all making marshmallows with agar agar. I tried 2 batches and they were both disastrous. I thought I had read somewhere that you could replace gelatin with agar agar. And I guess you can, but I didn't pay attention to the difference in amounts that is suggested. I used the same amount as I would use of gelatin. I think you need less actually. But my marshmallows didn't fluff much and were very wet, the agar agar was lumpy too. I tried a different recipe with egg whites and that didn't help. Also, I didn't like having to add the extra step of dealing with egg whites. But like I said, I don't think I did it right in the end. And it deserves to be revisited at some point. 

   I went back to gelatin with newfound appreciation. Ah, the fluff! The whipped whiteness all marshy and mallowy! 

   I made two batches again and they got moldy quickly! I thought the first batch was because I had tried dusting some with cocoa powder and that had changed something. But the next batch got moldy too. Must have been the warm kitchen in summer. From now on, they go in the fridge. 

  The last batch I made I decided to try using another sweetener in there, to try a new flavor. I wanted to use maple syrup with the honey. I found a recipe on line for maple syrup marshmallows that was almost exact to the honey recipe I had been using except for the maple syrup and 1/4 t of cream of tartar for good "consistency" and quite a bit more vanilla extract. So, I thought I'd try adding those things too.

   Low and behold, I have made the best marshmallows yet. They are so much like the store bought ones, minus that chemical taste and feel but with all the fluffiness, firmness, and taste you hope for when you sink your teeth into that white puff. It's love. I had to write about it and share the recipe. If you want to make a healthy marshmallow, this is the one to try. It is EASY as all get out. 

   The honey ones don't roast on a fire, they just get hot and melt. I haven't tried roasting these and wonder if the cream of tartar wouldn't make a difference for roasting. I'll try it and get back to you. 

   Today I ordered a 5 lb container of powered gelatin from "NOW" brand, which is a health food store supplement company. It is not organic, which I was hoping for but it is all natural and has no aluminum so I feel better about that. Also, apparently, gelatin is like the fountain of youth. Who knew.  I hear it lasts forever as long as you keep it dry and buying it in bulk saves lots of dollars in the long run. And I am hooked on making marshmallows and eating them. Maybe I'll make some for you too. 

   Here is my altered and beloved recipe....

                               3T  gelatin (4 envelopes)
                               1 C  water
                               1/2 C  honey
                               1/2 C  maple syrup
                               1/4 t  cream of tartar
                               1/4 t  salt
                               3 t  vanilla extract
                               corn starch for dusting
                               cooking spray
                               parchment paper

   You can  half this recipe if you don't want too many. I like to make a whole lot. This amount fills a 10" x 16" baking pan but you can put them in anything you want while they set. 

   Spray your pan with cooking spray. This helps keep the parchment paper on the pan. Cover pan with parchment paper. Spray the parchment paper. This will make it easy to lift the marshmallows out of the pan once they are set. 

   Place your 3T (or 4 envelopes) of gelatin in a standing mixer with only 1/4 C of your 1C of water. 

   Put the rest of the water, 3/4 C in a small pot with your 1/2 C of honey and 1/2 C of maple syrup, 1/4 t of salt and 1/4 t of cream of tartar, stirring occasionally.  Heat this to 240* if you can. You need a candy thermometer for this. Or you can try dripping some in some ice water. If it turns into a hard string, it's ready. Listen, this is what I read. But, I can never get it past 200* without it boiling over so I get it to 200* and keep it there for a minute and then I pour it in the mixer and it's fine. If you can get it so it's bubbly and foamy but not boiling over and keep it there for a little bit, I think that would work.

   When it's hot enough, pour it carefully into your mixer. Turn it on low until it is combined. Add your 3 t of vanilla extract. Then crank that baby up and mix it on high for 12 - 15 minutes. It will become an amazing white cloud of awesome. 

    I use a rubber spatula to spread it and I spray it with a little cooking spray, rub it around with my fingers so it's coated. That way, the marshmallows doesn't stick at all. Smoosh it into the pan, it's okay if it's not perfect. I try to just level it out the best I can. 

  

   Then you let it sit for a few hours or overnight. When it has firmed up, you can lift the parchment paper right out of the pan and put it on a cutting board. I like to use a pizza cutter for slicing it up. I spray the pizza cutter with cooking spray and cut it into squares. 

   Get a medium sized bowl, just to keep the powder contained and not all over the place, and put some cornstarch in it. You don't need a lot. Maybe a couple of table spoons. You can always add more. Dip your marshmallows one at a time and coat them all over.

   Now your marshmallows are soft and powdery and ready to eat! Not that you haven't been eating them already! I keep mine in a tupperware container in the fridge. 

   I'd like to strongly recommend eating one with a square of unsweetened 100% cocoa from Ghirardelli. Or any dark unsweetened chocolate. The sweetness of the marshmallow and the bitter chocolate is heaven to me and it's good for ya! 

   Maybe your path always end in a pile of soft marshmallows. Go forth and be merry. 

Spray painting leather boots!

   I nabbed these pink metallic, leather, cowboy boots from my sister-in-law a couple of weeks ago. They were my niece's and she had outgrown them. Desmond wears pink all the time because I am not a believer in any color belonging to one gender. His favorite sneakers are a pair of light up sparkly hot pink numbers. But I didn't love this color pink so much. So, I decided to spray paint them. I have spray painted leather boots a couple of times and it has worked really well in the past. 

   The first step is cleaning the boots with rubbing alcohol to make sure all the oils and dirt are wiped away, or as much as possible anyway.

   Then you tape off the sole of the shoe so you don't get paint on it. Be real careful to get right up to the edge  of the leather shoe. I placed the edge of the tape right into the fold where the leather meets the hard sole and pressed it down in there, then pressed it down over the edge and under the bottom. You can use small pieces of tape to get around the round shape of the shoe or boot.

   Then spray away! I used a metallic royal blue for the whole boot, then added a dark brown and silver. The covering of the boot in the blue took a few coats and a few turns of the boot. I laid it flat to spray it to prevent dripping. Too much paint will drip. It's better to be patient and do extra coats then to spray it on too heavy.

   Now they are space cowboy, rock star boots for Desmond! I am so jealous. 

Mother's Day Orange Chiffon, Blueberry Cake

  I love, love, love baking. But more than I love baking, I love licking the spoon and the bowl and eating the cake. Always too much of it. I end up frantically handing it out to neighbors or sadly throwing it in the garbage. And pouring ketchup on it. 

   For Mother's Day, my family and I were invited to our neighbor's BBQ at the park in town. I volunteered to bake a cake, because I love to bake and I would have a bunch of mouths to eat it! And because I wanted to celebrate Mother's Day, of course. 

   I felt that it needed to be a layer cake, with blueberries. Is there such thing as blueberry cake? This turned into a massive google search. Is a blueberry muffin recipe the same as a cake recipe? The answer was inconclusive. I found a lot of bundt cakes. I saw some lemon blueberry cakes. That sounded nice. I found and then lost a cake that had orange in it, with the blueberries. This stayed with me and I regretted not  bookmarking it. I hadn't made lemon curd in a while and that seemed like the right thing to do. And is there a recipe for frosting that doesn't take a POUND of powdered sugar?!

   In the end, I turned to my shelf of cookbooks. The paper kind, with pages stained with cooking juices and baking powders. With little hand written notes in the margins by my mom and then later, by me. Things like "Good!" or "Great!!!" or "Line the pan with aluminum foil!" Or my mother's common, "nice".  She used to send me to the supermarket with a list that would have "nice bread" on it. I used to make fun of her for it. Now my heart swells a little when I see her little notes. Now I know what "nice bread" means. 

   And so, I turned to Blue Ribbon Recipes, County Fair Winners. Published I don't know when but my mom had it in the 70's and maybe the 60's. I settled on Mrs. Harold Snodgrass's Blue Ribbon Orange Chiffon cake, with Mrs. Chester Talley's Blue Ribbon Cream French Frosting and good ol' Martha Stewart's lemon curd. Except that I added blueberries to the cake and topped it with blueberries as well. The result was exactly what I wanted. Moist, fluffy, tangy and sweet.

   Below are some pictures followed by the three recipes. I think this would be a great birthday cake or a great country wedding cake. It is a keeper for sure. 

   And this time, I was lucky enough to find a neighbor who wanted to eat my cake and not a crumb was wasted. Whew!

Folding in the egg whites. 

Two cake layers, puffed up and fresh out of the oven! 

Layers stacked with lemon curd in between. Parchment paper pieces 

positioned under the cake for frosting, to keep the plate clean.  

Frosted. 

Blueberried with the paper pulled away. 

After the BBQ.  

Pretty on a plate. 

Mrs. Harold Snodgrass's, Salmon, Idaho, Lemhi County Fair, Blue Ribbon Winning

Orange Chiffon Cake

2 1/4 C sifted cake flour (I used all-purpose)

1 1/2 C sugar

3 t baking powder

1 t salt

1/2 C Wesson oil

yolks of 5 medium eggs, unbeaten

grated rind of 2 oranges

juice of two medium oranges

1 C egg whites

1/2 t cream of tartar

  Sift together first 4 ingredients in mixing bowl. Make well in center or flour mixture, add oil, egg yolks, and orange rind. Add water to orange juice to make 3/4 C liquid, add to mixture. Beat with a spoon  until smooth. (Here I added a pint of blueberries into this mixture, stirring to coat the berries).

  Put egg whites in large bowl with cream of tartar, whip until egg whites form stiff peaks. Gently fold the egg whites in with the other mixture until just blended. Do not stir. Pour into ungreased 10" tube pan. (I used two cake pans with the release bottoms. I wish I had greased and floured them, I will try that next time. They did stick a little.) Bake at 325* for 65 minutes. (I baked mine for 45 or 50  minutes, checking with a toothpick in the center to see when they were done.) Remove from pans and let cool on cooling rack. (When you cut into the cake, you will see the blueberries sunk to the bottom of each layer but did not disturb the consistency of the cake.)

Mrs. Chester Talley's, Twin Falls, Idaho, Twin Falls County Fair, Blue Ribbon Winning

Cream French Frosting

2 T water

4 1/2 T sugar

2 1/3 C sifted confectioner's sugar

1 egg

1/3 C Crisco

1 t vanilla

   Boil water and sugar together a few minutes. Take off stove. Mix confectioner's sugar and egg, add syrup and stir. Add Crisco and vanilla. Beat until creamy. (I put saran wrap over this, laying it right up against the frosting in the bowl, so it wouldn't harden, and putting it in the fridge overnight to frost the cake the next day and it was fine.)

Martha Stewart's Lemon Curd

• 3 large egg yolks, strained
• Zest of 1/2 lemon
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 6 tablespoons sugar
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold, cut into pieces

1. Combine yolks, lemon zest, lemon juice, and sugar in a small saucepan. Whisk to combine. Set over medium heat, and stir constantly with a wooden spoon, making sure to stir sides and bottom of pan. Cook until mixture is thick enough to coat back of wooden spoon, 5 to 7 minutes.
2. Remove saucepan from heat. Add butter, one piece at a time, stirring with the wooden spoon until consistency is smooth.
3. Transfer mixture to a medium bowl. Lay a sheet of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the curd to avoid a skin from forming; wrap tightly. Let cool; refrigerate until firm and chilled, at least 1 hour. (I made this the night before as well and it was fine. I did need to microwave it on a 50% power setting for 40 seconds to make it soft enough to spread.)

Assembling the cake

   I took a large serrated knife and cut the fluffy top off of one cake to make a flat surface for the lemon curd and second layer. I placed it on a plate, spread all of the lemon curd on this layer, topped it with the second. I placed parchment paper pieces under the edges of the cake to keep the plate clean and frosted the cake with pretty much all of the frosting. I removed the paper. I took another pint of blueberries, washed and dried them by rolling them around on a towel, and placed them all on top.

   Pretty much everything but the blueberries was organic, which I think makes it taste that much better. I hope you try this recipe and love it!