Experiments in juicing.. or more correctly smoothing.

So I got a ninja today.. and as expected it is fairly compact in shape, efficient, and has sharp blades. With it's lovely efficient size and power I began to explore the possibilities of juicy smoothy goodness.
The on hand fruitage was as follows a kiwi, a really ripe pear, apples, and for something green- spinach.
Smoothed drink one:
1/2 pear roughly chopped peeled and cored.
1/2 c spinach no stems
1 peeled kiwi
5 ice cubes
It was dee-lish-ous!
Smoothed drink 2 for the children
1/2 pear roughly chopped peeled and cored
1/2 c spinach no stems
1/2 green apple- not peeled but cored.
1 tsp honey
5 cubes of ice
Green and delicious! Nom!!

Home made chaitacular and chocolate chip oatmeal cupcakes!

So the other day I was in the kitchen with the Wuminator chopping up veggies for potato and kale soup when I decided to make some delicious chai concentrate and these rather tasty and low fat gluten free chocolate chip oatmeal "cupcakes".
The chai idea was inspired by NPR, yet another reason why it is so awesome!

Now I did not have the ginger root, so I actually melted some of my Ginger People ginger chews. I also recommend using a tea infuser for the tiny spices. Makes it easier to remove them when the time comes. I cooled mine a bit and poured it into a pitcher. You mix it half concentrate and half milk/milk substitute. I use almond milk or soy. You can heat your chai latte up or serve it cold over ice. I used my Awake tea by Tazo, so good. I may try this again with green tea and see how that is.

Chai Tea Concentrate

4 1/2 cups water

10 black tea bags

1 vanilla bean, split in half (or 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract added at the end)

1 stick whole cinnamon

3-inch piece chopped fresh ginger

7 whole cardamom pods

2 whole star anise pods

10 whole cloves

1/4 teaspoons ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon orange zest

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon honey

In a saucepan, bring the water to a boil. Add the tea, spices and orange zest, stir and remove from heat and let steep 15 to 20 minutes. Strain out the spices and tea and add the brown sugar, honey and vanilla extract if using. Stir well to combine.

Recipe dos!! The nice thing about this recipe is whoever did the non vegan version had it all converted for dietary facts and even weight watcher points. It came out to 120 per cake, but with almond milk that cuts the calories a bit because it has only 45 calories per cup instead of the 90 per cup in skim milk. And aside from being local and tasty you get to have chocolate chips and whole grains for breakfast with some fruit. These were really popular with the kids and Lacey as well. Not too much a of a pain to make and it makes a fair few so that gives me some easy peasy gluten free snack items for the boys! I decided to play with the recipe further and actually did raspberry chocolate chips and half raspberry extract and half vanilla extract. Nom. I think next time I will try orange! I baked mine in silicon baking cups on a cookie sheet, saves time since you can bake them all at once.

GF Chocolate chip Oatmeal cup cakes -a breakfast idea
Ingredients:
3 cups old-fashioned oats- gluten free
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder alum free
1/2 teaspoon salt
Egg replacer for 2 egg whites and 1 egg
1 ¼ cups unsweetened almond milk
¾ c mashed bananas
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ c semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
1.    Preheat the oven to 350. Lightly mist 18 cups in a muffin tin with cooking spray.
2.    Combine the oats, brown sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl and stir until thoroughly mixed.
3.    In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg whites, egg, mashed banana, milk and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until blended together. Fold in the chocolate chips.
4.    Spoon the oatmeal mixture evenly between the prepared muffin cups. Bake uncovered for 18-22 minutes or until oatmeal is lightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Yields 18 oatmeal singles.

a P H o M

A profound hatred of me.. seems to me that I have an amazing ability to destroy all the things I love. Despite not wanting that to happen I always end up there with my finger on the kill switch... and no one ever stops me it just happens as I intended it to. And yet somehow though it was all through my own effort I am dumfounded by what has happened.

Panties, tarts, and kiwis oh my!

Today has been  very weird day. Nothing went quite as I'd have hoped. Didn't end up getting to work or to schedule an appt I wanted to. Couldn't take a drive and get stuff done. I did make a delicious vegan potato soup. I really like my vegan bacon. The boys did too. Bean gave me a touch of attitude, but that was more to do with the celery than anything else. The kids have been a bit woooo since they got back from their dad weekend. I was hoping to make gingerbread men today, but they were too amped up. So instead we just hung out read and played. That aside it was the VS show today! And boy do I love VS. Still not feeling the ridiculous rave colored pink collection. I am however feeling the lace merry-widow, so gorgeous! Issues with him again making the sadness creep back into my soul. I am so tired of the back and forth. He'd say it's me. And maybe it is but if I am unhappy because of all  of it and he won't change maybe I should walk away again. But every time I try it feels wrong. BLEH.
 Had an issue on my favorite message board to top of my day, I am already feeling fairly lonely and what not with people I know irl... I don't especially want e-drama. So I won't post on that thread anymore. I am not dealing with crap from people I don't know. psssssssh.
I made myself a kiwi peach Italian soda. It was refreshing and tasty. The kids all stole from it, lucky for them they are cute. I do love me some kiwis. I also can't wait to use all the coupons I got for free stuff from Victoria Secret!

Oh Today Today... BLAHHH and WOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Today was such a busy day. I spent yesterday baking and preparing for today. I made the aforementioned faux peppermint joe joe's. They were messy and the recipe was poorly adapted, but the cookies are nommy. The filling was a nightmare but with much effort I made it into a really tasty peppermint glaze! Even Auntie loved it and she does not dig on pepperminty stuff. So I decided to make brownie bites for the scouts meet and Jen's reception. Then I topped them with some of the peppermint filling. Tres good! I still have so much no clue what to do. Auntie says I should stop baking so much and rest. But that's so not me. >>  The kiddles were at their dad's so I had the day to do whatevs.. which was making breakfast one hour of me time, then cleaning, dressing up to try and look nice for the days events. Shopped for the next week and a half. And got all the nonfresh prep stuff I need for Thanksgiving, except I need to go back to Golden Harvest and snag some vegan broth for to make stuffing! I have all the ingredients I need for the next few days when I am planning to experiment with potential Christmas goodies. I hope that people at open mic want to sample them, because at this point unless crazy stuff happens I will have three or four goodies. I digress. After shopping was a quick trip home to unpack them. Played with the pup for a few minutes and then a surprise mid day visit from the children. Then got Aidan in uniform and it was off to the scouts big popcorn sale pick up,  Turkey bingo and potluck. It was fun, but Noodle totally crashed out on me. So we left before bingo. Thanks to all who bought popcorn, Aidan is a popcorn knight again! I have to find out how he can earn the belt loops we missed at the last scout meeting I did not know when it was., :( After scouts I delivered some of the popcorn. Then went for tea and toast with Auntie. We chatted and relaxed. Then we got ready and went to Jen's and Ivan's reception. They picked a super place for a reception. It was very serene and smelled lovely like autumn leaves and a nice fire. Scott was there grilling away on some ribs. Jen was totally adorable as always with a phenomenal green coat! Aunt Julie and I had a nice time and they had a great spread of nommies. I got to have some homemade hummus and some zucchini salsa! I must say both were excellent! Plus some ho-hocake!  Nom. And Jen serenaded Ivan with "Make you feel my love" while Scott and Bob played. It was beautiful! I had a great time. Then back to town. Home for a little cleaning and moving of things. Then kissed the kiddles bye and back out the door to see Mandy Mae for coffee! It's always nice to catch up.  And then after like 8 cups of coffee. >> Back home to do some cleaning, packing, present wrapping for Laura Beth.. and getting ready for the home showing tomorrow. I am so flipping exhausted!!! If you made it to the end of this, thanks! <3 It's was quite sweet of you.

Greens, 9 pounds of candy, and toothpaste!

I was experimenting with turnip greens today. They were delicious. I sauteed four cloves of garlic, grated half of a small sweet onion, in a tbsp of olive oil. Then I added 1 1/2 pounds of turnip greens and tossed them in the onions and garlic. I added a tsp of ground cayenne pepper. Then in a cup of veggie broth I added two tbsp of sweet spicy mustard whisked them together. Then I added it to the greens and cooked them until the liquid was gone. They were nommy! I know most people are like ewwww greens, but seriously they are so delicious. And also full of vitamin k which I am totally hoping will heal the wound on my lip from the pinata incident!
I have depressingly not had a chance to make my peppermint faux joes.. which I am very sad about.. but there was much to do today. Got my secret Santa person. Sorted through multiple bags of Halloween candy from the kids. Saved each a gallon bag and a popcorn tin of candy. Well the tins are for the candy house and for m&m cookies. They are excited to make the m&m cookies. But they will not usurp the peppermint faux joes.. nope! Anyway when I turned over all the extra candy, which will be shipped to the troops <3, we had given 9 pounds. That's 3 pounds a piece and came out to 9.00. Which I will be using to buy them new toothpaste. Deliciousssss irony! I am planning on making broccoli and tofu with peanut sauce. So good sounding.. I love tofu so much!

Candy Cane Joe Joe's!

I recently learned of the existence of this double decker candy cane and creme filled deliciousness... I was saddened to learn they only hail from  Trader Joe's... because there are none of those near here. Then again other than trees, deer, water, and mosquitoes there is not much near here.  I am excited to try the recipe that I found for them. I will have to mod it slightly, because... it's me and I do that. But I am excited to give them a whirl. I think some happy baking will take my mind off the upcoming shit storm. I have to sort candy from the Halloween bag for the children's ginger bread house... and then ditch the excess at the dentist. I feel bad taking away there candy but there have to be consequences for raiding the cupboards and stealing and ruining three containers of sprinkles at 6 am. My irritation at waking up to three sugar crazed muppets was immense. But quickly faded as they are the ones who will be depressed at the loss of all that candy, candy, candy! And there is a dentist who is buying it. So that gives it a place to go to. Ditch the candy and use the money to buy toothpaste. That may upset the balance of the universe.. but it pays off part of their cosmic sprinkle debt.
 Anyway I am off to scan some papers and such... catch you all on the kale side. <3