Yonanas!

 

I have a new toy!  It took me a month to get it out of the box and play with it but I think its a winner for occasional use.

Whenever I had spotted bananas that I would not get to in time, I peeled and threw them in the freezer.  I also cleaned, prepped, and stored some strawberries when there was a BOGO free deal at the store.

 

I let them defrost for 15 minutes…well closer to 30 after  talking with a neighbor.

You put the fruit in the chute and out comes some soft serve ice-cream type food.

 

Where’s the hot fudge??

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Juice Update

For Recovery:

After a long paddleboard workout, I used the chocolate veg protein mix in a smoothie with lunch in hopes for a fast recovery. It did seem to help. 
The next morning, I added a tbsp of peanut powder and had a smoothie breakfast.
Mixing:

1 cup Flax milk
1 scoop raw chocolate protein
1 banana
4 ice cubes

363 calories (200 from banana)

I’m using Flax milk this week because it is good and the shop I went to had it and not almond milk.

Juice for a new decanter:

Katie’s Kitchen

I cooked last weekend!  Not the fried egg sandwich kind of cooking.  I mean, I actually cooked real stuff.  I have a freezer full of soup to prove it.

It started with a turkey.  No, I don’t mean me.

I used folded aluminum foil to make a drip pan inside of a cake dish.  I put a cup or two of vegetable broth in a pan with some raw, local honey.  A little heat, a little stir, and a lovely mix for basting.  I did put some sea salt, pepper, thyme, and clove in it as well.  The turkey was massaged with sea salt, ground pepper, sage, and marjoram after a light rub of lemon.  The lemon wedge and a garlic clove were placed very delicately under the turkey breast.  No butter, no oil, no no fat of any kind added.  Not bad for my first turkey 8)

Baked for about 2 hours at 350 degrees F. with occasional basting.

The Plot Thickens…or the soup thickens.

Roasted Vegetable Soup with Turkey

As the turkey cooled, I cut up, salt and peppered some veg to put in the oven for roasting:  Brussels sprouts, yellow bell pepper,parsnips, and garlic cloves.

I diced up a yellow onion and sweat it down with a 1/2 tsp butter.  Mixed in some celery and added the carrot and kale pulp from some juices, and the base was ready for vegetable broth.

After adding some water, I put some of the skin and bone from the turkey in the pot.  Any part of the turkey breast that did not carve pretty or have fat on it, ended up in the pot.

It was about then that I received a call from some friends.  “You want to come along while we pick up our new baby?”  How can anyone say no to that?

After that adventure, I put the pot back on the stove.  Fishing out the skin and bones, I thought it needed a little brightening.  The juice of half a lemon found its way into the pot.  la fin

Juicey Friday Recap

This was a week of smoothies and juice…

The Epic Fail:

Someone planted the idea of a chocolate PB2 (powdered peanut butter-no oil) in my head. I went to make it and decided to put in some of my previous green juice because it was getting too old to last. WRONG move! I doubled everything and added honey to make it bearable. Leftovers anyone?
No recipe for this. It’s in your best interest.

Sweet Redemption:

After the disaster smoothie, I needed a comeback. This was it!
For my best yet smoothie:
1 cup almond milk
1 banana
1 pack Garden of Life chocolate protein mix
300 calories (most from the banana)

Juice for Two Days:

A Juicer and a Blender walked into a Bar…

I addition to all of the wonderful and tasty treats I had through the holiday season, a new blender made its way home with me.  With new toy in hand, I have been re-inspired about my juicing and smoothie operation.  So I thought I would share a few of my concoctions from my juice site just to update and maybe even inspire.

Image Highlights

This is a collection of my favorite original graphics and photos from the last six months. Hope you enjoy!

6 Month Harvest

Six months ago I began to juice.  I thought that I should journal my experiments; the good, the bad and the ugly.  The blogging bug bit me and I decided to start a more general site.  A whole new world opened and I began reading other blogs and gaining some WP friends 8)

Six months after a tentative juicing start, my free time has transformed.  This morning I was driving home from a paddleboard workout found on meetup.com and stopped at the organic supermarket to pick up fresh fruit and veg.  For a treat, I just had tabbouleh salad on organic brown rice cakes.  Who just wrote that?

I used to laugh at the idea of a juice fast.  Well, one 10 day fast later, I stopped laughing.

I have gotten my first pair of glasses, likely because of all the extra time on the computer. 8)  And have taken my first photography lesson.

After 70 posts, 5800 views, and and almost 800 comments, I am looking forward to the next 6 months.

Thank you for visiting!!! Make yourself at home 8)

My next few posts will feature some of my favorite posts, photos and graphics.

The Fast Crash

So, full results disclosure of my recent experiments…

Fatigue is not a new experience, but this is driving me loco.  After the adventurous workouts, it took a few days of riding the couch to get my energy back.  Since I broke the fast, I have been so very tired.  My energy was fine during the workouts and juicing.  A health hangover?  Today I made it to after lunch before I crashed.  A definite improvement over the weekend, when doing laundry was a reason to lay down.  I did have a juice this morning and will have one tonight, if I can find the energy to make it.

Just tired of being tired.  I am sure I will get over it soon enough.   My body is slowly finding homeostasis.  A happy flower, after the rain….

My Favorite Grocery Stop

I am so lucky to have a great shop near me with organic produce and so much more.  I have alluded to it in the past but, as requested, here is the rest of the story (Paul Harvey’s voice here).

Sustain Natural Market has been open for a couple of years. There was a coffee shop there previously and they tried to use as much of the material as possible in building out their space.  Sustain is not just a name, it is their way.  One of the most impressive features of this store is that the products and their sources are researched.  If you are ever there, feel free to ask about a product and they will tell you with pride where it comes from.

I started shopping here shortly after I started juicing.  It is a relatively small shop, compared to the mega stores, and it shows in all the good ways.  There is always at least one person nearby to offer help and answer questions.  I must talk to at least three people each time I visit.  I do experiment and try other products but I go because of the produce.  This photo was from back in April and, I believe, everything in the picture was from this store.  When I venture

Adding to Juice

  Adding anything from a package to nice, fresh juice seems odd.  I have found three things that I occasionally use to give juice an extra kick or just to have something a little different.

Chia Seeds:  Vegan and gluten free, they add fiber, omega fatty acids, antioxidants, protein, and other vitamins and minerals.  They may also help in weight loss.

Wheat Grass:  alkaline, minerals, vitamins, antioxidants, protein, gluten free and vegan.

Pure Green Protein:  Packed with protein “with the amino acid ratio of human muscle.”  Great for mornings that I feel bad about not having a protein for breakfast or for using the mixed berry flavor to mask an unfortunate juice mix.

Do you have any favorites?