Searching for decent recipes...

Diet shakes anyone? A little digging and I found a comprehensive list HERE. Some of them still include pudding mix and splenda, but not all. Now I have to buy whey protein powder...

And below I have posted a very decent recipe for a blueberry/banana/flax shake!

Ingredients

3/4 cup frozen Blueberries
1/2 banana
3 tablespoons Vanilla Flavor Whey Protein Powder
1/2 cup skim milk (or non-dairy substitute)
2 teaspoons honey (optional)
3 ice cubes
1 tablespoon ground flaxseed

Method

In a blender, thoroughly combine berries, banana, protein powder, milk and honey by pulsing a few times. Add ice cubes and blend until very smooth. Pour into a 16-ounce glass and sprinkle with ground flaxseed.

Shade Garden

Well, the granola was very very nice!! Easy, and the possibilities are endless! I may have found an apartment for us, and it's got some great potential for a shade garden!!! I've been doing research, we should know by tomorrow if we are going to put a deposit down or not, and if so I'll be buying seeds! Yay!!!

Here is a link to growing shade gardens in Connecticut:

http://www.gardensbydesign.com/articles/the-natural-shade-garden.php

Maple-Nut Granola

There are two local Connecticut (vegetarian) cookbooks that I have; The Best of Bloodroot from the Bloodroot Restaurant in Bridgeport and Clean Food by Terry Walters. Bloodroot is fairly complex and calls for somewhat obscure ingredients when it comes to the novice--but it definitely has some easy soups and a few simple recipes. Clean Food is a bit more user-friendly, with more descriptive instructions. BUT either way these two are on my must-have cookbook lists.

Last night John and I were discussing the second-shift problem of over-snacking before bed. He gets out at 11:00pm and we don't get to sleep until 3:00am some nights. I did some research and came up with some healthy snacks that will hopefully keep us decently satisfied without lots of acid-reflux and weight-gain. A little bit of granola and plain yogurt is one of them, and who really wants to spend $8 on artisan granola? Not I...the following is a total money-saver; yes the ingredients may be a good chunk of change--but this is baking in bulk--you do the math.

Tonight I am making my own homemade Maple-Nut Granola--a much modified version inspired by Clean Food, and I want to note that it's only modified because I did not have all the ingredients at hand, so I used what I had. And I only made a 1/2 batch in case I screwed up.

2 C rolled oats(I used gluten-free)

1 C crisped rice cereal

1 T cinnamon

3/4 C shredded dried coconut

1/2 C chopped walnuts

1/2 C chopped almonds

1/2 C dried blueberries

1/4 C whole flax seeds (this may have been too much!)

3oz canola oil

3oz maple syrup

1/2 t almond extract (I only used less than 1/4)

Preheat oven to 250F and have on hand a 13x9" glass baking dish. Mix all dry ingredients well, and in separate bowl whisk up the wet. Combine in large bowl.

NOTE:When it comes to mixing various things such as this I like to shake them up in a large tightly-lidded tupperware bowl--helps to coat and evenly distribute. You may need to open and stir here and there because finer ingredients may settle--use your best judgement. Make sure there is enough room in the bowl--if I had made the full recipe I would have had to use an extra large bowl and a spatula for the mixing.

Spread mixture in the glass baking dish and bake on top rack for 30min, stir and bake 30min more. Cool, break-up the chunks and store in air-tight container.

Please remember this is a very modified version, for the full and unmodified version of this recipe, please see Terry Walter's Clean Food--a must-have book!!!

From Russia with Pop Tarts

I just finished gorging on sauerkraut pierogies...It's Monday and I went to a yoga class taught by a friend I went to high school with. So I am now in a yoga/food coma. I have decided to try and make homemade pop tarts...I bought some fig jam a couple weeks ago and I thought I should try to make something special with it. I found an interesting recipe that uses pie crust. I will link it here: Pie Crust Pop Tarts

Non-Pie Crust Pop Tarts Here

I watched Dr No last week, it being the first of Sean Connery's James Bond movies; good flick but I got distracted in the middle of it--hard to watch movies in a house full of people. From Russia With Love is on for tonight!! Whoo hoo, thanks Netflix.

Today has been my first day with gluten back in my life since Jan 2nd. I got to eat Cheerios this morning. It was a nice change from the Price Chopper rice chex, as those got really boring. Other than that I didn't really get to indulge on anything I've been missing. The bakery was closed because of the snow. I went snowshoeing on my own today (I was only behind my house, people knew where I was, and oh yeah I left a trail a mile wide) and it was a fun-filled and wonderfully exhausting experience. The snow was really too deep, but I blazed a trail for the next time. I fell about five times trying to hop over the small creeks--it's really hard to get up in snowshoes.

That was the highlight of my day, as most of it was spent getting to and from Glastonbury for an appointment. I made a nice chicken dinner with Grandma's butternut squash we've been saving for a few months, but I screwed up and should have cut the other vegetable up smaller, the squash was done but they weren't. I'll have to attempt to remember that squash cooks quick. But I like to cut up potatoes, carrots, mushrooms, celery, garlic, etc and chicken--arrange it all in a large and deep baking dish that has a glass lid. Then you make a salad dressing/marinade, preferably one with wine, vinegar, citrus juice and lots of olive oil. Add all your fav spices, shake it up and pour it all over everything. Or just dump a bottle--but beware the sodium and crappy oils.

Note on baking dishes: I think we have Corell here. The thick ceramic and glass makes for even heating, kinda acts as a pressure cooker, and is less wasteful than tinfoil. We tried this recipe with a metal pan and tinfoil, but it did not come out nearly as good. I think this is due to even heating and a tighter lid.

My tomato seed catalog came in the mail, and it's frustrating because I don't think I am going to start many seeds this year...I don't know what my garden situ will be like...and I have no cash to start the hydroponic vegetable garden of my dreams. My plan so far is to let the early re-seeded crop do what it can...which should be interesting, then when it comes time to plant I will hopefully get my father to spring for a new roll of the weed-blocker to cover the whole thing and he can buy whatever seedlings he wants. This summer Anna showed me how to make the teepees for squashes and cukes. Constructing them will be so much fun, I am psyched to do some functional sapling sculptures.

Heirloom Beads

I made my first batch of vanilla-scented salt beads! They are a peachy-orange in color. I think I have to try and make some red, yellow and brown to go for a retro look. I don't know how long they take to dry, as the recipe did not specify. So that means they will not be done in time for Steph's birthday present. I will try to scent the brown ones with coffee and cocoa powder, which will be yummy yummy if it works; I had some plaster in college not cure due to cocoa powder.

In other news I've been way too lazy today, the kitchen needs to be cleaned up big-time after all this beading and home-fries. So I am off to drink more water and clean clean clean!

Dreams and Relics

I slept from 4AM to 2:00pm today. I had an epic 3-part dream...one involving camping or Vermont, some rustic yard setting. Then I was being chased through an "artsy" city with a large body of water running though it. By a flying demon abominable snowman evil creature. But I could fly too, and it was as though being over the water was more unsafe, no where to hide in the open space. It was easier to hide behind/in buildings. Then later we discovered he couldn't really see me--he could only recognize me by my eyes, my open eyes. I have no idea why he was chasing me, or what would happen if I was caught.

The second part, I was more of a "refugee." There was a forest-covered small mountain within a stone wall...there was a building with an elevator...I was not the only one on the run, I was with other people being chased, we were hiding from a group of people. Some of us were in danger but other weren't, and they were helping us. I can't remember the reason for the discrimination. I was able to successfully hide in a ditch by covering myself with dirt and mulch and leaves. The bad people had left the enclosed area and I ended up safe. When I was trying to run and hide, I felt so sluggish like I physically couldn't get there and do it. I've felt like that before in my bad waitressing nightmares. I just can't make my body move to get to the table fast enough, even though the consequences are huge.

What do you make of this?

My mom gave me a stack of volumes of The Workbasket from 1955-1956ish, I looked on Ebay and determined that they are not worth anything really...but then I opened one and was instantly inspired. Retro patterns, information on how to make things...valuable lost information. Also funny things like an advertisement for "Fat Girl Diets." There was an article on how to make scented salt beads...which I think is just so cool!!! New project that does not involve me inhaling silica particles!!!