Watermelon and Mint Juice

Today's juice has only 2 ingredients: fresh seedless watermelon and fresh mint. Just a spring of mint and a whole bunch of watermelon in a blender. Easy peasy. Great for a hot weather treat. Very refreshing. Serve over crushed ice or chill in a pitcher in the fridge.

Paleo and Juicing Day One

This was day one of my new juicing Paleo diet. Going without bread wasn’t as hard as I’d feared. For breakfast I tried juicing. I was just getting into fruit/veggie juicing when I left Anaheim almost 2 years ago, but I never got back around to it. My daughter and her hubs had great success with it so I was inspired to give it another go.

Unfortunately I tried to whip together a concoction quickly because we were leaving for the Farmer’s Market in Apple Valley. Since I couldn’t get the frozen apricots apart, I just tossed a big glob into the blender. Then I added frozen apples and a small zucchini and about a cup of apple juice. I poured it into a cup, grabbed a spoon and hopped into the car. Unfortunately it came out the texture of apricot baby food. It probably would have been delightful over vanilla ice cream, but I pretty much had to gag it down because it was so tart. All I could taste was apricots! I hated throwing half of it away. It would have been much better to pour it into ice cube trays and use it for the next batch of juice. And I need to freeze tiny batches of fruit so this glob problem doesn’t happen again.

I did bum 3 French fries off my boyfriend at lunch.  I had a chef salad. I forgot I wasn’t supposed to have cheese though. I haven’t ordered the books yet so I’m easing my way into it.

Normally I have hummus with chips, but I decided to try celery instead. I actually liked it better! More refreshing. I know you aren’t supposed to have beans on the Paleo diet, but better to skip the chips and keep the beans than the other way around. Plus beans are high in fiber. I almost caved when my boyfriend opened a bag of Fritos (one of my favorite snacks) but I was full from the hummus (thank goodness).

I kept dinner simple. I just don’t get that hungry after a day that was 113 degrees! My boyfriend had made a chicken in the rotisserie so I had that and now I’m having cherries. Yum. I was never hungry today.  So day one was pretty much a success.

Yam and Carrot Soup

About a week ago I was researching yam soup. I've never made any and I wanted to take it to a Christmas potluck. Then I lost my nerve and ended up taking a recipe my boyfriend already had ready. I was afraid people would freak out when they saw yam soup. I'm glad I didn't take it because there was way too much food and it wouldn't have gotten a fair chance. But I have all the ingredients so I'm making it right now. I found the recipe on Pinterest. The only thing I changed was to use only one big yam, and add in 3 carrots in place of the other yam. I used 2 cans of vegetable broth as well. As soon as it's mixed with a hand blender I'll take my own photos to share. If the Pinterest photo doesn't show up, you can find the recipe here: http://toogoodtobetrue.typepad.com/blog/2010/03/easy-peasy-sunny-soup.html

Just finished the soup. Bit of an acquired taste, but after the first few bites, I was into it. Very satisfying.

The yams and carrots are soft and ready to be blended.

Adding curry powder.

Adding a can of light coconut milk.

Using an immersion blender right in the soup pot.

Turning a bright orange.

Yam and carrot soup garnished with cilantro and sour cream.

Dutch Apple Pie

Tonight I shall endeavor to make a Dutch Apple Pie using this RECIPE. The only thing that seems impossible to me is the 10 min. prep time. Even if you used a frozen pie crust, I don't see how you'd peel, core, and chop 5 1/2 Cups of apples in 10 minutes, and that doesn't include all the other steps.

Mincemeat Cookies For Autumn

Now that we live out in the boondocks, we really have to use our gas wisely. So instead of frequent trips to the store, we have to plan better. So instead of running to the store when we get the munchies  I've been making my own cookies.

Last year I discovered mincemeat at Winco. It's seasonal, so I was sad that I couldn't get any more. Now they have it again! So I got 2 cups of it and made mincemeat cookies. I thought there would be a mincemeat cookie recipe on their site but there wasn't. So I got a recipe on line, and they are so delicious. They aren't even half gone and my boyfriend is already saying I should make more. Mincemeat cookie recipe.

I also got chocolate chips, but he wants me to make chocolate chip raisin cookies. I'm not so sure about that but I'll give it a try.

And I want to make an apple pie, since our neighbor gave us a ton of apples.

This heart shaped mincemeat cookie was a bit of serendipity.

Fresh out of the oven.

Mincemeat cookies make good holiday gifts.

Is it mean to show yummy virtual mincemeat cookies if you can't eat them?

Apple pie coming soon.

Wild Pizza

This afternoon I thought it was high time we had pizza. So I made the dough in the bread machine, which takes about 2 hours. Then it was time to figure out what to put on it. We ended up using black olives, shallots, anchovies, spicy dried salami, cheddar cheese, Parmesan cheese, and roasted garlic. Yummy! And the recipe makes enough dough for 2 pizzas, so tomorrow night we'll have something different on top.

To make the sauce, I use one can of tomato paste, about 1/4 cup of water, and a teaspoon of olive oil all mixed together. I use half for the first pizza, and save the rest for tomorrow's pizza. Nom nom. It sure was good. Pizzas are a great way to use up leftover bits of this and that.

Pork in a Dutch Oven

When it's so hot out, I stay away from the oven.  My boyfriend isn't as much a wilting violet as I am and he gets right in there and cooks.  I took this photo of some pork he roasted in the dutch oven.  I can't even lift the dutch over when it's empty!  Much less when it's full and hot. So I appreciate it when he cooks.  Fantastic!