Aren’t cats tongues the craziest things?
PS- Eric has been really slacking in his photography lately and is the reason why we haven’t had our photography show down yet. Blame HIM! ;)
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I’m glad you enjoyed my ‘Vlogging’ (video blogging) last night.
I have been meaning to do more vlogs for a while now, so with your extra encouragement I just might try to make it a more regular feature again. Vlogging has its’ pros and cons. The main pro is that I don’t have to type out a post. Lately my back has been sore because I basically hunch myself over the keyboard when I am typing. With blogging 3x a day, responding to emails, and working on Glo Bakery stuff, I spend a lot of time at my desk. So vlogging gives me a nice break and allows me to move my mouth! Which I don’t do much working from home. Aside from talking to Sketchie of course. ;) The main con is that videos take a lot of editing at times and require a long time to upload. For example, last night’s video took about 1.5 hours to process. Waiting on a video to upload is not fun, especially when I have general ‘time lines’ that I like to have my posts up by.
But, it’s fun. And it allows you to see that I’m a real person behind these words! So I will keep doing it every now and then to mix it up.
I had a lovely green monster this morning. Even despite MORE thunderstorms!!
I used two new ingredients that I have never used in a GM before- GRAPES and Gena’s ‘banana softserve’!
Ingredients:
- 1/2-3/4 cup cup red organic grapes
- 1 cup PC low fat soy milk
- 1 scoop Ruth’s Hemp-Maca-E3Live powder (trying to use it up…blech!)
- 1 T chia seeds
- 3 cups lightly steamed spinach
- 1/4 cup banana soft serve (see below)
- 4 cubes ice
I totally forgot to blog about Gena’s banana softserve I made on the weekend!! It was nothing short of pure heavenly bliss. You seriously should try this if you haven’t already. All you do is freeze a banana or two (with skin removed! lol) and then pop the frozen bananas in a food processor for a couple minutes. The result is the most amazing creamy softserve you’ve probably ever tasted! AMAZING! I think I liked it better than any dairy or non dairy ice cream I have ever tried.
The banana softserve made the green monster REALLY creamy and cold. I loved it.
This green monster was good, but way too sweet! I think the grapes really put it over the top. Next time I would only use 1/4 cup probably.
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Last night I was going through some wedding gift cards that we still haven’t used (I know- we are SO bad for not using gift cards up quickly!) and I really want to buy a juicer. I have wanted to make funky green juices since I read Kris Carr’s Crazy Sexy Cancer.
I know nothing about good brands and haven’t done any research but I thought I would do an unofficial poll and ask you juicer-lovers if you recommend any brands! So let me know if you recommend any in particular- OR if you have a ‘dud’ that you want to warn me about. ;)
Speaking of DUDS…I am highly disappointed in my Kitchen Aid Blender! It has been used for barely 7 months and it is already leaking (among other problems!):
Gross me out.
I actually just read some reviews on Amazon and apparently I am not the only one who has had this problem! The lid also doesn’t stay on properly so I have to stand there and hold it on.
Hrmph! I am going to call their customer service to see if they can send me a new one. Worth a shot, right?
I have problems with my blender too!
I’m looking into investing in one that has a food processor attachment so I can try the banana soft serve.
Anyone have any suggestions?
I have this one: http://www.breville.ca/site/EN/products/bje820xl/
and I absoluely LOVE it! Anniversary gift from my hubby! It is so easy to clean, really not that big and works like a charm. I can juice a huge bunch of stuff in like 30 seconds!
I just bought a juicer and I use it every day. My fave is green lemonade (kale, green apple and lemon with a little stevia) so good! I bought a Omega 8006 because after doing some research it seemed that a masticating juicer decreased the oxidation of the produce compared to a centrifugal. (not sure on my spelling!) This one also had great reviews for juicing greens and I have had no problem with citrus either. Another added perk is that it can be used for thick smoothies, nut butters and making pasta! I was immediately smitten! ;)
It was more expensive but through amazon I got free shipping. Plus it is easy to use and to clean and the pulp is ejected (easy clean up)and is super dry. I have been wanting to try and use carrot pulp in baked goods and as raw “tuna fish”. Let me know if you have any questions. I feel like I have loved my juicer so much, my cooking blog turned into a juicing blog for awhile! :) Sorry for writing a book!
I also have the Jack Lalanne juicer. It goes on sale all the time at Canadian Tire. I admit that I don’t use it often enough only because I can’t wrap my head around not pureeing the entire fruit/veg for all of its nutrition/fiber (via a blender), rather than consuming just its juice. With Jack’s juicer you can also make your own soy or almond milk.
My KitchenAid mixer also leaks like that and I’ve had it less than a year as well. Definitely a defective product..
What a great idea with adding the soft serve to your smoothie. Definitely a delicious way to get that thick, smoothie texture. YUM!
Bummer about the mixer! :( At least you know that you’re not the only one with that problem.
xxoo
Heather
My husband just bought me the Breville 800JEXL- the Elite Juice Fountain. He purchased it on Amazon just after it had a price cut with free shipping. I LOVE MY JUICER!! My birthday was just on Sunday and I have used it 2x day since I opened it. I love being able to wake up and drink a fresh juice. Not only does it make me feel good, it doesn’t weigh me down like a smoothie does. It has all stainless steel parts with an awesome blade. You can throw in whole apples and fruits with skin on them so there is not a whole lot of prep besides washing your veggies and fruits. Check out Breville’s website for more comparisons and pictures. It is a great investment.
I just invested in a Vitamix – love it! Haven’t really tried ‘juicing’ in yet (though I have had green monsters pretty much since the day it arrived) and it’s technically not a juicer in that sense, but it pulverises fruit and their recipe booklet does have some juice recipes in there. The bonus is that you can use it for so many other things. I made some pesto last week from basil I got at a farmer’s market – yum, even though it needs some tweaking :)
I’m another one who can recommend a Breville juice fountain! I believe mine is a JEXL something or other, but I pretty much just googled the model Natalia Rose mentions in her Raw Detox book and then won it from ebay! I admit I did no research but all things considered I’ma happy camper. Get one! You’ll be glad. :)
I got a Warring Pro Juicer for Christmas … But I was to afraid to use it because I thought it would be a pain to use and clean. I finally opened it in April and have used it almost every day since. It works like a dream and is pretty easy/quick to clean. I LOVE it :)
haha, cats really ARE the craziest things. that’s a really great picture! and i LOVE gena’s banana soft serve. i’ve been having it as part of my BREAKFAST nearly every morning! in fact, i’m about to go make some in a few minutes. :)
JACK LALANNE POWER JUICER!! It’s great and really only about $100 which is so worth it because it is so powerful compared to some others and makes great juice
I have that same blender and I’ve been noticing some leftovers in that bottom part too. Good to know I should keep an eye on it! I was thinking about getting a smaller pitcher for it anyways. Too much air gets sucked into my smoothies with the big pitcher and it makes me burp like mad :P
Ohhh the Breville juice fountain elite 800jexl is my dream juicer…. i want one so bad and i think the fitnessista has one or something? anyway, that is the one i want to save up for and i dont know anything about any of the others. it is pricey though :(
-muffy
Here is a lesser model i found on sale at amazon…
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000ONN7P8/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=304485901&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B000MDHH06&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1HMJD4NZ8G066TED31AD
amaaazing picture of sketchie. i heart him.
I would totally recommend the Breville Juice fountain. I first purchased a Juiceman II. When we had problems with it and needed to wait for repair parts to arrive, we purchased the Breville (after deciding that juicing was SO GREAT it was worth spending some money on). The Breville is great because it has a very wide mouth that reduces the pre-juicing prep work.
For making my GMs, I’ve been very happy with my Hamilton Beach Commercial bar blender (with the stainless steel container). The Kitchen Aid blenders are great for blending soups and stuff like that, but bar blenders are really made for ice crushing, so they are best for smoothies (AND GMs!)
Awww Sketchie… too cute
1. blender- Oster Fusion has a smoothie button and it will rotate the blades in different directions on it’s own to make some really great smoothies… le sigh… parents have one that I want to steal soooo badly
2. Juicer- Breville Juice Fountain Plus- worth the $$ for the powerful motor, good company and reputation AND you don’t really need to chop anything because the feeder tube is big enough for a whole apple… love mine (and I know it’s the one that SarahLovin, Mrs. Blogstalker and the Care to Eat girls have too lol).
I have a Breville Elite Juicer and LOVE it.
I also have a Kitchen Aide Blender and it’s not the best I have discovered. I was trying to use it (it’s only been used once or twice) and I noticed that the motor was smoking…so we put it outside and now every time I turn it on it smokes. not sure if this is because I haven’t really used it or if there is something wrong with it. Let me know how it goes with their customer service and I might try and do the same!!!