Indoor Ooey Gooey

So...
You are staying at a little cabin in the WOODS...
There is a BEAUTIFUL lake...
The water is WARMISH..

There are MOSQUITOS...
There is NO power or running water..
There is an OUTHOUSE...
There are BITING RED ANTS on the path....
This weekend there was a BEAR siting!!!...(a mom and 2 cubs)

You take long SWIMS...
You go for CANOE rides..
You READ....
You KNIT...
You play BOARD GAMES...
You take PICTURES of leaves with FACES on them...

It's RELAXING...

Usually you have a little COOK-OUT with hot dogs & baked beans...
You roast MARSHMALLOWS on sticks....

Only THIS time ...
IT RAINED!!
You can cook your hot dogs and beans in a pan INSIDE on the Coleman stove...
No prob....
BUT.....
The MARSHMALLOWS....
You WANT your MARSHMALLOWS!!!

So..
What to DO?

Melt a little BUTTER in a pan...
Put your marshmallows IN the pan...
Let them HEAT up...
Squish 'em down with a SPATULA...
Let them cook a LITTLE more...
TRY your best to FLIP them over...
Let the OTHER side BROWN up...
You'll KNOW when they're DONE...
It'll be ONE BIG OOEY GOOEY MESS...
And...it'll be ONE BIG DECADENTLY SWEET OOEY GOOEY MESS...

You can eat them JUST as they ARE...
OR
You can JAZZ them up somehow...
I went for the "JAZZING"...

Pineapple ring topped with INDOOR OOEY GOOEY
SPRINKLED with DARK chocolate chips and dried CRANBERRIES...

Voila!!!

Purple Pudding

A little bit GELATINOUS this one is...

Actually... MORE than a little...

A LOT gelatinous....

I could have added more water but I just "WENT" with it....

Looking back on it...

I realize its because I used all FRESH produce.

Fresh as in "WARMISH"..not as in Fresh "FROZEN" 

Sooo... That is what accounts for the GELATINOUSNESS of the Smoothie...therefore the name PUDDING was chosen...

Let's start with a HANDFUL of fresh strawberries...
These ones are even fresh LOCAL strawberries...

Handful Shot:

Blender Shot A:

Yes...the above shot does look BEAUTIOUS...

AND....

It most probably WOULD have been BROWN...

...BUT

I just purchased a lovely bag of frozen CANADIAN blueberries and decided I NEEDED to POP some into the MIX.

Blender Shot B:

Do you ever look at a word sometimes and think...WAIT a minute!!

...is that how you SPELL it...????

usually its when i use the word OVER and OVER again....

For example... the word SHOT...

Right now I am thinking...Whoa...

Is that EVEN a word?

It looks WIERD.

But I googled it JUST to make sure...

Ta Da!!

Purple Pudding

(1 serving)

Handful of fresh strawberries

1 mango

1/4 avocado

2 pineapple rings

1/4 cup frozen blueberries

1 cup water

The Spinacher

This is the most "SPINACHY" tasting smoothie I've made to date.
Spinachy in a GOOD way...
SPINACHY SWEET!
HOORAY for SPINACH!!!

I dont know about you....but I ALWAYS spell spinach WRONG.
Obviously I have made an effort here...but something in my bring wants to write SPINICH.

ZUCHINNI is another one...

But I DIGRESS...

So... Here we go...

Pre-Blend

I love the look of FROSTED FRUIT!

And LOOK!!!!

I've even captured a FACE on the SPINIACH LEAF...

How cool is THAT?

Post-Blend

Doesn't look like anything SUPER FANTASTICOLA...

But I give it a THUMBS UP!

Post-Slurp

Good to the LAST drop!

The Spinacher

(1 serving)

1 cup pineapple juice

2 big handfuls of spinach

1 orange

1/3 cup frozen cranberries

1/3 cup water
( you could also throw some hempseed in if you feel like it)

The Handful

OK....
This one is called "THE HANDFUL" Smoothie.
Why? You ask....
Well...Basically because there is JUST a HANDFUL of EVERYTHING in it!
(Except for the pineapple rings.... I used two...)
And... BONUS...
It's... BROWN!!!

I guess I have MEDIUM size hands...
So... MY smoothie was pretty much ON PAR with all the other ones I have made....
A GOOD medium sized ONE PERSON serving....
If ya got BIG hands...I guess you'll have a BIGGER smoothie...so you can always SHARE!
And.. if your hands are kinda LITTLE....maybe take TWO handfuls of everything!

PRE SWIG

Look! It's got LEGS!!!!

Something akin to a nice rich SHIRAZ....

Although....I don't really like Shiraz.....or RED wine at all.....

Makes my hands ITCH....

POST SWIG

The Handful

(1 serving)

2 canned pineapple rings plus a bit of canned juice

a handful of fresh blueberries

a handful of fresh strawberries (bigger handful than the blueberries)

a handful of frozen mango

a handful of spinach

some water....

CRANBERRY CACAO CRUNCH

I'm not going to LIE...
This one.....was....kinda ...MEH...
But.... I haven't posted in EONS....so i just wanted to say HI and touch base with Y'all...

Soooooo.....

I definitely "OVER CINNAMONED" this one.....
(Definition: Adding TOO MUCH cinnamon...)

Another CRUCIAL mistake:
I used ROOM TEMPERATURE almond milk as i had nothing else USE-ABLE for a base liquid in the fridge...

AND.....
After yesterdays BANANNA & WATER smoothie.....
Well....

We're NOT gonna get into that now.....

Time to MOVE ON....

Frozen cranberries... or....

LES CANNEBERGES GELEES as we like to call them in my house

(because they sound even more delicious in FRENCH...) have become a new smoothie staple for me.

Today I threw together some bananna, pear, warm almond milk, cacao & 

LES CANNEBERGES GELEES
(Can't figure out how to do the accents on my keyboard...)

and WAAAYYYY to much cinnamon...

Just a SPRINKLE is necessary...

Not the big GRAB I threw in....

My FAVE part of this smoothie is the extra cacao on top cause it adds a nice little crunch!

Cranberry Cacao Crunch

(1 serving)

1 cup almond milk (preferably cold)

half d'anjou pear

half banana

handful of les canneberges gelee

tablespoon of cacao nibs plus more for garnish

a sprinkle of cinnamon

The cookies pictured above are so DELISH & they freeze really well too!
They are from SALLY'S BAKING ADDICTION..
I used chocolate chips instead of walnuts..
Here's the recipe:

Soft & Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Hot Creamy Green

 ANOTHER one of my green soup VARIATIONS...

This seems to be my GO-TO lunch these days...

 Whatever I've got KICKIN' around...I blend up & YOU CAN TOO!!

And...there's NOT even any CREAM in this...
That's a BONUS if you are lactose intolerant...

I love the NATURAL flavours of the veggies so I don't even see the need for "BROTH".
Just good ole SALT & PEPPER for me!!

 

 So here's what ya need TODAY...

 

 

Super Duper Spinach Leaves 

(Have you ever seen one THIS BIG??)

(It's BIGGER than my HAND!!)  

 

 

Scrumptiously Steamed Brocali 

 

  

Lovely Lacinto Kale Leaves

 

 

 Boiled Yukon Gold Minis with Skin

 

 

In the Blender

It's just soooo darn GOOD!!!!

In the Bowl

Hot Creamy Green

(2 servings)

 

1 cup potatoes with skin boiled or any kind of leftover potatoes (not French fries)

2 handfuls spinach

1 cup steamed brocali

6 - 8  sautéed lacinto kale leaves

1 cup water

salt and pepper

 crispy bacon for garnish (leftovers)

Blend it all up!

Perfect Pumpkin Soup

Whenever I bake my PUMPKIN chocolate chip MUFFINS or my triple chocolate PUMPKIN PIE...

I ALWAYS have LEFTOVER pumpkin. 

It never fails...

Seriously.

Open up my fridge and chances are you will find a little glass dish FULL of the extra pumpkin...

Sometimes...you'll even find TWO dishes....

WHAT is that about?

WHY do they give you the extra cup?

 

Maybe it's ME...

BUT...

I have NEVER come across a recipe that uses the WHOLE can....

 

So I started putting some in my smoothies...which was DELISH...

..... But there HAD to be something ELSE I could do with it..... 

 

Well.....

I though to myself....

HELLO????

We are into the deepness of WINTER....

Let's make SOUP!!!!

 

So...

Here's the ANSWER for the extra pumpkin puree.....

  

 

 In the BLENDER: 

 

  

In the BOWL: 

 

 

Perfect Pumpkin Soup
(2 - 4 servings)

 

1 cup pumpkin puree

1 sweet potato

1 apple peeled and chopped

1/3 Vidalia onion sautéed

2 cups boiled water (or as much as you like to achieve your desired consistency)

fresh rosemary

salt

pepper

 

Steam sweet potato and apple.

Throw everything in the Vitamix.
Grind in some salt and pepper

Blend.

Add more salt and pepper to taste.

Garnish with leftover sautéed onions & a sprig of the rosemary.
Take a picture of it!

Enjoy!