Juicing - Day #1

This is going to be different! Josh kept bugging me all week to watch this Health Show. So I finally watched it and was -I guess you could say- inspired! 

Basically it's about this guy, Joe Cross, who was extremely over weight and very very sick. He got tired of being fat and sick, so he got a juicer and started juicing fruits and vegetables. And that became his "food" for the next 60 days. He did sort of a "juice fast". He lost a ton of weight, his sickness is completely gone, (no more pills) and he is now very healthy and happy! He obviously didn't go back to eating a million burgers and pizzas though! He has stayed with a very good nutritious diet.

Here is his blog. It explains things much better than I can! Watch the video first.

http://www.rebootwithjoe.com/juicing/

I knew I wanted to do this before I even finished the movie, but I knew it was gunna cost me a lot of money buying a ton of fruits and vegetables. So when Gramma called Mom and asked her if she wanted to go to BJ's, I was super duper excited! BJ's is kinda like Sam's Club, where they sell bulk items. And buying bulk items means you save money! YEA! So I went with them yesterday, bought a ton of fruits and vegetables, and then Gramma took us out to Chinese with my aunt Wendy. It was kinda like my "last supper". 

And for all of you that are frieking out right now... no! I'm not doing it for 60 days! Lol. And I'm not looking to lose 50 pounds either. I just want to be healthier, have more energy, and just feel better about myself. And yea... losing a few pounds would make me quite happy! 

Lately, my neighbor died, Grampa had a heart attack, other Grampa has cancer, Gramma broke both her feet, Mom and Dad didn't take care of themselves when they were young and are definitely feeling the effects now. So being around all that, I don't want to be 40 and look back and say, "Wow... I really wish I took better care of my body when I was young." I don't want to regret the BEST years of my life!

So... you guys will be my accountability for the next few days... even though I have no clue if anybody even reads this! (You guys should become followers! It would make me so happy!)

So... here's my first juicing experience!

Honey Dew Melon

 And this is what composed my first juice. You should juice more vegetables, but I accidentally left some of mine in Gramma's cooler! Oops! So mine was mainly fruits, which is fine cause it was breakfast!

 Mom's juicer that I shall be borrowing quite often now!

 All done! I shouldn't have filled this whole thing up, because it barely fit in my cup.

 I was so scared to open up the juicer... I thought there would be a ton of pulpy stuff. But this is all there was! I was soooooo surprised and extremely happy! I didn't feel like I was wasting any money at all. 

So I used:

- a few tablespoons of blueberries

- 2 red apples

- 3 strawberries

- 2 celery stalks

- about a cup and a half of honeydew melon (You can juice the rind, although I highly recommend SCRUBBING the outside very well!)

- a quarter of a grapefruit. I will use a little less than that next time.

And that filled up my big blue straw cup! It's already 9:50 and I'm not even hungry yet! Weird... cause usually I'm already starving by 9:30.

And that's it! I'll be posting more of my juicing experiences soon!

And again, if this makes no sense to you, watch the video!

http://www.rebootwithjoe.com/juicing/

Thanks for reading!

- Jennifer -

Bacon Wrapped Eggs

I saw these on Pinterest, and thought they looked really good. So one morning when Mom and Dad went to town, I made them for our lunch. They tasted sooooo good and all the kids loved them! We were actually fighting over who got how many!

And I didn't cook the bacon first... I cooked them both at the same time.

 I added salt, pepper, and a little milk into the eggs before I whisked them.

 We also had pancakes! Wow... what a lunch...

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Alright... so I really want to share this link with you guys if you haven't seen it already. (I got the site from Pinterest) It links to a ladies' blog where she shares the 8 secrets to a perfect chocolate chip cookies. It is AMAZING! I bake and cook quite a bit, but I had no clue about some of these things! I followed her recipe along with the tips, and the cookies that followed were some of the best that I have made yet! I have a deep respect for this lady! She a woman who knows what she's talking about when it comes to cookies!

http://pinterest.com/pin/299700550172615781/

McDonald's

We took a trip to the Dentist and were starving afterwards, so where did we head? Duh! McDonald's! You grow to love the place when you have more than 5 kids in your family.

Photo Challenge #4

- DINNER -

This took me forever to take! We've been fixing up our new house, so we haven't really had regular meals or regular meal times. But I finally got one! Mom and Dad went on a date, so I made supper for the kids. We had some frozen chicken, so I made some sauce out of Honey, Barbecue Sauce, Honey Dijon sauce, and a little Tex-Mex Chipotle seasoning. It was really good! Then we had corn and and salad and grape juice.

http://www.makingmelodinmyheart.blogspot.com

http://www.theblogofus-hk.blogspot.com/

Whoopie Pie in Strawberry Carton

One of the guys we go to church with had surgery, so we wrapped up some New England Whoopie Pies I made, and put them in a strawberry carton. It worked really well! 

Cranberry Coffee Cake

We had a huge bag of cranberries sitting in the fridge, and so I looked for good recipes with cranberries in it. And this was a really good one. It called for cranberry sauce, but I wanted to use the fresh ones, so I improvised a little!

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. almond extract

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup (8 oz.) sour cream

1/3 cup chopped walnuts

12 oz. fresh cranberries

1 cup of sugar (or more if you want it to be sweeter)

GLAZE:

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1 Tbsp. milk

1/2 cup almond extract

Preheat oven to 350. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in almond extract. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt; add to the creamed mixture alternately with sour cream, beating well after each addition.

Put cranberries and sugar into large sauce pan. Turn heat to medium/low. Cook until cranberry skin's have burst, and sugar has dissolved, stirring constantly... about 4-10 minutes. Make sure the bottom doesn't burn. Smash cranberries using a potato masher.

Grease Tube Pan. Pour half of batter into pan. Pour in the cranberry mixture. Gently swirl mixture into batter with fork. Add remaining batter. Top with walnuts.

Bake at 350 for 50 to 55 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan. Cool completely. Combine glaze ingredients; drizzle over cake. Enjoy!

Chicken Breading Recipe...

Me and Mom made this a few weeks ago, and the kids loved it!

This makes enough for 6-8 pieces of chicken.

- Chicken Breading -Ingredients:

2 cups bread crumbs

1 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. paprika

1 tsp. onion salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

1 tsp. poultry seasoning

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

1/3 cup milk

Mix all dry ingredients well. Add vegetable oil and mix well again. Put in big plastic baggie.

To Use Coating: For 6 pieces of chicken beat 1 egg and 1/3 cup together. Dip the chicken pieces in that, and then put them into the baggie with breading. Shake it around until the whole piece of chicken coats, then place on your baking sheet, bake until done, and it's done!

Banana Muffins...

My amazing sister, (aka my best friend) used to make this recipe all the time before she got married. And before she took her cookbook, I copied all her recipes! Haha! Thanks Britt!

This is an awesome recipe! Perfect solution to your browning, spotty bananas. They are waaaaay better the second day, and if you keep them in a air tight container, they stay so moist! I just made them the other day and they were gone the next morning! The whole family loves them. They're also great with butter.

If you have a Kitchen Aid, it only takes about 10 minutes to prepare the batter! Nice, huh!



- Awesome Banana Muffins -

Freeze Well - Makes About 16 Muffins - Prep. Time: 10-20 minutes - Cook Time 20 minutes

Ingredients:
3 or 4 bananas, mashed
1/2 cup sugar
1 slightly beaten egg
1/3 cup melted butter
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix bananas, sugar, egg, and butter together. In a separate bowl, mix baking soda and powder, salt, and flour. Add to wet ingredients. Add chocolate chips and don't over mix. Grease muffin pans and fill about 1/2 way full with batter. Bake for approx. 20 minutes give or take for your oven. Done when toothpick inserted comes out clean. Enjoy!