Smoothie Ready To Go!

As the weather starts to get warmer...
nothing is healthier tasting than a good
smoothie. If you're a morning person, smoothies
for breakfast are great and even if you are a evening person
smoothies can be enjoyed as an after dinner treat as well.
Most smoothie recipes call for ice so they are cold. No one
wants a warm smoothie... right?

Here's a tip- go to your farmers market, super market,
garden- wherever you get your fruit from and cut them all up.
They don't have to be cut pretty because they will be going
into the blender anyway. After you cut them all up and mix them
in a big bowl, stuff your little zip lock bags full of fruit... mixing
some veggies is really great too! For example: adding carrots
to a smoothie is excellent. Once you've filled all your zip lock bags-
put them into the freezer. Whenever you are ready for a smoothie,
they are ready for you on the go. Once you've taken a bag out of
the freezer, due to the fact that is is frozen solid- you can either
microwave your bag of goodies for about 45 seconds - 1 minute
or place the frozen bag in a bowl of hot water for 5 minutes or so-
just so that the blender is a little happier rather than a big block and
because it's already frozen- you don't have to add any extra ice.
You will probably need a little liquid to make it not as thick and
that can easily be done by adding a little bit of orange juice or apple juice!

Cutting What?

What kinds of things have you cut on your cutting board?
How many wet things has your cutting board touched?
Cutting boards can get really dirty...
deep down where we can't even really see.

I've heard many people say the best basic way of cleaning
a wooden cutting board is to use 1 tsp of bleach in a
gallon of hot water and scrub away. The negative to that is-
many times your cutting board has that bleachy smell.

Let me share a way that smells way better but also cleans
really well, AND gets any stains out of a bamboo cutting board-
stains that get acquired from cutting green herbs, red spices etc...
Sprinkle a little sea salt, especially on the stained areas,
cut your lemon in half and rub it all over your cutting board
pressing down a little bit. Then let it sit for a while- 30 minutes
if you can - the longer the better and then rinse it with hot water.
Once your done rinsing... your cutting board is clean from
visible stains and clean deep down where you can't see AND
it has that fresh lemony scent.
Win, win.

"Jiffy" Mix

After you've finished your peanut butter, rinse it out well and save
the jar and the LID. It works really well when it comes to mixing your
dry ingredients in a "jiffy". Simply measure out your ingredients
into the jar, put the lid on and then shake away.
It's great because there is no dust, no mess, no extra bowl to wash
and you already bought the peanut butter, use it as double duty!

Light, Regular, Nonfat, Greek, Frozen...

Yogurt.
What exactly is yogurt and what's the difference between them all?
Yogurt is a dairy product that is made from fermenting milk
with a bacteria. Good bacteria of course- otherwise known as
yogurt cultures. Generally speaking, lactose (sugar found mostly in milk)
is mixed with the yogurt cultures and then it produces lactid acid-
which acts on milk protein to give it- it's texture and it's slight tang
in plain yogurt before all the fruit, nuts and fancy things are
added to or with it.

Cow's milk is most commonly known in making yogurt but, yogurt
is also made from water buffalo, goats, sheep, yaks and camels.
There is also non-dairy yogurt typically known as
Soya Yogurt which is made from soy milk which is
made from soy beans.

Dairy yogurt is made by heating the milk to first kill off any
bad bacteria- followed by the milk being cooled and then the bacteria
(cultures) being added for the fermentation process which can be
anywhere from 4-7 hours.

As far as the light, regular and nonfat types of yogurt...
those are obviously determined by the type of milk that is used,
whole milk, skim, etc...

Sometimes a stabilizer, like a gelatin might be added to
ensure firmness usually which is referred to as "blended" yogurt-
most commonly known as custard like the ones served at
Rita's Water Ice  www.ritasice.com  or other water ice shops.

Greek yogurt is made slightly differently-
it has been filtered out by a cloth or filter and has a higher
culture content than the average yogurt making it slightly
thicker and healthier but also can be a little more tart at times. Without all the other technical terms and processes of yogurt-
you basically want to try to eat yogurt that contains
active yogurt cultures and that isn't heat-treated yogurt...
for heat treated yogurt has been heated after culturing and
thereby destroying all the beneficial and live yogurt cultures
that is beneficial for aiding in digestion.

We can think about it like this-
1 serving (about 8oz) of plain low-fat yogurt provides us
with about 400 milligrams of calcium, whereas an 8oz glass
of milk gives us about 300 mg of calcium.
Yogurt also provides us with as much potassium as
a banana and as much protein as an egg.

Enjoy your YOGURTing!

Ready, Set , MUFFIN! + 10 minutes

Almost every single time I bake muffins I notice that there is
extra batter and I always end up tossing it out because I don't
want to bake another round of muffins with barely 2 or if
I'm lucky with 3 muffins in a muffin tin of 12.
So I recently discovered what to do with the extra batter!
Fill the foil or paper liners that you normally cook your muffins
or cupcakes in as if you're going to make more but instead put
them into the freezer either in the muffin pan if you have room
or even on a small plate. Once the uncooked muffin batter is solid,
take it out and just put it into a zip lock bag.

When you've had a looooong day from work and you want your
favorite muffin/cupcake without the hassle of making an entire batch-
just take out a ready to go muffin or 2 and bake it following the time
of your recipe adding 10 minutes to the time due to it being frozen.
It's best if you have a smaller convection or toaster oven you can
bake in due to the fact you are only baking a few muffins rather
than your regular sized oven...

But, if you've had a bad day at work.... maybe it doesn't matter-
STRESSED backwards is DESSERTS ya know.

Lemons On The Grill

Lemons are great for many things. They are good to rub
on your hands to get rid of strong smells like fish or even oil.
But, 2 ways to use lemons on your grill are:
when you are getting ready to grill- cut a lemon in half,
stick a fork in it and rub the lemon all over your grill grates
as the grill is warming up... this will help clean
your grates and it also gives your food a little lemony flavor
which usually works with many foods. Another of many ways
to use lemon on your grill is for salt.
Take some coarse sea salt and mix with lemon zest.
This lemon sea salt is great to sprinkle on some fish,
some types of steaks and on chicken. Add some extra
lemon juice and black pepper and you've got a simple
lemon pepper chicken.

Soak & Double Those Skewers

The most common skewers are the wooden bamboo skewers.
When you are using wooden skewers- the most important
tip is that you want to soak them in a water.
Soak them for at least 30 minutes. If you're

really in a hurry... you might be able to get away with 20 minutes-
but I really recommend 30 minutes or more. Soaking them in
water prevents them from burning when you grill them.
If your not grilling- don't worry about the soaking.

You can put any type of meat on bamboo skewers.
You can also skewer veggies and even fruit.
When you skewer smaller items that are going to be grilled...
use 2 skewers so that the food doesn't spin when you
try to turn the skewer over- especially when it comes to shrimp.