I want to yell it out ot the rooftops, "We bought a VITAMIX!!!!" I've been wanting to add green smoothies to our diet, but every time I made one the kids would turn up their noses and make gagging sounds. I couldn't really blame them, after all my poor little Ninja is just not equipped to pulverize carrots, spinach, kale and such and each mouthful of these "smoothies" was like bitter gravel on the tongue.
Well.. not anymore!
We went to Costco, with my husband- he likes Costco, probably for the samples on every aisle- and my two youngest. Vitamix was having a demo. There, Chad, made us smoothie after smoothie plus an "ice cream" that were fantastic. So fantastic, in fact, that 2 other kids came running (yes, they were actually RUNNING) up to grab some smoothies. Found out the mom has had a vitamix for 2yrs now and her kids love smoothies- green as well as other colors, she even takes it on vacations with them to save money when at a hotel. I thought this idea was genius and may even help enable us to make it to Disneyland this year. I'm standing there learning about the hps and speed and timer and such and Hubster is watching the kids. Watching them devour these smoothies. These smoothies that have spinach, broccoli, kale, celery, tomato in them and he was sold. We decided to invest in our health and put it on our credit card. We've got the machine (the red one) on our cart when we realize that Costco doesn't take Visa and we don't have a MC. So we got back to the guy, Chad, he understands and gives us his card. He probably thinks he lost us, that we'll go home and decide we can't afford a $499 blender. Well he was wrong,,,it just increased our anticipation and frustration that we couldn't get it that day. But we do call, and that very same day even, boy do i want that damn blender! Hubster talks to Chads' wife and there is a refurbished one that she can sell to us for $329! Well hell yeah! Plus free shipping- they refurbish the motor and casing and put a new container on it. And it still has a warranty and excellent customer service
I will make cold, frothy, healthy, lovely green beverages that the kids will adore...hopefully. I can also make flours which will save us enourmous amounts of money as brown rice is very cheap, but brown rice FLOUR costs much more. Same with flax, quinoa and many more- which was another selling point for my husband.
Now.....it just needs to get here already! Come on monday!
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
GF Bread SUCCESS!
Since my husband went gluten-free almost 2yrs ago, I've occasionally experimented with making different GF breads. But since he was the only one eating it, I really didn't try to hard as I already spent enough time making whole wheat bread for our boys. I did find a great flatbread recipe here this is an awesome bread- and it works great as pizza crust! But, I wanted more of a loaf bread to send to school in the boys' lunchboxes, so I started my quest for edible, fluffy as-much-like-wheat-bread-as-possible recipes.
I searched high. I searched low. I made many, many......many bricks. You know, those hard, dense, chewy things that have no flavor, no light airiness and the only thing they are good for is throwing at your spouses head when he makes jokes about said brick that you spent hours making. For him. And his children. And then last week, I found it. The holy grail of gluten free breads. It rose beautifully. It was light. It was fluffy. It had little nooks. And crannies. And then I tweaked it. Then I tweaked it a little more. And one more time. It is now our most favorite, most successful bread.....we're on our 6th loaf in about a week. You may ask, why did I tweak it if it was so good in the first place? Well, I wanted to add some different flavors as well as more protein and other nutrients to it. And I like to make things my own. So, her it is, my own personal Holy Grail of Gluten Free Bread!!
Gluten Free Bread Wonderment!
First, the original recipe is here
and mine:
Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Warm Water
2t Yeast
2T Honey
1/2 Cup Brown Rice Flour
1/4 Cup Almond Flour
1/4 Cup Oat Flour
1/4 Cup Sorghum Flour
1/2 Cup Flaxseed Meal
1/2 Cup Potato Starch
1/4 Cup Corn Starch
2 1/2t Xanthan Gum
1 1/4t Salt
2t Apple Cider Vinegar
2T Olive Oil
1/4 Cup Rice Milk (or any other milk of choice)
1T Molasses*
2 Eggs
2 Eggwhites
Directions:
Combine warm water, honey and yeast in a med bowl to proof- set aside about 5 mins. Its ready when its nice and foamy.
In a second bowl combine all dry ingredients, mix well with a wire whisk.
In yet another bowl, combine the wet ingredients and mix with hand or stand mixer. Add yeast mixture. Then add flour mixture a little at a time. You should have a slightly thick batter.
Prepare a SMALL loaf pan (it rises better) by either oiling or using parchment paper ( i like using paper, because after it cooks, you pop it out and POOF its clean!).
Using a spatula, scrape dough into the pan, place in a warm spot and let rise for 1 hour. (I put my oven on low, then once it's pre-heated I put the bread in, turn off the oven and open the door a bit and it works really well for me)
Then, pre-heat oven to 350' and bake for 35-45mins.
*I use organic, unsulphured molasses which is REALLY strong, if using another kind you might want to start with more, maybe 1 1/2-2T.
I hope you love this bread as much as we do! Please leave me a comment if you try it and any of your own tweaks!
I searched high. I searched low. I made many, many......many bricks. You know, those hard, dense, chewy things that have no flavor, no light airiness and the only thing they are good for is throwing at your spouses head when he makes jokes about said brick that you spent hours making. For him. And his children. And then last week, I found it. The holy grail of gluten free breads. It rose beautifully. It was light. It was fluffy. It had little nooks. And crannies. And then I tweaked it. Then I tweaked it a little more. And one more time. It is now our most favorite, most successful bread.....we're on our 6th loaf in about a week. You may ask, why did I tweak it if it was so good in the first place? Well, I wanted to add some different flavors as well as more protein and other nutrients to it. And I like to make things my own. So, her it is, my own personal Holy Grail of Gluten Free Bread!!
Gluten Free Bread Wonderment!
First, the original recipe is here
and mine:
Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Warm Water
2t Yeast
2T Honey
1/2 Cup Brown Rice Flour
1/4 Cup Almond Flour
1/4 Cup Oat Flour
1/4 Cup Sorghum Flour
1/2 Cup Flaxseed Meal
1/2 Cup Potato Starch
1/4 Cup Corn Starch
2 1/2t Xanthan Gum
1 1/4t Salt
2t Apple Cider Vinegar
2T Olive Oil
1/4 Cup Rice Milk (or any other milk of choice)
1T Molasses*
2 Eggs
2 Eggwhites
Directions:
Combine warm water, honey and yeast in a med bowl to proof- set aside about 5 mins. Its ready when its nice and foamy.
In a second bowl combine all dry ingredients, mix well with a wire whisk.
In yet another bowl, combine the wet ingredients and mix with hand or stand mixer. Add yeast mixture. Then add flour mixture a little at a time. You should have a slightly thick batter.
Prepare a SMALL loaf pan (it rises better) by either oiling or using parchment paper ( i like using paper, because after it cooks, you pop it out and POOF its clean!).
Using a spatula, scrape dough into the pan, place in a warm spot and let rise for 1 hour. (I put my oven on low, then once it's pre-heated I put the bread in, turn off the oven and open the door a bit and it works really well for me)
Then, pre-heat oven to 350' and bake for 35-45mins.
*I use organic, unsulphured molasses which is REALLY strong, if using another kind you might want to start with more, maybe 1 1/2-2T.
I hope you love this bread as much as we do! Please leave me a comment if you try it and any of your own tweaks!
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