I made stuff this week!

It took a couple years, but ya girl is finally back in the kitchen! My how I missed this. Cooking (especially baking) was one of my most treasured hobbies during high school, but living in college dorms caused me to set it aside. Now that I'm out of school and at home all day errday, I can get back to making stuff! Case in point:

Homemade "Naked" Juice

Yesterday I was bored, and upon eyeing Ma's unused Kithen Living blendy thingy I decided to experiment. We'd just gone grocery shopping and bought a whole bunch of produce the day before, so why not?

I called myself juicing, but really just ended up making a puree. (I thought I could experiment my way into this health trend, but a quick search online will show that "juicing" and "blending" are two very different things).

Anywho, I took the bottle part of the contraption and put in the following, from bottom to top: Kale/chard/spinach, 12 blackberries, 1 banana, 1 red pear, more kale/chard/spinach, plus a pinch of lemon juice and cinnamon. Then I reattached the bottle to the blender, pushed down on it, and this is what I got. Thick, green-smelling, and filling. Certainly can't complain.


Why buy Naked Juice when you can make it yourself?

 
Avocado toast

This is one of those trendy health foods that I've been wanting to to take a stab at, especially given my deep appreciation for eggs and the fact that avocado is currently all-the-rage. After looking up how to cut and peel an avocado real quick and glancing at a simple recipe for avotoast with poached egg, I was ready to go!

I wanted to try making poached egg with and without water, so first I heated two skillets with a light amount of oil. Next, I halved an avocado and then cut those halves in half so I could pull the skin off more easily. Then I chopped it all up and mixed it in a bowl with salt, pepper, 1 1/2 teaspoons of lemon juice, and 1 1/2 teaspoons of olive oil. Then it was back to the poached egg, two ways.

On the left I have the poached egg variation without water. All you do is fry, flip, and let fry again. Do the same as if you're making a fried egg, except don't break the yolk.

On the right I have the more conventional poached egg, with water, according to the above-mentioned recipe I looked up this morning. Do the same as if you're making a fried egg, except add boiling water and cover to let simmer. No flipping.

I turned the skillets down and let the eggs cook while I toasted the wheat bread I had, then added a thin layer of cream cheese. Add avocado spread, add eggs, plate... et voila! Avocado toast.

I let Ma have the serving with the "proper" poached egg and guess what? She loved it! Yes ma'am, I got Ms. Never-Try-Anything-New to eat avocado toast, and she loved it! This was my first time making anything with avocado, and neither of us had ever tried this particular dish, but Ma had never even eaten avocado before today. So this morning was a great new thing for both of us!

I feel so proud and pleased to have tried something new. It feels good to be back. Maybe for the next one, I'll get back to my forte: sweet things! Hm... we'll see.

 Check out pics of my other foodventures here:

Peace, Love, and Food (Every Now and Then)