The January of Cleansing

For the first time in my life, I think I understand what my mom meant when she said that she was ready to put Christmas away. It's not that we could ever get sick of it--there's not much that I like better than the Christmas season, and my mom is the same. However, considering that we celebrate from the first day of Advent (a few days after Thanksgiving) until Epiphany, or the 12th day of Christmas (January 6), and this year I got hoodwinked into being much more grown-up about the whole thing (added responsibilities at home, church, and work), the concept does make some sense. Today I was ready, instead of sad, to take down the tree and all the house's trimmings.

First of all, yes. I AM that person. I don't believe in Christmas being over on Boxing Day, or December 26 for you Americans. ;) I believe in Advent and the Twelve Days of Christmas. :) Happily, I have somehow found a Love--of another religion, mind you--who feels the same, and you know what? It works for me. Who REALLY wants to take down a Christmas tree the day after, anyway? There's too much to play with, and too many yummy leftovers and stocking stuffers to gorge upon!

This leads me to WHY I am ready for a "cleanse." First of all, let's face it. It's HARD to clean around a Christmas tree! It's also a busy time of the year, which leads to less time in the house..... all in all, my house needs a good cleaning, I'm sick of the cat attacking the tree, and to be honest, now I'm ready for spring. Fortunately, I'm currently located in a climate where it's actually a good thing to be in the mood for spring in January. The dandelions have already started to bloom in my yard! It's crazy. I'm itching to get out there. (Still no word on my supposedly-shipped seeds, by the way.)

It's not just the house that needs cleaning out, however. I can't believe how much sugar I've consumed in the past few months, and when compared to how much healthy food I haven't been consuming, the number is practically horrifying. Now, I am definitely not someone who makes a New Year's resolution involving weight loss, diets, or food in general. I don't feel that restricting myself is going to do any good, and besides, to be honest, I don't need to diet. (Don't hurt me. ;-P ) However, I'm about done feeling like I'm stuffed to my ears in... how do I say it? PROCESSED "foods." It's time for a cleanse for my body, too.

I have never done a traditional cleanse, per say, but about a year and a half ago I actually started watching what I was eating, as well as how much of it was going into my body at a time, and this past summer I had a very near brush with raw veganism, before I had to go into the hospital for emergency surgery, which REALLY threw off everything--my eating patterns and habits, my yoga, and my exercise two-a-days I was doing at the time. I'm telling you, it takes a while to get into all of that, and I'm still not back to where I was before the surgery. Now, however, I'm starting to feel like it's time to check out the raw recipes again. :-D

The thing with "raw" is that I REALLY like to bake--as in, old-fashioned, yo-gramma-don't-make-it-so-good baking. I don't think I would ever actually want to be a raw vegan, but the food itself looks amazingly delicious, and when I took even baby steps in that direction, I couldn't believe how good I started feeling. It even enhanced my yoga and workouts in a way that did NOT involve calories. I repeat, however, I'm a little too old-fashioned in the kitchen to become a complete devotee. I'm more excited by the idea of my kitchen expertise and table being enhanced by raw foodism. During the summer, it was my personal goal to stay raw until dinner. I was getting good at it, too.

This means that I'm officially DONE with processed and junk food, especially sweets, for a while now. This doesn't mean that I will completely swear them off, not try the Mexican hot chocolate that Love and I bought recently, or not try out sweet raw vegan recipes that are actually packed with nutrients. It just means that, well, I kind of feel like I'm "over" junk food and really into "healthy" food. I already have my eye on a few raw recipes that look incredible! I'll definitely post what I try, and let you know what I think. :)

For a change of pace, what do YOU think? Could you ever do a raw diet? Do you know of some (simple for beginners with no special equipment) raw recipes that you think I should try? Let me know! :-D

Happy 2012!

Sorry I haven't been around the past few days. I'll be back and posting *real* blogs after the new year... unless I get REALLY bored tomorrow. Have a wonderful New Year's Eve celebration, everyone, and stay safe! See you in 2012!

PS:

 

(No, I didn't draw this... just saw it online. ;) ) 

"Leftover Fruitcake Ingredients" Muffins

 (Wait! Don't go! I will apologize for the 90's vibe of my muffin photo later! Please stay for the recipe. :) )

So today I made a new recipe--I do that from time to time. This time, I was in the mood for something vaguely healthy, unlike the cookies and bonbons I've been preparing since Thanksgiving went along its merry way. However, I didn't have all the ingredients for the specific recipe I wanted to make, so instead, I improvised with all my leftover fruitcake ingredients. (Don't judge me. I didn't KNOW that I had to make a fruitcake months in advance of its eat-date! We will just have it for St. Patrick's Day, instead.)

Without further ado, here is my first-ever trial-run of the "Leftover Fruitcake Ingredients" Muffins:

Ingredients:

1 egg
1 unsweetened personal-sized yogurt (I typically use Greek, but since all I had was a regular one of Love's, into the mixing bowl it went. Sorry, Love, but you weren't eating it anyway.)
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 cup milk, oat milk, or soy milk
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tsp. brandy (optional)
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2/3 cup rolled oats
5 chopped dates
tbsp. dried blueberries (optional)
1/2 cup walnuts
1/4 cup slivered almonds
tsp. citrus zest (I used lime because it's what I had on hand.)
1/3 cup golden raisins; increase this to 1/2 cup if you don't add the dried blueberries.

Directions:

Get ready, get set, go! For me, this included taking more photos of my new toy. :-P

 

Combine the egg, yogurt, olive oil, milk, brown sugar, and brandy.

 

Mix it up. (I couldn't resist the action shot.)



 

Add the salt, baking powder, baking soda, and flour. Since these things tend to go up in a cloud when mixed, I first worked them in a bit with the little spatula my new mixer came with.Go ahead and mix it up as well. Then add the oats, and mix that, too.



Once it's become batter, add the chopped dates, dried blueberries, walnuts, almonds, zest, and raisins. I mixed mine in by hand and then turned on the mixer for just a second, because it's been ages since I used one, and I was being overprotective and silly, and didn't want to break mine on the first use.



Once all is combined, scoop the batter into muffin tins, lined with muffin papers--but not as much batter as is seen in each muffin cup in the photo below, unless you want a mess. This gets very sticky, and if you don't use the papers, trust me. It WILL be a huge mess. This mixture makes approximately 16-18 muffins. Bake them at 205 C or 400 F for approximately 10 minutes...



...and voila! warm, moist, fluffy, fruity and nutty muffins, made with things that you needed to get out of the house, anyway! ;)



Now, I'm not yet very good at muffin glamour shots, so please forgive me for that, and especially the 90's portrait shot seen at the beginning of the post. The photos will get better! I promise! In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the muffins!

My Christmas 2011 Top 5

Hello, blogging world! Honestly, I haven't been so sure on what to write about for my first post--I have a sneaking suspicion that, unfortunately, it won't be so monumental. I wanted to get started on this last week, because I had a ton of baking and crafting projects for Christmas, but you know how it goes.

Since I missed blogging for Christmas, I suppose I could go at it the retroactive way; it IS only Boxing Day, after all. ;) So, without further ado, I present to you my top 5 activities-worth-mentioning from Christmas 2011!

5. PINECONE ORNAMENTS

I actually made these for my pseudo-Thanksgiving, back in the "Fall" (I put quotes because, where I live, there are two seasons--Scorching and Slight Drizzles of Rain), but I added loops at the top to add to my tree, which I've been trying (successfully? Unsuccessfully? I don't really know) to give a Black Forest sort of theme. The thought-process was that I couldn't find real pinecones anywhere; it's not like Christmas trees naturally grow in the desert! I ended up making only a few of these, but they worked wonderfully for both late "Fall" and for Christmas. I will definitely be making more next year!

I got the tutorial over at Salt Tree. 


4. TRADITIONAL SWEDISH GINGERBREAD

Now, I am not, by any means, of Swedish decent, and with recipes, I usually prefer to either stick to family recipes or create my own. However, when I came across this incredibly old recipe, meant to make literally hundreds of cookies (I cut the recipe in half), I couldn't resist.

It's been a while, so even though I did quite a bit of searching, I couldn't find my recipe source online. :( I'll be sure to post it some other time--sooner rather than later if there's enough interest. Let me know! :)


3. A BLIZZARD OF PAPER SNOWFLAKES

Like I mentioned in this blog in other places, I come from someplace that could, essentially, double as the North Pole, but I'm currently located in a desert. No snow for me here! Of course, I'm not a huge fan of being cold, but in my experience, there's nothing quite like a Christmas with plenty of snow--even if it's the handmade variety. ;) I decided to up my blizzard's ante this year, and ended up cutting out a TON of paper snowflakes, and hanging them from the ceiling in my little apartment's entryway. Trust me; these took a LOT of time!

2. GINGERBREAD COOKIE ORNAMENTS

I know you see these things everywhere, but in honor of my attempts to create a pretty traditional Christmas, not to mention (like I said before) a Black Forest-esque tree, I thought making a batch was in order. I made several to send to various friends, with whom I was engaged in a homemade-ornament swap, and of course I made some for myself. I decorated them with puffy paint to make them look more like the real thing.

I actually improvised on a recipe for these little guys, because I couldn't find one on the internet that I liked. As with the *real* gingerbread, I'll post the recipe after a while. The world could, after all, use my recipe--one that involves both baking AND glue (yes, it's completely safe)! Also, in case you are wondering, I used woodland creature cookie cutters from Ikea.


1. THE RECEPTION OF CRAFTY PRESENTS!

Of course, with all the above, it must be obvious that my Love understands that, well, I make things. I have to say, he is the BEST, because what did Mr. Santa Claus get me for Christmas? Well, among other things (including a new dance bag; possibly more on that later), he got me a mini sewing machine and a full-sized stand mixer--with a top that comes off to become a regular blender, if need be! I'm in love--with Love, of course, but also with my new prezzies! This shows how spoilt I am. ;)

If you are interested, the stand mixer is from Morphy Richards, and the mini sewing machine is from Jolly. :)

Of course, the presents above guarantee that, even though I'm fairly crafted-and-baked/cooked-out from Christmas, I won't stop because I want to try my new toys! Also, we still have New Year's Eve/Day to look forward to (I was brought up in a classy sort of way that honored the occasion on the "Day" rather than the "Eve), not to mention Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day. However, that's enough from me for now; I hope you had a fabulously merry Christmas, as well as a laid-back Boxing Day. ;)