The dangers of buying a cheapo blender, see the recall from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Potential Laceration Hazard due to exposed moving blades when plastic separation occurs while blending.

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml12/12187.html

If you own one of these blenders, you should stop using it immediately and return it for a full refund.

Engine 2′s October newsletter had a short list of healthy alternatives to the tradition Thanksgiving dishes. The one that caught my eye was the Pumpkin Pie recipe.

I tried this easy, vegan Pumpkin Pie recipe and absolutely loved it.  It was so light and creamy that it made me think of a mousse.

The only cooked item was the pumpkin itself. The rest of the ingredients were nuts, dates and seasonings. I think baked sweet potatoes would be a wonderful substitution for the pumpkin. Using sweet potatoes would make this pie a bit sweeter. Read more

Pears are in full swing around here in the South and with all the low hanging fruit we are preparing for homemade pear butter and pear cobblers. Read more

Yikes! It’s been awhile since my last post. Life happens and it lasted for a couple of months for me. Well, I have a great recipe to share! If you are looking for a healthy snack you can toss in your bag to eat on the go or pack in lunch boxes…I am with you and I may have what you are looking for.

Read more

Don’t let your Kitchenaid blender coupling cause you to throw it in the trash!

It seems that anyone who owns a few specific models of the KitchenAid blender will eventually find themselves in need to replace the plastic coupling that fits between the motor base and the pitcher.  I have noticed lots of people are purchasing replacement couplings through my site, which led me to spending several hours researching this issue. Read more

I am finding more and more alternates to cow’s cheese. By this, I do not mean fake cheese made from soy or rice products. We tried this when we discovered our family was allergic to Casein, which is a protein found in cow’s products (cheese, sour cream, yogurt…).  We did not care at all for these ‘fake’ products. We just did without cheese and cheese products.

A few months ago, I found sheep cheese at an International Food Shop. It was quite pricey, but I thought I’d give it a try. Then I found goat cheese at the same shop. I tried that. It was different at first, with each cheese having it’s own distinct flavor. Then, it kinda grew on us. I liked the way it melted and I was able to use it in dishes I had not been able to make such as real lasagna or paninis or pizza with cheese that melts. Read more

Zoku Recipe and Review

July in the south is HOT! Especially in the Texas heat. While visiting friends and family there this month I got to play with the Zoku Quick Pop Maker and make some delicious frozen pops.

I had never seen one of these little cool freezers before and instantly began a love/hate relationship. Read more

How To Make Tomato Sauce From Fresh Tomatoes?

This summer we had our finest crop of tomatoes. Read more

My daughter has been wanting to make donuts for a long time. We rarely buy donuts and have fried pop-biscuits only a few times in their lives, and that was a looooong time ago. I knew there was a better way.

When we came across a Whole Wheat Cake Donut Recipe she jumped on it.  We found the recipe on Heavenly Homemakers.com. We used coconut oil instead of the melted butter and opted to bake instead of fry. Read more

At my house, we love pancakes and waffles and all things you might put syrup on. Needless to say we can easily go through lots of Maple Syrup.

I try to keep some around and often blend fruits sweetened with the Maple Syrup to pour over pancakes, to stretch the syrup and decrease the amount of sugar in the early mornings. Read more

My neighbor gave us some cucumbers from her garden. They were so beautiful and tasted like summer.

I grabbed one to cut up and put the rest (in the baggie) in the fridge.

I don’t know what your fridge is like, but I only have one refrigerator and it’s cram packed with fresh fruits and veggies, leftovers, milk of all assortments (almond, coconut and goat) and bits of milled grains (like flax, wheat, wheat germ), ingredients for bread making (Vital Wheat Gluten, yeast…) and of course the endless supply of condiments you use only a few times a year. But, most of all it’s full of fruits and veggies (lettuces, spinach, carrots, blueberries, celery, bell peppers…it’s an endless rotation of these items).

All of this to say…my fridge is cram-packed and it freezes often. Read more

One of the best parts about summer time is having a Popsicle. The weather is heating up and the days of swimming are upon us…as are the “Mommy, can I have a Popsicle?”.

There is nothing like having a Popsicle poolside after a great game of Marco Polo.

But, do I really want to pump my precious children full of sugar and High Fructose Corn Syrup? NO WAY! Read more

I was on Blendtec’s Facebook page and read about a customer’s Blendtec overheating when used. This is not a common problem so I was interested in what to do. The response to this problem was to call Blendtec and they will take care of it.

Interestingly enough, the next week or so I was using a friend’s Blendtec when this happened to me. While I was blending, the machine stopped and would not start again. I also smelled something ‘hot’ or ‘burning’ from the inside of the base. This was not good and certainly not normal. Read more

Andrea Primm is a Raw Food Chef and Instructor. She has a Raw Chocolate Cake instructional video on YouTube that is fabulous.

The cake literally took less than 10 minutes to make. After watching the video I immediately decided to give this a try in my Blendtec Blender.

The original recipe called for processing walnuts in a food processor. I do not own a food processor, but know my Blendtec can BE a food processor too. Read more

For those of us who are making our own loaf bread, it’s a great challenge to find a whole wheat bread recipe that can stand up to a loaf of store-bought bread in texture and taste.  This recipe and baking method accomplishes both and the technique is easy to learn.

Feel free to skip to the video below.

In my two or three years of making bread I have tried several whole wheat recipes and eaten lots of hard, stiff, crumbly, bread.  In bread making…persistence pays. I know I am very fortunate to have found a great bread recipe early in my bread making career. Read more

Once again it’s approaching 5:00 and I have no clue what’s for supper.

I looked around my kitchen, hmmm.

Earlier today I covered some raw cashews with water. I did not have a special plan for the cashews, I just knew I needed to use them. I had seen a video earlier this week of an Alfredo sauce using cashews as a base. Cashews make a wonderful creamy base for soups and sauces, that I do know!

So now I have a plan. A creamy sauce using the cashews that were soaking. Read more

This is not a subject I am an expert on, but thankfully Dr. Joel Fuhrman, M.D. is.

He has recently published an article on the Huffington Post detailing his findings on what causes early puberty in girls and how to avoid it.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joel-fuhrman-md/girls-early-puberty_b_857167.html

A quick summary of the actions you can take as a parent to protect your children:

• Focus on preparing whole plant foods vs. animal foods.
• Minimize all dairy products — replace cows milk with almond and hemp milk.
• Exercise with your children — think bicycle vs. battery powered toys.
• Minimize processed foods — think box equals chemicals not real food.
• Experiment with a wide variety of natural plant foods and involve them in the kitchen and explain as much as you can.
• Buy organic when you can or better yet, grow your own pesticide free vegetables.
• Avoid BPA – found in riqid polycarbonate plastics, do not microwave plastics, minimize canned foods.
• Avoid phthalates found in plastics marked with recycling label #3 (PVC).  Check ingredients list on personal care products for phthalates (fragrances).

The one item I will add to Dr. Furhman’s list that has made all of the above easier for me:

• Purchase a highly quality kitchen blender, that will allow you to prepare more meals from whole unprocessed foods.  Think whole grain breads, raw vegatable soups and unlimited kid friendly smoothie options.

After reading this, I have a few actions of my own to take … as the phthaltes issue is something I have not been closely watching for.   We all can take steps to prevent these issues that take years to develop.
“The most effective type of health care is vigilant and excellent self care.”
Dr. Joel Fuhrman, M.D.

Free Shipping For July 2011

During the entire month of July free shipping on all purchases from Blendtec.com.

It’s that time of year again; it’s time to celebrate Mothers!

Blendtec is offering FREE GROUND SHIPPING to the continental United States (Excludes Alaska and Hawaii) on all products purchased from their website starting today Fri April 29th and running through Sunday May 8th.

Simply visit Blendtec.com with this link.

There is no coupon code required; the free shipping promotion will automatically apply to all products in the cart.

Feel free to contact me with any questions.

Thank you,

April

P.S.  I will get paid a commission if you purchase through the link above or the one below to help support my site.  So if you don’t want this to happen, just visit blendtec.com via another route.

http://www.blendtec.com

From my Mother's Garden

I have posted a form of this smoothie some time back, but just had to do it again since this was our featured smoothie of the day!

It was requested by one of my children!

We drink a lot of smoothies in our house, but it’s on a rare occasion that one is actually asked for.

One of our first green smoothies, back when I was blending in my first blender…the Magic Bullet, was an excellent blend of lemon and fresh ginger. I had never used fresh ginger before blending it, by the way. And the Bullet did an okay job of blending the greens. It must have been more than okay if this smoothie recipe had such an impression on my children.

Lemons and ginger and greens are high in disease fighting nutrients and contain immune boosting properties. You can’t go wrong with this trio. Read more

Spring is upon us in the south and I love it! The colors are so beautiful and vibrant.

It got me thinking of these colors…

Pink Strawberries

Green Spinach

Purple Blueberries (yes, they blend up purple) Read more