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Shake your Kombucha

 

For a few months now, my husband and I have been drinking Kombucha.  What’s that you ask?!  It’s a magical elixir!  It’s basically a dose of good bacteria to make things right in your body.  It detoxifies, balances, and makes you feel so so good.  There’s claims that the guy who made GT’s Kombucha, gave it to his mother who had breast cancer and it helped her fight it.  Who knows if these claims are true or not.  I’m not saying it will cure cancer.  My friend told me she had been drinking it through her pregnancy and she swears by it.  So I thought we’d give it a shot.  First we shared a bottle once a week and now we have a whole bottle once a week.  I read a lot of reviews about this stuff, and mostly people complained about the smell and flavor, but honestly I don’t really notice anything.  It smells like vinegar and tastes like whatever flavor it is.  I like the berry ones and the ginger one.  There’s bacteria colonies floating around in it so you shouldn’t shake it violently and it is effervescent.  I suppose if you’re a finicky eater you probably won’t enjoy this stuff, but I like it.  I’ll try anything a couple of times.  I’ve noticed I have more energy, I feel cleaner from the inside, and I’m super regulated.  I feel the balance.  If anybody is a raw foodist, then you can drink this, it’s totally raw.  I’ve heard of the pasteurized kind, but that makes no sense to me.  Pasteurizing kills the bacteria, so I don’t see how that would be effective.

The drink contains probiotics and powerful antioxidants.  I’ve also noticed my skin has a glow through the week. It’s low in calories and sugar and is great as part of a cleanse.

So don’t be a pansy!  Just put your big girl underpants on and take a swig, you’ll feel amazing!

 

Read more about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kombucha

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Sunday Short Stack

I love Sunday breakfast with my hunny!!  We kept it classic and just did pancakes and bacon.  I’m pretty picky about pancakes-they have to be fluffy and light.  I’ve got the perfect recipe for the fluffiest pancakes ever!  I’ve been making them this way for years and have never had a bad batch.

What you need:

3/4 cup milk

2 tablespoons white vinegar

1 cup all purpose flour

2 tablespoons white sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg

2 tablespoons butter, melted

I don’t know many people who just have buttermilk on hand.  So here’s how you make it = mix the milk and white vinegar together and let sit for 5 minutes, voila!  You have buttermilk!

During that 5 minutes, mix your dry ingredients together.

Once the milk is done transforming, mix in the egg and butter.  Then mix together the wet and the dry ingredients.  It should be a thick consistency.

Heat the stove to somewhere between medium and low heat.  Nice and slow is the trick with pancakes.  I see some people crank the heat up and the outside of the pancake cooks too fast so it doesn’t have a chance to get fluffy.

Once you pour your batter on the skillet, just wait for the bubbles to appear.  Once you see those flip the pancake over and leave it alone.  Don’t move it around, don’t lift it up, and for Pete’s sake don’t tap the top of it with your spatula!

(FYI – my batter is thicker so you won’t see as many bubbles as you would with a thinner batter, but this picture below shows the bubbles as they start to appear.)

 

Just watch the sides of the pancake, the whole thing will lift and when you see the sides looking done, place it in a dish.  Look at mine…see how thick and fluffy!!

Patience is key here.  When the pancake cooks slow it allows all the gas to release and fluff up the pancake.  What you end up with is light airy goodness!

Sometimes I add a little vanilla and cinnamon, or white chocolate and strawberries.  This is the standard pancake and you can add anything you like to it.  Blueberries, chocolate chips, nuts, anything!

Don’t forget your bacon!  We just seasoned ours with black pepper and red pepper flakes.  We makes ours in the oven to cut down on the mess.  We set the oven to 350 degrees and make a little foil basket in a cookie sheet to catch the grease.  If you like your bacon crispy but soft too, this is a great way to make it.  We just stick them in before we make pancakes and they’re done by the time we’re done.  Once you pull the bacon off just let the foil basket sit there and cool off.  Once the grease hardens crumple up the foil and toss it!  Easy peasy!

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Positive State of Mind

This was in my fortune cookie today and I wanted to share it with you guys.  I think it is so important to count your blessings everyday.  This is a habit I’ve had since my college years.  Each day I like to think of things that I am thankful for and it always puts me in the right state of mind to have a great day.  When I start my days in a positive frame of mind, it usually stays that way.

I’d like for you guys to think  of things that you are grateful for and list them.  Not things like cars, malls, or jeans.  Dig deep and find out what you truly cannot live without and feel so blessed to have.

For me it’s:

  • family
  • my home (not house)
  • my beautiful son who is so healthy and strong (hasn’t been sick once!)
  • affection/support/love/friendship from my husband
  • all the support in my life from friends or family
  • my mother-in-law who takes care of my son-because of that I can work and pursue my dreams, who teaches him our language and sings religious songs to him, who keeps him safe and loved all day long…I can’t be grateful enough for this wonderful woman
  • my mother who keeps me company on my boring drive to work, always gives me wonderful advice, and has my back no matter what, the one person in my life besides my husband who has NEVER lied to me.
  • my brother and sister-in-law who have really been there.  I know they would drop anything to help me and now that I’m not living near them anymore they take care of Mom and Dad.
  • I could go on and on…with several years of practice, I’ve got a pretty long list.

Sometimes it might seem silly to throw in a positive, but it really helps build perspective.  So sometimes while I’m cutting someone’s hair I think ‘Gosh my back really hurts from doing this all day.’ and then I immediately think ‘Thank God I have hands to cut and create with!’  And then the backache doesn’t seem so important anymore.  Each time we have a negative in our path, there is always a positive reason it is there.  Let your negatives lead you to positives and thus lead you to a treasure trove of things to be grateful for!  Next time you find yourself complaining and painting yourself as a victim, stop and think and find the positive.

I wish you all a wonderful weekend!

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Slow Cooker Butter Chicken – Vegetarian Substitute Tofu

 

If you’ve never tried Indian food, this is a good place to start.  Butter chicken is one of my favorite dishes.  It is so decadent and really very bad for you, but so so delicious.  There’s ways you can cut back on the fat and calories, but it just won’t taste as good!

My crock pot broke 😦 so I wasn’t able to make this with step by step pictures as per usual.  If you don’t have a crock pot you can make this on the stove and just simmer for a while.  The flavor really matures over time, but it will still taste good either way you do it.
This isn’t entirely from scratch, but it is the easiest way to do it at home.

Here’s what you need:

4-6 boneless chicken thighs cut into bite-sized pieces
1 onion diced
3 cloves garlic minced
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp oil

Stir fry these ingredients on medium heat until the chicken has some color and the onion is translucent. Then pour entire contents of pan into crock pot.

Then add:

15 cardamom pods (we just eat these, but if you don’t just put them in some cheesecloth)
2 tsp curry powder
1 tbsp curry paste (like Patak’s hot curry paste)
1 tsp red chili powder (optional)
2 tsp tandoori masala
1 tsp garam masala
8 oz (?) of heavy cream or milk (you can use coconut milk, but that makes it Thai!)
1 cup plain yogurt
1 5.5 fl oz can of tomato paste
Salt/Pepper to taste

Throw all of that into your crock pot and mix gently.  Set it to high for 4-6hours or medium for 6-8 hours.
Serve it with some rice or naan.  I have a good recipe for home made naan without a tandoor!  Ours tastes just like the restaurant kind!  I’ll give you that recipe soon.

 

A couple of notes from the chef 🙂

If you have Indian spices at home use those to customize this dish.  If you like more of certain flavors.  The ingredients I listed make this dish less complicated and more user friendly.  If you aren’t used to cooking with Indian spices, it can be intimidating until you learn them and figure out what each one adds to the dish.  You should be able to find the things I listed here in the international aisle.

Also feel free to increase the amounts of curry powder or curry paste.  2 tsp is really very little, usually I am putting spices in by the tablespoons.

Another thing that really adds to the flavor is using bone in chicken and getting it cut so that the marrow is exposed.  The marrow darkens the gravy and just adds a nice flavor to it.

For vegetarians just add in tofu where there’s chicken!  Simple!  You should probably saute the onion and garlic before you add in the tofu because tofu doesn’t take long to brown.

If you have any questions, feel free to write me.  If you end up making it please tell me about your experience!

 

 

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Pinterestpiration

I was browsing Pinterest the other night and stumbled upon this tutorial:

 

 

Here is my attempt:

Not only was it super easy, but I’ve been getting tons of compliments.  It looks way harder than it is and when you see the tutorial images you realize just how simple it is.

I used some new China Glaze Neons and the glitter on my ring finger is OPI from the Muppet Collection.  It probably won’t last very long since my hands are constantly in water at the salon.  Maybe next time I will seal it with my gel top coat.  Worth a try!  Get into the neon trend, it’s so fun to look at!  My nails have been cheering me up!

Looking for a really good top coat? – use Seche Vite!  It is so so shiny and makes the color really pop!  It also distracts from minor imperfections because of the high gloss.  What are some nail trends you’re into?