juicing

The other day I walk into the kitchen and found my roommate Kayleigh opening up a package she had just got. "What is that?" I asked, looking at it with some confusion. "It's a juicer," she said, "you're welcome to use it." My only experience with juicing up until that point had been at my aunt's house, where she juices frequently for her kids. I tried some that she made me and liked it, so I thought this might be a fun summer "project" of sorts - learn how to juice.

My roommate's juicer: Black and Decker 400-Watt Juice Extractor

After assembling the machine, I went out and bought an obscene amount of fruits and veggies. One of the only difficult things about juicing is picking out what fruits and veggies to combine. Luckily, there are websites with recipes to help with that. Using the juicer itself is easy. Heck, my 8 year-old cousin with autism can do it by himself! The first combination I tried was carrots and apples. Mmmmm! So delicious! Yes, it looks like you're drinking some thick, orange potion, but it tastes awesome.

What a pro!

Juicing has a lot of benefits - regulating digestion, increased immune system, and weight loss, to name a few. The worst part of using a juicer? The cleanup. The pulp from the food gets all over everywhere, and you have to clean everything. For my roommate's juicer, that's 6 pieces. The whole process, including clean up, takes about 20 minutes. But if you have the time, it's well-worth it.

Here are some yummy recipes to try:

Easy Mode

• 2 Carrots
• 1 1/2 Apples

Fresh Tropical Fruit Juice

• 1 Kiwi - Peeled
• 6 Strawberries - Medium
• 1 Orange or 2 Clementines - Peeled
• 1/2 Mango - Peeled and Sliced
• 1 cup Pineapple Chunks - Fresh
• 1/4 cup Coconut Water - Fresh or Canned

Very Berry Elixer

• 1 cup Strawberries - hulled
• 1 cup Raspberries
• 1/2 cup Blackberries
• 1/2 cup Blueberries
• 1 Cucumber - whole
• 1 Tbsp. Agave Nectar

Summertime Mojito

(virgin, of course)

• 1 cucumber 
• 1 large pear
• 1 large handful mint
• ½ lime

Antioxidant Concoction 

My own creation!

• 1 cup Strawberries
• 1 cup Blueberries
• 1/2 cup Blackberries
• A bunch of Spinach

You can pretty much put anything in the juicer if it yields juice. Yes, even veggies have juice in them! Will you try any of these? 

meal of the week - chicken and mushrooms

I have come to realize that getting my boyfriend to pick a meal of any kind - whether fast food, a restaurant, type of food, or what to cook - is like pulling teeth. And then when I suggest things, he says no. What do you want? "I don't know." Well, how about this? "Ehh, I'm not really feeling that." Then you pick something. "No, you pick. You're the one with Pinterest." I can't win with this kid.

I decided to take his advice and consult the mecca of information that is Pinterest for some recipe ideas. I finally found a category on The Gracious Pantry called "Dude Food." Sounds promising, right? After some perusing, I found a main dish and a side that Brandon and I could agree on - lemon caper chicken and sautéed mushrooms. And the best part - it was all healthy!

I had kind of had a lousy day, and after a very stressful trip to HEB (SO MANY PEOPLE!), I was not in the mood to be cooking. Plus, after getting home, I once again realized that my boyfriend does not own measuring cups. None. So I would have to do all the measuring by eyeballing drinking glasses and soup spoons. Good grief (We fixed this problem the following day by taking a trip to Target). I worked on the chicken while he cut garlic cloves and sautéed the mushrooms. 

By this time I was ready to slit the throat of the next person who breathed wrong, which would fall on Brandon by default. But somehow, he always knows how to calm me down with a hug, and soon, I was feeling more relaxed. But still freakin' hungry.

Finally, everything was done! It was pretty easy to make, and the only hard-to-find/expensive item was the capers. We used regular mushrooms instead of portobello because, lesbireal, we're poor college kids and the portobellos wer twice as much. Brandon isn't a huge fan of "citrus chicken," so he wasn't big on the lemon chicken, and he doesn't get capers. Sigh. However, the mushrooms were UH-MAZING! He did such a good job on them (of course, he's a better cook than I am, too...). Overall, it was a pretty good meal. And once I was nice and full, I was much happier. :)

Much love,

Sydney

meal of the week - steak and asparagus

As part of our initiative to work out, eat healthy, and lose weight, my boyfriend and I have decided to devote one day a week to preparing a home-cooked meal together. Not only is it teaching us how to cook, but it's also teaching us how to work together and, most importantly, compromise. We both have different tastes, perceptions of how meals should be, and opinions on what should be cooked. Sometimes, we both have the exact same idea on how to cook something; other times, however, we have to hash out the details until we can agree on ANYTHING.

After discussing our schedules, we decided the best day of the week to cook together is on Friday. When he asked me what we should make this week, I took a leap of faith and asked if we could cook steak. I absolutely love steak, but my parents never made it at home when I was younger, so it became a special occasion kind of thing, something I only indulged in at restaurants. But to my pleasant surprise, he said that was doable. 

The most difficult part was deciding what to eat with it. Usually I love potatoes with steak (the perfect combo), but Brandon said that was too many calories. So I suggested a salad. He wanted asparagus. Why not both? After some bickering, we decided that both asparagus and salad would be good with it. I think the most stressful part of the whole experience was the trip to the grocery store. The grocery store nearest us also happens to be the most popular grocery store in town (HEB, of course). After a very hectic shopping trip, we made it home and began the preparation.

Brandon seasoned the rib-eye steaks with olive oil, salt, and minced garlic. His apartment complex has a grill on the patio by the pool, so we were able to actually grill them rather than use the George Foreman or the frying pan. Meanwhile, I was in charge of the sides. My favorite recipe for asparagus is this one for Parmesan Asparagus. Basically, just place the asparagus on a baking sheet, coat with olive oil, sprinkle some Parmesan cheese, salt, and ground pepper on it, and bake for 15 minutes. So simple! And of course, the salad was easy. We just added tomatoes and used light Italian dressing.

Voila! It actually turned out really good! The steak was a little more cooked than Brandon and I prefer, but it was still tender and juicy. The asparagus was really tasty, too. All in all, a successful meal!

Much love,

Sydney