LizzyHouse

juice fast, ya'll.

I'm officially starting my juice fast today.

I've got loads of reasons to do it, and no good reasons not to. I'm even thinking of bringing my juicer with me to TCC next week and juicing my meals. Not kidding around.

So. One month from today, I will let you know how it's going.

Here are a couple of things I know from juicing:

I read an ebook last year about juice fasting that made it seem really daunting. It was helpful, but daunting. Then I watched this documentary and it made me feel really good about jumping in.

You need a good juicer. Just because it's the most expensive does not always make it the best. I purchased a juicer in 2010 that was $100 more expenisive than the one I just got, and it was such a pain to use, I never lasted more than 5 days. I would have to strain the juice after juicing, and then it was obnoxious to clean AND it wouldn't juice anything leafy or green, it would just bruise it.

I just purchased the Breville Ikon, and it's a dream machine. I essentially just threw everything that I intend to juice at it, and it laughed at me. The sieve is really fine so it makes a nice quality juice. Plus the machine is beautiful. As far as kitchen appliances go, it's so good looking. It makes me interested in other Breville products...

find combinations of produce that you like. Drinking straight vegetable juice can be hard. So it's important to find stuff that goes together that you can rotate through the week and keep drinking!

I always prefer cucumber over celery as a base

I prefer green apples to red everyday of the week.

Red peppers taste like red sugar water

lemons start to taste sweet not sour

carrots become too sweet to drink straight

I like adding herbs. Basil makes everything better in a minty floral way.

do you see where I am going with this? Everything is really sweet...

if you are going to do a juice fast, you still need to just as much water as you are supposed to drink when you are eating normally. It's possibly even more important now, to help in flushing out your system.

drink fresh coconut water.

anyway. We shall see. I am hoping to sleep more regularly, and help my skin clear up. Also I have found that when I am juicing, I have absolutely no issues with my anemia, so I am looking forward to that. Bottoms up!

 

A super sneek preview.

check back tomorrow at 9:00 AM Mountain Standard time for some big time news!

cpsc first session activity

Good morning campers!

It's Melysses S. Grant here, on behalf of camp director Lizzy House, seeing as how she is having surgery today I am doing this post for her. But all is well and camp must go on! Lizzy made this awesome finger puppet tutorial for everyone to enjoy, and she still wants you to have it even if I have to give it to you!!!

This is the first official project of Castle Peeps Summer Camp, and campers I hope you enjoy making these wonderful finger puppets with your very own favorite peeps.

Download this tutorial to make your very own castle peeps finger puppets for hours of endless fun!

Download the CPSC Finger Puppets Tutorial

Thanks campers!!!

Love,

Melysses on behalf of Lizzy.

a fact is a fact

I have SUPER sensitive skin! Ever since I was a small child, it has been an issue. Wearing stage makeup was always the worst thing ever, but having really sensitive skin makes it really hard to find products that are accommodating and effective. It seems like every time I would find a product that worked they would discontinue it. Well, a couple of months ago I was at Walgreen's, desperately searching for a face wash with out certain ingredients, and the only one that I found was the Walgreen's brand that seemed to be mimicking a specialty brand out of Bath and Body Works (which they stopped carrying). I WAS SOOO skeptical, but I went ahead and got it. The design (and color) of the bottle was decent enough for me to not be too afraid. To my surprise it was an incredible product, and what is even more interesting is that it is gentle enough to be used as a face soap, and whatever enough to be a multi-purpose cleaner. I don't know how it works, it just does. Well, the point of this is, that I went in today, because I used it all, and it wasn't there. I got a little upset. Like I said, everything that I find that works, they (the man) discontinues. I asked the lady working if she knew what happened to it, and sure enough, they have stopped producing it. BUT! She had all the ones she had taken off the shelf, and they were marked to $1.50 each. She had three, so I bought three. It's hard to find products that work, and once you do, they disappear. Why is that? So run to Walgreen's and see if they have any of this soap, it's a great product and at $1.50 a really good buy

Such a Tart!

My Grandma lives on the other side of town, and I really only get to see her about four times a year, which is sad. We usually meet at some restaurant in town, and we talk for an hour and that's it. I didn't feel like going out or driving somewhere to eat something that I really didn't want to, to see my Grandmother that I did really want to. I have a great Grandma

So my suggestion was to stay home! My mom remembered that my Grandma has a great bakery near her house, so she could some pastries, and then we would do a fruit something. She ended up getting these great croissant sandwiches, and I couldn't just do a fruit salad. No. I decided to make a fruit tart. I had been trying to figure out a way for days to make a fruit something, because the produce here is incredible, and well priced, as opposed to Rexburg, where everything is outrageously expensive, and not very good. Berries are so expensive I only ever dream of using them. Well not here. Plus, everything is so beautiful. I could spend HOURS at H-E-B. In some cases... we have. So this fruit tart also became a bit of an experiment. I have been discovering some food allergies of mine, which is quite alarming... one including what could possibly be gluten; so, I wanted to make the crust using mostly almonds. Hooray for the food processor! I essentially created an almond flour, and used that 2 parts to 1 part regular flour from the original recipe. It worked out nicely

Almondy Crust-

• 1/2 white or wheat flour
• 1/2 almond flour (grind about 3/4 cup of whole almonds in the food processor till you reach a flour like consistency)
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 tablespoons butter really cold cubed
• 1-2 tablespoons cold water

Then in a food processor blend together the first four ingredients until incorporated (about 4 good pulses). Then start tossing in the cubes of butter and the ingredients will start coming together slightly and then the cold water will really encourage them. Start with less water than you think you will need, because more water equals more water, and you remember in chemistry that some things you can separate once added, and some you can't. That water isn't going anywhere so be careful. It should start to clump together.

Once it has done so, you can turn out the dough onto some cling wrap and refrigerate it and roll it out, or you could do what I did, which was press the dough into the bottom of the dish that I used

Go ahead and preheat your oven to 425°. Make sure that you take a fork to the bottom of the crust so that air can do it's thing, and not puff it up. You could also weight it with beans or rice or something... but I don't normally do that, and it hasn't been an issue yet. Bake it for 15 minutes until it's golden, and a dream crust.

the Cream Cheese Filling!!

In the food processor (it was it's night to shine, as I will not see another one until Christmas), mix 2 packs of cream cheese (I always use the reduced fat. It's a little more tart and it makes me feel better about my life), with a whopping dollop of sour cream and 1/4 cup brown sugar and a splash of vanilla.. also a squeeze of lemon will really brighten it up... ha my recipes are like my patterns... just mix that until there aren't any lumps. If you like yours sweeter, than go ahead and add more sugar!

I made mine the night before so it would re-set up. It did it's job diligently.

And then for the top, I suggest using whatever you love, or what smells best... or what is on sale... or in season. I used kiwis, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries. Heaven Tart.

It was a great morning. I am so glad that we stayed home and did our own thing! We had a great visit, and we had a great breakfast.

Enjoy!

the way we really feel

everyone have a good weekend!

A kiwi a Day

defeats the apples cliche

a little mango never hurt anyone

I couldn't help myself.

The Isle of Produce

So a while back I started drawing fruits and vegetables. I can't remember if I liked vegetables when I was younger, but I can't think of one now that I wouldn't eat... I wouldn't eat a lot of them raw, but I know that I have become a lot less picky. I am going to go ahead and post one of my little guys every couple of days. These are the line drawings. I hope you enjoy, and maybe laugh a little to yourself.