Long time no post!

I recently watched some documentaries on food and health.  It got me to thinking that some of my many migraines lately might be due to all of this baking.  White flour and sugar ...apparently not the best for you.  I often use whole wheat flour and raw sugar but rarely do I exclusively use these alone.  I read something about 60 percent of our diets should be raw whole foods.  Totally makes sense but it's actually not easy to do in America.

My solution was to purchase a juicer to add in the nutrients of live whole raw foods.  It came last Wednesday and I have to say I'm impressed.  Within minutes I was drinking 6 carrots and an apple.  My skin feels tingly and I actually don't think I needed blush (after two days) for the first time in my life. 

Now I'm on a quest to try everything as juice.  Carrots are delicious when juiced.  I never really loved carrots but would eat them because I knew they were good for you. Throw in some spinach...doesn't really taste different but now I'm getting the vitamins from spinach.  Wow.

So Easter is coming.  Why not grow wheat grass to display the eggs and then juice it when done?  I am very skeptical that I will like drinking wheat grass but I'm am positive I can throw in an apple or pear and it will taste great!

Choosing a juicer...I wish I could have found one a little cheaper but I'm positive I made the right choice in purchasing the Omega 8006.  The juice yield is quite high, it's quiet, and best of all, super easy to clean.  The 8004 is $50 cheaper but it was white and some people said that the carrots can stain it.  I rarely get juice on that part of the machine so I wouldn't worry about that, now that I have one.

Omega 8006 Juicer

Busy month with Annie

You can view the still shots here https://picasaweb.google.com/kari.watts/Annie?authkey=Gv1sRgCKGn146L3rWUtwE&feat=directlink

and I will be working to post more youtube vidoes soon.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Irish Soda Bread

Ingredients:

• 4 cups all purpose flour (I use 3.5 and .5 cup whole wheat flour)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom or coriander (optional)
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 egg
• 1 3/4 cups buttermilk

Preheat oven to 375

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and cardamom until blended.  Cut in butter with pastry blender until crumbly.  Beat egg into buttermilk and mix into dry ingredients until blended.  Turn out onto floured surface and knead until smooth.

Divide dough in half and shape into a smooth round loaf in a greased cake or pie pan.  Cut crosses into top of loaves.

Bake for 30 minutes or until slightly browned.

Corned Beef, Cabbage, Potatoes and Carrots cooked for 12 hours in a crock pot

Shamrock Cookies

Hello Dolly Dancers from 2 years ago...the kids have grown but it still makes me laugh

New starter

When I killed my starter i lost the cooking bug i had going for a while.  The result?  I have gone back to my old ways.  Poor eating habits, loss of energy, etc = more stress.  Suddenly I became overwhelmed by little things.

Today is a new beginning.  Today I started a new sourdough starter and a new commitment
to eating well, exercise, and positivity that will create a new zest for life.  Stay tuned for more posts on cooking and interesting things that come my way....like the new cd design for Unified Jazz Ensemble.  I finished the design layout last week.  The cd will be released this Spring.  I'll let you know when it becomes available on Amazon and Pandora.  Their current cd and my last design is available on Amazon and Pandora.  Here is a sneak peak at the design below.

front cover design and photo by me ;)

back cover

inside right

inside right cd tray

cd image