Author Archives: Admin

Green Smoothies Every Day!

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Here’s what was in today’s smoothie:

1 banana
1 fuji apple, with core (no seeds – poisonous)
1/2 a valencia orange, peeled
8 fat grapes, with seeds
1 handful of spinach
8 cherry tomatoes, colorful
4 baby carrots (2″-3″ each)
9 square ice cubes
Makes: 2 large glasses full

We’ve made these every morning since my first post (4 smoothies total, so far). My stomach is a little weirded out by these very foriegn foods, but it’s getting better. Mike fed me a probiotic. We’ll see if that helps tomorrow. I’m still very happy about all of this.

I Drank a Green Smoothie

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green smoothie 1

First homemade smoothies with the new BlendTec blender.

1/3 of a cantaloupe
1 fuji apple, with core and seeds
1/2 a valencia orange, peeled
8 fat grapes, with seeds
handful of spinach
9 square ice cubes
Makes: 2 large glasses full

I’m so excited to be adding whole fruit and veggies to my diet. This I can do now!

Seattle Neighborhoods I’ve Lived In

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This covers the Greater Seattle region. I’ve lived here for over 25 years now, and it really is home, and it seems I’ve moved around a bit over the years. Here are the places I’ve lived:

Auburn
Ballard (Seattle)
Capitol Hill (Seattle)
Edmonds
Greenwood/Bitter Lake (Seattle)
Haller Lake (Seattle)
Highland Park (West Seattle)
Lake City (Seattle)
Montlake (Seattle)
Mountlake Terrace
Queen Anne (Seattle)
Shoreline
Vashon Island

* updated in 2015

Wine, Pizza, Squash Puree

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For those who know about my terrible eating habits and wonder if I ever try and improve the situation, I thought I’d mention that in the last two years, with Mike’s help, I’ve added these to my diet:

butternut squash (pureed and added to pasta dishes, eggs, or mac n’ cheese, …)
cheese pizza (the critical hurdle here was the tomato sauce)
red wine

Currently working on steamed carrots.

Chocolate Malt Cake

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Snow Licking the bowl Candle shot by Mike

CHOCOLATE MALT CAKE: Ingredients
1 box Deveil’s Food cake mix
1/2 cup malted milk powder
3 eggs
1/2 cup oil
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

MALT BUTTERCREAM FROSTING: Ingredients
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened
8 oz cream cheese (1 box), softened
3 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup malted milk powder

Additional decorating item: 2 boxes of Whoppers (Malted Milk Balls)

DIRECTIONS: CAKE

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F)
2. grease and flour 3 – 8″ round cake pans
3. combine dry ingredients: cake mix and malted milk powder, in a small bowl and set aside
4. combine wet ingredients: eggs, oil, buttermilk, sour cream, and vanilla extract; beat until smooth
5. add dry ingredients to the wet, beat until well mixed
6. pour batter into the 3 cake pans you prepared earlier. Try and get the amounts as close to the same as you can without making a big fuss about it.
7. bake on 350 for about 30 minutes, rotate and turn the pans about half way through this time. Cake is down when a toothpick, knife, or cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
8. Remove from oven and place, still in the pans, on cooling racks for 15+ minutes to cool down
9. gently remove the cakes from the pans and place, on wax paper, on the cooling racks until completely cooled. I left these overnight, since I did the baking really late at night.

DIRECTIONS: FROSTING

10. Combine the butter, cream cheese, and vanilla; and beat for 4 minutes (KitchenAid standing mixer makes this all really easy), and then scrape down the bowl sides as needed
11. add powdered sugar and malted milk powder (I add these about 1/2 cup at a time), mix until smooth
12. frost between layers and around cake as normal. Decorate with malted milk balls (Whoppers)

Notes:

This just might be the most delicious cake I’ve ever made. I love malt, so does Mike, and I take the few minutes of complete silence of 10 people eating it at the party as a really good indication that they all really liked it too.

The frosting was stiff enough, but I might add a little more butter to it next time. I don’t want to add anymore sugar as it was perfect for sweetness. I don’t want to have it get sickly sweet.

Original recipe was for cupcakes, and found here. My changes are small, but important for me to track for future baking. I left the cocoa out of the frosting, and made a whole cake, so I’ve noted bake time for that of course.