Asparagus and Artichoke Salad

Since becoming a vegetarian, salads are my favorite.  There's just an endless variety of salads you can make.  This one we've had one other time, but the first time I wasn't a fan.  Why?  Well, it was a warm salad.  I'm not a fan of warm salads.  So, this time, I made sure it was nice and cold.  Not only did my DH and I like it, but my DS and DD gobbled it all up, and had seconds.  So the cold version is a keeper now.

Asparagus and Artichoke Salad

1 bunch of asparagus

1 14oz can of ready to eat artichoke hearts (yes I took the easy way out and used canned)

1/2 red onion

juice of 1 lemon

1tsp garlic

handful of grape tomatoes

shredded parmesan (optional)

Preheat oven to 400.  Line pan with foil.

Wash asparagus and break tough ends off.  Put into pan and sprinkle with oil.  Leave cooking in oven for 10 to 15 minutes.

Squeeze lemon juice into a bowl and set aside.

Slice the onion, slice the grape tomatoes in half and add those and the garlic into the lemon juice.  Stick it into the fridge to chill.

Once the asparagus is done immediately put into an ice bath to stop the cooking process and chill the asparagus.  (This is the part DH left out last time which made us all not want to try this salad again)

Once chilled, slice asparagus and add to the onion and tomato mix.  Pour half the artichoke juice and all of the artichokes into the bowl and mix all the ingredients.  

Add Parmesan if you feel the need.

Serve and Enjoy!

Bok juice

Finals were this week so I'm just finally getting a chance to come on and post a couple things.  The first is one of our green juices we tried this weekend.

Bok Juice

4 whole bok choy leaves
4 celery
1 large apple
1 lemon (peeled)

Juice, pour over ice and Enjoy!

DH and I both liked this one, and it was our first time trying the bok choy and it juiced well, so I was pleased to have another juice to add to our keepers.  DS on the other hand said it was blah...but he says that for everything these days ;)  DD was too busy eating her gluten free pancakes to taste this one but I'll get her input the next time we make it.  Hope you all like it!

Crimson Delight

Its been a while, and this morning I finally found some time.  My juice from this morning, was crimson colored and gave me a good amount of energy.  I also read that its good to have beet juice before running and since I plan to run here shortly, I tossed some beets into my juice.  So here it is...


Crimson Delight

1 beet
1 blood orange
1 large carrot
2 celery

Juice and enjoy!


Now, I haven't gone out to run yet, so I have no idea if it'll really help me in my running.  But, I know that this one is a keeper.  Anything that my DS will wake up and drink without knowing its good for him, can stay in my kitchen.

After gym juice

I am not a big fan of drinking water.  I just don't like it.  Luckily there are lots of fruits and vegetables I can juice and rather drink that have a high water content.  Lots of them that have all the electrolytes you need to get back after a good workout.  So I picked a few and today I'm sharing my after gym juice.

After gym juice

1/2 cucumber
1 large tomato
1 orange (peeled but can keep the pith on)
3 celery stalks

Juice and Enjoy!

This one doesn't look too great, but looks can be deceiving.  It was way better than plain ol' water if you ask me.  I should also add that this one doesn't make as much juice as some of my other juice posts.  The only reason for that is because at the time I was home alone so didn't make enough for the absentees.  Fresh juice is always better so rather than making enough and saving it they just get something else later :)

No-banana nana juice

Alright so here's another juice we tried.  This one DD coined as the no-banana nana juice.  She was very excited to taste this one and right away came up with the name.  You're probably thinking why would someone be so excited about a banana tasting juice when they could peel and eat a banana or blend one in a smoothie, for the taste.  Well, her excitement comes from having an allergy to bananas among her other many allergies.  She always loved bananas but can no longer have them.  But now, she can at least pretend to have them by tasting it in the juice.  So here is what we juiced.

No-banana nana juice

1/2 pomegranate
1 orange carrot
1 purple carrot
2 small red apples
1 yellow squash
5 small celery
1 bartlett pear

Juice and enjoy!

This is a very sweet juice full of fruits and veggies.  And, of course, now a keeper in our house.  No way DD is letting this one go.

Lean Green Juice

I've been slacking again with my posts but for that I've done two today :)

Here's one of the juices we had this week.  The kiddos and DH call this one the lean green juice.

Lean Green Juice:
5 celery
1 squash
1 cucumber
1 small red apple
1 green apple
1 orange

The whole family enjoyed this one.  The taste wasn't strong from any of the ingredients added so it went down smoothly and without complaints from DD or DS ;)  Meaning of course that it's a keeper.

Gluten free honey white bread

I've never been a fan of GF breads until I tasted this one.  So here it is...Enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 c. GF flour (any will work, rice, tapioca, garbanzo bean flour, ect.)
1 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/4 tsp yeast
2 eggs
3 tbsp butter
1tsp vinegar
3/4 c. milk
1/4 cup honey

For the flour, we have tried both rice and tapioca flour for this recipe as well as Bob's Red Mill gluten free all purpose baking flour, the taste was no different so use whatever you are most comfortable with.  Because of DD's allergies we do make our bread Gluten Free, but if you wanted to use regular wheat flour you could just omit the xanthan gum in this recipe since you wont need it.  Now, we totally cheat with our bread recipe.  We don't stick it in our kitchen aid, mix it, butter a pan, and bake it in the oven (although you could go that route, we have before).  We take the easy road now and just stick it into our bread maker.  That being said, this is how we combine our ingredients.

Combine milk, honey, and butter into container.  This could be a pot if you plan to melt the butter/warm the liquid on the stove or you can put it into a microwave safe bowl and stick it into the microwave to melt the butter in the liquids.  Either way, it tastes no different in the end.  We just want to have the butter melted and the liquids warm, not hot.

Pour the heated contents into bread maker pan attachment.

You don't "have to" mix your eggs because the machine will do some mixing but I find it better to whisk the eggs, then I add them.  Add remaining ingredients (except for the yeast).  You can make a little pocket for the yeast or if you leave it until last like we do, if you go our way you can just put it right on top of all the other ingredients.

Set your bread maker to the setting you prefer most for your bread (we like our crust light) and you're good to go.  About 30 minutes in you will start to smell that delicious honey bread baking right along.  And soon you will get the chance to taste the most amazing Gluten Free bread there is!

If you haven't tasted GF bread before then you wouldn't know that they're not exactly the best tasting breads in the world.  On the other hand, if you have, then you can probably agree that they're not so great.   If you're anything like my DD you will NOT eat the ones from the store, and well, neither would I.  This recipe though, gets baked at least once or twice a week at my house.  That's how much my DD and DS love it!  This one's a keeper, hope y'all enjoy it!