Dec 4, 2012 |
Is one of your New Year’s Resolutions to eat better? Really… who’s isn’t.
How about adding some more fruits and citrus to your diet? Those vitamins are calling you! They want to party down with you in the kitchen!
Fresh!
Remember this lovely moment? It makes the whole Kitchen Party thing a bit… difficult.
Yeah. It’s always fun to work in the kitchen with a finger splint taped to your hand… not!
It’s even more fun when you’re trying to squeeze citrus juice good to the last drop. Unfortunately, my recurring early-onset arthritis is currently recurring.
Fortunately, Aroma Housewares sent me this great Electric Juicer to test drive for them.
Aroma Housewares Juicer
Can I just say, this will probably change my life? I mean that in a good way.
This wonderfully small kitchen appliance is, well, wonderful. The electric cord wraps around the base and secures on the bottom for easy storage.
Safe and Secure
There are two reamers, for all sizes of citrus. Just slice your citrus in half, and lightly push it down. The juicer is pressure-activated, and spins immediately. When you release the pressure, it stops!
Push Activated
As a compare-and-contrast, I tried squeezing juice myself. With my hand. With my currently-recurring-early-onset-arthritis hand.
Compare and Contrast
Guess who won.
No Contest
It took less than 30 seconds for the Juicer to juice half a lime, lemon and orange. It took me three times as long to get half that amount of juice with my own hands.
The Better Juicer
And their strainer caught the pulp! I wasn’t so lucky doing it the manual way.
What about the clean up? Just take the pitcher off the base and wash. It comes apart easily. No difficult corners or dangerous cords. The base shouldn’t need cleaning but if it does, a simple wipe with a lightly damp rag will do it.
I’m so excited. No more will my citrus turn bad because I’m unable to juice it in time. And because it’s self-contained, it stores neatly in the kitchen cabinet. Ready to be used quite frequently. Which, as you can tell, is the plan.
A Tablespoon of lemon juice for a recipe? No problem. A few ounces of Vitamin C to boost your immune system? Never tasted better. No preservatives here. Just a whole lotta pure, fresh, wonderful juice.
Just Juice
And now that you’re salivating, it’d be quite unfair of me to not give you the chance to get your own juicer, wouldn’t it? You’re lucky I’m not that kind of person. So just follow the links in the Rafflecopter widget below to earn entries for this wonderfully necessary Juicer.
You can thank me later.
BE SURE TO FOLLOW THE MANDATORY ENTRY OR ALL OTHER ENTRIES WON’T COUNT.
And Frankly, My Dear… that’s all she wrote!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Jan 7, 2012 |
I’ve seen a trend on blogs this year. Rather than people writing out a long list of unaccomplishable Resolutions, the notion is to pick three, just three, words that are what you want to make the next year about.
For instance, you might pick the word health. This would eliminate a handful of specific resolutions such as “I will exercise daily” and “I will eat better” and “I will lower my calorie intake” and “I will eat a salad every lunch”.
Or you might pick achievements. This would encompass all those resolutions about work, success, striving…
Even though I already wrote out my Resolutions list, having three main words sounded like a good idea.
The first word that came to mind was Dare. I was going for “be daring”, but that’s two words so I opted for just dare. For me, this means to not just step out of my comfort zone now and then. It means, even when I’m afraid to go ahead and do something. It means to be more adventurous, and there’s all kinds of ways to do that. Experiment with my recipes. Step out in faith when I can’t see the foundation. Do the things I’m nervous about doing. Try something new. Keep trying at something old until I get it. Don’t give up. Don’t falter. Keep trudging. Dare to be great. Dare to be wonderful. Dare to accomplish. Just dare to do it.
My second word is Orange. “What an odd word,” you say. Well, let me explain. First, my kitchen is orange. I love it. It’s a very bright, refreshing color. Orange has always been my favorite fruit and fragrance. It’s such a wonderful color, that California even has a City and County named after it! And in this wonderful Orange County is a miraculous little place called Disneyland, also extravagantly orange in its decorations. Oranges are full of vitamins and fragrant juice and taste wonderful. Oranges are the best. One of my favorite quotes comes from Frank Sinatra: “Orange is the happiest color.”
I had a hard time coming up with my third word. I wanted something like successful or accomplished but everyone’s definitions are different. And let’s face it, without having a day job how successfully accomplished can I be? It’s a great word to strive for, but I’m not so sure even I can call myself successful right now. I’m getting there, to be sure. But I still wanted a different word.
Enter Disneyland (again!). I have a favorite T-Shirt that I wear almost every time I go there. It’s a black princess T and has a big red name badge screened on front that says “HELLO… My Name Is AWESOME!” I love it. It’s fun to wear and yes, garners me some smiles as I walk by. I don’t wear it because I want that much attention. But it’s fun to hear others talk amongst themselves: “Did you see that T-Shirt?” “That’s so cool, I gotta get one!” It’s just a lot of fun.
Since we finished off winter break by another trip to The Happiest Place on Earth, I wore my “Awesome!” T-Shirt. And was impressed at the attention it gathered. More than the usual. I actually had people come up to me and start talking. It was, again, fun. I like talking to people. I like smiling and getting to know people. I like having fun. And that’s when it hit me: When I bought a juice and the cashier asked, “How many people have called you ‘Awesome’ today?” I said, “Not enough!” And I knew then and there that it had to be my third word. Awesome is exactly what I’m striving for in the year 2012.
Picking just three words to set for a yearly standard is no easy task. The fruits of your life will be different than mine. But whichever words you choose for 2012, be sure you Dare to be an Awesome Orange in life.
And Frankly, My Dear… that’s all she wrote!
Sep 29, 2011 |
by Molly Jo Realy @MollyJoRealy
Since October is nearly upon us with its crisp cool weather and fun holiday gatherings about to start, I thought I’d share my own cider recipe. It’s been a hit at family gatherings for years, and stores nicely in the fridge for up to a week … if it lasts that long!
I love the versatility of this great party drink. You can serve it hot or cold, by itself or mixed with a citrus soda or even light champagne. Even cider-haters like this beverage, right, Matt? ;)
INGREDIENTS:
1 orange, zested, sliced
1 gallon apple cider (non-sparkling)
6 cinnamon sticks, broken.
Zest the orange, set aside. Slice orange, cut slices into halves.
In slow cooker, combine cider, orange zest, cinnamon sticks, and orange slices.
Heat on low for two hours, stirring occasionally.
Serve according to taste.
Yeah. It’s always fun to work in the kitchen with a finger splint taped to your hand… not!
