M & C's Detox Day: prep and execution

As you know, this weekend, I threw out my back. While one night's sleep did it some good, it's still incredibly sore and making walking and bending down really difficult. After a long day of work and a United Way fundraiser that I hosted, I left work, full or sugary carbs and caffeine, sore and unhappy with yet another food lapse of judgement and weakness of character. I changed into sweat pants, got out our furry white blanket, and tried to find a position that didn't hurt on the bed to shut my eyes for the 20 minutes before C would come home. I managed to sleep for a little bit and then my husband came in from work and sat beside me on the bed so we could exchange the daily interests and happenings. "What did you eat today?" he asked. "Complete garbage" I unhappily and discouragingly replied. "Me three" he answered. "I want to try doing a detox diet" I ventured, not thinking he would find this an appealing idea. "I'd do that with you" he replied. "Really? I'd like to do it right away." I said, unsure. "Ok, how about tomorrow, we could get the food we need tonight. I can come with you." This was not the response I was expected and I was tired and sore and not really in the mood for extensive health food grocery shopping. However, hubs took the dog for a jaunt around the block, I laid in bed while he tried to tire out the beast, and when he returned home, I conceded.

We are embarking on Dr. Gillian McKeith's Detox Day Diet from her book "You Are What You Eat" which a very good friend of mine and her husband got me as a gift one year. The day is really intense with a lot of juices and raw foods and superfoods, but we were already committed.

our detox diet guide

"You know" I said, before we left for Superstore, "I've read that it's best to start a detox with a fast. I think that we should fast from now until tomorrow morning when we start this regime". It was 6:00pm. "Ok..." replied C, without any enthusiasm. "I just have to go to the washroom them we can leave" I said. After a quicker trip than C expected, I walked into the kitchen and saw him cheeks filled up like a chipmunk's and white frosting on his lips. "Mrrhhff!" he said, surprise. "You'd better not have just eaten all the leftover carrot cake and frosting!" I exclaimed. I flung open the fridge door, grabbed the bowl of frosting which had practically been scrapped clean in that 1 minute span, and threw it in the sink and sprayed water on it. Thinking again, I put hand soap in it too for good measure. Satisfied that he wasn't that desperate, I went back into the fridge, grabbed all the sweet carbs I saw and dumped those into the freezer under bags of frozen fruit. "Now, let's go to the store, you nut!" We were both laughing hysterically.

The detox involved us buying a large amount of fresh veggies and also some other "health" items like echineatia tea, flaxseed oil, superfood raw veggie powder (more on this disgusting smelling expensive fish food later) and organic flax seeds. Our juicer would be the star of the next 2.5 hours at home. We needed to juice practically everything... 2 bags of carrots, beets, celery, basil, mint, parsley, apples, cucumber, avocados...basically, we're doing a raw food and juice diet for 24 hours. Deep sigh.

I'm going to run through each step of the day's food so I can explain the preparation and so you understand exactly what we get to eat.

our week's plan

Detox day, as mentioned, was going to be a very long intensive detox. Heavily structured, we planned to follow Gillian's plan as best as we could. The morning started with hot water with lemon juice upon rising. Half an hour later, 2 tsp of flaxseed with water, then half an hour later 2 cups of veggie juice. A bit later, we get to have some tea, then a fruit juice as a snack. Lunch would be a raw veggie salad. Later, we got tea, juice, more tea, and then some solid sunflower seeds, unsalted of course. Yet another veggie/fruit smoothie for an afternoon snack, then home for dinner, same as lunch. An hour after, we get the treat of a potassium broth (which would be homemade as well). We end the day as we started it, with hot lemon water. To help encourage the blood flow to rid our bodies of more toxins, stuck in our fat cells, we are to dry brush our skin from the feet up. A warm bath follows this treatment, and then an early bedtime.

First things first, we need to make all of these smoothies/juices for the day. Breakfast. We actually had the choice between room temperature fruit, miso soup, or vegetable juice. We opted for the juice which included: 1 cucumber, 1/4 piece ginger, 4 celery stalks, 100g of alfalfa sprouts, 3 parsley sprigs and 1 carrot. We prepped these ingredients by washing and/or peeling them and pressing them through the juicer.

ingredients for smoothie #1

ingredients ready for smoothie #1

tea 3 times per day

 While we were prepping the juice, I also took out packs of tea and wrote on them what time of day we were supposed to drink them at. I took masking tape and wrote out time of day instructions for each smoothie and snack that we prepared so we had a schedule.

breakfast veggie juice done

 superfood powder. This smelled like fish food and certainly wasn't going to make the shake taste any better. In it went and we packaged up 2 cups of this swill for each of us. Juice number 1, done!

ingredients for juice

8am breakfast

10:00am called for a Fruit Juice Break. Gillian gives a bunch of different options for this snack and we decided to go with Lemon Essence since we had most of the ingredients already: 8 carrots, 1 apple, juice of 1 lemon, and a slice of ginger root. We didn't include the lemon because I felt like I was having enough of it already, so we included some mint instead.

10am snack

 2:30pm we get to down yet another Veggie Detox Juice. Gillian again gives many options and we opted for Beetroot Blast: 1/2 beet, 2 carrots, 1 celery stalk, 1/2 small cucumber. All cleaned, peeled and stuffed into a juicer.

fresh veggies for the drink

Beetroot Blast

 Finally, the last veggie drink of the day: Gillian's Delectable Veggie Smoothie. 6 carrots, 1 soft avocado, 10 basil leaves, 1 apple, and 1 lemon slice. The carrots and apple get juiced then put into a blender with the avocado and basil. The final product is a thick, puke-green smoothie. Yum?

4:00 smoothie

While Caleb was manning the juicer, I started making the Potassium Broth for after dinner. At 5:30pm we get a raw salad and then an hour later at 6:30pm, we get to drink the potassium broth. All that needs to be done for this is to put 2 large potatoes, 2 carrots, 4 celery stalks with leaves, 1 cup parsley all into a pot then cover with water. I had veggie trimmings that I'd been saving in the freezer so I dumped all of those into a pot along with some potatoes. I let this come to a boil, then simmered the liquid for a few hours. The smell from this was fantastic! Warm, comforting, homey.

potassium broth cooking

So, while it seems like all we're doing is drinking juice, we do in fact get a small amount of solid food! 12:30 lunch is one of those special occasions. Our options were raw salad with sprouts, raw mint cucumber soup (more liquid? no thanks!), raw sauerkraut (um, ew), or an ancient grain (we opted against this since we are eliminating grains for 2 days). So, we went with the raw salad. I used a whole cut up zucchini, sprouts, and shredded carrot. We decided that instead of swallowing our flax seed oil pills, we would break them open and squeeze them onto the salad with the fresh lemon.

raw salad for lunch

 What is the aftermath of juicing, you ask? An entire bag weighing about 10 lbs of perfect compost material. Except we don't have a compost. This is all the raw fibre that the juicer left behind. Basically all the nutrients are out so there is no point in saving this pulp.

giant bag of pulp

 In the end, after our very long evening of prep work, we were left with what you see below. A variable timetable of juices, seeds, raw vegetables and tea, all carefully marked for the next day. We were both apprehensive although I was a little excited too since I had never done a detox before and this wasn't some sort of drinking apple cider for 3 weeks plan.

morning

afternoon

my day's worth of food until 4:00pm, at work

 *   *  *  *  *
C and I wake up later than we should and struggle to get to work. My back is still killing me and I am so tired after getting to bed past midnight with all the food prep and regular evening rituals. C leaves before me so he would be ahead of me on the cleanse for the day since we both would have our cup of warm water with lemon upon rising. I nuked my water for a minute after letting the dog out of her kennel and squeezed in half a lemon. I am not a big fan of lemon water. It was slightly refreshing but more medicinal. I sipped it while putting on my makeup. Out the door and off to work!
As soon as I got to work, I ate my Tbsp of flaxseeds and washed it down with water, not bad actually. The taste is very rich and oily. Somehow, the taste can make me picture the benefits of this seed, making my hair shinier. 


Next on the list is 8am breakfast: the green vegetable juice. Following that is my tea break. Unfortunately, my job today is not allowing me to follow this strict timeline. I have a number of items to write up paperwork for and get to shipping as well as a bunch of showroom issues that I need to deal with myself. This takes me away from my desk most of the morning and I am only able to start looking after my emails around 10:30am, meaning, this is when I get to have breakfast. I can't say I was sorry I had to wait however. Drink number one is less than appetizing. I BBM (Blackberry Messenger) C and ask him if he found the drink as disgusting as I am finding it. We commiserate together. I literally pound back as much of the liquid as I can....chug chug chug swallow, repeat. My eyes are actually starting to water from the lack of oxygen and intake of spicy spouts and celery flavor. I've still only made a dent in about half of my bottle. I would never win a drinking contest. Deep breath, a silent pep talk/prayer and another chug chug chug swallow, gasp. Nope, I wasn't mistaken, it was no better the second time. I leave my desk to brew the tea. Let's hope Echinechias taste better. They do and at least the aftertaste of spicy celery and sprouts is out of my mouth. The problem with drinking nutrients is that while the body might be absorbing them faster and more efficiently and the calorie consumption is still adequate to power me for the day, not having solid food to chew, swallow, and feel in my belly sends a signal to my brain telling me I am still hungry. Liquid vs solid food, even if the same caloric intake, does not affect the brain's ability to sent satiated signals to the stomach in the same way. We feel fuller eating vs drinking. This is going to be a long day...


Since my breakfast was very late, my next 10am snack of my fruit juice would have to come a little later, but no too late so I got off track. About 30 minutes later I drank the Lemon Essence, which was mostly carrots and an apple with ginger and mint. What made this unappetizing was the whole living green superfood powder that we added to it. Because Gillian recommended eating certain superfoods along with our cleanse, we followed her advice. The whole living green powder contained many of the other superfoods she recommended, so we figured it was the most economical choice. At $30 from Superstore for a 1 cup jar, it contained Spirulina, Chlorella, and Wheatgrass, among other things. Two generous teaspoons is what she recommended for the day so we decided to do 1/2 a heaping teaspoon in each of the liquid drinks. Let me tell you, this may be the healthiest powder you could ingest, but it smelled like fishfood and tasted strong, green and bitter. It made everything it was added to taste bitter as well. Based on that discovery, drink number two's mint help disguise the taste, but not enough.


By about 11:30am, I am starving! By this time on a "normal" clean eating day, I would have had an apple, a homemade fruit smoothie, 1/2 cup of oatmeal, cooked, and likely a mid morning snack of maybe an egg. This drink business just wasn't cutting it. The 3:30pm snack of 1/4 cup of sunflower seeds didn't stand a chance. Yes, I would likely regret this rash decision this afternoon, but to hell with it. I was hungry NOW and running off juice that I wasn't enjoying.


Lunch was coming up and I decided to have it at the recommended time of 12:30 instead of my normal 1:00/1:30pm. The ladies that I normally ate lunch with were all busy with their month end reports so I decided I would just eat at my desk and work through the lunch hour. At least I could maybe get home a little earlier then since dinner was at 5:30pm and we have been in the bad habit of not eating until about 9:30pm. I hadn't been looking forward to the raw zucchini, shredded carrot and sprouts with lemon. I saved my flax oil capsules from the morning and punctured a small hole in the end with the pointiest teeth and squeezed out everything I would from them onto the salad. I squeezed out all of the juice of the lemon wedge that I could onto the greens then mixed everything up with my plastic fork from the lunchroom. Sigh. After one bite, this was the best thing I had tasted all day! The surprise was rewarding and I savored every crisp, fresh, acidic bite. The thing with a cleanse, I was finding, was that my pallet was becoming more sensitive. I was beginning to taste more subtleties in the foods that I was ingesting.


My afternoon was once again very hectic so I missed my 2pm tea time. I also didn't get to my 2:30pm Veggie Detox Juice until about 3:30pm, an hour late. Beetroot blast was up next and based on the first 2 juices, I was wary but optimistic since I love beets. The beets would have been great but the superfood trumped any sweetness they once contained. Fail. I definitely didn't want to keep adding that powder to anymore smoothies or juices. Having already eaten my 3:30pm snack ages ago, there were no more solids waiting for me until dinner. Surprisingly though, I had the veggie smoothie left but I just wasn't hungry. I decided to just go home, no gym, and wait on dinner.


Dinner was a hearty raw salad so I took the liberty of making something a little more "robust". A huge plate of sprouts with shredded carrots, a whole zucchini each, and tonight, a real treat: creamy, bright avocado. I added some cilantro to the mix as well and drizzle another 2 capsules of flax seed oil on top, followed by a healthy squeeze of fresh lemon. Dinner was filling enough for us and satisfying but didn't leave us feeling heavy or bloated.  That was one of the biggest things I noticed all day was my stomach feeling flatter. Now, all yesterday evening, the potassium broth was bubbling and simmering in a large pot on the stove, its warm and comforting scent wafting through the house, a promise of real comfort food. We had put the pot back on the stove to reheat for dinner and were anticipating our 6:30pm allowance of a few cups of it. Disappointing would describe my first sip. I had hoped that this broth would taste salty, since this was one flavour that we didn't have all day. The broth had flavour but felt thin and weak. Still, we drank our share and then ran a tub. We should have opted for the miso soup, but I hadn't noticed that this was an option until too late. More on miso soup coming up in a future post. 
Our treat for the evening was supposed to be a mineral bath and dry skin brush. Since we had neither the dry skin brush or liquid minerals, we opted for a hot bath and I brushed down my skin with these exfoliating gloves that my friend bought me for my birthday. They are GREAT! I could feel my circulation improving and my body relaxing. Both C and I were pretty tired from our detox day and since we were required to go to bed early, we took that advice.
Day one, done.

Dinner salad

My New Toy

So much to tell you that I don't know where to begin! Although, the start seems like a good place, so here I go. First, a couple of weeks ago, we finally broke down and bought a new laptop. The old one that I had was humming and whirling something fierce all the time and aside from whirling madly, had very little disk space left. While trying to delete all rarely used files and programs, I apparently removed the sound card. I don't know how a laptop could allow me to do such a thing, but C got on the computer after my "fixing" and there was no sound. Poop. After going through every Best Buy, Staples, Future Shop, and any other electronics flyer that can our way for a few weeks and diligently checking website sales, we decided on a laptop. We hemmed and hawed for likely over an hour in the same Future Shop aisle while salesmen flitted around, stopped every 10 minutes or so to ask if we needed any help. We finally chose the Acer that we had gone there for over the HP that we were distracted by once getting there since it cost less for more meat. I am typing on it now, and it's pretty good. I'm not used to the format yet, but we also have no programs loaded on it. So, this is my second blog from this new computer and I'm getting used to the keyboard still. 

Last night, C and I went to the Pal. For those of you unfamiliar, this is a local bar that I believe has been around for over 60 years. Quite a feat considering the average lifespan of bars downtown is about 2 stabbings. I know that sounds terrible but every time there is more than one serious altrication in or outside a nightclub in our city, the club closes down, then reopens under a new name a month later, as if now somehow all of the problems have been solved and the slat has been wiped clean of all discretions. The Palamino has a live band and a huge mix of people. The age range is about 17 to 50, with local cougars donning their traditional mating garb of animal print bustiers and hairsprayed coifs, hunting in packs and picking off the weaker or more ignorant members of the young tribes. Drinks flow freely, dancing is clustered on a small packed and sweaty dance floor near the back of the building. Men eye up potential companions as they saunter or shove their way through the crowds, unsuccessfully keeping the liquid in their glasses as they go. One of my good friends was entering a new decade and decided to ring it in with some drinking and dancing. My husband and I haven't been to the bar in ages but after a pep talk to myself in the mirror, a short tight and sparkly dress with heels and some coffee, we were off. We stuck by each other's sides once we got there, chatting to my extremely happy and bubbly lubricated friend. I was having a great visit and when she realized that it was time to replace some of the alcohol in her blood with water, we went to get her a bottle at the bar and my husband requested a vodka seven. This would have been fine, except last weekend, we took our wedding rings and my engagement ring into the jewler to get rhodium plated and I still had neither back. You think it's hard convincing a guy hitting on you that you're married and at the bar, but try doing it without your wedding rings! We all survived the night, having a memorably fun evening, and went to bed much later than we usually do.

The next morning, we woke up late, made breakfast, then finally got around to starting to wire our basement. We have a brand new red washer and dryer set, but they aren't running since we don't have the electrical done down there. We've been doing laundry runs split between our parent's places but they are definitely tiring of our visits with smelly clothes. So, today, we started with the lighting. Here comes the bad part. I bent down to rest one of the cardboard boxes on the ground and tweaked my back. I've been hobbling around like a much slower moving witch from Snow White. Doing normal activities is painful and I almost got stuck holding grocery bags in the backyard in the snow since suddenly the pain got too bad while I was walking and had to stop moving. I managed to still cook dinner for us and C's MMA coach and friend but now I am sitting on the couch in a semi-comfortable position, unable to get up. Forced blogging, the best kind.

My real story about this post starts at least a month ago. I am so behind. For those of you that don't know my, my MO when it comes to buying certain things for myself is that if it is $40 or more, I will debate the purchase for as little as 2 weeks and as long as 8+ years (NARS blush in Orgasm, for instance, has still not been purchased since my reading about it in a fashion magazine in my teens). In this case, I had been eyeing a waffle cone maker for at least 6 months. I had it saved on Amazon in my Wishlist but I was holding off (for what, I have no idea). Finally an opportunity through work presented itself and I was allowed to buy myself a gift. I chose the waffle cone maker. Chef's Choice, in all its glory, arrived at my office one afternoon, like an early Christmas. I was beyond excited and couldn't wait to get this baby home and heated up!

Chef's Choice waffle cone maker

The chrome coloured small appliance was put together as I had expected and I carefully read through all of the instructions before plugging it in. The waffle cone maker had to be heated and oiled once before its first use.

Its first exposure outside of its box

 The iron came with a small booklet which explained the units care but also contained 3 or 4 recipes for waffle cone batter. i read through each one and decided on the basic gourmet recipe. For my first attempt, I would make the recipe according to the instructions, unaltered. Then, after rating the taste, texture and crunch, I would decide how to alter it to better suit our preferences. The procedure for making a waffle cone is very simple. The batter is mixed, like a regular waffle batter but much thinner. A small amount is added to the hot griddle and then the lid closed. The waffle cooks for a minute, or until light brown. Immediately following this, the soft but nuclear hot waffle must be taken off the griddle, placed onto a clean dishtowel, and rolled onto the cone form. After burning my fingers multiple times, I started getting the hang of rolling out the cones. if you've ever made a sushi roll, it's much the same principle: the dishtowel take the place of the bamboo mat and the edge of the waffle needs to be firmly pressed down into the cone to make sure it holds its form. The other key is to pinch the end of the cone together when it's hot to seal it, ensuring that once ice cream is scooped in, it doesn't drip out the bottom as it melts. This is where the finger burning is guaranteed.

First ever waffle

 The first cone was made and would be used as the taste judge once it cooled. The cone itself was pretty rudimentary, but would only improve with practice.

First cone, hot off the press

 I started by placing my first cone into a tall glass so that it wouldn't roll off the counter or break as I made the rest. I figured that this would also allow cool air to surround the cone to help it set without steaming itself and getting soft. The thin batter set surprisingly hard and the cone was definitely sturdy enough for a scoop of hard ice cream.

Cone cooling

cone form

The entire batch of cones

 I made an entire batch of cones and tasted the first one. The recipe made 8 cones. The texture was great: firm and crunchy, but the flavor was lacking some punch. I will add vanilla or maple flavoring next time. For company, if I did home made ice cream as dessert, I would consider dipping the tops of the cones in chocolate and rolling them in chopped nuts or confections, just like at an ice cream parlour. 

Ironically, after making the cones, I realized that I didn't have anymore homemade ice cream. Not to be denied tasting the cone with fresh preservative-free ice cream, I decided that if I could enjoy the luxury of homemade comes, I could certainly spend another hour or 2 making ice cream. I browsed through one of the ice cream books and decided on a new version, one that didn't require tempering eggs. Instead, this recipe used skim milk powder as a thickener and corn syrup to give it a silky texture and lower the freezing point (this helps keeps the ice cream soft). Chocolate peanut butter ice cream was the choice for the cones. Rich and creamy flavors should go nicely with the crisp mellow bite of the cone.

Peanut butter melting in whole milk

Cream, cocoa powder, corn syrup

Melted chocolate

Cream being swirled into the chocolate peanut butter mix

Silky velvety smooth peanut butter chocolate ice cream

 Surprisingly, this batch of ice cream was one of my favorites. I actually prefer the corn syrup/powdered milk version to the French style custard ice cream. Well, now that I think about it, I've made a lot of great batches of French style as well, but this type is quicker to make and less fuss. The rich chocolate and peanut butter taste was punctuated by salted peanuts that l chopped and tossed in at the end of the cycle. Only four servings came out of this batch but each one was a creamy sold gold delight. The balance of flavors was outstanding and I definitely need to make this flavor again...in a larger batch...for company. Conclusion: Chef's Choice waffle cone maker = worth the wait and everything I hoped it would be. 

creamy chocolate peanut butter ice cream in homemade waffle cone

Food for Later and for Now

It has been too long. I think about you often and wish that I could spare more time with you, blog. Tonight is the first evening in a long time that I am home with nothing to do (well, nothing that I have to immediately tend to). C is working to wire and set up a boxing club and this morning I went to the gym then helped out the my work's Children's Christmas Party. Being at that party with 8 or 9 children from about 2 years old to 12 years old definitely made me understand why people enjoy children so much. The kids were absolutely awesome and it was so much fun to colour and do crafts with them. The youngest one, eating a cupcake by inhaling the chocolate frosting through here nose, gave me such a feeling of hope and happiness. She was truly carefree and innocent. Santa even made an appearance and all of the kids, except frosting girl, were thrilled. Funny enough, it was the little ones grandfather playing the roll but with the huge white beard and red suit, she was having none of it and would screw up her face into a near-crying one every time she was within 4 feet of him, poor guy. We ate pizza, the kids decorated and ate cupcakes (I might have eaten a few myself), coloured, watched one of the many Beethoven movies, and played with their presents. Such a nice way to spend a snowy white afternoon.

At least a month ago, I had another free weekend day. Instead of catching up with you, I cooked. Do you have days like that when you just zone in on something you want to get done and thrust yourself into it, full force, for the next 5 hours or so. Tireless, focused, and motivated. While I don't remember what day this was, I do remember the food. 

I decided to use up the carrots and broccoli that had been sitting in the fridge, dejected, from our lack of interest in finishing them as they were. It had been a while since we had the carrot and broccoli lasagna so time to whip one up. The creamy filling is a can of condensed mushroom soup, cottage cheese, shredded cheese and Parmesan cheese.

lasagna cheese filling

 I believe that 2 cups of chopped carrots and 4 cups of chopped broccoli go into this recipe. Everything gets sauteed with some onion until crisp-tender (this will bake in the oven so you don't want to overcook the vegetables or they will end up mushy and your dish will lack texture). Since I had loads of vegetables, I chopped up double what I needed and froze the 6 cups needed to make a lasagna another day.

chopped veg

Once the vegetables are brightly crisped in the pan, they can be poured into the bowl with the filling and mixed up. While you are cooking the vegetables, boil your water and cook the lasagna noodles, about 9 should do.

Mix the veg into the cheese filling

the filling is ready

the noodles are cooked...

Now, assembled the lasagna. This step is really easy. Lay 3 noodles into a 9x12" pan, then spread half of the filling on top. Now, lay 3 more noodles and spread 3/4 of what's left of the filling on top. Lay the last 3 noodles and spread the small amount of filling on top. Top with some more cheese and bake until bubbly. Or, you can freeze the lasagna at this step for another time.

It's great to be able to prep food ahead of time and then on that crazy day when you don't know what to cook, there is something you can just pull from the freezer and pop into the oven. I love being prepared. Ok, I obsess about it a little bit. I dream of the basement being finished and having my pantry cupboards filled and organized for any quick meal. I close my eyes and imagine a stand-up freezer downstairs, stacked with ready-to-bake casseroles, pre-cut frozen veg, meats, shredded cheese, desserts, all waiting... Mmmm, perfect organization is harmony to my brain.

Next on my list was to make some more biscotti. I wanted to try a gingerbread version. I whisked together all the dry ingredients, then dumped in the wet ones and mixed them together using a wooden spoon. Biscotti dough is dense but sticky. I hate sticky dough. While it produces delicious breads and desserts, it's a pain in the heiney to work with.

dough coming together

dough ready to be formed

The dough gets divided in half and shaped into 2 long oblongs. Mine are a little wide and could be thinner next time. Not too flat or too high. Since the dough is sticky, you'll need to wet your hands then shake off the excess water before attempting to form the dough.

Once the biscotti are baked once, they are ready for cutting after they cool enough to handle. 

Baking: first round

What makes biscotti the perfect companion to tea or coffee is its ability to stand up to a prolonged dunk into the hot beverage. What gives the cookie its extra strong crunch is a double baking. So, once the cookies are sliced on a diagonal to their desired size, they are flipped onto their cut edge, still on the pan, and put back into the oven to dry out and crisp up.

sliced biscotti

ready for second baking

 Have I told you how I feel about multitasking? No? I don't believe it can truly be done. I think our brains can only really focus on one task at a time and do it well. My kind of multitasking is to be able to do something else while your first task is looking after itself. For instance, while the biscottiziplocks. All except 1 cup. I found one of my light versions of banana bread with reduced sugar and fat (applesauce replaces most or all of the oil). I felt like making 2 smaller loaves since I have mini pans. I would leave one out for C and company, and freeze the other one. I had also never added chocolate into my banana bread before, but I really wanted to do a swirly marble loaf. I took out a cup of the batter and added some melted chocolate to it. One load pan got half of the plain batter and the other loaf got the plain batter, layered with the chocolate batter. C is now home, sitting beside me. We have Star Wars on (which, Butters actually seems to really enjoy watching from her bed but is now currently napping her fat self on my husbands legs) and C's been looking at the blog pictures. "Hmm, banana bread, that sounds good. I think I'll take the out of the freezer". Luckily, the gorillas didn't eat the rest of the bananas so I will make another batch of bread soon.

mini banana loaves

one for us, one for the freezer. so cute and small

While prepping food for a later date is always prudent, food for later doesn't feed us for dinner now. So, while the oven was still hot and baking the loaves, another dough was made: a yeast pizza dough. Pizza time! Thinking back, I think that we had one of C's friends over so I wanted to make something easy and hearty for my working men. One Mediterranean pizza and one pepperoni and pepper version. 

prepped pizzas, ready for the oven

baking pizza

 The banana bread is sliced and ready for dessert. Very tasty! I may have had a nibble before dinner...just to be sure it tasted alright, of course...

chocolate marble banana loaf

 The pizza is done and ready for eating. Hot from the oven, having cooled on the counter only enough to ensure that the cheese doesn't all come off when cut. Crisp, fresh crust and toppings. Perfect after a day of hard work.

Greek pizza, baked

Pepperoni and green pepper pizza

After the pizza was devoured and everyone sat at the table, holding their full satisfied bellies, then men went back to work and I cleaned up the dishes. One last dish, for tomorrow night... tuna noodle casserole. I was pretty picky as a kid. My mom is likely reading this thinking "that's an understatement!". I always liked her tuna casserole though. Hot from the oven, it was so comforting on a cold day with the filling noodles and tuna, the crunch of the celery adding a textural change from the smooth creamy cream of chicken filling. She would even put crushed potato chips and melted cheese on top as a treat to finish off the dish. 

Today's version was a little different than my mom's traditional recipe. Use what you have. I added in the crisp celery, but to give it some more colour and health benefits, added chopped broccoli (yes, it makes another appearance). Almond milk and light no name miracle whip help make the creamy base, while fresh dill kicks up the flavour.

ingredients for tuna noodle casserole

tuna and veggies mixed together

 Flat egg noodles replace macaroni noodles in this case. The casserole is ready for the oven but, surprise! It goes somewhere much colder: the fridge. This was for tomorrow night, after all. Food prepped, the day winding down.

Tonight, we have to go out to a bar for a friend's birthday party so it will likely be a late night. Not our MO. We've turned into the boring old married couple that likes to go to bed at 10pm, not leave the house at 10pm. Although, we don't find this boring. It suits us just fine. I am hoping that this post will push me to get back on the horse and make more of an effort to catch up with my photos and stories of food, family, friends, and thoughts about life. Tomorrow, we wire the basement. Washer and dryer in-house are that much closer in our reach. If there is time tomorrow evening, you'll hear more from me.

Goodnight, dear readers, enjoy your evening and we'll speak soon.

ready for a crunchy topping and into the oven