New Year's Day and a Fruit Ninja, too!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2012!!!

Our New Year's celebration was delayed by a day because when we got home from Tim and Shelly's at around 10:30 pm, our oldest son was already asleep!

Therefore, we did our tapas and kinect today.  And tomorrow is when the futile attempts at the new resolutions begin. 

I have a list of 10 this year.  Yep, the classic over achiever.  Except for that whole constant failure thing....lol.

Maybe I just need something like “The Idiot's Guides to Setting Manageable Goals”. I have a vague idea as to what to do. Follow thru though is quite another thing. Goals at work? Goals for anything else? Totally there for you. This goal that last an entire year!!!!???? Not so much. Especially if it is not a particularly fun goal.

So, here they are.....applying the KISS method of goal setting:

1. Blog weekly
2. one digital scrapbook layout per week
3. one photo per day, you know, that whole 365 project thing
4. one chapter from my digital learning library per week
5. fire up the Champion Juicer and do 90 days of juicing & fresh fruits and veggies
6. go golfing once per week (do not judge – I have not golfed in YEARS, and I love golfing)
7. learn two awesome youtube videos per month
8. take a photography tour
9. play kinect at least 3 times per week with the kids -- BE the Fruit Ninja,...bwahahahahaha!
10. drink 2 liters of water every day

So, the whole Fruit Ninja thing...
We downloaded a new (to me) kinect game called Fruit Ninja.  You use your hands/arms as blades and as fruit and bombs fly across the screen, you try to slice the fruit without hitting any bombs.  Today's high score.....428 in arcade mode.  As Fruit Ninja's go, I suck.  As far as middle aged Fruit Ninja momma's....I guess I'll do.  heh.  Anyway, Fruit Ninja just happens to be appropriate for my current endeavor of juicing.  I think I will fruit ninja daily! One more way to move my way to big booty!

My first week is going to be one liter of juice daily along with fresh, whole fruits and veggies.  If that seems to be working for me, then I will maintain that.  If I need to, then I will add two liters of juice along with the veggies. With banana whips sprinkled in  here and there, of course.  :)

I had to move my blog because my freewebs blog was waaaaaay to unreliable.  I have not been able to access it more than twice this past week. And there has been a history of that.  I like the format, but it is useless if not accessible.

Anyway, here are a few non processed food subsititutes that are quite good if you want to add some fresh goodness to your menu:


Tigger's Raw Ketchup (yep, that's me!)

3.5 oz package of sundried tomatoes
2 - 3 cups filtered water
1 tablespoon sea salt
6 dates , smallish
agave, 3 tablespoons
honey 3 tablespoons
acv or white vinegar, 1/4 cup
dry mustard, 1 pinch
1 tsp onion
1 tsp chili powder
1 pinch cayenne pepper or couple shakes of tobasco

Put the sundried tomatoes in the blender and add enough water to cover.
Whiz until smooth. Add pitted, soft dates and whiz smooth again, adding water as necessary to keep the sauce moving smoothly. Add the agave, honey, mustard, and cayenne or tobasco. Whiz smooth while adding enough water to keep the sauce flowing. Now add the vinegar a little at a time until it tastes the way that you like. If you like it zestier, add more vinegar. Just adjust to your own liking.



Ketchup is the base (or tomato sauce) for many condiments.




Cocktail Sauce

1 cup of ketchup
1 - 2 tablespoons horseradish (to taste)

Mix well and serve.



Barbeque Sauce

1 cup ketchup
4-8 dates (to taste)
sea salt - 1 tsp or to taste
3 tablespoons chopped onion
agave - 2 to 3 tablespoons (to taste)
honey - 2 tablespoons ( to taste)
fresh ground pepper, a couple of shakes
nam shoyu - 1/2 capful (or worcestershire)
hickory smoke (liquid or salt to taste - sesame oil could be tried as well - optional)
2 to 3 tablespoons chopped onion
garlic or garlic powder to taste (optional)
pinch of mustard powder
May add water to desired consistency.

Whiz together all BUT NOT the onion. Get it the consistency you like and then stir in the onions.

Serve.




Mango Mix Up
(sweet salad dressing - mango tasting french - without all the oil)

1/2 mango
1 cup ketchup
1 - 2 tablespoons EVOO ( opt)
2-3 tablespoons agave
2-3 tablespoons honey
2-6 dates , according to your own taste
1 - 2 tablespoons chopped onion
pinch of mustard powder
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 tablespoon ACV or white vinegar
May try adding more honey or dates if you like it sweeter.

Whiz all together until smooth. Add water if you want to, I like mine thicker.



And last, but not least.....CRISPS!!!!!

Ok, so I wanted to make the krazy kale chips that everyone has been raving about for like YEARS! Not one place in town has kale!!!! Hy-vee, Piggly Wiggly, WallyWorld. Not one. Sigh. BUT.....Tiggers have a lot of imagination, you see.....so I got cabbage, purple cabbage, and chinese cabbage. And guess what? They all work well! Not nearly as sturdy as kale, but good enough. If you have uncontrollable cravings for chips like someone I know and love (hee), you should definitely give these a try. I really needed something with a salty crunch. And these do that! (Just make sure you make them on a screen or parchment, cuz, well.....they become a part of your pan otherwise. Heh. And flip them once in a while, that seems to help a lot.

The thing is, whatever flavor you use, that flavor becomes VERY intense once the crisps are crunchy. So just keep that in mind if you are planning to make garlicky ones or anything like that.

Here is a quick suggestion for a recipe to get you started....really the sky is the limit here. So many flavor options are available to you here. Just use your imagination.

I have also seen versions of this blended to a paste and then spread to make chips/crackers. Seems like that would be divine.



Crisps

In a bowl,....
3 tablespoons shoyu
3 tablespoons Bragg's
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 to 2 tablespoons agave or honey
(And now I think I would even add about 2 to 3 tablespoons water to decrease the flavor. Was very intense.)

Dip or marinate. Both work great.
Place in dehydrator until crispy. Munch, munch, munch!


Salad Krumbles

Salad krumbles are crisps with a different shape.
Get a bag of shredded cabbage and chop it up a bit more. Make bits or shreds, both are ok.
Toss the cabbage with your flavor sauce and put in dehydrator.

After the bits are dried, use them like you would bacon bits on your salads, etc.



These crisps have given me some interesting ideas. I am going to be in the kitchen this weekend. LOL!


I would be doing an injustice if I did not mention the infamous chocolate pudding.
Alissa's recipe is insanely good. She uses soaked dates as her sweetener. Very tasty. However, some find that without a high powered blender it can be difficult to achieve the level of creaminess they desire. You can achieve this by adding a bit more water or almond milk or by skipping the dates altogether.

My version of chocolate pudding is easy and although not as sweet, easy for even the most basic blender.

First - your avocados need to be really soft in order for the pudding recipe to work properly.

Recipe:

2 avocados
1/4 cup cocoa powder
pinch sea salt
1/2 cup agave (or to taste)
water or almond milk, to desired consistency, a cup ful maybe? Add until it is what you like

Put the avos, cocoa, salt and agave in the blender. Add about half the water. Blend until smooth, adding water/milk as desired. Eat!


That's all for today!  Have a fabulous new year!