Tropical Delight Nutriblast

Spinach Pina Colada Blast, lol

 

 I LOVE my Nutribullet, and I LOVE this nutriblast.  It may not look like a pina colada, but it sure tastes like one.

I used:
I cup spinach
4 large strawberries
2 small pieces of frozen banana (less than half a small banana)
Handful of frozen pineapple
2 tbsp coconut
Water

It's amazingly good, thick and smooth and cold.  I think this is my favorite so far.  It's not something I'd want for breakfast, but for an evening snack it's perfect.  It was so hot and humid today, and this really hits the spot.

It's hard to believe that in 3 days I've eaten a huge bag of baby spinach, a big container of mixed spring greens, and half a bag of dandelions, but I have.  Between the nutribullet and salads, I'm managing to get SO many greens into my system, along with healthy fruits and berries.

I'm so glad that I bit the bullet and bought the bullet, lol.

Tomorrow I have to wake up at 6 AM so I can pick up my rental car by 7:30.  I was supposed to drive to Sudbury today, but the brake line on my truck broke when I was only a block away from home, so i had to turn around and come back.  I couldn't get a rental for today, so I"m leaving in the morning.  I have an appointment at Sudbury Memorial at noon tomorrow.  It's a 3.5-4 hour drive, so hopefully I'll get there with some time to spare.

Hope everyone has a good evening!

Purple Smoothies are yummy

Spinach, blueberry, banana, walnut smoothie

It's noon and I finally got to make my nutriblast smoothie.  I blogged earlier about how much I was craving one since i woke up this morning.  Everyone else slept in until 11:30 so I waited so the nutribullet wouldn't wake them; it is pretty loud.

This smoothie has: 1 tightly packed cup of spinach,  half a small banana, a handful of frozen blueberries, yogurt (I small container), and 2 tbsp of walnuts.  For liquid, I used unsweetened almond milk, which is only 30 calories per glass.

 Wow, is this smoothie thick.  It has a nutty blueberry flavor; I can't taste the spinach or banana at all.  It has the texture and mouth feel of a very thick icecream shake. It's delicious!

It's incredbile to me that in one easy meal that takes seconds to make, I'm getting: greens, fruit, fibre, protein, and all of the vitamins and nutrients found in the various foods. The walnuts are full of healthy omega 3 fats and vitamin E, and I never usually eat them so it's a good change.

My Dad is making bacon and eggs and it smells incredible; I love bacon, but there's no way I'm having any now; I'd be way too full and I still have more than have of my nutriblast to drink.  I have to drive to Sudbury pretty soon, and it's a 4 hour drive, and I'd rather travel feeling energized by my smoothie than weighted down by fried eggs and bacon.  Not that I have anything against bacon and eggs; I had eggs yesterday :-}.

Day 3 of adding Smoothies and I woke up Craving One

I find it hard to believe, but after only 2 days of adding veggie/fruit smoothies to my diet, I woke up this morning, on the third day, craving one.

I put on my coffee, decaf, and as it perked, I found myself actually craving a spinach and fruit smoothie.  I think my body was starving for nutrition, which seems weird given that I need to lose 100 Ibs or more.

I know how to eat healthy and I often do eat healthy for long periods of time but I have never craved veggies.  I love fruit and have sometimes craved oranges or watermelon, but more as a treat craving, a "wouldn't it be nice to have some" craving, not a demanding drive to consume like I'm having now for a green smoothie.  Those horrible cravings are usually reserved for something like chocolate, or pizza, or hamburgers...you know, those cravings that won't go away until they're satisfied; the ones that drive you mad?  That is how I'm feeling about a smoothie.

I'd have one but I don't want to wake everyone up by using the nutribullet.  It's pretty loud.  As soon as the rest of the family wakes, I'm going to have a nice spinach and fruit smoothie.  I wouldn't have believed this could be possible, not for me.

I weighed myself and I"m down 3 Ibs in 3 days, just by adding smoothies.  I read that smoothies would make you want to eat more healthy foods but didn't believe it, but yesterday, I chose to eat:

Green smoothie for breakfast, made with 1 cup of baby spinach, plus blueberries,1/2 a  banana, yogurt, and water.
Salad for lunch, with 2 cups of spring mix greens, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, hot peppers, 1/2 cup of ricotta cheese, and 2 tsp of low fat bacon ranch dressing.  It was yummy and I'm making myself hungry writing this, lol.
I was still craving greens so for supper I had loads of fresh dandelion greens sauteed with a bit of olive oil and garlic, covered with 4 eggs and scrambled together. I had to put extra eggs in (2 for me, 2 for the dogs) because the dogs were going crazy begging for the meal while I cooked it.  I also had two pieces of rye toast with olive oil flavored becel.
Last night I was craving another smoothie so I had another one, made with 1 cup spinach, strawberries, 1/2 a banana, fresh mint, almond milk, and some chia seeds (which I tried for the first time; yum!).

That's a LOT more food that I normally eat, and more greens than I sometimes eat in a week, but it was also less than HALF the weight watchers points that I normally eat.  I'm allowed 40 points per day and even with all of that food, I only ended up eating 23 points.   Basically it's because the fruits and veggies are 0 points.  I had a blast filling out all the ingredients in my points calculator and seeing all of the 0's line up, lol.

Normally, after a day or two of "being good" I am craving sugars and sweets, or salty foods, or baked goods, or a combo of all three.  I've NEVER craved more veggies.

I think my body is trying to tell me something.  I stayed up late last night because I had so much energy. I only slept 6 hours but woke up feeling alert and energized.  I usually am exhausted when I wake up.

I'm going to keep drinking my green smoothies every day.  I'm not consciously doing anything else; I'm not restricting myself from anything (except caffeine, because of my health).  I just want to see what the addition of green smoothies will do.

Yay; I hear people waking.  I can go make my smoothie!

Have a nice day.  :-)

Late to the Green Smoothie Party but happy to be here!

Since I joined Weight Watchers Online on January 2nd, I have lost 17 Ibs; gained 8, lost 8, gained 10, lost 10, gained 6...you get the picture.  I've been trying but struggling to lose weight.

I have severe, chronic asthma and it has been completely out of control.  I was in the hospital twice last week and needed 5 treatments in a row.  I'm on prednisone, 50 mg per day. 

I know I have to eat more healthy foods but I really have a hard time getting enough veggies down.  Since January I've had no trouble eating my fruit; I bought a yonana machine and have been enjoying faux "icecream" made only of frozen fruits whenever I have a craving for ice cream.  I like veggies but can never seem to eat enough of them to make a difference.  Since a kitchen gadget helped me substitute frozen fruit for icecream, I wondered if there was a gadget that could make me eat more veggies.

I checked out Walmart.ca and found several potential gadgets that could help.
THIS is the one I bought, on sale for $88.00 Canadian Dollars at my local Walmart:

 I started making green smoothies, or "nutriblasts" yesterday. 

For my first "green" smoothie, I used:
 1 cup of fresh baby spinach, 4 pieces of frozen banana, and a few handfuls of frozen blueberries, and some yogurt.  I added cold water to the max fill line, like the instructions instructed,  pushed down on the bullet until it pulverized everything, and ended up with a PURPLE smoothie. 

First nutriblast, spinach, frozen banana, frozen blueberry

 I was very uncertain about drinking a smoothie with spinach, even though I love cooked spinach, but I needn't have worried as the banana and blueberry totally masked the taste of spinach.   It was actually delicious; like a blueberry shake.  The banana and yogurt made it creamy and smooth and it was soothing on my sore throat.

I read more about healthy smoothies on the nutribullet website and learned I should be adding what they call "boosts" to my blasts.  Boosts are:  chia seeds, ground flax, cacao,  raw nuts; things that add protein, good fats, and nutrients, basically.  So today I ran out and bought chia, flax, nuts, and hemp hearts.  I have no idea if hemp hearts can be used, but I was completely carried away by my foray into healthy eating and bought them anyway, lol.

Last night I was hungry after supper and decided to try to make an actual green, green smoothie, with no fruit.  I figured the extra veg would be good for me, and I decided to try to make something similar to V8 juice; only thicker.
For my second nutriblast, I used:
Mixed spring greens, cucumber, 1 tomato, garlic, dash of salt and pepper, a few ice cubes, and water.

 I forgot to take a picture, but if you imagine a frothy green sludge, you'll have an idea of what I ended up with.  The taste was terrible, so I added a drop of katsup, and some hot sauce, and then it was OK.  Not nearly as good as V8 juice, but OK.  I think it could have really used some carrots and celery to add to the flavor.  I'll try it again soon.

For my third "nutriblast",  I used:
Frozen spinach, frozen banana pieces, frozen and fresh strawberries, a handful of fresh mint leaves, 2 tbsp chia seeds, and then added unsweetened almond milk to the fill line.
I learned that the nutribullet does NOT like to deal with all frozen foods; it took forever to blend this concoction. 

Nutriblast made from spinach, frozen banana, strawberries, fresh mint leaves, chia, and almond milk.

 This blast came out an unappealing orange-y brown color, but the taste was fresh, minty, and delish.  I was really pleased with the flavor of this blast. 

I posted a picture of my first blast on facebook and learned that I am VERY late to this party; it seems most of my friends have already been doing this...or some version of this.  About half are doing smoothies, like me, and the other half are juicing.  We all seem to be trying to get more fresh, whole foods into our bodies. which I think is great. I just wonder why it took me so long to hear about smoothies, lol.

Crocheted doll with moveable head

This adorable little girl was made following the talented Beth Webber's Simply Amis pattern.  She is Mignonette, the little sister.  The pattern can be found her at Beth's website: By Hook, by Hand

Crocheted doll with moveable head

The pattern is extremely well done and nicely detailed. The neck is long and thin and is inserted into the head and sewn in a way that allows the head to turn.  It's a great feature.  The little button nose, bum and belly button add to the cuteness factor of this doll.

Crocheted amigurumi doll

Crocheted doll with dress

The dress pattern can also be found on Beth's website.  I modified it so the skirt is shorter than in the pattern. I also just did one row of the sleeves so she has capped sleeves, and added a flower, which I apparently didn't sew on tightly enough as it moves about.

Crocheted doll with little dress

Her wig was made by crocheting a cap in the wig color, sewing it on to the head, and crocheting individual strands into every second stitch.  Next time I will do every third or 4th stitch because the hair is too full. 

Crocheted doll with dress and large crocheted wig

I used baby hair clips to clip her hair back, but it also looks cute down.

Crocheted doll

I'm going to crochet a flower for her to hold, then she'll be ready to give to my Aunt as a cheery little gift.

Crocheted baby outfit

Crocheted baby sweater and hat set

I started crocheting this little outfit after Christmas, then got very sick and put it away because I didn't want to work on it while I was coughing and sneezing like mad.  Of course, I forgot about it and found it last week.  I finished it but the baby I had in mind for it will have outgrown it by now.  Oh well; the Mom is a neighbor I only know to say hi to; we're not really friends, and she had no idea I was making something for her baby so she won't be disappointed. Maybe I'll make a little bunny ear hat and bootie set for the baby for Easter.

Polymer clay and crochet doll

I'm so far behind on my blog; sorry.  I've been sick a lot with my asthma and various flu bugs, but have managed to do some crafting.  OK; a lot of crafting, lol.  I was going to try to fit it all into one post but after realizing how very much I had to catch up on, decided I'd better do individual posts instead of one that would be scroll length ;-0.

Polymer clay and crochet min doll with needle felted kitten and plastic canvas house

 I sculpted this dolls head out of polymer clay, and promptly forgot all about her (if I put things away I forget they exist; it drives my very organized Mom crazy that I need things out where I can see them).  I found the head awhile ago, and decided she needed a body, but I wasn't in the mood to sculpt one.  I love all of my crafts, but my favorite is crochet because I find it relaxing.  Plastic canvas is relaxing too, but crochet puts me in a zen state so I decided to crochet her a body.  I wanted to do a silly outfit for her, so I did.

Polymer clay and crocheted doll with needle felted cat and plastic canvas house

Polymer clay and crochet doll with reborn doll

 Here she is with one of my early reborn dolls, to show scale. 

Yonanas!

I joined Weight Watchers (WW) online a week ago and am down 7.4 Ibs in my first week.  As a belated Christmas gift to myself, and incentive to stay on plan (fruits are 0 points), I ran out and bought the Yonanas Frozen Dessert Maker, for the post holiday sale price of $39.00 (regular $69).

Here's my Yonanas machine, still in the box, with the Christmas tree in the background. The machine is made by Dole, and it advertises that it uses frozen fruit to make a soft serve ice cream like dessert.

Yonanas Frozen Desert Maker

 I love icecream, and I love banana ice cream so I couldn't wait to try it.  I could only find green bananas though, so had to resort to buying frozen bags of fruit.  I decided to start with frozen bananas and strawberries, as the booklet that came with the machine recommends using bananas to get the creamy consistency.

Yonans and frozen fruit.

 The directions said to let the frozen fruit thaw for 5-15 minutes.  I chose 5 minutes, lol.

Yonanas "ice cream"

 You basically toss the fruit into the chute, turn the machine on, and depress the plunger, pushing down until the fruit comes out of the bottom.

Yonanas creamy goodness.

The result; a creamy, fruity dessert that looks and feels like icecream, and tastes great, but not sugary or sweet like icecream.  The first spoonful was a shock because my brain was expecting sugar and fat and got fruit.  After a few spoons, it was heavenly, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I bowl of frozen fruit made enough for two servings, so I gave half to my dad (my half is pictured in the bowl above).

The machine is really easy to use, and it's tempting to eat the fruit cream as soon as you make it, but I learned it's important to take the machine apart before eating, because a good half serving of icecream gets left behind in the grinder area.  It's super simple to scoop that creamy goodness into your bowl before rinsing the parts in hot water.  Clean up takes seconds, a definite plus.

I've had Yonanas frozen desserts 4 times this past week, and enjoyed every time.  I tried just frozen bananas (didn't care for the taste but it was super creamy), bananas and strawberries (love), bananas and mixed berries (love), and bananas and strawberries with a spoon of hot chocolate mix swirled in (love).  The yonanas website has loads of recipes that I can't wait to try.

You can get your own machine at Walmart, or online if anyone is interested:
Yonanas Frozen Desert Maker on Amazon

I really love mine and would recommend it to anyone who loves icecream, and bananas.  If you don't love bananas you can still use frozen fruit without bananas.  The result is less creamy, but still good.  If you're on WW...it's zero points for a yummy, healthy dessert!

Holiday Crochet

I crocheted a LOT this holiday season, lol.

My brother's girlfriend...now fiance...asked me to crochet two white owls, so I made these little can cozies for her.  Her color scheme was red and white so I used red eyes; otherwise i would have used black eyes.

Crocheted owl can cozies.

 I love the way these crocheted guinea pigs came out. I ended up keeping them.  I was going to give the tan and white one to Mac, who stole it 3 times, but I ended up buying him a stuffed dog instead. I  figured it would be sturdier because the yarn on the crocheted piggies is very thin after brushing them to get this furry effect.

Crocheted guinea pigs.

 I made these mug hug cup cozies for just about everyone I know.  I put herbal teas in some, chocolates in others, and diabetic candies in several. They were bright and cheery and everyone loved them.

Crocheted mug hugs.

 My aunt was diagnosed with a brain tumor suddenly, right before Christmas, so I made her this cape in her favorite color, to take to the hospital.  My Mom is modeling it for me in these pics.

Crocheted cape.

 I used special soft yarn that I found at Michaels, and a sparkly broach at the top, because my aunt loves sparkles. I told her when she wears it, to imagine she's getting a warm hug from me.

Crocheted cape.

 I made the cape quite large; large enough to be used as a throw when it's open.

Crocheted cape.

 It looks like something Elvis would wear when my Mom extends her arms like that, lol.

Crocheted cape.

Belated Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Weight loss!

Happy 2015!  I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and the New Year is treating you well.

I joined Weight Watchers online last week, and today was my first weigh in.  I'm down 7.4 Ibs!  I have a LOT more to go, but I"m off to a good start.

We had a nice Christmas here.  The dogs and birds were very happy with their gifts, and so were my parents (for once, lol).

Mac helping Ben with his gift, lol.

Mom, Mac, and Ben.

Mom and Dad by the tree.

Dad opening his new Keurig, Mom holding her gift (ipod).

Smokey opening her gift.

Noel with his gift behind him (yellow and red).

My Dad loved his new Keurig 3000.  He set it up in the basement recroom, next to his recliner by the fireplace, and he is happily making single serve coffees every night without having to come upstairs, lol. 

Mom said she liked her new ipod but she still insisted on listening to the old radio rather than the 400 songs she picked out for me to download.  Today I had to literally shut the radio off and put the ipod on her and she's been listening happily for 4 hours...with one ear.  The other earbud is tucked down her shirt, lol.  Turns out she was worried about having music directly in her ear and not being able to hear other things.

Smokey loves her new musical toy, and the button she presses the most plays a song with these lyrics: "The birds sing tweet-tweet, tweet-tweet, tweet-tweet.  It sounds really neat, tweet-tweet, tweet-tweet. She chuckles every time she hears that, lol, and sometimes says, "tweet-tweet" herself.  She's so funny.  Noel is still afraid of his new toy but it always takes him awhile to get used to new things.  He's enjoying his bird food treats though. 

The dogs were happy to have 2 gift bags each under the tree, as well as 1 gift bag each by the fireplace, in lieu of stockings (the stockings usually get ripped to shreds).

Baby house elf in polymer clay

I haven't sculpted for awhile so I thought I'd try my hand at something tiny and whimsical.  This baby house elf is about the size of a strawberry.

polymer clay house elf

 He's not as realistic as my other polymer clay sculpts; I wanted him to be more cartoony.

 He has a wire armature connecting his head and torso, arms, and legs, and wow, was it a pain to sculpt over wire. 

 Here he is with my strawberry plants, in the bottom pot.  As you can see, he's about the size of the ripe red strawberry on top.