Plain for the Insane

November 11th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Short or Sweet - (7 Comments)

Kefir: a weird fermented dairy yogurt drink that is sour in taste and has lots of good bacteria for your guts.

Plain Kefir

There’s all sorts of helpful info about kefir here and here, it does wonders for your immune system too.

(Vegans, there’s also a coconut version!)

The benefits of kefir are fabulous, but being high in protein was the main benefit I was after today. Something with a decent amount of protein and doesn’t make me want to hurl?

Kefir and Strawberries Kefir Nutritional Stats

I call that a winner.

White Bean Blondies

October 15th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Short or Sweet - (7 Comments)

It’s Saturday. And at the moment, I am home alone.

The kids are out, the husband is out, I am in.

With the house cleared out, I opted for a few of my favorite things.

I tested out my knee with a short run (3 pain free miles + 1 naggy mile) on a cool, breezy, temporarily sunny, autumn afternoon.

I listened to The Biggest Loser on Hulu while I stretched out my IT Band and did some unplanned push ups too.  Bob Harper screaming “LAST! CHANCE! WORKOUT!” is curiously motivating.

Cereal Killer

October 14th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Short or Sweet - (3 Comments)

Ouch.

Cereal Boxes in LA Grocery Store by Ron English

(click to enlarge.)

This would be the work of Ron English, a renegade artist who cooked up a bunch of large stickers to give some cereal boxes in a grocery store in Venice, California a face lift.

Some of Ron’s previous work can be seen in the documentary Super Size Me, and Ron says he considers his work a success “if I don’t go to jail”.

I don’t know, I’d be inclined to consider these a success when they’re followed by an article like this in the Wall Street Journal,

Dinner Fail, Cookie Win

October 6th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Short or Sweet - (3 Comments)

Dinner tonight was a total flop. I don’t want to talk about it.

Okay, fine – I’ll talk about it. Let’s just say it involved the crock pot and a bag of frozen spinach, among other ingredients. Frozen spinach is the only ingredient worth noting as I’m fairly confident that’s what made tonight’s meal… an experience.

Anyway, the whole reason I was using the crock pot was because I was once again assisting this afternoon in a homeschool class the girls are in. I thought it would make the day a lot easier to have dinner hot and ready when we got home – so the crock pot was dragged out, and yeah. I already told you how that story ended.

Not Another Cookie Recipe

September 24th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Short or Sweet - (4 Comments)

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

-Chinese Proverb

That’s great, but we’re not going to talk about fish today.  We’re going to talk about cookies.

One of the best things that happens when you learn how to cook is learning out how to get along without a recipe.

If you make something a couple of times, soon you begin to understand what ingredients and steps are most important.  Make something a bunch of times and soon you begin to see the variety of ways you might be able change it up.  Make something a couple of dozen times and soon you start see cooking from a whole new perspective.

Trust not small ones with Greek yogurt on their face.

 – Ancient Proverb (probably)

After offering Maxine a sample of my Cucumber Melon Water:

“Did you like it?”

Cucumber Melon Water

“I tasted something slimy in there.”

Nice try kid.  You barely took half a sip.

Next time you are cutting up a cantaloupe or watermelon, throw a couple of chunks in the jar with your water and cucumber slices to turn Cucumber Water into Cucumber Melon Water.

It’s good. You can trust me. My face is clean.

For those of you who could not care less about opening black walnuts, you are welcome to disregard this post.

For the rest of you (three) folks who found your way here by googling “how to open black walnuts“, this post is for you.

(For those you that found your way here by googling “dinosaur eating a barbie”, I’m still working on that post. And if you’re the one that wondered “is it ok to include lettuce spines in a salad”, the answer is still “no”.)

Can’t write much now, I’m busy downloading the latest Jillian Michaels podcasts! (Thanks Sharon!)

Jillian Michaels Podcast

Once upon a time I listened to Jillian with rapt attention via podcast from KFI AM 640 out of Los Angeles.

But then she left. And I was sad. And I have listened to those same 45 podcasts on my iPod over and over again for well over a year now – as pathetic as that likely sounds.

But now she’s back! On iTunes! And I’m glad! And you can be too!

I ran out to get a couple of last-minute Thanksgiving groceries last night because it meant:

1.) I was able beat the day-before-Thanksgiving grocery store madness today

2.) I could leave the children at home, which is always reason to celebrate – pre-holiday shopping or not

When I go to the grocery store without children whose DNA resembles mine, I treat myself by:

1.) Bringing my iPod so I can be one of those people who drones out society with the likes of Katy Perry and Enrique Iglesias

Fun With Carrot Juice Pulp

December 4th, 2009 | Posted by Alison Spath in Short or Sweet - (15 Comments)

Today I was on a mission: Bake Healthy Cookies.

There’s a fundraiser going on this weekend for one of the homeschooling organizations we’re a part of – and there’s going to be a bake sale. The group requested the donation of healthy, homemade treats to sell. Given the population of attendees; organic, gluten free or vegan treats are big sellers.

Just one thing: absolutely no nuts due to allergy concerns.