When I grow up, I want to be a ...

Priscilla found this in Danika's homework pile. How precious (that Danika wants to be a vet like her aunt and Priscilla for taking the time to send me a pix!)

Should last me for several days

Organics are great but with my current budget and the amount I eat, I get these red banded bananas whenever I see them. Same with the "manager's special" spinach. They'll be gone in a few days so doesn't matter that they're short dated.

Andre's High School Graduation

... With Andre and Priscilla.

Panacea and Sulley

MommaCat

Apple Banana Bars from Juice Pulp

As far as my juice pulp experiments go, this one is a wild success. I hope I can duplicate it next month.

There are many cracker recipes online.  The simplest one that did not intimidate me and got me to make crackers from vegetable pulp was from Raw Radiant Health. The chia cracker recipe was simple: soaked chia seed, pulp from green juice, Italian herbs, paprika, salt; mix and dehydrate.

I may try other more elaborate recipes later. I use the crackers with dips, spreads, and soups so they do not really need to be any fancier.  Since I am just looking for ways to use the pulp from my juices, that simpler recipe appealed to me. Did not make sense for me to spend more time and effort to "recycle" my pulp --- sort of a false economy.

I found the apple or fruit pulp diluted my vegetable crackers. It's fine if it's only an apple or less in the pulp mix, but any more than that just does not have the same crunch and flavor for me. I use a couple apples in the green juice I make for my niece. What to do with the apple pulp?

I separated the apple pulp and mixed in the soaked chia seeds. Mashed in a ripe banana to sweeten it and to give it the pliable texture. I had a couple leftover apple slices; chopped that up and added to the mix. Shaped it into a bar about 1/4 to 1/3 inch thick and dehydrated it at 105F for 5 hours, flipped it over and dehydrated another 12 hours. Mmmm, it turned out quite well.  The banana made a big difference in taste, smell and texture. I may try adding some cinnamon next time.

I also spread a thinner version on the sheet. Those were ok --- more like a chunky fruit leather. I like the thicker bars better, chewy but more substantial.

Ready for the Day

Kale, romaine lettuce, celery, apples, and lemons.  All washed and prepared for the juicer.

Green Applesauce aka When Life Gives You Pulpy Apples...

Green Juice and Applesauce

A new twist on an old saying. When life gives you pulpy apples for your juice, make apple sauce.  Edit: A better description would be mealy apples.  Mealiness mostly happens to old apples that have been kept in storage for too long -- and these apples were definitely stored too long.

I cleaned out my fridge this morning by making today's green juice. Had a bag of fancy apples that were a little too past their prime to be eaten as is. I added the apples to my Omega juicer and out came this thick pulpy juice.

I prefer to strain my green juice so the apples soon clogged up the strainer.  What's left in the strainer was this thick applesauce.  I dumped that into a container and continued making my juice. By the time I got my 2 jars of green juice, I had a nice container of green applesauce.  The bits from kale, romain lettuce, celery, and lemon added a nice flavor to the green applesauce.

This made the smoothest applesauce; perfect for my afternoon snack.

Now, I hope I don't get pulpy mealy apples for my juice again (slow down the juice making) but nice to know I can make the most of it.

I am not going to have time to make crackers from the pulp today. Otherwise, I would have been able to prepare today's meals using the "by products" of this morning green juice :)

Rocky

Must Say... I Like This Picture

Taken with Elias' "paper camera" phone app.

And that's saying a lot as I don't have my pictures taken often.  Something about this likeness but not an exact image calms my paranoia -- provide a sense of anonymity to it.  Feels as though I'm at a street corner cafe somewhere in Italy :)