My Adventures in Almond Milk....

I just finished my first attempt at homemade almond milk....how is it you ask?? Well if you like the feeling of a tiny bit of sand in milk. Then you would LOVE the texture. If you like thin skim milk. Then you would LOVE the mouth feel (yes that's a term). If you like milk that looks light tan and not white....well my friends then this milk is for you!

Honestly it's not bad at all. It's VERY cinnamon-y and the $14 vanilla bean is AMAZING (I think I could've had that on a piece of cardboard and the cardboard would've been amazing) but I am just not sold on the texture. The nut bag (still funny) worked super well and afterwards people (food blog people) say you should dry out the almond meal in a low oven over night (Alex isn't sure about this one) and whiz it in your food processor, PRESTO almond meal/coarse almond flour. Which I tasted before drying it out, it's SUPER tasty so I figured that would be good in cookies or muffins or maybe in a scoop in some oatmeal. 

Honestly I know change isn't easy and could take a moment (or ten) to get use to but I think for my first attempt not too bad. I don't know if I would put as much water in the second time around and in the second attempt I think I might try really good vanilla extract (about $10 bucks cheaper than the bean) to see if that works as well but I do love the little vanilla bean specks in it...yes I am that much of a food dork!

Here's what I did...

1 cup of almonds (soaked over night)

1 vanilla bean (your choice, mine was bourbon vanilla)

1/4 tsp of cinnamon

3 1/2 cups of cold filtered water

3 large soft pitted dates 

**(note to self do not let these fall down the garbage disposal, SORRY ALEX!!!!, he just finished putting the disposal and kitchen sink back together. He goes, "Ok no more date pits down the drain, ok?!" SORRY!! So don't put those down the drain. Lesson learned)

Put the almonds, fresh water, cinnamon, dates, vanilla and salt in a blender...blend on the highest speed for about a minute or so. 

Get a container that will A. hold 4 cups of something (made that mistake) and B. have an easy pour top, like a mixing bowl with a lip...I think you get my drift. Have someone hold the nut bag over the bowl (ha!) and then slowly pour the liquid into the nut bag once everything is in the nut bag squeeze the rest of the liquid out and BOOM! Fresh almond milk!!!!

Get it super cold and shake the hell out of it every time you want to use it. It lasts for about 3 - 5 days in the fridge so drink up!!! I am going to try it my coffee tomorrow so I will get back to you on if it foams up and how good it foams but I think oatmeal and baking it will be great... anything savory not so much. 

Let me know is anyone else tries it and if anyone has a good solution to make it more savory and any closer to the 1% milk. 

Lunch Today

Sorry I have to share this...so the place I work has a full service kitchen but no microwave...totally makes sense, we don't microwave anything here which is a good thing. For reheating one's lunch you need to be creative in how to do it. Most of the time I put my tuppy in the hot box which slowly reheats the food and I never have a problem.

Today went a little differently, the chef tells me that the hot box is broken but to give him the food and he'll reheat it on the stove, "Great! Thanks!!" I think. I go to turn away and walk back in the office only to see him reach for the olive oil and begin to DUMP it all over my fabulous low cal "warm" baked potato salad. I go to stop him and he goes, "What!? It adds flavor!" Then he says, "How can you eat this stuff, it looks too healthy! You need some butter and cream (sorry dairy cows, I am so so sorry)" next I look over and he is grabbing some sauteed mushrooms from another pan and tossing it into the mix. I will give you two guesses what those mushrooms were cooked in....tick tock tick tock...YEP Oil and Butter!

At this point I figure I am totally at his whim and there is no saving this now not so healthy lunch. He walks away from the pan to do something else and I say, "I think this is all set!!?" He goes, "No it's not hot enough yet!" I go, "No no I think it's fine!!!" I just want to get back to work and for him not to put any more fat into this!

Finally he puts in back in my Tupperware and gives me a look of disgust. I guess he hates Brussels sprouts as much as Alex does. Instead of walking the Charles at lunch today I am going to have to run. I also am going to apologize now to anyone who has to see me in a bathing suit in two weeks and now you know why I look like a beached whale. :)

Oh my god....cabin fever day 2!

So I have cooked for a few days straight and apparently when left to my own devices and control of the tv remote I keep watching food documentaries on Netflix....

On Friday, during the pre-blizzard, I watched this documentary on these 3 very different people trying to be vegan for 3 months. I can't remember if it was 3 weeks or 3 months either way that part doesn't matter. (Shows how much I truly paid attention) but I did take away that I feel really bad for milking cows. I had no idea how much pressure they were under to make milk and the lengths farmers go in order to make sure they provide milk all year long! So sad! I am a huge omnivore and will try almost anything once. I mean jesus christ I actually "fall in love" with certain foods but I have to say I actually feel so bad for the milking cows that I would think about not buying milk. (Well I mean I would TRY other alternatives first)

So this morning I woke up at 6 am still thinking about the milking cows (crazy...? yeah a little bit...shocking...? no not at all...) I have been known to wake up at odd hours of the night to look up all kinds of random things. Anyway the moral of the story is I feel so bad for bessie (yes they have names and feelings too! And no I did not drink the crazy kool aid) that I am going to try making my own almond milk! In the wee hours this morning I did A LOT of research and found out that soy milk is not good for you because of the GMO soy beans in addition to all of the other things "they" put in soy milk and then Rice Milk, Coconut Milk and Hemp Milk are out because of not being that healthy for you and they also have a lot of crap in them. So that leads me to the road of Almond Milk ( I feel like this is a bad Lewis Black routine)....they said that in about 1 cup of store bought almond milk there is only about 4 almonds. If you make it at home though you can put as many almonds in as your little heart desires! BUT you also need to find almonds that have been "steamed" and not sprayed with some chemicals that are bad for you, jesus the story never ends with crap that is bad for you! ANYWAY I ordered a nut bag (ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, YEP I JUST DID) online and Wednesday night (thank you amazon.com prime) yours truly will be making some vanilla, cinnamon almond milk with her nut bag! (nope, doesn't get old)

One of the greatest people in my life, Lauren, suggested a food blog a few weeks ago, www.ohsheglows.com, and I have been following it ever since, almond milk recipe comes from her. I haven't made a lot of things from the site but so far what I have made have been REALLY GOOD! So on we go in the hunt of finding new things to make that taste DAMN GOOD!

So far this weekend I have tried baked banana foster's steel cut oatmeal, very tasty and this afternoon I made bacon chickpeas to put on a peanut butter and banana sandwich (GENIUS! Thank you Elvis) I have to give credit where credit is due here though... http://havecakewilltravel.com/2012/10/09/pbbbsandwich/
Alex's exact words were, "Wow these are kind of bacon-y" Good enough for me! Tonight on the adventures of Beth and Alex we are going to make this lentil, maple baked dish with crusty bread thing and then more couch time.

***side note, just made lentil maple baked dish...AMAZING!!!!!! It was such a hearty (almost beef) stew. http://ohsheglows.com/2013/01/18/maple-baked-lentils-with-sweet-potato-healthy-comfort-food/

Lastly the weekly exercise round up....

Sunday - 5 miles at the gym, GO ME!
Monday - Day off
Tuesday - Bells
Wednesday - Gym in the AM
Thursday - Off
Friday - Bells
Saturday - Gym

**Alright friends off to lay on the couch some more.

P.s. here's the million dollar question of the day....the lady at Bare Minerals (make up place) tried to sell me teal and bright green eye shadow today...who wears teal and bright green eye shadow and better yet do I look like the gal who would wear either?? Is it that close to the next holiday we need to start pushing this stuff??

SNOWMAGEDDON!!!!!

Oh man the hysteria is setting in!!! Between the news saying words like "crippling" and "historical" when referring to the snow storm and people reminiscing about the storm of 78' (if you are not from the Boston Area this was reason why today there is nothing left in the grocery store!) People are officially loosing it.

Yours truly just battled with all of the other crazies at the grocery store but I did not get into a fist fight over bread or milk. I did however see some lady fill up an entire shopping cart of every chocolate product she could see, another lady bought 6 whole chickens and 3 bunches of banana's (what the hell is she going to make?!) and someone else 4 bunches of oranges....Me you ask? What did I buy? Well stuff to make pizza and other fun snacks of course! I also got a few movies at the Red Box because I am truly convinced we will NOT loose power (fingers crossed, I think Alex and I would kill each other if this happens, say your good byes to us now) and I just checked the booze supply, got tons! (again this might off set the killing one another once the boredom hits, thank god I am from New Hampshire and know about 8 different drinking games that involve cards because god knows we couldn't just drink when we were younger we needed to find a way to drink as fast as humanly possible!...oh now I need to find a deck of cards, JUST IN CASE)

I have charged every electronic device I own and am ready to online shop till I drop if I get bored, oh let's be honest I will do this regardless if I am bored or not.

I am currently debating with myself about going to the gym before it closes so I do not feel overly guilty about laying around the house for the rest of the day but I can't seem to get up off the couch and still watching the news even though they are at the point of running out of things to say. Adam (the news reporter on channel 7) is at the point where he's reading emails from viewers and it's just getting sad.

Alright, alright I am going! I am getting up and going to the gym, there is no reason why I shouldn't right?!

Well stay warm and cozy all of you out there. Days like today are great because EVERYONE stays in and "hunkers down". As a New Englander you are suppose to be ok with this. I am but by 8 pm tonight I have my money on the cabin fever really setting in and Alex and I may or may not be walking to the nearest bar to us to get something fried and a beer. :)

Good luck to all of you and snack happy! See you on the other side of the winter wonderland!

THE YEAR OF BETH!!!!!! (Yes, from Seinfeld....)

Alright so I am so bad with keeping up with my writing which is pretty obvious since the last time I wrote on here was 2011...one of my goals for 2013 was to write every week on here or any where for that matter so here I go (one month late, better late then never!). I have been reading so many different blogs it's inspired me to get back to mine!

Just like my recent inspiration to try self tanner again....one of my friends from work came back from his vacation looking like a totally different race! He went from Mexican to African American in a week of fun in the sun! This inspired me to play with self tanner (as my friend Heather Ladner once said when we were laying out in Meredith's back yard in high school, "If you can't tone it, tan it!" Words to live by)....I now look like an streaky over stuffed ompa lompa! It's not a good look for anyone.

So here I am and here you are, YAY! Besides relaying hysterical anticdoets from my life on here I think I am also going to include my workout goals for the week as a way to keep myself accountable for it because lately when that alarm goes off at 5:45 in the morning I just roll back over and snuggle back into bed, even if I can't fall back asleep! If I put it on here I am hoping that the utter shame I would feel by LYING to you guys and not going to the gym will motivate me enough to get out of bed in the morning. Because to be honest trying to look good in a bathing suite for our Mexico vacation in a few weeks is 100% NOT ENOUGH to motivate me get my butt to the gym or stop eating Doritos!

Weekly Workout for this Week......

Sun - Zumba
Mon - Kettle Bells
Tues - Off
Wed - Gym
Thurs - Kettle Bells
Fri - Off
Sat - Kettle Bells

It feels good to be back! Just heard that the large rat in Pennsylvania did not see his shadow so bring it on Spring! It's going to be a good day friends. Off to the grocery store to do the weekly shopping! Hope you all have a fabulous weekend and looking forward to hanging out with all of you on here MUCH more often. I promise!

xoxoxo

This week 2, beth 0

Alright so Monday...no one is really a fan of Mondays. We all have our own version of what a Monday is. When you bartend it could be that Friday is your Monday. Or maybe in retail Saturday is your Monday. Either Mondays suck and mine was no shorting in the "sucking department" this week.

So there I am up at 6 am back in the gym, getting my fitness on...attempting to at least. My gym is right next to my office so I pack my gym bag the night before with all my work clothes so I can literally roll out of bed and go.

Well after my workout I notice that I forgot my god damn flip flops for the gym shower! Between my mother being a little wacky with germs and it being ingrained in my head in 7th grade gym class foot fungus is alive and well on all gym bathroom floors. I have size 10 feet they aren't perfect but they are way too cute to get foot fungus I'll tell you that.

My simple solution you ask....I wear my socks in the shower! Ha ha ha ha it's all I could think of to do. The entire time I showered on my tippy toes with socks on! Yep doesn't get much better than that on a Monday.

Oh but wait it totally does get better....ready for this one?!?! It's Friday! Yay happy Friday all! Again here I am up at 6 am arm loads of crap to take down to my car and to boot its 100% snowed last night! I'm scrapping ice off my car and still wiping sleep from my eyes. It's not too bad of a drive into the gym I'm going to do a quick workout and then head into work because I have a 9 am meeting and it's Friday!

Go to get out of my car and grab my gym bag with all my work stuff...oh wait where's my gym bag!?!? IT IS AT MY GOD HOUSE on my living room floor where I left it!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!

As we speak Alex is driving to meet me with said bag half way from our house and the gym because traffic is so bad in the morning that there is no way in hell I'd make it back in time and then to my office.

So he's amazing and this is a great way to end my work week!

OH TOTAL SIDE NOTE HERE.....

I get to work, have to change in the my car in the parking garage (no time to shower). Get all the way upstairs and realize THAT MY PANTS HAD SPLIT DOWN THE MIDDLE!!! I am drinking a bottle of wine tonight!

I have to tell the truth....

As all of you as my witness I have fallen so far of the ww (weight watchers) wagon and hit every bump in the road...*which I do believe mine bumps are made out of chocolate, take out thai food, red wine and the occasionally glasses of whiskey* (and by occasionally I mean every weekend) That not only have I managed to gain back the 13 lbs I lost but I did it in record time.

My acceptance speech would go something like this... I would like to thank the food network for putting skinny people on your tv shows while explaining how yummy there favorite thing to eat in the world is which is my guess about 10,000 calories of fun and god knows if they eat it and look like they do maybe if I eat a lasagna sandwich (yes it is a real thing) I would look like them too! I would also like to thank my best friend called boredom and being on vacation all summer long....while I know I am an emotional eater I have also discovered in the little crazy thing called life "when left to my own devices alone all day I will eat myself out of house and home one little bite at a time..."

So moral of the story I find comfort in not just comfort foods but any kind of food! The battle of the bulge continues on. But riddle me this....how the hell can you say no to good times out with friends, brand new restaurants that are calling my name and special occasions which all seem to a. revolve around food; b. happen every weekend and c. (most importantly) happen EVERY SINGLE TIME I TELL MYSELF TO GET BACK ON THIS DAMN DIET!

So thus my struggle with the eternal battle of the bulge. On a positive note I didn't throw out a lot of my clothes when I lost the weight so I don't have to buy a new wardrobe again (god that would be depressing) and since my mom now weighs the same as Kate Moss (god that IS depressing but good for you mom) she can pass all of her old double digit sizes to yours truly....

~Much love you tubby friend on the North Shore....sweater season is upon us....

P.s. Note to self bulky sweaters make chubby people look even worse! I am screwed and going to the gym VERY SOON...and by very soon I mean Thursday morning. *fingers crossed