this life for rent

(Not my avocado smoothie, but a fair representation of it.)

Recently I learned about making avocado smoothies. It sounded bizarre, I am used to avocado being a savory food and not one paired with sweet things like smoothies. Considering I practically live off of chia seeds and coconut water, I didn't think I should be one to judge.

Having just made my first avocado smoothie, I take back any doubts I had before. I am a believer.

Just a little back story to explain my reaction. I am lactose intolerant. I can not digest dairy.

What happens when I eat dairy, well, it's not pretty, and it's pretty frakkin' painful. A lot of mucus and gas is involved and the sensation of razor blades passing through one's small intestine. And not just if I dare to eat real cream or whole milk. That is what happens when I try 2%. Yeah, it sucks.

The recipes for avocado smoothies tend to involve condensed sweeten milk or yogurt or regular milk. I had to alter the recipe a bit.

1/2 ripe avocado
2 cups almond milk
1 frozen banana

Throw the ingredients into a blender. Blend until smoothie and drink.

I am kind of in love with the avocado smoothie. It is thick, creamy, buttery. It's like a whole milk milkshake, only green, vegan, and I can greedily consume the entire thing without fear of lactose revenge.

I'm having trouble consuming the entire smoothie. It's very filling. I can see this feeding two people easily.

Now, I'm already a huge fan of the avocado. But I could see this being a good stepping recipe for those hesitant to try the crocodile skinned fruit. I didn't add any additional sweeteners, but I bet this would be fantastic with a little yacon, agave nectar, honey, or vanilla bean sugar chucked in.

Oh man, I just found this awesome avocado smoothie recipe that involves a layer of chocolate.

http://devine.wordpress.com/2006/08/23/indonesian-avocado-smoothie-alpokat/

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I'm not a big pie person, so I made Mashed Potato Cupcakes and brought them to dinner on Thursday.


The idea is not an original, but stolen from the fine volume of cupcake ideas, Hello, Cupcake by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson.


If you enjoy making cupcakes I highly recommend this book. It's a great resource of how to hints for making adorable and quirky cupcakes.



It's a basic butter cake recipe with buttercream frosting for the mashed potato. The gravy is warmed caramel sauce and the pat of butter is a Pina Colada Starburst candy.

I expected this to be a case of "It's pretty but tastes awful". Not at all. The warm caramel sauce seeps into the butter cake cupcake and you end up with a Tres Leches cake taste. So yummy!

Yonathan,

Gmail is being a snot. Hopefully you will read LJ during one of your breaks today. Hope you are playing nicely with the other geeks!


This week's dinner menu:

Monday - Eggy in a basket
Tuesady - rice balls and miso soup
Wednesday - stuffed bell peppers
Friday -Christine's Black Bean & Tomato Chili
Oat bread

Vegan Baked Good of the Week -Carrot Ginger muffins


Grocery List
Bread
Canned salmon without bones or skin
Canned tuna fish
Nori seaweed
Miso soup paste
tofu (for miso soup)
Peanut Butter
Oatmeal
Apple Cider Vinegar
2 5.5 oz cans of tomato paste (if more it is fine)
1 14 oz can of crushed tomatoes
Ginger (one root about 2 to 3 inches)
4 mushrooms
lettuce (iceberg is fine)
apples
scallions
celery
2 large bell peppers (will be stuffed)
1 small onion
eggs

A co-worker pointed out to me today that I combine my hobbies.

I love video games.

I love to knit.

My next project is to knit a scarf of level one of Super Mario Bros.

http://ian-albert.com/misc/gamemaps/super_mario_bros/full/mario-1-1.gif


Following that logic, is this next idea any surprise?

I love Harry Potter novels.

I love cupcakes.

I am going to make Hogwart's House cupcakes!

Flavours

Slytherin:
Creme de Menthe chocolate cupcakes with dark chocolate ganache
or
Lime Coconut cupcakes with coconut cream whipped frosting

Ravenclaw:
Snickerdoodle cupcakes with blue mocha buttercream frosting
or
Blueberry pineapple cupcakes with a pineapple glaze

Hufflepuff:
Caramel cupcakes with toffee chips and chocolate ganache
or
banana cupcakes with dark chocolate chips and Butterscotch buttercream frosting

Gryffindor:
Strawberry cupcakes with lemon merengue frosting
or
Red Velvet cupcakes with cream cheese pecan frosting


(EDIT: Not up for voting, I am making one of each, kind of a light option and a heavy option for each house. I will make these after the move. Tallytown peeps will be meh lab monkeys.)
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Oh, and I may or may not have been spoiled for Book 7. I was reading a celebrity gossip blog and accidentally read what may or may not be a spoiler. After confiding what I read to Jonathan, he thinks it is bogus.

I hope so.