Carrot Juice

I know you're busy, so I'll make this amazingly simple.

Carrots are nutritional powerhouses. You should eat them often. If you're tired of eating them, you should drink them. Here's how.

Carrot Juice (sans the gag reflex)
2 carrots
4 cups water (fill the blender halfway)
a few scoops of orange juice concentrate
one lime, zested and juiced

Put the carrots, water, orange juice concentrate, and lime zest with lime juice into the blender. Don't worry if you have a cheap piece-of-junk blender. It doesn't matter.

Next, blend it all up. Push all the buttons. Next, pour the carrot sludge into a fine mesh strainer that is over a medium bowl. Stir the sludge with a spoon until 90% of the liquid is all squeezed out (takes about 3 minutes).

Now, you can either chill the juice or pour it into a cup with ice cubes.

It's refreshing, virtuous, and way-hey-hey cheaper than a bottle of Odwalla ($3.69).

Here's the cool part. What you have left is also usable. It's carrot meat. Use it like you would pumpkin puree. After I made the carrot juice, I had about a 1/2 cup of carrot meat. I whipped up a batch of carrot muffins with rye flour and walnuts. Honestly, I just used a banana nut muffin recipe and substituted carrot meat for the 'nanas.

Let me know how it turns out!

Animal Planet @ My House

For mature audiences only...

Uncrustables "R" Us

"Frozen? Pre-made? Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches? Pshaw!! What a stupid idea! Do you mean to tell me that there are people out there who don't have time to whip out a PB&J for their kid," said Heather, a young mother of four, who hadn't yet experienced the thrill of frozen, pre-made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Ya'll, people change.

Let me 'splain it to you. Smucker's came out with a sealed, crimped, crustless PB&J called Uncrustables, that they sold in the freezer section of your local grocery store--a box of 4 for $2.99 last time I checked.

Well, I've been riding the train to Cheapville for a long time, and I'm not about to get off now. That's why I bought a Krustbuster (www.krustbuster.com). It cost ten bucks at the Utah State Fair and it makes ready to eat, cute little crustless crimped PB&J sammies (that I stuck in the freezer and will pull out each day, right after gasping, "Ahh! I forgot to pack your lunch!")

In a matter of seconds, I can have the kids' lunch packed with a pre-made sandwich that will thaw by lunch, a homemade granola bar (recipe to come!), a bag of baby carrots, and an empty cup to fill with drinking fountain water. Wow! That's a heck of a lot faster than trying to scrounge up the buck thirty-five for a USDA approved school lunch with ca-ca canned fruit and sloppy joes (not again!).

While my version of Smucker's Uncrustables PB&J sandwiches doesn't solve all my problems (why isn't there a buzzer on my washing machine so the clothes don't get forgotten??), it does take care of the lunch dilemma. Phew!

And maybe dinner, too.