Citrus anyone?

Twas a rainy and not-so-loverly day here in Kentucky. The highlight of my weekend was when my neighbor (fresh from a trip to Florida) showed up on my doorstep with a massive bag of oranges, grapefruit, & tangelos. He said he and his wife picked them! As sad as this is, I have never seen a grapefruit with the stem and leaf still intact and was pretty excited to uncover this gem in the giant Bag O Citrus.

It's Pepsi... Thrownback

Yeah baby, that's the way I like it. Have any of my 5 readers tried the Pepsi Throwback? I'm not sure how long they've had it out, but tonight I found myself saying these words: oh my gosh this taste like the Pepsi I used to drink when I was a kid. Did I just reveal my age? I really don't care... I'll have the big 30th birthday this year (August 1st for those of you who are interested). Back to the Pepsi. It's made with cane sugar instead of HFC and I'm loving it! [Side note: It really IS too bad McDonalds has trademarked that phrase: I'm loving it. I mean, who has the right to a phrase like that?] It's also the official soft drink of the NFL... can you tell I'm watching football with the hubby? Doesn't get much better than that, now does it? Football and Pepsi Throwback.

Purple House Dress

About 8 months ago I started working on this little dress for my 2 year old Ellie. I had assembled the dress and was serging the bodice onto the skirt when the bodice got caught in the sergers crossfire creating a nasty gaping hole. A hole! Front and center of the top. I felt like such an idiot. I literally stood on the landing and jumped up and down I was so mad (are you picturing it? because you should be). Then I decided to trash the dress. A few days later I took it out of the trash and started thinking of how I could repair my mistake. Ribbon? A pocket? An applique? No... I really wanted to add purple polka dot fabric to the bottom of the dress and I didn't want to add more stuff to it. So I just left it alone. It has sat in my "to be completed" box for the past 8 months until now. Yesterday I decided to finish the dress. Partially because Ellie is really into purple right now, and partially because I'm tired of looking at it, and partially because it's the new year and I'm feeling energized. I have decided to just cut out a new top, not very creative, but it's what I want to do. I liked it the way it was. More on the dress when I finish!

Yummus Hummus

I was talking to my good friend Maryann today - probably my oldest friend, actually... we went to school from pre-kindergarden to 12th grade through college (and shared the same major) together and even knew each other before good ole pre-k. Anyway. She asked about food and this started a list of things that we eat here in the Raz household. One of thing that struck her fancy was the mention of our hummus and veggie sandwiches/wraps. Then she told me I needed to share my hummus recipe. So instead of emailing it to her, I decided to "put it on the blog!" A much-repeated phrase here the past few days (it must be said with gusto while shooting a fist in the air). This is probably the first hummus recipe that I totally made up myself. It uses soaked nuts because I find tahini overpowering. I think I just don't like tahini, I'm really not sure. Here it is!

Yummus Hummus!
Anna Raz

1/4 c almonds
1/4 c cashews
1/4 c sunflower seeds
1 can chickpeas
3/8 c lemon juice
1 T olive oil (isn't required)
1/2 c fresh parsely (get the tops, not stems. loosely pack)
1 T Tony Chacheres
2 or 3 cloves minced fresh garlic
Water

Cover the nuts & seeds with water and allow to soak overnight. When you are ready to make the hummus, throw the nuts with the water in the blender or food processor. Add everything else and go to town. Use as much water as you want to achieve the consistency of hummus you prefer. There really isn't a right or wrong here. You won't need more than 1/2 a cup, we rarely use more than 1/4 c or so (but we have a blendtec and it blends this stuff to smithereens). It's always better the next day, but still good the day you make it. Should last in the fridge for a week or more, but it rarely makes it this long in our house so I really don't know how long it will keep.

What we use it for: sandwiches/wraps with a generous amount of hummus, sliced bell pepper, tomatoes, cucumber, avocado, & a little feta if you have it. YUM. We also just eat it with crackers or crudites (a fancy way to say veggies: carrots, celery, broccoli, & cauliflower pair well).

If you're trying to keep things raw, you can make it raw quite easily (this is how we make it). Raw Yummus Hummus instructions: use all raw nuts/seeds, squeeze your own lemons, used cold pressed olive oil, and soak dried chickpeas in water overnight or as long as it takes for them to get softer. Voila! It's raw!

Raw G'nola

It's what Ellie (my 2 year old) calls our granola. It's snowing up here in Kentucky and we're stuck inside. You know, I don't know why everyone makes such a big deal about being stuck inside at this point in the year (well, if you're in the northern half of the US anyway). We're already used to the temperature being a frigid 12 degrees or so... we haven't been taking any walks or playing outdoors for the past month, so what's really going to change? I suppose now that the roads are slippery we don't even have the option of going anywhere and that's what makes the difference. Anyway, back to the granola. My good friend Elizabeth gave me a cookbook a year or so ago that we use all the time. ALL the time, Elizabeth. I'm so glad you accidentally ordered two of them :). She gave the granola recipe in it a thumbs up, so we had to try it. It is awesome, of course. I suppose most granola is very similar, but we love this recipe. It would be totally out of character for me to leave a recipe the same once I made it a few times (unless there was no room for experimentation), so I changed this recipe a little bit. We're not actually raw foodist around here, but Ellie found granola easier to eat if it wasn't crispy, so I just started leaving it un-cooked and now it's a raw recipe. Enjoy!
Here's my version:

Raw Granola

5 c oats
1/2 c flax meal
1/2 c wheat germ
1/2 tsp cinnamon
dash salt
1/2 c chopped nuts (almonds, walnuts, pecans...)
1/4 c dried cranberries
1/4 c rasins
1/4 c coconut
- combine the above and mix
4 T canola oil
1/2 c honey
1 t vanilla
1/2 t almond extract
- combine these wet ingredients and add to the dry. Stir well and enjoy!

I've changed my mind

Along with resolutions, this time of year I tend to re-think why I do what I do. One of those re-thinkings is this blog. I don't really update it much as a sewing blog, so I'm changing it! From now on I think I'll just use it to house what I've been doing: cooking, sewing, and thinking. We will see how Plum Dandy starts to shape up! Stay tuned and thanks for keeping up with me.
Anna