I’m making an attempt from now on to use capital letters and be a Proper Adult Blogger.  Well, that proper part is maybe a bit extreme outside of typing; I am really just afraid I’ll forget how to write by hand (although in that case I usually do the opposite of what I do here…I write in all capital letters likely as a remnant of my short-lived interior design schooling).

So, who’s hot?  I am.  I don’t mind the heat so much as the humidity, and living on the attic floor of an old house.  Usually I lose interest in cooking and subsist on water, smoothies, and going out to eat.  We hit about 88 on Sunday, the day of the first Twin Cities Vegan Potluck, which I think was at least partially responsible for the relatively poor attendance.  When I actually do cook, they are quick, stovetop items with at least a couple of fresh ingredients.

I’m quite certain that a plethora of vegan couscous and chickpea dishes exist; I’m sure many more than my rather unsuccessful Google search revealed.  This is my favorite way to make one, incorporating my current obsession with lemon zest.  I just can’t get enough lemon!  In my quest for healthier grains, I suggest whole wheat couscous if you can find it, but it would look awful pretty with the larger Israeli variety as well.  Adjust the crushed chili pepper to taste, and if you like it really hot, serve this with a crisp, fresh cucumber salad.  This is really lovely at any time of year (the spice will warm you on the colder days of fall and winter), but the short cooking time, simple ingredients, and fresh toppings make it a suitable summer dish, whether warm or chilled.

Zesty Lemon Couscous with Chickpeas and Tomato (serves 3-4):

1 c vegetable stock
1 tbsp olive oil
1 c couscous

1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 c onion, diced
1 clove garlic
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp crushed red chili pepper (or to taste)
1/4 tsp allspice
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 can diced tomatoes
zest from one lemon (or to taste)
salt and pepper to taste

1/4 c parsley, minced
1 scallion, sliced diagonally

Bring vegetable stock and olive oil to a boil.  Stir in couscous, cover, and remove from heat.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil over medium heat in a medium pan.  Add the onion and garlic and saute until softened.  Add the cumin, coriander, turmeric, chili pepper, and allspice and cook another minute or two, stirring constantly, before doing the same with the chickpeas.  Add the diced tomatoes and cook until heated through, then grate in the lemon zest.

Fluff the couscous with a fork and combine with the chickpea mixture, then season to taste with salt and pepper (the sodium content of the vegetable stock will affect how much salt you want).  Serve garnished with fresh parsley and scallions.

I finally made it to the garden again this morning, and was greeted by an explosion of growth and color.  I’m hoping to harvest some gorgeous kale tomorrow along with a few beets.  The sky just turned a strange yellow color outside and it began to rain.  I hope it cooled off this little kitty:

seitan fajitas with red, yellow, and poblano peppers, red onions, and guacamole on homemade corn tortillas

this week i made a plank of seitan, and i mean a plank.  my experiences with making seitan have often resulted in firm interiors and spongier outsides.  so, inspired by tofu666’s recent seitan excursions and less recent photo essay, plus a conglomeration of recipes, i first failed at making seitan from regular wheat flour.  it disintegrated in the second batch of water, which makes me wonder whether i either didn’t knead the dough long enough at the beginning or my canister of “whole wheat flour” was actually something else.  so i went to the old standby of vital wheat gluten, and rolled the resulting dough into a giant pancake of sorts.  i put it into cold broth, simmered it for an hour, then let it cool all day in the pot while i was at work.  it worked deliciously!  so firm, pleasantly chewy, and it even makes a tasty nibble on its own.

today, however, it had a different calling:

i went off the real food daily recipe for seitan fajitas, though i made it for four mini servings, replaced some of the tamari with water, and added coriander and marmite.  while the seitan pieces marinated, i made a small batch of corn tortillas.  yum.  i don’t think i can ever buy storebought corn tortillas again, though i will definitely have to try making flour ones as well sometime.  this was only the second time i’ve made them, but really, they’re quite easy.  (while my girlfriend was on tour, her band was treated to a homemade mexican-themed vegan breakfast feast cooked by chloe from montreal-based aids wolf.  she made homemade everything, including tortillas!)  then i browned the seitan in the cast iron pan, threw in some onions and peppers and sauteed them a couple of minutes.  i poured the remaining marinade over everything and turned the heat off while they sizzled.  topped with some guacamole, they made for a very tasty lunch.

i haven’t done a ton of cooking yet, because it’s been pretty hot out, and we’ve been really busy looking for a new place to live.  i did, however, get a chance to try out the popular quinoa salad with black beans and sweet potatoes posted awhile back on the ppk.  i made it spicier and added avocado, and it was quick and easy!

my stomach hasn’t been very happy with some of my food choices lately.  i think the raw really had cleaned me out even after just a week, and i have been feeling the effects of my poorer choices (like pizza luce and malaysian golden tofu).  so i’ve got to stop being lazy and put my foot down in this house about more fresh food!  there’s a good-looking recipe for a raw creamy carrot soup that’s been calling my name.  and more juice.  definitely more juice.

sorry for the delay on posting this, and also for the lack of pictures.  for my last day, i ate fresh fruits and veggies and had dinner at ecopolitan with my best friend (sadly, forgetting my camera).  then pride weekend started, so things got incredibly busy with events and people despite the fact that my attitude towards pride is quite critical.

i’m not sure how best to sum up my raw experience, other than to talk about it in terms of oppositions.  right off, i’d like to say i’m really glad that i did it, despite the more difficult aspects.  i chose to do it at this time i did because the weather was warm, there was a good selection of produce, and my raw-fearing partner was out of town.  i had the benefits of working at a co-op and living across the street from a raw vegan restaurant (which was a comforting backup option).

even though i experienced cycles of hungry-full-hungry constantly, now that i’ve reintroduced cooked and more processed foods, i can say that i preferred that aspect of raw eating in a lot of ways.  i have always really loved bread, for example, and feared that i would really miss it being raw.  it is convenient, versatile, and i buy whole grain (often sprouted) bread so i haven’t felt guilty about eating it a lot.  at first not eating bread was hard, and the half-loaf i had stuck in the freezer seemed to taunt me when i went for smoothie fruits.  but then i didn’t miss it, and i didn’t feel a need to make raw bread for sandwiches; i suppose the crackers were enough.  i had a couple pieces of toasted bread this weekend, and i have to admit it was a really unsatisfying experience in the taste department, plus it left me feeling really heavy.  since having other cooked foods, i’ve felt the same heaviness, even if i stayed full longer.

however, the downside of that satisfaction-hunger cycle is having enough food around to feed the hunger.  that’s where convenience and versatility didn’t always come together.  sure, eating some carrots, bananas, or raw crackers worked, but was a little boring sometimes.  not everything that i make in the non-raw sphere is uber convenient, but it’s usually ready within a couple hours even for the more labor-intensive recipes.  however, the thought of having to wait 24 hours to complete a meal, no matter how mouth-watering, got really discouraging when i work a 40-hour week and want to spend time with friends, or even just time not in the kitchen or thinking about the kitchen.  i think about food a lot since i work with it and like to cook it at home, but while raw i felt like almost the only thing i was thinking about was what i had to do so i could eat something later in the day, or in the week.  it made me feel a little bit crazy sometimes.

having a couple of prep days for making crackers and buckwheat crispies and the like helped the rest of the week come together easier most of the time.  i’m glad i picked mostly recipes that kept well and i could eat over a couple days if i wanted, so i didn’t have to “un-cook” everyday.  at work i could order a fresh juice, and making smoothies at home was always easy as long as i had some milk or juice on hand.  that’s something i definitely plan to keep doing more often.

so what do i wish i’d done differently?  for one, i WAY over-bought nuts and seeds for the week.  most of the nut-inclusive recipes were actually the crackers and later the tart topping.  after that the bulk of the food was fresh fruits and veggies which is what i had to shop for throughout the week.  i would like to make those rosemary crackers and no-wheat thins again, and probably some delicious bakery treats, so it’s not as if they’ll go to waste, but those bags and jars are taking up an awful lot of room in my fridge!  and, well, it would have been nice not to spend all the money on them, even if it ended up costing less than i’d feared.

another thing that was hard about having time away from my partner and more time to spend with friends was that eating out wasn’t really an option, so i tried to eat a lot before going out.  i allowed myself wine throughout the week, so i’m sure i could have had more of a detox without the alcohol, but i also didn’t want to shorten my social time since i had it.  if i’d had the luxury of taking time off for myself away from other people, i think i would have been more successful making more interesting food and not drinking.  but i’m not that privileged, so i did the best i could under the circumstances.

health-wise, i found myself feeling much better overall, though i did have some trouble with wanting to sleep in the afternoons.  i don’t know if this was because i stayed up to late and had to get up early, or i wasn’t getting enough iron from the raw diet, or both, or something else entirely.  but the sleeping thing was definitely worst these past three days.  however i did seem to have a lot of mental energy before going to bed, but i’m not sure if that was anxiety over being a little bit lonely at night.  i did - and have still managed to - stay away from caffeine, which is pretty remarkable considering my love of chai and cold press.  when i could, i’d try to have some ginger for energy, which did the trick most of the time.  i never had a stomachache or indigestion, which was nice (though i don’t have chronic problems with that anyway).  i wouldn’t say i had any miracle experiences like improved vision or overnight scar-healing (that industrial oven burn on my hand will probably never go away), but this is certainly the healthiest i remember feeling.  and like i said, i definitely felt heavier (not necessarily less healthy) after eating some non-raw foods.  this experience has definitely changed the way i relate to food and i hope to maintain a weekly raw day in the future.

today i went to ecopolitan (the raw vegan restaurant) for a smoothie and a sprouted hummus platter.  after a night of dancing in an incredibly hot and crowded lesbian bar until 130am and having a few beers (oy), i craved something that wasn’t the tempeh scramble i made myself for breakfast (though the weird new tempeh i bought was probably a big part of that).  i slept a lot, but i’m starting to feel better after eating this.  i hope this week i’ll get my energy back up and start making some photo-worthy food again!  thanks to everyone who’s been following along and commenting during the past week (and previous to that, of course).

another leftovers day… i finished off the torta toppings with some spinach as a salad of sorts, which was mighty tasty but not very picturesque.  i also have nearly finished the second half of my fruit tart (yum!), and otherwise have been snacking on crisps and drinking lots of water (it’s hot, and i’m sweating).  it’s odd; i’ve been waking up with a sleepy face/head, but once i’m up i feel like my heart is beating hard and i have all this energy while working.  maybe i’m just trying to work hard as a distraction though, because when i get home and sit down, i really just want to stay there and rub some ice cubes on my neck and lazily though addictively search apartment listings on craigslist.

in homemade, but not edible, developments, i bought a book about making your own non-toxic cleaning products.  we’ve already been buying stuff from the co-op for awhile, but store-bought is expensive as you probably already know.  armed with dr. bronner’s, baking soda, vinegar, and some essential oils, i started scrubbing the bathroom last night, and some more today.  i had also hoped that this internal cleanse would inspire me to do a thorough apartment cleansing, but i haven’t found too much time or motivation until now.

i’m thinking that tomorrow will be my last day of the “ultra-raw,” and i’ll start incorporating some non-raw food back in starting saturday.  i don’t really miss cooked food that much, just the ease of familiar (and quicker!) recipes.  above all i find myself really wanting some well-prepared tempeh, which isn’t that weird considering my fondness for it - still, not quite what i was anticipating my “cooked craving” to be.  but i’m definitely going to keep up with the smoothies and juices and fresh fruits and veggies (oh, the crunch of a carrot!) as much as i can.  that last slice of tart awaits me now, however, and i’m going to go greet it with a fork.

fresh fruit tart with citrus banana cashew cream on a buckwheat crumble crust

today, i loved colors.  well, more than usual, and in my food.  i am fully aware that it is much hotter and muggier in other parts of the world than it is here in minnesota, but today was our first really hot day.  my one-block walk to work left me uncomfortably hot and sweaty, which was an unfortunate follow-up to the morning of fun food-making.

i had some soaked cashews waiting to be used in the fridge and a bunch of bananas on the counter, which i thought would pair well together to make a rich and creamy topping for the buckwheat crumble (again, from living cuisine) crust i’d made over the weekend.  and though i love bananas and have been adding them to smoothies and eating them plain, i thought they might work well with some citrus flavors for variety.  at work i have to bake these (unfortunately not vegan) citrus pistachio shortbread cookies that smell SO good.  until i feel inspired to turn my oven on and veganize them, i thought i’d borrow the intoxicating trio of lemon, orange, and lime for this little creation.

most of my raw eating has been from cookbooks because i am far less familiar with the concepts and i wanted to learn new ideas and techniques.  this time, however, you’re in luck if you’re jonesing for a homemade recipe!  i’m going to go out on a limb and say you could probably make this with all bananas and no cashews if you can’t eat nuts, as well as subbing avocado for bananas if you’d like to keep the creaminess but skip the banana flavor.  it works equally well as a pudding with granola and fresh fruit.  or you can do it like i did.

citrus banana cashew cream filling (makes enough for a 10″ deep pie crust, maybe more):

1 ½ cups cashews, soaked 6-8 hours
2 bananas, peeled and broken into chunks
8 dates, pitted*
1 whole orange, zest and juice
½-1 lemon, zest and juice (start with 1/2)
½-1 lime, zest and juice (start with 1/2)
2 teaspoons vanilla, or vanilla bean

water, as needed

Place soaked and drained cashews in a food processor or blender and process into a meal. Add remaining ingredients (except water), and blend thoroughly, scraping down the sides as needed, until as creamy and smooth as possible. Add water as needed to adjust thickness (how much juice you get out of your fruits will affect this too). This may take 5 minutes depending on the strength of the processor/blender (but if you choose the no-nuts route, far less time). Taste and add more zest if desired.  Use as a pudding or pie/tart filling with fresh fruit, eat, and pass out from creamy deliciousness.

*the dates do darken the cream up a bit, so you can use agave to taste if you prefer, or leave it out if you just want to rock the banana.

why yes, i did have a piece for breakfast!

after a quick rinse in the sink, the bowl went back on the food processor to whip up some pea mole (that’s the guacamole kind of mole) for a “torta” i was planning to bring to a dinner party later.  however, that’s when i had to get creative.  the “torta” crust i had made the day before out of sprouted wild rice and some other things didn’t smell quite right.  i noticed this about the wild rice the last time i rinsed it - it smelled off in a way that made me worry it had gone bad.  i rinsed it really really well and the smell seemed to go away, but after dehydrating it the smell was back and i just couldn’t risk sacrificing perfectly good fillings on a crust that might make me (not to mention my friends) sick.  painful as it was, i tossed it and hoped i could come up with some sort of elaborate new dish.  but i had no good ideas, and not much time.  luckily my eyes landed on the massive container of rosemary crisps sitting innocently on the kitchen table, and i found my purpose.  the summer manitok torta from living cuisine became, instead, spicy pea mole with avocado and tomato on rosemary crisps:

i actually added garlic (and some cayenne for kick) to the mole, since that flavor was meant to be in the wild rice crust, but otherwise kept it the same.  instead of a torta, i had individual servings with a slice each of avocado and tomato, and parsley for garnish.  despite a slightly less crispy cracker from being prepped in the morning, these were well received as my somewhat self-conscious contribution of raw.  since i sadly couldn’t partake in the delicious-looking quinoa and garbanzo salad, i had three mini tortas!

i don’t know what tomorrow will bring, but i do have a small bowl of leftover mole, tomatoes, and avocado, so they will likely end up in something.  that, and i have half of the fruit tart left (yep, it was all me).  perhaps i’ll conjure up an appropriate vehicle during my haircut after work tomorrow?

raw avocado-kale enchilada with pepitas, red onion, tomatoes, cilantro and chili flakes, inside a raw corn-flax-lime tortilla and covered in mexican-style cheese sauce

today i had the second half of my enchilada meal for lunch, and unlike the pasta, this one kept wonderfully!  i used a tortilla recipe from frugal raw!, which i might dip into more for the spicy recipes (including indian curries!), but made my own fillings.  i was slightly thinking back to the potato-kale enchiladas from vcon in coming up with this, but also dealing with the limits of my fridge at 930pm.  to get the kale soft, i stemmed and chopped it, then massaged salt into it (a technique learned from this recipe).  unbelievably, it softens and reduces just as if it had been cooked!  then i just added pepitas, avocado, red onions, tomatoes, cilantro, chili flakes, and a little salt.  i used the remainder of my alfredo sauce from the pasta and added cumin, coriander, cayenne, and carrots (for color) to make a mexican style nut cheese to pour over the top.  it was so pretty, and so delicious (though i wished i had some raw hot sauce!).

as far as the rest of the day, i’ve been snacking on crackers and fruits and veggies.  i did make myself a green smoothie when i got home from work which used orange juice instead of almond milk (from my usual), and fresh ginger.  i upped the greens in this one, and it was amazing (and extra green)!  again, i made enough for two jars:

it’s almost 90F today, so really i just want to lay in front of the fan and nap with some ice cubes.  tomorrow morning, however, i have to prep something for a dinner party i’m going to later that night, so i think it will be back to some more fancies (as the crust is already crisping in the dehydrator).

not many pictures today… i only have access to a 32mb memory card while my girlfriend is away on tour, and this small storage capacity seems to be affecting my photography in a way that i am NOT into.  that and today was mostly leftovers from yesterday, and then a late night dinner (read: no natural light).

breakfast was leftover pancakes and syrup, plus some orange-carrot-ginger juice.  the juice was AMAZING!  i need to get more carrots tomorrow so i can have it again.  also, i saved the carrot pulp to make some kind of dessert in the future, and used it today to color some of the leftover alfredo sauce which, with the addition of some cumin and chili flakes, was transformed into a mexican-style cheese sauce.  in the afternoon i snacked on rosemary crisps, and drank the juice out of a coconut… yum!

i do have some of tonight’s dinner saved for tomorrow’s lunch, so hopefully i can snap a better picture than this one of my pre-rolled and cheez-smothered enchilada, lit by my inadequate kitchen at 930pm:

i have to admit that i was pretty tired and lazy as far as food today.  i’m not sure what my body is craving entirely, but i feel like i’ve been really focused on italian/french-flavors so far.  the enchilada was a nice break, but i’m definitely up for something spicier and “fresher.”  i mean by that some thai or indian, something with a different spice profile.  i’ve also felt hungry for snacks constantly.  i definitely get full with raw food, it’s just a very different kind of full; almost like the intense concentration of pure vegetables and nuts and seeds and spices becomes overwhelming for my mouth and stomach.  but an hour or two later, i’m hungry again.  it’s a different lifestyle having to think constantly about how much time i need to make a meal, which is very much my own doing for wanting to create more elaborate ones.  i think some simpler salads are in my future, and definitely lots of dessert.  vanilla cashew cream, i dream of you!

thanks for bearing with me during this, as i feel my posts have become less and less structured and coherent, and more and more personal.  hopefully i will strike a good balance soon.  until tomorrow…

raw banana-blueberry buckwheat pancakes with strawberry-raspberry date syrup

today i made a realization about eating raw…it’s really hard to do social things with friends and be able to eat.  unless you bring your own food.  which, silly me, i neglected to do.  so i sat drinking hot herbal tea (which i’m allowing myself) and later caved in for an izze pomegranate soda (which i’m not) while my best friend had iced, caffeinated tea and later a piece of rhubarb poundcake.

luckily, i’d filled myself earlier with a green smoothie made from a banana, a pear, the juice of half a lemon, the juice of one orange, two leaves of kale, a few big handfuls of baby spinach, and some homemade vanilla almond milk.  actually, it made so much, i had two of these mason jars filled to the brim:

we rode a good few miles on our bikes to northeast minneapolis to look for vintage clothes and go to crafty planet, so when i got home, i was really hungry, and i went straight for the leftover zucchini linguini.  today it was not as good, but that’s probably at least partially my fault for storing the ingredients together in one container rather than separately (i’m trying to save on my dish duties).  it was a bit soggy from the mushroom marinade.

however, it was rectified shortly after by dinner, which consisted of what i’d hoped to have for breakfast - blueberry buckwheat pancakes with summer berry syrup - except i didn’t realize that they took five hours to dehydrate!  actually, i ended up dehydrating mine even longer, as i may have made the pancakes a bit big.  i’m really glad i made a half batch, not because they weren’t delicious, but because my modest food processor could barely handle that much (4 bananas in my half-batch versus 10 in a full, for a start)!

i’m going to take the liberty of changing the title of this dish to banana-blueberry buckwheat pancakes, since the banana flavor was more pronounced that the blueberries (4 bananas in 5 cd-sized pancakes!).  i used dates and water as the sweetener rather than agave for the summer berry syrup, because they’re cheaper and i like their flavor so much.  i’m not sure how to describe these - when i flipped them they looked amazingly like traditional pancakes, but they were very soft and creamy inside rather than light and fluffy (no leaveners, obviously).  other than being slightly weirded out by being room-temperature, though, i really enjoyed them, and they are easier to eat than the ani phyo version, which can get really filling in a short time.  and i’ve got leftovers for a day or two!

finally tonight my rosemary crisps also finished dehydrating.  i think i’ve had the dehydrator almost constantly on since saturday at 545am when i first made some buckwheat crispies.  but, as a result, i have buckwheat crispies, a cheescake/pie crust, pancakes, and these delicious and savory rosemary crisps (another recipe from living cuisine):

i had these as a snack with some of the leftover alfredo sauce from the zucchini dish (i found the amount of sauce to be a bit much for my taste).  there are so many flavors going on, but they come together really nicely, especially with the rosemary.  i got to use the homogenizing feature of my juicer to grind up the walnuts, sunflower seeds, cashews, tomatoes, celery, garlic, red onion, and dried rosemary.  then they were mixed with ground flax seed and salt.  i’m glad that, with the amount of work involved in making them, i’ve got three dehydrator trays’ worth, plus a pizza crust that i made on a whim.

tomorrow i’m planning on leftover pancakes for breakfast, a nice salad for lunch, and possibly (if my wild rice is fully sprouted) a tasty-sounding torte for dinner.  sometimes this takes a lot of forethought!  but i really do feel healthier so far, and i have faith in going through with the whole week.  on the suggestion of a comment made on the previous post, i may have to check out the farmer’s market tomorrow!

zucchini linguini with marinated cremini mushrooms and alfredo cream sauce, served over spinach

well, this might only be a 3/4 raw day - i have dinner plans with my best friend, and we haven’t decided where we’re going yet.  at any rate, due to access and money considerations, my cleanse is more likely to be “very high raw” rather than 100% raw.  it’s still a lot more raw than my normal diet is, and even in just upping the amounts of raw and eating raw snacks, i’m feeling a difference.  additionally, one of my goals for the cleanse is to eat and buy as locally as i can, at least as far as produce.  i’m getting my supplies from the co-op and they, for example, don’t have technically raw cashews (a pretty common ingredient in desserts and sauces), and this also sometimes means i am choosing conventional locally grown produce over those organic ones shipped in from california or mexico.  (sometimes of course, there’s produce i want that could never grow in minnesota…)

on my early morning days (i have to be at work by 630), my breakfast has consisted of snacking on a piece of fruit or one of these 3′6′9 bars from the living cuisine book:

pumpkin, flax, and sesame seeds with dried apricots, dates, cinnamon and vanilla.

while i’m at work i usually get a fresh juice or smoothie…however, i made the mistake of getting a maple pecan shake yesterday (we use oatscream, and i request ricemilk), and after two weeks of no caffeine and cutting back on sweets a bit, i had a horrible sugar crash later that afternoon.  (think nightmares about work while napping, waking up delirious and sweating profusely and barely being able to move.)  it is possible i was also detoxing to some extent, i suppose.

on my less early days, i plan on having more substantial breakfasts, like this amazing recipe for blueberry buckwheat pancakes i found here.  i’ve been busy prepping for more labor-intensive recipes (making buckwheat cereal, sprouting wild rice, soaking, grinding, and dehydrating ingredients for rosemary crisps), and have bought all the nuts, seeds, and non-produce ingredients already (for those of you who remember me worrying about spending hundreds of dollars on these items, i can definitely say that i spent less than 60 dollars on non-produce items for way more than i’ll need in a week).

for a late lunch today, i made a half-batch of the zucchini linguini also from living cuisine.  while the sauce was nothing earth-shatteringly different than other raw nut creams i’ve tasted, the marinated crimini mushrooms are out of this world (this is coming from someone who hates raw mushrooms).  and peeling the zucchini linguini was so satisfying; it was really pleasing to scoop up with my hands, too, like the most delicate pasta ribbons my hand ever held!  this made two me-sized portions, so i’m saving the second for tomorrow.  doesn’t it look scrumptious?

…after making this banana-apricot green smoothie.  i used my regular blender and realized after cleaning it that i’d forgotten to add the fiber mix for this detox i’m doing, so i pulled out my 7-year-old cheap rival immersion blender that i got from my aunt when i was a sophomore in college.  it’s been through some abuse over the years, and it sputtered a slow death (in noises, not into my smoothie!) when i started to mix in the powder.  i’m trying really hard not to toss things and get something new these days in order to save plastic, packaging, and money, so i’ll have a little peek later today and see what my lacking diy electrical skills can do.

oh, and the smoothie was delicious!