Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Learning Curve

Today I will share with you some candid, unstyled photos of the inside of my home after everyone has been here every day for two weeks straight. Today is my husband's first day back at work. We normally take a little trip this time of year but that did not work out since my almost-18-year-old is still finishing up last semester due to all the school he missed with his daily migraines. So, the kid was studying, the other kid was running in and out of here with many different friend combinations, and the hubby was staycationing, My daily vacuuming became unpopular (they don't like the noise, bless them). But the point of this post is not to share the level of filth with which I've recently become accustomed -- that's just a side effect of telling you today's installment of my juicing saga.

As with any new equipment, there is a learning curve with using, cleaning, drying and storing the many parts of my amazing appliance. Today, after filling my glass with a fabulous elixir made from cucumbers, celery, a leaf of kale, half a head of romaine, a fuji apple and some ginger root (YUM!), I absentmindedly poured the second glassful into a cup for later. Unfortunately I poured as if pouring from the coffee pot, the lid of which remains attached. The lid of the juicer pitcher is not attached. So here's what happened:


Ugh -- doesn't just looking at that make you nervous? Ellie came running when she heard the catastrophe. That's her tail there poking up over the edge of the counter, and that's her fur there under the cabinet across the room. Fortunately, I had already taken a sip of this fab elixir before said catastrophe, so the mood-soothing effects of greens were already working their magic. I just felt thankful that nothing was on fire this time, then called Emma over to help her sister get started on the cleanup:


My beasts sure love veggies! After the pups gave me a head start, the rest wasn't that difficult to dispatch. And I was left with this:


Ahhh!

In more good news, I've been fighting a little cold which is going away very quickly from the juice and from this bowl of easy curried chickpeas I ate yesterday:


I added half a chopped yellow onion to a bowl of Amy's Lentil Soup, simmered it until the onion was cooked, then added a can of chickpeas, some curry and turmeric. I served it over leftover quinoa and topped  it off with some green onion. This was such a satisfying New Year's Day stew!

Now -- vacuuming!

11 comments:

  1. isn't it nice having a helpful dog to clean up spills?

    the chickpeas and lentil look fantastic! happy new year to you!

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  2. Hi,

    My name is Patrick and I am running a website, VegToamto, http://www.vegtomato.org/, to advocate veganism. Just found your inspiring vegan story, I am wondering if I can have your permission to translate it into Chinese and post in my website to inspire more people go veganism. I will link back and credit it to you.

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  3. Oh no!
    My doggies are my vacuum/mop too!
    Your story is inspiring Cheryl.
    How nice of Veg Tomato to take notice!
    I like Amy's Lentil soup, but I always feel it is missing something.
    Will be trying this for sure!

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  4. Cheryl,

    So I can go translating your vegan story?

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  5. Yes, VegTomato! I'd love to be translated into Chinese! Please just reference the blog. Thank you!

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  6. Emily -- Thanks! I love jazzing up canned soups. I'm a pretty lazy cook when it comes right down to it. Another thing I have done with the lentil soup or the black bean soup is to add a bit of shredded kale to the hot soup so that it is only slightly wilted. Stirring in a little drizzle of olive oil with this is good too, if you like.

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  7. Thanks, Cheryl, I sure will refer to your blog for the credit^_^

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  8. I just have to stop by and THANK YOU for the idea to freeze the pulp from the juicer. I've been doing this for the last two weeks. I juice my veggies first, save the pulp in a freezer bag, and then do my fruit. I intended to make a soup or something. Last night, cupboards are mostly bare and I'm out of fresh veggies. And guess what I found in the freezer? Delicious stir fry was done less than 20 minutes later.

    So I have no more worries about waste! Thank you.

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  9. Colleen-- So glad the freezer helped. I just couldn't decide on the spur of the moment, so plopped the bag into the freezer to think about later. I love the idea of a stir fry. THANK YOU for the idea of separating the fruit and veg pulps. That solves it!

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