{Guest Post} Best Smoothy of Life

Hello! So today my dear sister Ulianna is here with us to share her recipe for the Best Smoothy of her Life! So here we go...

2cups of fresh spinach
1/4 avocado
1/8 cucumber
1/2+ cup non concentrate OJ
1 tbsp lime juice or 3 drops lime oil { if you can find it}
1 tbsp poppy seeds
1 tsp almond butter
Fresh ginger to taste - start with a 1cm cube
4 cubes of frozen mango
1 cup frozen berry mix

Everything goes into the blender and depending on the quality of your blender, you may need to add more OJ {shrugs.}

Okay so I know there are some strange ingredients in here but the taste is phenomenal and the nutritional value is through the roof.  It's a lot of spinach but you cant taste it. Scouts honor   And my god,  look at all that raw spinach.  It doesn't get any better than that. I use lime oil which is well worth trying to find somewhere but otherwise lime juice is good enough. Try to get raw almond butter.  Almonds have been reported to help sugar diffuse into the blood stream slower so it's a beautiful compliment to all the fruit.  The poppy seeds give this smoothy that something something but you might want save brushing your teeth until after.  The avocado puts the smooth in smoothy without the nonsense of diary.  The ginger and cucumber are good for a little daily detox. I make this smoothy every morning and take it to school with me in my stainless steel coffee mug.  It needs to be drank in an hour or it starts to get yucky.

I can literally make this bad boy in less than ten minutes including clean up.  Don't forget to bring your straw ;)

Thanks Ulianna! If you liked that post and want to read more by Ulianna, check out some of her past posts, like her healthy recipe for Lemon Breakfast Bars, or her DIY Leather Medicine Bag tutorial

Hope you all had a great Monday. I spent the day making sandcastles and eating ice cream so I can't complain ;) See you all tomorrow!

♥ Olivia

Sweet and Savory Brie Puff Pastry Cake Recipe

So you guys may remember seeing this photo, from my post about my grandma's birthday dinner:

Were you curious about what I was carrying in my hands?

Well you should be, because what you see in that picture above is the yummiest, tastiest, easiest appetizer I have ever encountered

So here is my recipe for my Brie Puff Pastry

If you love cheese, flaky crust, and sweet and savory flavors, then this recipe is for you

Your Ingredients:

♥ A roll of Brie: I used the extra jumbo 1kg roll, but you can use whatever size you want, depending on how many people you are serving, and how many other appetizers you are planning to have. This giant 1kg roll is enough to serve 10 people

♥ 6 Tenderflake Patty Shells: You can try to make your own pastry dough, but that would seriously up the difficulty of this recipe

♥ *6 Heaping Spoonfulls of Brown Sugar: Yum

♥ *A couple handfuls of Pecans: Optional

♥ *A couple handfuls of Cranberries: Optional

*This recipe is very flexible... These are just guidelines

Add as much or as little as you think suits your tastes

**I have also neglected to include that you need cooking oil, flour, and all that basic stuff... because I'm assuming that if you're in a kitchen then you'll have these ingredients

This dish can be prepared earlier in the day, and then baked right before your guests arrive... But if you are planning on serving it right away, then preheat your oven to 365 degrees C  

Take off any rings you may be wearing...

Here is mine all covered in dough and flour :)

Alright, first gather up the Tender Flake, some flour (I used whole wheat), and a rolling pin

Cover your rolling pin and work station in flour to make everything less sticky

Start rolling out three of the six pastry shells, doing your best to keep their circular shape

If your circle looks more like a blob, no worries! It doesn't have to be perfect

Roll out the dough nice and thin (about 1mm in thickness I believe)
Your circle should be about 14 inches in diameter
Again, it doesn't have to be perfect, just do your best

Now you can leave the dough alone for a moment, and turn your attention to your cheese
Grab a big knife, and cut your cheese in half... it's a lot harder than you think it is

Once your done with that, place one cheese half onto the center of your your dough circle

Dump your six heaping spoonfuls of brown sugar onto your cheese... it seems like a lot, but you'll need a generous amount covering the entire surface of the cheese

Once you are done with the sugar, evenly distribute your cranberries 

Throw on some pecans, or whatever you want really

Put the two cheese half's back together

Start wrapping the cheese in the dough

 Press down the pieces of dough as you go to flatten them

The dough shouldn't be large enough to cover the entire roll of cheese, so don't worry if yours doesn't

Do your best not to rip the pastry dough

Woah, too many hands there
Press down the dough all around the cheese, just to get it all secure

Put the cheese aside and grab the other three pastry shells
Roll it out just like the last three rolls
Once you are done, place the cheese in the center of the dough (like the last time), except this time, place the ugly, doughless part of the cheese facing down
Now you can wrap the dough around the cheese again

Once you finish wrapping the dough around the cheese, flip it over to its nice smooth side and sprinkle some olive oil ontop

Use a pastry brush (aka. a basting brush) to cover the entire surface of the roll in a thin layer of oil

I prepared mine pretty early in the day, so I covered my brie in some saran wrap and left it in the fridge

About 1 hour before your guests arrive, place it in the oven for 20-25 minutes at 365 degrees C
That way it has time to cool off, but it's still warm and gooey

Puff!

And there you go

Alrighty, I have to go now
I am writing this in class at 11:30am, I haven't had breakfast yet, and this post is making my mouth water!!
I think my stomach is eating itself so I'll have to say goodbye for today!
Have a super weekend, happy Easter, I'll see you guys next week

♥ Olivia

Sweet and Spicy Popcorn Recipe

Hey y'all

Whenever I would make the long trip home from boarding school, the first thing I would do upon my arival (after saying hi to the fam of course) was to go over to the kitchen. For some reason. I always expected the fridge and pantry to be full of my favorite snacks and treats... unfortunately I don't think that that ever happened, especially now that my mom is on her organic health kick. But regardless, the habit has stayed with me. So last week when I came home for the weekend, I was shocked to find a whole box of popcorn sitting on the counter!

Organic of course... but it tastes just like the stuff you get at the movies!

So this inspired me to share my very own Sweet and Spicy Popcorn Recipe that you can make with (hopefully) common household ingredients

We used to always buy these popcorn seasonings from the store, but I can't even pronounce any of the ingredients so I thought I would invent my own

Toss all of your ingredients into the popped bag of popcorn and sample the popcorn as you go

You can add more spices as you go but be careful with the cayenne! Spicy spicy...

Shake shake shake!!

Pour

And serve!

On a different note... let us bow our heads in a moment of silence for this bowl of popcorn, which was quickly devoured shortly after this photograph was taken... RIP ... ha ha

Alrighty, happy snacking!

We're half way through the week!!
TGIW

♥ Olivia

DIY Vanilla Raspberry Valentine's Cheesecake

Happy Valentine's Week!

This year for Valentines day, I didn't want to get too crazy with gifts, so I thought I would just make my boyfriend Alexander something small and he would really like... and you know what they say! The fastest way to a guy's heart is through his stomach

So whether you are single or not this Valentine's season, I'm sure you will love my lovely Vanilla Raspberry Valentine's Cheesecake

What you will need:

Crust:

♥ 1 1/4 cup's of graham crumbs (or crackers if you want to crumb them yourself)

♥ 1/4 cup of butter... melted

Filling:

♥ 16oz (500g) of low fat cream cheese, softened... or full fat, whatever you want (2 8oz packages)

♥ 2 eggs

♥ 1 teaspoon (tsp) cornstarch

♥ 2/3 cups of sugar

♥ Handful of frozen raspberries (or the berry of your choice)

Toppings:

♥ Strawberries

Optional:

♥ Baker's chocolate- To decorate the top of your cake

♥ Vanillina- To give your cake a vanilla flavor... you can purchase this from any Italian specialty store

Makes 12 mini cheesecakes

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees

... and wash your dirty hands!!

First: Measure out your graham cracker crumbs (1 1/4 cup's)

If they are in cracker form still, put them in your blender on pulse

Second: Take your butter (1/4 cup) and microwave it till it's melted... about 30 seconds

I chopped mine up so that it melts faster and evenly

Third: Mix together your butter and graham crackers

You may want to use your hands to work it

Now: Grease a muffin tin

I just used some olive oil

If you are using a silicone tray (which I recommend) than you can skip this step

 Next: Evenly distribute your graham cracker crumbs between each tin

Now: You gotta press down your crumbs...

I just took another muffin tin the same size as the one I'm using and I used that to pack it down which worked great, but you can just use your hands

Your graham crackers should look something like this like this... this is your crust!

Pop it in the oven (325 degrees) for 5 minutes.... make sure to set a timer because you're going to be occupied while it bakes and you don't want to forget about it

Once you take the crust out of the oven, increase the oven to 350 degrees... don't forget this step!

Now: to start on the filling!

Beat your cream cheese in the mixer till it's creamy, fluffy, and smooth

I cut up my cream cheese so that it would be easier on the mixer

This is not what it should look like!

By the way, is your crust still in the oven?

If it is, than set your oven to 350!!!

While that mixes: Measure out your sugar (2/3c... or 166g), cornstarch (1 tsp) and vanillina (1 packet), and throw that into the mixer

Once the sugar is mixed in, add in your eggs (2 eggs)

(I took out the pictures for these steps because this post was getting too long ;) )

Now: It's time for your berries

This step is optional, but recommended. It makes the cake a pretty pink Valentine's colour, and gives it a nice texture

Put in as many as you like, but I put in probably about... 2/3's of a cup

Once everything is in the mixing bowl: Your batter should look something like this... it's pretty liquidy!

Pour these into your cupcake tins and- stick them in the oven (which should be 350 degrees) for 20 minutes

They shouldn't rise very much, so filling them nearly to the top should be fine

While that is in the oven: prepare your strawberries

To make them into a heart shape, just cut them in half and then slice a "V" into the top part of the strawberry

As soon as your cakes are out of the oven: place the strawberry on top of the cakes

For the chocolate decoration, get some baking chocolate (although, I'm sure any variety of chocolate would work fine)... I use the Baker's brand... 'cause it's cheep

Chop up your chocolate so that it melts evenly, and then stick it in the microwave for about 45 seconds

While that microwaves, take a plastic bag and cut a tiny little hole into the bottom corner of your bag (only about a 1mm long slit) and then take the melted chocolate and scoop in into your bag

They get creative with your chocolate decorating

Let your cakes cool for about an hour in the tin

Then pop them in the fridge for another couple of hours

You may need to use a knife to cut around the edge of the cakes to get them out

Serve cold within the next two days!!!

Enjoy guys!

♥ Olivia

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