Fruit smoothie

Since going berry picking twice in about a week and a half, (a post on this to follow at some point) I have been looking for ways to use up the berries I have at home. Most of these berries have now found their way into the freezer. Some of them were rotten and therefore ended up in the trash. I've never frozen berries on my own so I followed the instructions on the pamphlet that was available at the farm. It said to lay the berries in a single layer until frozen. Then to place in a ziploc bag. Seems simple enough. :) I haven't used any of said frozen berries yet, but hopefully they will be okay. 

Anyhow, onto the reason I decided to make another entry on here... 

I've been experimenting with the berries in the magicbullet. Today I made a really yummy smoothie. I used amout 4 large sized strawberries, a handful of blueberries and half a banana. I filled the rest of the bullet cup with about equal portions of french vanilla coffee creamer, milk and water and two packets of Splenda. It's my favourite up to this point.

I look forward to hearing some of your faves!

Rice Cooker Catastrophe

okay, okay...

So maybe it wasn't quite that bad.

Last week my boyfriend ordered a Wolfgang Puck rice cooker from the shopping Channel. This rice cooker arrived in the mail yesterday. We were excited to open it up and get it going. We even made a special trip to the grocery store to pick up the necessary ingredients for the macaroni and cheese recipe. It's a favourite of the boyfriend. His mom has made it, but I haven't. In fact, I haven't even used a rice cooker before. (My first mistake) 

Here is the recipe from the book that came with the cooker.

As a side note, I like to keep cheese grated in the freezer for a few reasons. First of all, it lasts longer but it's also easier and, probably the most important reason, it's ready when you need it. 

After reading through the book, and washing all the removable pieces that come with it, I started grating my cheese, I portioned out what I would need for the recipe then put the rest into bags all ready for the freezer. Please note that the method indicates to combine noodles, water and cream in Rice Cooker Pot. (Wait! What water!?) Also, the following instructions only says to add remaining ingredients... Oh dear! 

So after some debating with myself. I decide to measure out my two cups of macaroni elbows and my two cups of cream and my chicken broth into the rice cooker pot, close the lid, flip the switch to 'cook' and pray to not to create a major disaster. After 5 minutes, I open up the lid to give it s stir, so far so good. Another five minutes go by and open it up again, except, it has started boiling over. And some of it went down into the inner part of the rice cooker. Not being sure how much is down there, I unplug the cooker and remove the pot. Its not a lot but it is enough to create an awful smell. 

 

Eventually, my boyfriend comes home and we decide to try the macaroni and cheese. Guess what?! It wasn't bad. In fact. It was quite good!! I will definitely be trying that recipe again  but not in the near future. I need some time to recover from this last time.