Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes!!!

They're so easy! I'm a lazy baker so I use mixes. I used the strawberry cake mix and then poured it into a bunch of ice cream cones. I used a muffin pan to hold up the cones but when I checked them near the end, some of them did tip. It wasn't a big deal because they were pretty much done except a tad in the center.

After I let them cool, I put on the frosting and sprinkles! They were so cute. I ate way to many of them.

As for baking them, they do take just a bit longer than what was suggested for cupcake cook times. I filled them each about 2/3 of the way up and probably could have put just a bit more in so they had more fluff on top.

Mr. Muddy said they were just a bit too sugary but Teen Muddy and I ate like there was no tomorrow :). We will definitely be making these again!

Food, Inc

A really LOOOOONNNNGGGG time ago I watched this movie. This past weekend, I rewatched it. It just makes me angry!

I feel so bad for the soybean farmer whose crops are being contaminated by GMO soybeans grown by nearby farmers and then he gets sued! Well, then make GMO soybeans that don't contaminate other farms, don't blame the guy who didn't do anything wrong! Monstanto patenting a food... and not expecting that food to reproduce by itself... weird.

And I feel horrible for the chickens. Though I know I've watched another movie that I can't remember the name of where they show how "free range" the free range chickens are. A tiny door for them to walk out and it's not even opened until they're to the point that they wouldn't walk out the doorway anyway and the beak clipping because they can't be caged and still be considered free range. But even in Food, Inc, you see how huge these chickens get so fast and they can't barely move. I can't imagine eating obese chicken is good for us.

And the cows who stand in their own poo all day long being fed corn, a product that the cow is not designed to digest. And how the runoff from those farms contaminates vegetable farms, such as our spinach :(.

If you haven't watched it, it is available on Netflix streaming.

I almost wish I lived next to Polyface Farms. I would purchase all my meats from there if that were the case. And soon winter will be over and the farmers markets will be open again near me. Right now, everything is frozen over. There are some free range cattle farms, but nothing like Polyface nearby.

Eat healthy and enjoy your food!

Pineapple Angel Food Shortcake Take 2

I did it again :). But this time I made it better. I used an extra can of crushed pineapple and a bit of sugar and blended it up. Used it to top the pineapple angel food cake.

So here's how it goes:

Mix one box of angel food cake with a can of crushed pineapple. Nothing else. Then pour it in a pan and bake as the box says to for regular angelfood cake.

Then for the topping, quarter cup sugar and a can of crushed pineapple in the blender.

And maybe a dab of whipped cream :).

The pineapple angel food cake was good, but could be a little less dry so I decided, why not do something like strawberry shortcake but with pineapples? It was amazing and so much better than the cake by itself.

First Few Days of Raw

I'm feeling pretty good. I was expecting flu like symptoms by now and I don't have that at all. I had headaches from caffeine withdrawal at first but still feeling pretty good :).

Yesterday, not everything I ate because I didn't write it as I went, but I did have a whole personal watermelon, a few oranges, a huge salad again with some seeds. Apparently they sell raw sunflower seeds at a store near me so I'm going to try to find them next time I'm there. Otherwise for now, I've been pretending seeds are raw ;).

What else? I can't remember but I  know that's not all I ate.

Today I had half a melon and a couple oranges. I have a pineapple set up for dinner and soon I'll be having my salad for lunch. I work second shift so breakfast is noonish, lunch is around 4 and dinner is closer to 7 or 8 and then I usually eat again before bed around 11 or midnight.

I'm pretty excited for tomorrow though. I've a few kiwi's that I'm planning on for breakfast with some bananas. Hopefully the acidity of the pineapple tonight and kiwi's tomorrow wont kill my mouth. I was planning to separate them by at least a day but Grandma Muddy bought me a pineapple and now I have two so figure I'll get one done tonight and the other one in a couple days before it goes bad.

Just in case anyone is wondering what the benefits of a raw fruit diet are...
In no particular order...

1. No food preparation time. Just rinse and eat.
2. No artificial flavors and preservatives. All natural.
3. Very little dishes and certainly no dishes to prepare the fruit unless you like to chop everything up.
4. My body feels clean on the inside.
5. No waiting for dinner to cook.
6. So very simple to do!

What I miss most? The first couple days it was soda. Today, bread is probably topping my list. After January is done and I go to a 6 out of 7 day Paleo lifestyle, I still will be rarely having bread. I also have done intermittent fasting in the past with paleo. I will likely either do that or do a three day fruit feast every couple weeks or so.

I hope everyone is starting off their New Year in good health!

Soy vs. Sweet'n'sour Pineapple Chicken

Christmas Dinner!!!

Christmas Dinner started with lots of Chicken and a few cans of crushed pineapple.

Above is part one. I put half a can of the crushed pineapple in each pan, then about a quarter cup of soy sauce in the pan on the right and a half cup of sweet'n'sour in the pan on the right. Mixed it all up and then put the chicken in. I diced up some thawed chicken. Put covers on the pans, and let it sit in the fridge overnight to soak up the goodness :). 

Coming out of the oven; soy on the right, sweet'n'sour on the left. 

It smelled absolutely amazing! I used about a pound and a half of chicken in each pan. My very amazing boyfriend also made his chicken. He does what he calls brown chicken. I'm pretty sure there's catsup in his. I didn't picture his because we eat that every week so it didn't seem as exciting at the time. I'll have to chronicle that sometime... 

And the after, on a very cute snowman plate. Again, soy on the right and the sweet'n'sour on the left on the same plate over the rice. The pineapple was a nice addition. It was subtle enough that even if you're not a fan of pineapple, you'd probably still like this quite a bit. 

And what did my family say??? Soy or Sweet'n'sour???

They loved LOVED the Sweet'N'Sour  Pineapple Chicken best. 

It will be an addition to our more routine meals :). I'm glad I tried something new!

Is Your Food Really Food?

I hate mayo. Reallly hate it, but LOVE fat free ranch dressing. Now I know why, thanks to Mark at Mark’s Daily Apple.

Fat free dressing is basically just corn syrup and modified food starch. The one I had earlier today- a lowfat version- had actual buttermilk in it (though it was in the less than 2% category) and instead of modified food starch had whey protein powder in it.

So apparently I only like fake ranch dressing but now that I have analyzed the content of what I’m eating, I don’t want to eat it. It’s not really food. How much of what we eat isn't  really food? A lot of it. A really whole lot of it.

Fake food is even put into our real food. You get something like applesauce. You expect your applesauce to be apples, some water (or it’d be real chunky applesauce), and maybe a bit of sugar. Then you find out they put all sorts of crap in your applesauce and modify it from something that was food (your applesauce) into something that is filled with chemicals.

Why all this corn syrup? I don’t mind the whole “corn syrup movement” really, but, okay, yeah I do. The more processed it is, the more it loses if what is once was. You certainly can’t call it corn, eh? Isn't plain old table sugar a bit less processed than corn syrup? I don't know, but I’m not a big fan of either.

These “fruit snacks” we feed our kids- what the hell are they? They’re certainly not food if you actually take the time to read the labels.

Even in our dried raisins, dried cranberries, and other dried fruits you’ll find a bunch of additives and chemicals. We are doing ourselves (and more importantly) our children a huge dis-service by purchasing and continuing the growth of companies that feed us chemicals.

Real food lives and dies.
Real food goes bad and rots.
Real food is fruits, vegetables, and animals.

Anyway, make sure the food you’re eating is really food.

Pineapple Angel Food Cake!

I'm sure just about everyone has seen this recipe on Facebook or Pinterest or some other place on the web, but I made it this past weekend!!!

Was it amazing? Well, I can't say I love it as much as I love spice cake, but it was good.

How it works, buy a box of any brand angel food cake as long as it only has one bag of mix in it. Not the one that you have to mix two bags of dry together. Then take a can of any brand 20 oz crushed pineapple.

I got the Dole brand only because it has an easy open top.

Heat oven to whatever temp it says on the cake mix box.

Put the mix and the pineapple- do not drain the pineapple- into a bowl and mix it together.

I like to spray my pans with bakers joy, but I wont make you. Do what you like there. I however can not be held accountable if your cake sticks to the pan.

Put the mix in the pan and bake for as long as it says to bake for the cake mix on the box. I like my angel food cake a little on the lighter side so I took it out a couple minutes early and the toothpick came out clean.

Then to top your cake, I see lots of people using whipped cream or such things. That's what I did THIS time.

Next time, I'm buying a second can of crushed pineapple and adding some sugar to it, blend it up into a puree, and then I'm going to serve it like strawberry shortcake... okay, I guess it would be pineapple shortcake :).

This is the dessert I'm serving at Christmas after the main dish of sweet'n'sour pineapple chicken.

Enjoy!!