Hot Spiced Apple Cider

So today in San Diego it decided to drizzle... all day. No rain, no thunder, no lightening, just barely there drizzle. Charlie was supposed to go riding with the boys, but seeing as how slick wet roads and motorcycles at 60+ MPH don't mix, we stayed in, cleaned house, and watched The Breakfast Club instead. He's currently folding laundry (*gasp!* a man who does housework!) so I decided to warm up with a mug of spiced cider. I worked with what I had in the house and came up with this sweet little autumnal treat.

* apple juice or cider (if you use juice, use twice as much liquid and cook longer to reduce by half)
* ground cinnamon
* freshly ground nutmeg
* a dollop of maple syrup
* a pinch of salt
* a dab of brown sugar

You could also add any of the following;

* Allspice
* Clove
* Citrus peels

Put it all into a medium saucepan and cook for 10-15 minutes, pour into an adorable mug, let cool and enjoy!

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4th of July & Mom's Pie

It could be argued that nothing is more American than Apple Pie. I could interject and say there are lots more things that are at least JUST AS AMERICAN as Apple Pie, but in all honesty, I love me some pie.

There was, for a brief period of time where I vehemently hated cake, thank God that has passed, but I've always loved pie. Always. Apple Crumb is my favorite to be exact, but my mom makes a MEAN boysenberry.

As a child I used to go to summer camp up in the Cuyamaca Mountains north of San Diego. On the way there we would travel through the little town on Ramona and grab some burgers, the last huzzah of "real food" before the week long buffet of inedible sludge. But nothing was sweeter than the ride home when we would drive through Julian and stop for a slice of Mom's Apple Pie.

That ritual slice of pie became the staple on which we recounted our stories of the week, the hikes, the summer loves, the poison oak, it all poured out over that perfect slice of heaven.

Even now I will make the hour long trek up to Julian just for a warmed slice of Apple Crumb, zealous with anticipation for that first perfect bite.

This particular day I visited I got a slice of Apple Crumb and Bumbleberry Crumb, a mixture of Blueberries, Blackberries and Boysenberries.


The Bumbleberry was a nice sweet pie, with a perfectly tart finish, unlike the indubitably sweet apple. Both pure heaven for pie lovers.

The GM Diet Plan : DAY ONE

So, we have decided, for months now, to do a cleanse. I asked around, I looked at cleanse products, and then Kristi stumbled onto this.

General Motors Weight Loss Diet

The website claims "The General Motors Weight Loss Diet was developed for the employees of the firm. However, the diet proved so useful that the world cannot stop listing its benefits. Along with being a perfect recipe for a fast weight loss, it also helps detoxify and cleanse the system."

So we had to try it.

I'm going to blog about the 7 days to come. Which will also help me get motivated to blog more.

Today was Fruit. Here are the rules;

Day One

Eat as many fruits as you want. No bananas though. If watermelon or cantaloupe is available, take huge quantities of it. Watermelon will enable you to lose 3-4 lbs on the first day. Day One would prepare the system for the week to come.

So we went down to the produce market and grabbed a TON of fruit. Seriously. Below is what we got...

*Honeydew Melon
*Cantalope
*Anjou Pears
*Apricots
*Gala Apples
*Green Grapes
*Seedless Watermelon
*Kiwi
*Bing Cherries
*Strawberries
*Pineapple

We the washed all the fruit and then we cwunched it up...

...and we cwunched it up....


...and we cwunched it up.

Now I have a belly and a fridge full of fruit. No bad side effects yet, except for the fact that I have this INSANE dry mouth and I'm craving coffee like nobody's business. Tomorrow is Veggie day, so I will be able to get this sweetness taste out of my mouth. Below is the finished fruit salad before we divvied it up and parted ways.


I have about 8 more glasses of water to drink, so I think I'm going to go watch my shows and eat some fruit.

Disneyland!

So, living in Southern California I have been to Disneyland more times than I will ever be able to count. I've owned multiple season passes throughout the years and have pretty much ridden every single ride, watched every single show, and eaten every type of food. I never pass up a chance to go to Disneyland ever, so when Jordan and Shaun told me that on Sunday we were gonna go, I got all kinds of excited.

I sadly had to work for part of Sunday but got off around 2 and drove down the 5 to The Happiest Place on Earth. Parking was horrific and it took me awhile until I was in the park. I met them and our friend Joanna in Downtown Disney at Tortilla Jo's for some pre-park nosh.

Tortilla Jo's is over priced, sub par Mexican food, served by bitter waiters. I had the Grilled Steak Torta with a side of guacamole, some nasty kind of slaw I didn't eat, but surely paid for and some black beans that weren't too bad. I washed it all down with an overpriced salty margarita that I asked for frozen, yet came on the rocks.

Grilled Steak Torta with slaw and black beans.

The guacamole wasn't that bad, but I don't know how fresh it was.

Wack guacamole.

Their saving grace was that of the familiar face of the Mariachi on my favorite hot sauce, Tapatio, on the table.

Tapatio!!

After I paid a little over $30 for my late lunch/early dinner, we went into the park. Luckily Joanna works for Disney so we were her guests and it didn't cost us anything to get into Disneyland.

We decided that we would start in Adventureland first.

Adventureland.

Now I know this is a food blog, so I'm going to stick to blogging about some of my favorite things in The Magic Kingdom. One will be hard pressed to find a better treat in the summer than the Dole Pineapple stand located just outside of The Tiki Room.

Dole Pineapple Stand outside the Tiki Room.

Here you will find the ever lovely Dole Whip and Dole Whip Float. I prefer the latter. It's all the wonderment of the normal Dole Whip, floating in a refreshing glass of pineapple juice.

Dole Whip Float.

Farther up the path into Adventureland you'll pass past a small trading post type store right next to the Jungle Cruise. It is here you will find the most delicious pickles in the history of the world.

Barrel'o'pickles!

These can be found at pretty much any fruit and water vendor in the park, in fact I know of a few location such as Main Street USA, Torrowland and Critter Country on the way to the entrance to Splash Mountain.

These suckers are huge, yes?

My other favorite thing at the park that we didn't get around to are their turkey legs. They are huge smoked turkey legs for only $7! Which seems rather expensive, but for the amount of meat you get, I think it's the best deal in the park.

Corndogs!

The last thing we ate were delicious deep fried corndogs.

Shown actual size.

The corn dogs at Disneyland are like a freaking footlong, dipped in a cornmeal batter and then deep fried.

"Heathier" options.

They come with an option of either a bag or chips, or sliced apples! Which is totally awesome that they have a healthier option, even if it comes with a huge deep fried hotdog.

Heaven on a stick.

All in all the best foods at Disney, are actually INSIDE the park and not in Downtown Disney. For the Dole Whip ($5), the Pickle ($2.75), and the Corn Dog and Apples, ($6.75) it was actually CHEAPER than the whole meal I got at that crappy Mexican place, which rounded out at $20 without booze, and stretching it out through the evening was a lot more filling than a sit down meal.

Better'n Peanut Butter

Peanut Butter has lately become a weakness. I know that it's a MUFA and so it's not really THAT bad for me, but the amount of fat and calories mean I don't get much of it.

Enter, Better'n Peanut Butter!

With only 50 calories and 1 gram of fat a tbsp, it's pretty much the best thing to spread on sliced bread. In fact, I've been putting it on pretty much everything. It's got a creamier texture with a bit less viscosity than regular peanut butter (meaning it doesn't hold its shape as well) , and is almost frosting like. It's made with "defatted peanut flour" so it still has the taste, without the fat. I wanted to try it on everything I had previously put regular peanut butter on, and try it out, so YOU didn't have to!



It's freaking AMAZING on apples. LOVE IT.



I substituted it for regular peanut butter in my banana oatmeal, and it was even BETTER. It's melted perfectly and mixed in so well.

I even tried a new recipe my client Sheila told me about for yummy late night snacks! I used Better'n Peanut Butter in it instead, and the beauty of this is you don't even need to know how to cook to make this! So try it!!



I started with some bananas, cut in half.



Next slice lengthwise and spread about a tbsp of Better'n Peanut Butter on them, sandwiching between the 2 banana halves.



Wrap in plastic wrap and stick um in the freezer until frozen. And then eat them, cuz they are freaking amazing. It's the perfect late night snack, cuz I can't think of many other things that go great with bananas than peanut butter, except maybe chocolate! (And um, Better'n Peanut Butter has a chocolate spread too!!)

I also spread some on my bagel this morning. I'm seriously obsessed with it. You can get it at most health food stores, I found mine at Trader Joes. I'd love to see what others come up with, so please if you use it, tried it, or made something amazing, post them in the comments.