So in a previous post, I mentioned trying L’Oreal’s sulfate free line, specifically the Hydrate.  This time, I tried the Smooth line.  Holy smokes, this is almost as good as Redken!

I only purchased the shampoo and conditioner.  My hair is highlighted but I am not really that cautious about maintaining the color.  I wanted to see how well the shampoo and conditioner would work on making my hair smooth, without added product.  The thing I don’t like about most smoothing lines is I feel like it weighs my hair down and I end up with heavy, greasy feeling hair.  Bleah.  Oh and flat and limp too.

Anyways, I used it, then used my awesome hair dryer and blew dried my hair as normal.  When I dry my hair, I do it with my head upside down, so I can dry the underside.   Then I flip my head up and finger comb my hair while point the dryer nozzle down and have it follow the hand that is combing.  When I was finished, my hair looked really good.  Not frizzy and while it was not as sleek as it would have been, had I used product, it was smoother than any other shampoo/conditioner combo I had used!

While the shampoo and conditioner do contain oils, my hair did not feel heavy.  It also did not look limp!  I wash my hair every other day so the limp factor is really important to me.  My hair still looked great the FOLLOWING day!  Plus since my hair was smooth, the color totally showed up better.  (I really should make more of an effort with my hair.  It’s just so time consuming!)   I think I have found my holy grail shampoo and conditioner!  It works and it doesn’t break the bank!

Once a week, I sort the newspapers in our home.  The Thursday paper is my favorite because of the food section.

This week, there was an article on Southern cooking.  It was talking about how there is a mis-perception of Southern good, that it is just more than just bacon and grits.   And the article goes on and talks about hoppin’ John, the rice and pea dish that is traditionally eaten on New Year’s for good luck.  One of the people quoted for the article, Glenn Roberts, gives some background on the dish and how modern machinery removed the nuances that made the dish so delicious and flavorful.  Then the article goes on to describe how high end Southern restaurants serve this traditional dish, with heirloom rice and artisinal bacon.

What I found sad was how modernization destroyed the flavor of food.  Yes, machines made it easier to harvest and science allowed us to grow strains that were pest and disease resistant.  But what else have we taken away from the food?

This is partially why I do not care for chain restaurants. especially the mid-range ones.  The food is lacking flavor and all I can taste is the fat, salt and sugar used to cover up the bland food.  I recently when to a chain restaurant and ordered their pancakes.  Well, I let my son pick and he picked the super sugary one.  (hahaha, of course he would, what was I thinking?!)  I scraped off most of the topping and filling and just ate the pancake.  Bleah.  What really bummed me out was I remember LOVING this chain when I was high school and wishing I could make pancakes as good as theirs!  I don’t know if my tastes have changed or if it’s the product that has changed.  All I knew was that I could have saved my $30 and made better pancakes, a better omelette and better coffee at home for far less money.  And that’s not even using organic or artisinal ingredients!

eating what you grow

We always grow something each year.   Generally, it’s tomatoes, zucchini, bell peppers and some kind of greens.

I was in the checkout at the grocery store and a magazine caught my eye.  It was called eat what you grow or something like that…  I cannot find the magazine right now, otherwise I would have put the title.  heh heh heh

Anyways, that really intrigued me.  Can we grow our vegetables this year?    While I am not gung ho enough to only eat what we grow, I would love it if we only bought items at the grocery store that we did not grow ourselves!

We have a pretty big backyard, need to get the dimensions from hubby.  But we currently have 1 tangerine tree, and 4 orange trees.  We already share the fruit with the squirrels and my family.  We also have a guava tree but I do not really care for the fruit.  Plus the tree gets so big and branchy, hubby prunes it back a LOT.  We also planted a blueberry bush and a raspberry bush last fall but it is in the front yard, where there is not an automatic watering system.  I am hoping the plants will pull through so that I will have something from them this year!

I’m going to peruse the magazine and see what they suggest.  I am uber-excited to start my garden this year!

My grandfather (Lolo) gave us a couple pounds carrots.  I do not like carrots.  I do not care for the taste, raw or cooked.  But I also hate to waste perfectly good food.  So I made soup!

When I cook, I generally use recipes as a source of inspiration.  I end up not using the recipe exactly as written, mostly because I do not have all the ingredients and I do not want to go to the store to get them.  I tend to cook last minute!  Look in the fridge and figure out what needs to be used up before it goes bad, kind of cooking.   My husband had steamed up the carrots, thinking we could feed it to our toddler but that did not go over well.  So I ended up making soup!

Carrot Ginger Soup – makes 4 quarts

3 lbs carrots – steamed and lightly mashed

2-3 inches of ginger root, grated

3 cups finely shredded coconut, unsweetended

2 quarts chicken broth

2 large onions, diced

6 cloves peeled garlic

1 large leek – washed and cut

6 tbsps extra virgin olive oil

2 12 oz cans evaporate milk

2 tsp curry powder

salt and pepper, to taste

In a large stockpot, put diced onions, chopped leeks and extra virgin olive oil.  Cook until soft.  Add in shredded coconut, grated ginger,garlic, mashed carrots, evaporated milk, chicken broth, and curry powder.  Stir periodically and let the mixture come to a boil.  It is going to be very thick!  If you would like a thinner soup, add more broth.  It will not come to a rolling boil but the mixture will start to bubble.  Once it hits that stage, turn the heat down and let it simmer for atleast 15 minutes.  Taste and add salt  and pepper to your taste.  Use an immersion blender and blend until smooth.   Taste again and season accordingly and ladle in bowls!

Instead of the shredded coconut and evaporated milk, you could substitute in two cans of coconut milk.  I adore coconut milk in soup but did not have any in my cupboard.  The garlic and curry powder make this spicy.  I am going to try roasted garlic next and see how that changes the flavor.  I’m sure it won’t be as “hot.”  Oh and because of the raw garlic, this probably a dish best left for when you do not have company!  Unless they love garlic!

This week’s Sunday breakfast was cheesy egg cups.  Let me start with, I ADORE croissants.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE them.  Crescents, meh, not so much.  Yes, I know they are not croissants.  :)   I really don’t like the taste but I keep buying them every so often, hoping the taste will be different!  What can I say, I am an eternal optimist!  :)

Anyways, I had them, tried one and promptly thought, bleah!  But I do not like to waste food so I tried to think of something to do with them.  Voila!!  The biscuit dough became a carrier for breakfast cheesy egg cups!

I used monterey jack for the cheese.  And my perennial favorite, green onions.  Scallions.  Whatever you want to call them, I just call them delicious!

If I were to make these again, I would definately add more cheese!  It was not cheesy enough for me.  Ha, I think I was going for a mini-Chicago pizza style cheesy egg cup thing.

On Saturday, our family usually heads to the gym in the morning.  However, all of us have a touch of a cold coming on.  So we decided to stay home.

Normally, Sunday is our special breakfast day but hey, sometimes we need extra treats, right???

I was craving something sweet.  Although I made some mini-apple pies previously, that was a bit too much sweet!  (My husband insists that it was the Pennsylvania Dutch who “invented” fruit pies and for breakfast! )  Then I remembered I had some Nutella.  We stopped at the store for some pugilese bread, which is my most favorite bread.  Bacon was 1/2 off so we picked up a package.

Hot coffee, Nutella toast and bacon!! That’s a good breakfast, right?

Today I learned that onesies, those little baby outfits that snap underneath the crotch area, can be pulled DOWN baby, instead of up and over!!

I am so completely amazed by that revelation!  I have always unsnapped the onesie and pulled it over my baby’s head!  Apparently that is why the fabric on the shoulders overlaps in that way.  It’s not just for babies with really big heads!

Who knew you could get a decent meal when you go to the mall?!

The olive dip that comes with the fries is very tasty.  It looks like they use kalamata olives.  Yum!  The portion size is just right, not too little but not so huge that you feel overstuffed when you finish your meal.

For dessert, we usually get the strawberry shortcake.

Crème Brulee French Toast

One morning, my family decided to have breakfast at Whole Foods. I saw a dish, Creme Brulee French Toast. IT WAS INCREDIBLY DELICIOUS! But at $7.99/lb, it was NOT cheap! Especially since it was super dense and heavy! Yikes!

I had some stale croissants in my freezer, waiting to be turned into a delicious bread pudding. I looked at some various recipes and below is my concoction. Just as tasty as Whole Food’s version but for a fraction of the price!

Makes 1 (9×12 inch) casserole

1 cup butter
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
3 Tablespoons maple syrup
12 mini croissants
6 eggs
1 12 0z. can evaporated milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 tsp orange extract
1/4 cup sucanat

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Butter a 9×12 baking dish.

In a saucepan, melt butter with brown sugar and maple syrup just until the mixture begins to boil and brown, like caramel. Pour into baking dish.

Arrange the croissants over the caramel. You may need to make two layers. Press the first layer into the caramel. Spoon some caramel over the first layer and layer croissants on top of the first layer.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, vanilla, salt, orange extract and sucanat. Pour over bread.

Let bread soak up liquid for 20 minutes. This will depend on the staleness of your bread. Bake for 35 minutes or until the top is lightly browned. Cut into square or slices.

**Sucanat is sugar cane natural.  I bought mine from Whole Foods but I have seen it at my local Safeway.  Mine dissolved easily when I put it in the liquid.  You can use white sugar instead of sucanat or just leave it out.  The caramel base is SUPER sweet already!

I’m sitting at the hair salon, getting my hair highlighted. I took the day off from my job to so and was feeling a little stressed.  I have so much to do, how could I take time off?!

Then I took a breath and calmed down. While we do need time for ourselves, I also realized I could still work on my projects! 

So here I am at the salon, getting pampered and working on my projects.  I am using my Evo to get some work done.  I downloaded the wordpress app so I could update my blog.  Rather than read magazines or twiddle my thumbs, I’m catching up on my business reading.

I originally got my Evo as an expensive toy/phone.  But it is turning out to be more useful than I thought!