recipe – The Rox Life

August 6, 2013August 6, 2013

Elvis Pupsicles

Hey, it’s only 102º! WOOHOO!!

Hendrix had quite the eventful morning. She got to visit the vet for the first time in about a year. I can’t complain – she’s pretty healthy. Sadly, a lot of the vet techs she had made friends with had left our clinic and moved on. Thankfully, the wonderful Dr. Hunter at LazyPaw Animal Hospital took her time making Hendrix comfortable & accommodating her finicky with new people behavior. I understand she was quite the angel in the back (blow me over with a feather). After that, we were off to agility class. I was trying to keep her energy up & a bit “frenzied” by tugging and she seemed very willing to play today and with some speed. The other half of her team (aka ME) was a little off kilter though…as I had a little bit of an upset stomach this morning. She got to chase and be chased by our coach’s BC…I think she has a crush on him (he’s quite the blue chip agility prospect). She was pooped! I came home to drop her off and pick up Cooper (he was going to visit his pal TuggerTails for a bit). I peeked in on her a few minutes after leaving (yes, we have a dogcam), and she had installed herself to sleep in her open kennel. I totally endorse that choice when she was left “free” to roam downstairs. She remained there sleeping until we got back home a few hours later.

Looks like this 30 minute post is going to consist of mostly doggie info! (Imagine that!!) I thought I’d share my “recipe” for what I’ve decided to call Elvis Pupsicles. These are great make at home treats for days like today (that is – HOT).

To make these wholesome, cool treats you’ll need:

plain non-fat yogurt or Greek yogurt
honey
peanut butter (get one with no sugar…preferably just peanuts)
bananas
ice cube trays
blender or food processor

I can honestly say I didn’t measure a thing for this recipe. I just eyeballed it. I put about half of the 35.3 oz container of yogurt in the blender, added 1 very ripe and 1 not as ripe banana (though I think ripeness is irrelevant it’s just what I had), and maybe around 1/4 cup each of honey & peanut butter. I blended it all up till smooth and then poured out into ice cube trays. The consistency was pretty thick but I went with it. You could certainly add a little water or the dogs would probably like chicken stock – if you wanted to thin it out a bit. Trays went into the freezer for at least several hours, and then I removed from trays and stored in a Ziploc freezer bag.

We like stuffing the cubes that will fit inside of the pups’ Kongs. Here’s a picture of Hendrix enjoying her Elvis Pupsicle Kong…at this point she’s actually just continuing to lick the empty inside…I confess we give our dogs lots of treats. However, we try to choose healthy ones and we balance treat intake with food portioning and lots of activity. Our vet seems to approve of their weight & condition.

June 25, 2013

Favorite Smoothie Recipe

While visiting my family in Austin, I stopped in at an old favorite JuiceLand and tried their Originator smoothie. It was AMAZING! So, I had to try and duplicate it at home. Fortunately, I came up with something that’s become my new go to smoothie recipe.

I like to juice 2 fresh pink lady apples and pour that into my Vitamix. I add a scoop of rice protein, a scoop of Amazing Grass Raw Reserve Green SuperFood, half a banana, a small handful of frozen cherries, a small handful of blueberries, a heaping tablespoon or 2 of natural peanut butter, and (if I remember) a tablespoon of flax seed oil.

March 4, 2013March 4, 2013

Juicing

So, I’ve really got to start updating/blogging more frequently. I feel like I have this jumble of ideas/thoughts constantly – until I finally put them down somewhere. I’ve been meaning to get my blog updated & more organized for some time now. So, bear with me while I get it together!

Okay, I did a 21 day Standard Process cleanse through most of January this year. It was fabulous. Everyone’s preferences, goals, and will-power is different…but I highly recommend it. The person that first introduced me to it was Dr. Marlene Merritt of Merritt Wellness Center in Austin, TX. If you are looking for help getting started- that’s where I’d send you. I have done this program in past years, but I was a bit more stringent and successful this time. In preparation of this go round, I purchased a Breville BJE200XL Compact Juice Fountain. I wanted to experiment with juicing, and I knew it would help me get more veggies during the veggie only portion of the purification program.

Over a month later, my husband and I are STILL juicing pretty much every morning. Hubby got hooked on the juicing while I was on the cleanse, and he has actually taken on making the morning green juice!

Here’s a little video I made with how we make our daily green juice:

The recipe is pretty flexible, and you just have to add more/less of certain things until you get to a place you like.

Here’s a list of our ingredients, and we try to do organic as much as possible. This makes enough juice for 2.

Green Juice:

2 small green apples
1/2 cucumber
4-6 leaves of “dino” kale (the regular green kale works fine, but we seem to prefer this variety)
3 leaves of red kale
2 big handfuls of baby spinach leaves
2 stalks of celery
about a square inch of ginger (peeled)
1/2 lemon (peeled)
2 carrots

It’s kind of amazing, but we’ve maybe had coffee a total of 4-5 times since the beginning of the year…juice seems to have replaced that morning ritual. I feel much better for it, and it seems the day doesn’t feel right with out it. I feel like I have less headaches/fatigue and more balance.

Our juicing success inspired me to finally make the purchase of very own VitaMix Blender. I had wanted one for some time, but had put off the purchase due to the costly investment. I’m so happy I finally splurged…it’s nothing short of amazing. I have been perfecting some smoothie recipes, and I’ll have to share my new favorite in another post (to come)!

**Please note: Some links in this post are affiliate links. If you click on a link and subsequently make a purchase, I will receive a commission for the referral.