green Christmas detox smoothie

I am kind of in shock that Christmas is less than a week away !!! It's my favorite time of year but I don't really feel like I'm in the spirit yet...maybe because it's still relatively "warm" outside (anything above freezing feels warm this time of year) and we've hit a new record of days with no snow in Chicago.
 

This Saturday Ben and I are kicking off our great Midwest holiday tour, hitting Indiana, central Illinois, and Michigan all before New Year's, and I've been rushing around trying to finish last minute errands and presents. But first I wanted to share this green smoothie, because I have a feeling I'm not the only one who wants to inject some extra fruits and veggies into my diet before the holiday madness truly descends!

 

 

Green Detox Smoothie

Serves 1-2

Ingredients:

-1/2 cucumber, peeled and chopped

-1/2 small apple, peeled and chopped

-small handful spinach

-1/3 cup vanilla yogurt

-a few ice cubes

-a splash of juice to get things moving in the blender

 

Add ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth.

 

This is definitely a smoothie (as opposed to juice) and is pretty pulpy from the apple. I've made green smoothies with spinach and frozen banana before but I've never tried to add other fruits or veggies. The cucumber gives this one a fresh taste and the vanilla yogurt keeps it sweet. Overall it's an interesting combination. I think I'll experiment with different fruits next time--I'm thinking oranges and frozen banana chunks....

Here's another healthy recipe to try for lunch: wheat berry and bean salad from Oh She Glows

I generally followed her recipe except used quick cook barley instead of wheatberries (because that's what we had and it's faster) and topped it off with goat cheese (because I'm not vegan).

I hope you stay sane and relaxed in the last few days before the holiday weekend!

 

Christmas in Chicago

This weekend my mother in law was visiting, so we met up downtown to witness the annual spectacle that is Christmas in Chicago. It's definitely magical and beautiful blahblahblah but let me tell you, Saturdays in December are craaaaaazy. Be prepared. We spent a few hours wandering the floors of the store formerly known as Marshall Field's, which I love visiting for the gorgeous architecture alone (see above and below). It also sells those delicious mint chocolates called Frangos, and I might have grabbed an impulse buy of Frango chocolate mint liqueur (best. find. ever). 

And then we attempted the Christkindlmarket, which is an adorable little German-style open air market set up in Daley Plaza, featuring delicious food and booths selling gorgeous hand blown glass ornaments and other kitschy Christmas things. I had been there once in high school for a German class field trip on a weekday and it was awesome. However, this Saturday it was INSANE. There were so many people crammed into the plaza that it was almost impossible to even get to the booths, let alone move! We instantly became claustrophobic and had to get out. (But if you're visiting the city I still recommend checking it out! It's like the Christmas version of the Bean.)

MASS CHAOS

Apparently this weekend was also a huge Christmas themed all-day bar crawl in Wrigleyville called TBOX.  The Addison red line station smelled like a frathouse and the streets were packed with a river of drunk people in elf and slutty Santa get-ups. Never a dull moment...

I was exhausted once we eventually made it home but I finally feel like Christmas is here!

banana bran muffins

It's a dark cloudy morning, perfect for muffin baking. I'm pretty much obsessed with muffins and quick breads (as seen on my recipe page) and bran muffins are my favorite, I think because the texture is so chewy and addicting. I'm always confused when every recipe I find starts off with some variation of "these are NOT your typical dry tasteless bran muffins!" because I have never eaten a dry tasteless bran muffin. I don't know, maybe I'm just lucky. If you've had an unfortunate encounter with one, please make this recipe so you can be converted to the way of the delicious bran muffin!

This recipe makes dense, chewy, sticky, delectable banana and walnut-studded muffins. (And as usual, they're pretty healthy.)

I found wheat bran in the bulk bins of my grocery store, and it was only 33 cents for 2 cups worth.

Banana Bran Muffins
(adapted from Barefoot Contessa at Home, by Ina Garten)
Makes 18 muffins
Ingredients:
-2 cups buttermilk (the small carton)
-2 cups wheat bran
-1/3 cup canola oil
-1/3 cup brown sugar
-2 eggs
-2/3 cup molasses
-zest of one orange
-1 t. vanilla extract
-3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
-1 1/2 t. baking powder
-1/2 t. baking soda
-1 t. salt
-2 bananas, chopped
-1 cup walnut pieces

Preheat oven to 350* and coat muffin tins with cooking spray or liners.
In a medium bowl mix the buttermilk and bran together and set aside.
In a large bowl mix the oil, brown sugar, eggs, molasses, zest, and vanilla.
Add the bran mixture to the wet ingredients.
In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and combine gently. Fold in the bananas and walnuts.
Fill muffin tins alllll the way.
Bake for 25 minutes, until the tops are browned and the muffins feel solid and springy when you tap them.

Enjoy!

paper snowflakes

Ben and I are still debating whether or not to go through the effort of getting a tree, but I figured I should at least put up a little seasonal decor. Despite the ridiculously high temperatures here in Chicago (70* today, what??) I decided to re-connect with my childhood and cut out some paper snowflakes. They turned out really cute!

I followed these instructions to make 6-point stars, and used plain computer printer paper. Tracing paper would work great because it's thinner and so it would be easier to cut more delicate designs.

 (fold a square of paper diagonally twice)

 (the tricky part...fold the small triangle in thirds)

(snip the top points off) 

The trick to avoid ending up with 3rd grade-style snowflakes is to make sure you cut at least half the paper out, leaving the pattern as thin as possible. Here's what I ended up with--the folded snowflake is pictured above the unfolded version.

I'm sure you could Google some really cool designs too. 

I taped the snowflakes to some dental floss (fishing line would be even better) and hung them in our window where I already had twinkle lights that we used for our wedding.

Cozy finished product!