Posts from Michelle

Adventures in the Kitchen with Michelle, Time to Detox!

June 26, 2013 by KTgreen

People have been detoxing for years. Although the methods and reasons for a detoxification vary wildly. Our poor livers – how they suffer so. Detox diets and tea’s have been the fashion as of late. Since I’m always on a diet, I’m also always open to suggestions of how to down an entire 2 quart pitcher of water in a day. (ugh – who came up with that!) I thought a detox tea would be great. On the Net I found a couple – one that was more like medicine, with dandelion tea with lemon juice, and cranberry juice. One was more akin to ‘extract of tifton 44’ (aka – horse feed) with a sprtiz on lemon. (gag me!) and then there was one that I pulled from a Pin from Lovely Lauri in ND. Which, when I followed the link, found it was from Russia? OK, there are detoxers worldwide! Now this one I like. Simple and refreshing,…which is good because summer’s here and it gets hot,…really H O T !

Summer Detox Drink

First off, I have a plastic pitcher that was one of my best and cheapest finds in a long time. It was at my local grocery store in with the plexi serving ware and such. It only cost about $5 and it’s about 1.5 liter, more or less. The cool thing is that it’s tall and slim, with a strainer lid. That way I can put fruit or ice or whatever and pour without getting all that in my glass. No, I don’t know who made it and I’ve not seen them anywhere else – but if you spot one, buy it. You’ll thank me.

OK, Step 1:

Detox Tea. I like this Lemon version because it’s not all dandelion tea (which is HORRIBLE). This is a good one, but I wouldn’t make an afternoon cup of it alone.

1 or 2 of the Tea Bags

1/2 a cucumber, sliced

1/2 a Lemon, sliced

A Sprig of fresh mint (I’ve got a barrel planted full of it outside the kitchen)

Step 2:

Put it all in the pitcher and top off with water (filtered if you can), and get it in the fridge. It’ll brew in no time. I make mine at night and there it is in the morning. It sits there bragging about how healthy it is and shames me into my workout gear…it’s very good after a workout! Minty cool.

Don’t worry about losing 5 lbs in a week either. What those dieters don’t tell you with their big detox plan is that along with their pitcher of tea daily, all they ate was saltines , lettuce and worked out 45min a day. Oh yea, I’d lose 5 lbs too if I could live like that! If you don’t drink it all in one day, it’s ok – the detox police won’t interrogate you – but don’t let it go for more than 3 days or so. The mint will turn dark and the cukes will start to not look all that healthy. That’s ok because you’ll drink this one – all of it, every day, and your liver will have been to the spa. Which it totally deserves after living with you, and cleaning you up after all those Friday nights over the years!

Michelle @ www.BadZoot.com

Adventures in the Kitchen with Michelle, Shrubbery!

June 19, 2013 by KTgreen

Do you know what a Shrub is? Yes, I thought I did too – turns out there’s more than one definition for ‘shrub’. Of course there’s the leafy green plants that cover the front of the house…then there’s the Shrub that is a cocktail additive. A what?! Oh yes. Apparently, the Japanese are very fond of them as well. They’re all the rage over there, only they call them ‘drinking vinegars’. (what the yuck – who would drink vinegar!?) OK, so that name alone gives a clue to where this is going. This really all started when I was surfing a favorite blog called ‘Food In Jars’, all about preserving things. One post talked about these ‘shrubs’. After looking over the Net, I discovered that they’re quite trendy. Hmm, I’ve got some leftover blueberries, how bad could it be.

This was very interesting and worth exploring if you like martini’s with Bitters. I personally am a huge fan of Tanqueray Gin (even if it doesn’t like me anymore) and a botanical addition to the distilled juniper is right up my alley! They’re really pretty easy to do – here’s how it goes.

The Shrubbery..

Step 1:

Adventures in the Kitchen with Michelle, Shrubbery!

In a large jar (24oz or so) combine:

1 cup Blueberries (or blackberries, raspberries or even cherries)

3/4 cup Sugar

1 Cup Cider Vinegar

2″ piece of Fresh Ginger, grated

Step 2:

Adventures in the Kitchen with Michelle, Shrubbery!

Get your handy-dandy muddler and mash. What’s a ‘muddler’? It’s that thing you use to mash mint for mojitos -gasp- you don’t have one? Then get a big wooden spoon handle and mash away. But it will forever look like blueberry purple.

Step 3:

Adventures in the Kitchen with Michelle, Shrubbery!

Let it set in the fridge for about a week. Shake it every day or so.

Step 4:

Adventures in the Kitchen with Michelle, Shrubbery!

Look at that. After a week the sugar and vinegar has broken down the berries into a syrup of sorts.

Step 5:

Adventures in the Kitchen with Michelle, Shrubbery!

Now we strain. First use a regular strainer to get rid of the big solids. Then run it thru a tea strainer or coffee filter (that takes all night!) and there you have it. I had an old bottle from malt vinegar that I’d kept for just such a product.

Finale:

Adventures in the Kitchen with Michelle, Shrubbery!

Now for the test. I tasted it it alone over ice first and discovered that it reminded me of the juice from pickled beets. Now, I really like pickled or Harvard beets. I actually soak hard boiled eggs in the juice when I’ve eaten all the beets – yum. So, this was a pleasant discovery. Although, I never drink the stuff ! What I didn’t understand is the whole drinking thing…then I made a cocktail. Wow – what a taste sensation! Now I get it ! Gin, over ice with a couple of dashes of this is like a sweeter version of the Dirty Martini (with olive juice). And now I feel all crafty and trendy,…like my bar is as cool as on a Brooklyn corner. OK, maybe not that cool, but a girl can dream.

Michelle @ www.badzoot.com

Adventures with Michelle, DIY Candles

June 12, 2013 by KTgreen

I have ruined my love of expensive candles. Not to say that I don’t like candles – I do. I really enjoy them. Problem is, the cost. I like those $20-$25 candles that smell so good. You know the ones. Recently, I burned up yet another $20 wonder and thought, ugh, ‘I’m throwing away another lovely glass jar'(not to mention that I literally burned up a twenty!). We don’t have glass recycling here and that makes it worse. So I sat it aside and enjoyed the smell with the lid off anyway, until I’d decide to toss it.

In the meantime, I found myself at a place called Hobby Lobby wandering aimlessly. I’d driven my Mom to an eye Dr. appointment and had time to kill – a dangerous thing for me. The store is really big – like Home Depot big. Most of the middle isn’t hobby related at all, but that didn’t stop me from looking. In the back I went looking for canning jars (don’t, they’re expensive!) and with them were candle jars. Hmm, never thought of making a candle. Around the corner, you guessed it, candle making supplies….on sale! Well, that did it – I have to try this. For $13.50, I was out the door.

The next day me and my Michael’s Crafts coupon were out picking up a metal melting pot, because the nice lady on the YouTube video said it was a good investment. OK, if they’re too expensive I’ll just get an old pan at the Goodwill and have fun. But turns out it cost a whopping $8.00, had nice tall sides and a pouring lip. Later, I used it to store all the candle stuff in. Now to put it to use.

Step 1 and 2: Get the old candle jar prepped. I’m sure there are a dozen warnings against doing this – none of which I’ve actually read. Let’s get the old wax out first – just put it in the freezer. The old wax disc pops right out. Martha taught me that years ago – thank you Martha. Clean the jar out with some glass cleaner and be nice and peel that label off (but not the warning label on the bottom – I need lots of warnings).

Step 3: Gather the goodies. You’ll need wax (I chose soy wax to be trendy and healthy-like), wicks, color and scent.They didn’t have the scent I wanted at the store and I knew I keep lemon oil at home. Although, I did need some spearmint oil. Off to the cake department. Note ‘oil’ – not extract. There’s a huge difference. And I’m sure there’s yet another ignored warning in there about using oils you can eat instead of the tiny vials on display.