Tag Archives: apple

Broccoli & Apple Quick Slaw

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Broccoli & Apple Quick Slaw | So...Let's Hang Out

My life has felt pretty full lately.

On one hand, it is wonderful. I’ve been working hard doing the things I love to do. I pretty much get to take pictures for a living. I get to put words to paper. I get to meet lots of new people and forge new connections. I get to use my hands to create things. I also get the chance to come here and chat with you and share my unbridled enthusiasm about smoothies and shoving things in a crock pot. Chatting with you is one of my favorite things. I feel pretty darn lucky.

On the other hand…

The dishes occasionally get piled a little higher than I would like. The number of emails in my inbox seem to be staring at me funny. The mountain of laundry is intimidating and something I would rather nap in than fully tackle. I have a brand new David Sedaris book that seems to be stuck in rabbit ears around page 12. The amount of scrap paper and weird Amazon packaging that seems to have accumulated in my office could be considered light hoarding. Seriously, as I type this, I am sitting in close proximity to: Magazines, duct tape, three cardboard boxes, poster board, a water color painting of  Justin Bieber as a polar bear, scotch tape, unsorted mail, and about three different camera bags that look like they have all exploded. This is real life.

I am sure you get this. Maybe you’re sitting around less debris. I should really get rid of these boxes. It’s another level.

So, here we are on Monday. I am going to try to tackle my email inbox and attempt to clear out the messiness that is my work space. I already downed a large green juice. Can we put on some hype music and maybe bust a few moves? Get the blood pumping!!!  Whoooo! Sometimes a mess of this magnitude needs a motivational soundtrack.

As far as meals go, I need something simple. I literally threw this together in five minutes. It’s going to be lunch. Look at all of that glorious nutrition! Insert more hype music, followed by more dance moves. Let’s make this Monday better with this Broccoli and Apple Quick Slaw! I’m in if you are. Go team!

Broccoli & Apple Quick Slaw | So...Let's Hang OutI purchased a bag of pre-shredded broccoli slaw from Trader Joes. That stuff is incredible! I am pretty sure it is just shredded broccoli stems, and you could make it very easily in your food processor, however, I totally bought mine pre-shredded. I am in no mood to turn down a short cut. The other ingredients are chopped apples, shredded carrots, toasted sunflower seeds and some sliced red onion. Easy.

Broccoli & Apple Quick Slaw | So...Let's Hang Out

To dress our slaw, I threw together a quick honey mustard vinaigrette. All of the ingredients go into a mason jar and is shaken vigorously until everything comes together. BAM! You’ve got dressing.

Broccoli & Apple Quick Slaw | So...Let's Hang Out

See how easy that was? If you throw a chicken breast on here, this could totally be dinner. Or, you can do what I plan to do and literally eat this entire thing straight from the bowl. No shame. If you are looking for something to pack up and take to work for lunch, this slaw is a great move. The leftovers, even though they are dressed, will not get immediately soggy like a lettuce-based salad! :)

Wishing you a productive week with the appropriate motivational soundtrack! We’ve got this! xo

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Broccoli & Apple Quick Slaw

Ingredients

    Slaw
  • 3 cups shredded broccoli slaw (I got mine from Trader Joes. If you can't find it, simply process broccoli stems in your food processor.)
  • 1-2 cups shredded carrots
  • 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
  • 1 apple, chopped
  • 1/3 cup toasted sunflower seeds
    • Dressing
  • 3 tsp dijon mustard
  • 1 tbs raw honey
  • 1/3 cup olive oil
  • 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

Instructions

  1. Combine all of your salad ingredients into a large bowl and set aside.
  2. Add all of your salad dressing ingredients into a mason jar. Put the lid on your jar and shake vigorously until all of the ingredients are combined.
  3. Dress your salad, and toss together to distribute your dressing.
  4. Serve and enjoy!
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Kale, Apple & Ginger Juice

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Kale, Apple & Ginger Juice | So... Let's Hang Out

You know it’s spring when…

You wake drowsily at 9:00am because you were forced to take a powerful antihistamine the night before. You took this antihistamine because of all of the mosquito bites that you have managed to acquire. They itch. You have a particularly gnarly one on your stomach, which proves curious since you don’t remember wearing anything resembling a crop-top. You’ve been spending a lot of time outside. Even at night. This is where all of those rosy mosquito bites came from.  It’s been sunshine on sunshine on sunshine. You’ve been sporting a tank top and frolicking in the outdoors despite your allergies. Your eyes are swelling slightly? You can’t breathe? We should probably go inside…BUT IT’S JUST SO GOSH DARN SUNNY! Your body craves this wicked vitamin D festival, so you ignore your allergies, eat some local honey, inhale some prescription nose spray and get real about eye-drops. You start scoping out and trying to guesstimate how much of your backyard your next door neighbors can see through their kitchen window. Obviously this is because you would like to read a good book while wearing your birthday suit. You surmise the neighbors can see way too much. You also surmise that they’ve already seen way too much. Why did you not check this out before you decided to go out into the yard in your underpants (MULTIPLE times)? Not sure. Oh well. You find yourself out at farmer’s markets. You find yourself paying $7.50 for a green juice. You know this is expensive, but you can’t help it. It looks so good. You suck down $7.50 worth of fruits and veggies in a flash. You try to be mad about the price, but you can’t because it tastes too good, although once it is gone you find yourself tinged with a bit of regret. You have an awesome juicer. You could have made three green juices at that price. Sheesh. Also, you should put sunscreen on your husband’s neck, it’s about to burn. This is our real life.

Kale, Apple & Ginger Juice | So... Let's Hang Out

Spring is MADE for green juice. I will admit to you in the last weeks of winter my juicer took a nap. Something about rain and having to wear a sweater inside made it hard for me to want to spend a chunk of time making a cold glass of veggies. I made lots of soup. I baked too many cookies.  But, Friends! I am so jazzed on juice and smoothies right now (oh, and cocktails too). The sun is back, the flowers are blooming (just ask that tickle in your nose!) and it’s time to flood our bodies with things that are good and green. It might also be time to plant a tree in front of the neighbors kitchen window. Just sayin’.

I try to get creative with my juicing, especially when it’s a recipe I share with all of you lovelies  I realized in all of the juice recipes I have shared with you , I have never shared my go to green drink. This juice is something I could drink every single day. It’s simple, delicious and packed with tons of nutrition! Plus, I tend to have all of these ingredients on hand in my fridge. That is always a plus, right? Affirmative.

Kale, Apple & Ginger Juice | So... Let's Hang Out

I hope you are enjoying all the loveliness of spring with 100% less mosquito bites! Dust of your juicers… ready…set…GO!  xoxo

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Kale, Apple & Ginger Juice

Yield: 4 cups of juice

Ingredients

  • 1 English cucumber, peeled
  • 1 Meyer lemon, peeled
  • 1 bunch of celery
  • 2 Gala apples, chopped
  • 1 inch of ginger root
  • 8 Lacinato kale leaves
  • 1-2 Romaine hearts

Instructions

  1. Wash and prep all of your fruits and veggies.
  2. Run them through the juicer.
  3. Enjoy immediately or bottle it up for later. Store in an airtight container such as a mason jar for up to 48 hours. Try to fill your mason jars as close to the top as possible so that there is the least amount of air between your juice and the tight fitting lid.
  4. Enjoy!
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Raw Apple Pie Energy Bites {Gluten Free, Vegan, Paleo}

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Raw Apple Pie Energy Bites | So...Let's Hang Out

So… here it is. Monday. We meet again

The weekend was fantastic. There was LOTS of sunshine. There was grill use. There were pricey organic hot dogs. There was a pricey organic hot dog combined with raw sauerkraut situation (so good). There were white wine spritzers out on the deck while we played a riveting game of Yahtzee.  There was a farmer’s market meet-up with awesome friends and their awesome kiddos. There was a beach. There was a very enthusiastic Emma at the beach who got to swim in the ocean for the first time. She was the happiest. There were long walks in the warm afternoon to go get gelato.  It felt like summer vacation. Why do we not get summer vacation as grown ups? Injustice!

As unjust as it may be, weekends end.  It’s totally Monday, and it’s totally back to real life. At least until Friday, at which point I reserve the right for it to be less like real life and more like summer camp with booze.

I’ve made you something to kick start your week. It’s an energy bite you can whip up in your food processor in a matter of minutes. You know those pricey energy bars you can buy at your health food store? You can make those. It’s simple. Plus, THESE TASTE LIKE PIE!!! Who doesn’t love pie?! Furthermore, who doesn’t like pie for breakfast? In my humble opinion, pie might be one of the best parts about the day after Thanksgiving. There’s obviously no need to make breakfast when you can cut yourself an embarrassingly large slice of pumpkin pie and eat it with your hands, like you are picking up a sandwich. I wouldn’t even be mad if there was some whipped cream on top. Whoa, this has taken a turn into my own personal pie fantasy.

I digress. Let’s do this before I start dreaming about other types of pie to put in my mouth. Basically, we have to hurry. I have about thirty seconds before I have another full on pie fantasy. It’s not my fault, it’s just the way my brain works. I really would like more excuses to eat pie for breakfast. At least these are pie-like and healthy. I can get with this.

To start, soak some medjool dates in hot water for a couple of minutes. This is totally not mandatory, but it makes them easier to work with  if they’ve been in the fridge. It helps to soften them so that it’s easier to remove their pits. It’s also going to help your mixture come together more easily in the food processor. Next, we’re going to process your dates and some dried apples.

Raw Apple Pie Energy Bites | So...Let's Hang Out

After your dates and apples come together, you’re going to throw in nuts and seeds with a little bit of cinnamon. Process it all until it comes together in an easy to work with sticky dough.Raw Apple Pie Energy Bites | So...Let's Hang Out

 Once your dough has formed, you can roll it into small tablespoon sized balls.

Raw Apple Pie Energy Bites | So...Let's Hang Out

These can be stored in your freezer in an airtight container for months, however, I doubt they’ll last that long! Enjoy! xo

Raw Apple Pie Energy Bites | So...Let's Hang Out

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Raw Apple Pie Energy Bites

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups medjool dates, soaked and pitted
  • 1 cup dried apple rings
  • 1/2 cup raw almonds
  • 1/2 cup raw cashews
  • 1/4 cup whole roasted flax seeds
  • 2 tsp cinnamon

Instructions

  1. Soak your dates in warm water for a couple of minutes. This will aid in the pitting process and make it easier. Once you dates have soaked, drain them and pit them all.
  2. Place your pitted dates into a food processor with your apple rings and process on high until they come together.
  3. Add in your almonds, cashews, flax seeds and cinnamon. Process on high again for a couple of minutes until a sticky dough like mixture has formed and your nuts and seeds have broken down quite a bit.
  4. After everything has come together, you can use your hands to form the dough into balls. I like to make mine about a tablespoon each.
  5. Place them in the freezer for an hour or so to allow them to firm up, then enjoy!
  6. You can store your energy bites in an airtight container such as a Tupperware for several months in your freezer. If you are planing on stacking your energy bites on top of each other, I would separate them with a layer of parchment paper so that they do not stick together.
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Carrot, Apple & Ginger Juice

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Carrot, Apple & Ginger Juice | So... Let's Hang Out

It’s juice time again.

I like ‘em real thick and juicy.

That actually does not pertain to how I feel about my juice, I have just been listening to a lot of 90′s music lately. Like…a lot. Like…I might have spent over an hour looking up music videos from the 90′s on YouTube last Friday. No big deal. Subsequently, I have had the song Baby Got Back stuck in my head for days. This only becomes awkward when you start singing it subconsciously in the checkout line at the grocery store. The woman in front of you turns around after you get to the “L.A. face with a Oakland Booty” part of the tune. You make eye contact. You stop singing. You think about winking at her but realize that just perpetuates the weirdness. Don’t make it weirder. It’s too late, you already winked. She probably thinks you’re hitting on her. Oh man, you can’t recover from this one.  Not. At. All. You could try to explain that you have just been listening to a whole lot of 90′s music lately, and you were not singing the song directly to her. You could try to explain that you sometimes just wink in awkward situations, or you could lie and say you had something in your eye. The explanation of your behavior will only make things weirder. You grab your groceries and pretend like you forgot something in the produce section. You wait until this person leaves and find another check out line. Whew. Yikes. Get out of there.

So, besides being the town creep, I have managed to make some juice today in the privacy of my own kitchen. My own kitchen is safe. I can sing at the top of my lungs. I can wink freely. It’s a good place.

In other less painfully awkward news…

I have been nominated for The Best Food Photography On A Blog category in this years The Homies blogging contest. Isn’t that neat?  If you are a So…Let’s Hang Out fan you can pop on over to The Kitchn and vote! It only takes a minute!  It’s a fabulous collection of food bloggers that are nominated, if you pop over there you might find some really cool new bloggers to add to your blog reading list!  The link is below. Vote away, Friends! I heart you.

CLICK HERE TO VOTE! 

Now, back to your regularly scheduled juicing recipe…

This juice is a sweet treat! Look at all these pretty ingredients!

Carrot, Apple & Ginger Juice | So... Let's Hang Out

Cucumber and romaine serve as a nice base to all of the sweetness from the apples and the carrots. The lemon brings some brightness and acidity and the ginger gives it a nice flavor. It’s not the greenest of juices, but it is still packed with a lot of valuable nutrients. Yum. Did you know that carrots are good for calming your nerves? I just love veggies.

Hope you are having the juiciest of days! Wink, wink!

Carrot, Apple & Ginger Juice | So... Let's Hang Out

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Carrot, Apple & Ginger Juice

Ingredients

  • 4 carrots
  • 3 small Pink Lady apples, chopped
  • 1 Meyer lemon, peeled
  • 1 English cucumber, peeled
  • 1 head of Romaine lettuce
  • 1 inch piece of ginger root

Instructions

  1. Wash and prepare all of your veggies.
  2. Juice all of the veggies in accordance with your juicer's settings.
  3. Drink immediately, or put in an airtight container such as a mason jar and store in the fridge for later. You should drink your juice within 48 hours in order to get the most benefit from all of the nutrients. Make sure to store your juice with as little air as possible in your jars (so fill them close to the top!) so that the nutrients do not break down too quickly! Happy Juicing!
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Apple Cinnamon Whiskey | Musings From A Birthday Girl Mess

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This is the whiskey that turns a non-whiskey drinker into a friendly, sloppy, whiskey-filled birthday girl mess.

It is delicious.

You’ll think it’s good enough to drink by the half glass. Don’t bother with what your mother taught you…that whole “Stick with one kind of liquor” nonsense. What does she know? You are twenty-eight now. Total grown-up. You can make decisions. When your girlfriend asks you to have a Skinny Girl Margarita with her, you do it. It’s your freaking’ birthday, right? So what if you switch from tequila to vodka? That should be fine. You are twenty-eight. You know what you are doing. Not your first rodeo.  So what if you’re not a big drinker? You just want to play Dance Central and show off some moves.

How do I know all this? I might have been this birthday girl (yup).

Flash forward to the next morning.

Headache. The rays of bright late-morning light beaming into your twenty-eight year old  eyeballs, scorching them open. Nope, close your lids. That hurts. Do you have a massive head injury? You check for bleeding. Nope, all clear. That is ALL headache. You think to yourself that your mom has some wise advice. She knows what she’s talking about. You will not tell her this.

You manage to guzzle down a bottle of water and a couple of Advil. It helps. The whole rest of the day you feel like you got hit by a party bus. You ate too much cake. You drank everything. You danced like it was a disco. You hugged most of your friends for a suspicious amount of time and told them all just how TOPS you think they all are. You made some inside jokes that you no longer remember.

This is the year that it becomes glaringly clear that you cannot “party” like it’s 1999.  Why did you think you could? Your hobbies are baking scones, and crocheting hats and maybe some light canning. You go to bed at 9:30 pm pretty much daily. You play eight Words With Friends  games at a time with your Grandmother. You are about five years away from shaking your fist at hooligans when they try to walk on your lawn.

This is what twenty-eight looks like.  Real.

Now, I don’t think twenty eight is old. I really don’t.  But, this is the first birthday in a long string of birthdays that has hit me like a stampede of polar bear paws. Time is passing quickly. How did I get to be two years shy of thirty?

Time. Is. Flying. I am thinking about creating a “things to do by the time I am thirty” bucket list. Wring the most out of my twenties. Maybe I will even add a “Don’t mix whiskey and tequila” note at the bottom of it. It is a good note.

I assure you that when consumed properly and not like a hollow-legged sailor, this whiskey beverage is fantastic. Respect it, and it will treat you like a lady (or gentleman) right on back. It is smooth and sweet and needs no fancy mixers. It is a cocktail all by itself.

Do not drink with vodka, tequila or rum.  I don’t care how “skinny” those margaritas claim to be. It will be a bad choice tomorrow.You will get a headache. Listen to your mother, no matter how old you are. She knows things.

This entire bottle went very quickly and was a huge hit among my friends. I think it would make a really great Christmas gift! I’ve been asked how I performed this magical whiskey makeover, so, let me tell you!

It’s easy.

Ingredients:

1 bottle of whiskey

6 apples

6 cinnamon sticks

airtight container

 Wash your apples well. Cut them up and put them into your clean airtight container.

Pour in your whiskey.

Add your cinnamon sticks.

Allow it to sit for two weeks in a cool, dark place.

Once it’s done, strain it.

Although you are tempted, I would recommend not eating the apples. It looks like they’re going to be tasty. They are not. The sweet apple flavor now lives in the whiskey, leaving the apples tasting of rubbing alcohol (we tried them to take the guess work out of it for you).

Now you can bottle it up!

Funnel it into a bottle of your choosing. I found this appropriately festive, apple-covered bottle at my local Ross.

It’s really that easy.

Bottle it up and share it with some great friends! WARNING: might induce hugging, dancing, and general need to celebrate.

Cheers, to YOU and you and YOU and you. xo

 

Apple Coffee Cake | Gluten Free

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I can’t really take credit for this one. This would be the brain child of one Betty Crocker. No joke.  I googled what I could do with the remains of my Gluten Free Bisquick and I found a recipe that has the words “Impossibly Easy” in the title.  It was a done deal.  Not only were they claiming that it would be easy, but impossibly so.

This could make a lovely Thanksgiving breakfast.

I figured all of you lovely people could use something IMPOSSIBLY easy right about now. Heck, I could use something easy, and I am only making cranberry sauce. Between getting your turkey in a brine, or lacing up your turkducken and the stuffing prep and the three different types of pie you got going on you deserve something that pretty much makes itself.  Do you have flour on your face right now? That is how I imagine everyone today. Perhaps because that is pretty much what I look like in the kitchen…Nay, in life. I am the girl that takes a shower and then manages to get salsa in her hair two minutes later. What am I doing eating salsa two minutes after showering? Great question.  I wish I had an answer for you other than…snacks.

The recipe was originally for a French Apple Pie.  When I put it in the oven I expected it to come out pie-like.  I found that title to be grossly misleading.  It’s a coffee cake. Plain and simple. It has a crumbly sugar-crusted top and would pair nicely with a festive warm beverage.

Cake Ingredients:

3 cups of peeled and thinly sliced apples (I used gala)

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/2 cup Gluten Free Bisquick

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup milk (I used vanilla almond milk)

2 tbs butter

3 eggs

Topping Ingredients:

1/3 cup Gluten Free Bisquick

1/3 cup chopped walnuts

1/4 cup brown sugar

3 tbs butter

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.  

Grease a 9-inch pie dish.

In a small mixing bowl, combine your apples with your cinnamon and nutmeg.  Toss them until the apples are coated with the spices.

Place the apples in the bottom of your well greased baking dish.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine the rest of your cake ingredients: Gluten Free Bisquick, sugar, milk, butter and eggs. Whisk it together until it’s well-combined and there are few to no lumps.

Pour the cake mixture over your apples.

In another dish combine all of your topping ingredients together.  Using your fingers, mix them until they become a crumble.

Evenly distribute the crumble mixture over the top of the cake batter.

Put in oven and bake for 45-50 minutes. Your cake is done when a knife is inserted in the center and comes out clean.

Done.

Impossibly easy.

Happy Thanksgiving Eve.

(Thank you, Betty Crocker) 

 

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