We have the good fortune (or misfortune?) of living within walking distance of a Dairy Queen. Lately their ice cream frozen desserts haven’t been turning me on. And their portion sizes are way too big. Have you ever tried to order a small cone for your little kid?
Anyway, our local DQ has an Orange Julius neatly installed within it. So the last time we were there I decided to order a Orange Julius – THE classic treat of my childhood years.
I don’t know what happened between then and now but it didn’t taste the way I remembered it. Didn’t these things used to be sweet and frothy, not watery and tinny? Was the Flavour Enhancer** doing something weird to my taste buds?
Anyway, I digress. I like fruit smoothies AND I like frothy orange beverages. They remind me of the cool sweetness of Creamsicles (another fave), so I poked around the interwebs for a recipe so we could make our own on the cheap.
Best part: I control the sugar and I know exactly what’s going into it.
You’ll need:
- 1 c. whole milk
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 can frozen orange juice concentrate (I like unsweetened and pulpy oj.)
- sugar (I ran out of sugar (!) and used three Splenda packets instead. If you have sugar, just sweeten to taste. Try 1/3 cup and see what happens. )
- one egg white
- 5 or 6 ice cubes
Put everything (except for the ice cubes) in a blender. Blend for a few minutes. Add ice cubes until they’re totally crushed. Pour and serve.
The recipe above makes about four normal-sized servings.
For added nutritional punch you can toss in a banana or two. If you happen to have a frozen banana (remember the ice-cream that isn’t really ice cream??) on hand you can omit the ice cubes.
Enjoy!
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** Secret Orange Julius flavour enhancer: “A dairy-based flavor enhancer blended for taste and texture. Ingredients include dairy and egg products, specifically whole milk powder and egg white solids. Contains: Milk and egg.”
I say ew. What else do they put in there besides the milk and egg? I propose that we take control of our treats and not overpay for extra junk we don’t want. What say you?
Let me know if you try this one out!
My most recent piece for SavvyMom is about a neat little cheese-shop-slash-eatery that opened up in Old Ottawa South called Serious Cheese. The store is a hoot. There is a fibreglass cow in the middle of the store, lots of bread and cheese (obviously), and helpful signs that read things like “ten cheeses you need to try before you die.”
And they serve up a great grilled cheese sandwich.
Growing up with Eastern Euro parents meant that certain Canadian childhood staples eluded me and/or passed me by entirely. Dr. Seuss, Kool-aid, and grilled cheese all fall within this category.
I remember having a grilled cheese sandwich at a neighbor’s house and coming home to ask my mother to make me one just like it. She put a slice of processed cheese between two slices of toasted white bread and gave it to me to try, having omitting a few key steps along the way… like frying it in butter.
When I started dating Mark he showed me the way to a true Canadian Grilled Cheese (at least his way):
- Take two slices of bread and thoroughly butter the outsides (I was wrongly just adding the butter to the frying pan.) The buttered sides go pan-side down.
- Tuck slices of cheddar cheese between bread
- Fry until golden brown
- Cut on the diagonal (a MUST)
- Serve with sweet mixed pickles
It had to be this way. There was no other way. Any other way was Just Plain Wrong.
Personally, I like to dip my grilled cheese in ketchup. Some are horrified by this idea.
I also like my grilled cheese with very old cheddar cheese and sliced apples on rye. In my view, things like ham and turkey tarnish the Grilled Cheese Experience.
What is your perfect grilled cheese? Please share your recipes!
Mark’s parents gave Sarah a really pretty colour-by-number set for her birthday.
The resulting artwork is so sweet; totally worth framing:
It’s made by Djeco. (Do yourself a favour and click through to their website. It is a work of art. No joke.)
We’ve purchased paint-by-number kits from Djeco before and enjoyed them very much. The new one comes with felt-tip markers instead of paint.
Two things stand out about this particular set. (1) This colour-by-numbers doesn’t actually have any numbers printed on the artwork. I love this. No bleed-through! (2) The finished results are charming and beautiful, and could be hung just about anywhere. Think of how proud your child would be to see his/her work hanging in the front hall!
The set comes with several pieces of art (printed on a sturdy canvas-like material, not paper), brightly coloured dual-sided markers (each one has a thin side and a thick side), and a booklet. The booklet suggests which colours to use.
I really love it.
Sarah has been working so hard on her art. It does my heart good to see her efforts pay off and result in something so pretty.
