Carma's CookeryCarma Spence has been experimenting in the kitchen since she was four years old and loves trying out new recipe ideas. She is the author of Bonkers for Bundt Cakes and Your Perfect Pie, as well as author and contributor to several more non-food-related books. With Carma's Cookery, she is taking her passion for empowering people and blending it with her passion for cooking, gift-giving and entertaining.
I continue my journey through JJ Smith’s has 10-Day Green Smoothie Cleanse in this episode. As you’ll see, I had some decent results.
In this second episode of Carma’s Cookery, you’ll follow me as I go through the second and final five days of the cleanse.
Update May 6, 2018: I’m doing this cleanse again. It is Day 7 and I’ve released 11 lbs!
Note: The contest is over.
Looking for a healthy way to jump-start your weight-release plan, increase your energy level, clear your mind, and improve your overall health? Author JJ Smith has created a 10-Day Green Smoothie Cleanse that will do all that. In fact she suggests that this cleanse will help you:
Each day has a different smoothie recipe … and I am taking the challenge and sharing my journey on the cleanse.
In this first episode of Carma’s Cookery, you’ll follow me as I go through the first five days of the cleanse.
Note: The contest mentioned in this video is over.
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Changing your eating habits can be tough. But it doesn’t have to be if you take a little time to think it out and create a plan.
This Healthy Eating Worksheet will walk you through the process of creating a healthy eating plan. All you need to do is print it out, set aside some time to complete it, and then fill it out. Then you can create your plan, knowing that you have addressed potential obstacles and came up with some creative ways to handle them.
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I’ve had my eye on this mix for awhile. I never purchased it because I really didn’t have a reason to, other than curiosity. But, this weekend I found it on sale and curiosity won.
The instructions are easy to follow and the cake was simple to make and assemble.
Although you bake the cake in a 13 x 9 pan, because you cut the cake into thirds, you end up with a small layered cake that is approximately 4 x 9 in size.
The cake is just what I expected … a spice cake with a hint of pumpkin. The almonds and caramel drizzle make it look lovely … it is perfect for bringing to a pot luck.
The one down side is that the cream cheese frosting is so sweet, it tastes more like sugar than cream cheese. If you don’t have that much of a sweet tooth, it might be worth getting some cream cheese and beating it into one of the cream cheese pouches (the filling is separated into two pouches, making assembly almost a no-brainer!).
I first tasted catfish when I lived in Dallas. There were these two shack-style restaurants on a corner near where I lived. They both served fried chicken and fried catfish. One had great chicken, the other great catfish. It was in Dallas that I acquired a taste for catfish.
This is surprising coming from me because I’m very particular about fish. I usually avoid it because I don’t like the fishy taste. But, my oh my, that catfish was yummy.
Later, when I lived in Maryland, I had the opportunity to have catfish at a swanky restaurant. It was horrible! I had to send it back. And I usually just suffer in silence!
So, imagine my pleasant surprise when I saw fried Louisiana catfish available at the Long Beach Bayou & Blues Festival this past weekend! And, after hearing that Peter Tork (yes, the former Monkee) had really liked it, really needed to give it a try.
First, the portion was generous. The picture above was for a Catfish lunch … only three pieces. I’m thinking they either don’t know how to count, or their definition of pieces is different than mine! (Note: I had already eaten a piece before I took this picture.)
Second, the catfish was divine. It was soft and buttery. No fishy taste at all. Just the right amount of meaty-ness. And the batter wasn’t oily at all. I snarfed it down amid mmmmm’s and ahhhhh’s. I felt like my tastebuds had gone to heaven!
So, if you ever have the opportunity to try Ben King’s Louisiana Catfish … take it! Their prices are very reasonable (I paid only $7 for all that fish, two hush puppies and a stack of fries … in Dallas it was $5 for two pieces of catfish only). The fish is prepared to perfection. They are worth going out of your way for.
I’d been craving tuna fish casserole for awhile, but didn’t have all the ingredients I normally use. So I did a little experimentation and came up with a new twist on a classic dish.
One of the timeless kitchen creativity questions is what to do with crusty, hard stale bread. French toast comes to mind first for me, but I don’t always want to have that for breakfast. Another option is a dish called Strata.
I had a bunch of hard rolls that had just gotten too, well, hard. I had some ground beef and didn’t really feel like hamburgers, so I went to the store to gather some ingredients to make a strata. They had sliced mushrooms and a spinach salad mix on clearance, and so the following recipe was born. De-lish!
Beef Strata with Mushrooms and Fresh Spinach