Fresh Baked Bread

I can't eat much of it on my current diet, but it sure smells wonderful. (I did take a small bite). I found this recipe on another blog I follow and just had to try it. Delicious. Feel free to try it out.

Dough in the pan before cooking.

Just taken out of the oven and a small pat of butter rubbed on the top crust.

Cooling on the rack...Can hardly wait.

And here is a yummy slice ready for butter and jam. My house smells wonderful!!!!!!

To make the bread you will need:

1 1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
3 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup rolled oats
2 tablespoons ground flax seed
2 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Place all the ingredients in a bread machine and use a basic bread setting.

I don't care for how my bread tastes when it's baked in the bread machine itself, so I set mine on the dough setting. After the dough is done, I place it in a greased bread pan, let it rise in the pan until the dough is about an inch over the sides of the pan. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

{I actually started my yeast in a bowl of warm water and sugar and let it get foamy, then I kneaded the dough in my food processor. I let it rise until double its size, punched it down and placed in a loaf pan, let it rise a second time and baked according to the about directions}

Carolyn "Care Bear" King

Green Smoothies

I started a new diet 9 days ago using the nutritional shakes purchased from Body by Vi. Information can be found on my website  https://carolynrking.bodybyvi.com/. I've lost 4 pounds in that time drinking two smoothies a day and eating 2 sensible snacks and one sensible meal. I've heard about people drinking "green" smoothies in the past and always thought it was a gross concept. But the other day I made my first green smoothie using a handful of kale and it was delicious in my Vi-Shape shake. I enjoyed it so much I made another for lunch and also for breakfast the next day. It mentally feels good to know I'm putting so many good vitamins in my body. This morning I made another, and here is the recipe for my creation.

My new KitchenAid blender from Bed Bath and Beyond works wonderfully. I'd highly recommend it, but it is noisy. (So was my last one, so no big deal for me). I started with a handful of kale and 1/2 frozen banana and about 1/2 cup of 1% milk.

Here my blender is pulverizing the kale into little pieces on the "liquefy" speed. After the kale is in very tiny pieces I add another 1/2 cup of 1% milk, 26g of my shake mix, and about 1/2 cup of crushed ice.

Pouring into the glass. I love the bright green color. It reminds me of Shamrock Shakes from McDonalds, but doesn't have that minty flavor.

Trying to get out every last drop from the blender pitcher. Calories: shake mix 90; 1 c 1% milk 110; 1/2 banana 45; 1/2 c kale 20; total calorie count 265.

And here is the final product. It's thick and foamy and yields about 18 oz. of smoothie. My husband says it tastes like freshly mown grass, but I don't think it's bad at all. One thing to mention is, what goes in green also comes out pretty green too. That was a surprise the next morning!

Let me know if you'd like any more information about Body by Vi

Carolyn "Care Bear" King