Uniquely December: National Fritter Day

"Tomorrow is National Fritter Day."
"What are fritters?"
"You know, like zucchini fritters and potato pancakes.  Basically anything grated and fried."
"Oh.  Aren't there apple fritters?"
"AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!  Apple fritters!!!!"

Working my first hotel job I was responsible for ordering the doughnuts for the continental breakfast.  The hot fresh doughnuts were delivered at 4AM and always disappeared quickly.  What was always the last to go?  The apple fritters. Apple fritters would normally never be my choice for eating, but watching them go into the trashcan morning after morning (and adding in the 3rd shift lack of reasoning) gave me a brilliant idea.  I figured no one was going to miss them and started pulling a warm and gooey glazed fritter out of the box immediately after the delivery man handed the boxes over to me.  One of those wired me for the rest of the morning.

In honor of National Fritter Day, I decided to try my hand at frying up my own batch of fruity fritters.  My husband and kids are loving me!  Here are the fruits of my labor...

The Pioneer Woman Apple Fritters

My kids' favorite

Paula Deen Apple Fritters

DIVINE as a dessert, or, in our case, a SINFUL midnight snack!
Uses a whole apple slice.  We added vanilla bean ice cream and caramel sauce.

I Smell Amazing! (Hair Challenge Update, Week 3)

Let's start by saying I'm on my sofa right now loving that my hair smells yummy!  Yes, let's definitely start with that because nothing else with this week's alternative shampoo experiments turned out nicely.

After writing last week, I emailed Kathy and my sister Brooke (who decided to do the challenge with us because she's lazy and doesn't want to shampoo, honest, those are her words) with a list of alternative shampoo options, told them to pick one, and report back.  Here is what we have to say:

Baking Soda

Mix 1 T baking soda with 2 c lukewarm water

There are a million ways to use baking soda outside of cooking.  It's a great cleaning agent and so why wouldn't it also make a great shampoo?  Kathy agreed to try so I shared with her that my research showed the baking soda would be extremely drying. Many of the recipes online suggest following up with a vinegar rinse for conditioning.

Apple Cider Vinegar

Mix 1 T vinegar with 1 c water

No one tried this.  See, I didn't know Brooke was going to do the baking soda so I didn't warn her about the drying.  When it completely dried out her hair she didn't mind, but when it "completely dried out my back and my legs and anywhere the water ran" Kathy chickened out and decided her hair was doing just fine with out shampooing.

Lemon and Cucumber Smoothie

Peel 1 lemon and 1 cucumber. Blend.

This is the option I decided to go with.  The lemon is supposed to be cleansing and the cucumber moisturizing.  My kids thought I'd gone off my rocker when I told them they couldn't eat the cucumber because I needed to wash my hair with it.  While fighting back a gag reflex with the first pouring on my head I thought I might agree with them.  

The blog I got this recipe from warned of a need to make sure you rinse really well to get all the little lemon pulp pieces out.  I'm here to tell you there is absolutely no way this is possible.  Originally I washed with just the smoothie.  My hair was extremely tanged, but I was determined to leave it. I got out of the shower, dried off and then gasped at my reflection in the mirror.  There were little white lemon flecks from root to tip!  Hoping conditioner would grab onto all that mess, I flipped my head over in the sink, conditioned and rinsed again.  No better.  My hair is full of citrus yuckiness...

Lemon Juice

Use the Juice of 1/2 Lemon, Squeezed

Seriously, my hair smells amazing!  And my scalp is tingling.  The good way tingling.  I can say with certainty that neither Kathy and Brooke nor myself are going to be come all-natural granola-type shampoo users.  But I definitely can see myself occasionally squeezing the juice of a lemon and/or a cucumber into a spray bottle and adding it to my washing routine.  As my husband pointed out, there must be a reason manufactured cucumber scent is so popular in commercial shampoos.  Trust me, the real stuff is so much better!  

So what am I telling you to do? 

 Experiment if you must.  

Use our experiences for jumping off and let me know how it goes.  

Have you tried these or other alternatives?  

I'd love to hear about them!

I have to add here that Brooke's solution for de-greasing her hair up 'til now has been rubbing in Dawn dish soap.  The sulfates in shampoos are also found there.  That should be enough reason to switch to a gentler shampoo...

Veggies and a Recipe

I HATED vegetable soup when I was growing up.  I mean really did not like the stuff!  Not one time my mother made it did I spare her feelings.  It was disgusting and I was not going to touch it.  I can say now that it was the texture of mushy vegetables that I particularly didn't care for, but back then I just was not having it. (I also refused to eat cooked carrots and french-sliced green beans).

Thinking about that today, combined with the plummeting temperatures has me thinking of a super simple soup recipe that I do like, and I'm going to share it with you....

Broccoli-Wild Rice Soup

1 pkg Wild Rice Mix w/ seasonings (add extra white rice if desired)

5 c. water

10 oz. chopped broccoli (frozen works fine)

1 carrot, sliced thin (again frozen works, too)

1 c. corn (or any vegetable on hand-a frozen veggie medley will cover all three of these)

2 t dried minced onion (or 1/2 medium onion, chopped)

1 can cheddar cheese soup

8 oz. cream cheese, cubed

Shredded Cheddar Cheese, optional

~Bring water to a boil and add wild rice; reduce heat to med-low.  Cover and simmer 10 minutes, stirring once.

~Stir in remaining ingredients, except soup & cheeses.  Cover and simmer 5 minutes.

~Add soup and cream cheese.  Stir over heat until cheese is completely melted.

~Add shredded cheese, if desired.

Enjoy!

A-U