Avocado/Spinach Smoothie Recipe

Remember when I told you MG and I were eating healthier (post here)? We’re still eating healthy! Obviously, there are splurge meals in between, but we are still juicing every day and drinking it with Chia.

One of my favorite parts about juicing is making up recipes as I go. A little bit of kale, a little bit of spinach, maybe some carrots, and an apple. Voilà! Delicious juice! Next one might be beets, oranges, celery, and carrots. Then, another juice could be a handful of cilantro, carrots, apples, chard, and half a lemon. I think you get the point!

I’ve recently discovered a really delicious smoothie, and I want to share it with you. It’s my avocado/spinach smoothie! For this recipe, you’ll need a blender or a Magic Bullet.

Avocado/Spinach Smoothie

Ingredients (makes 2 servings):

  • 1 avocado
  • Handful of spinach
  • 2 apples (freshly juiced or you can add 1 cup of concentrated apple juice)
  • Chia seeds (optional)

Directions:  Blend avocado and spinach together. Add apple juice. Now add enough water until your desired consistency, and lastly, mix in a tablespoon of Chia seeds. Sip away!

Avocado/Spinach Smoothie

It’s such an easy and quick breakfast meal. Go on and give it a try. Let me know how you like it!

Is this something you’re interested in making? Do you have a go-to smoothie recipe you can share with us?

Drink away,
Jay

DIY Dainty Beaded Necklace (Giveaway)

Contest has ended. See winners here.

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I am in love with dainty necklaces right now! Don’t get me wrong, I do love a chunky statement necklace, but delicate jewelry can match so many different outfits, on casual days or with a fancy attire. It’s so girly and so fun!

Dainty Necklace

Here’s a tutorial on how to DIY a dainty beaded necklace. You can also WIN one of these necklaces by commenting on the post below! Simply tell me what you would wear this necklace with. Boys, win a necklace for your lady friend by telling me what you would like to see her wear this with (betcha you’ll win some serious brownie points!).

What you’ll need (where to buy at the end of the post):

Here’s the easy tutorial:

DIY Dainty Beaded Necklace

What do you think about dainty jewelry pieces? Is this something you can recreate?

Beaded Dainty Necklace

Don’t forget to comment on this blog post for a chance to WIN a necklace. What outfit would you wear this dainty necklace with?

Get to DIY-ing,
Jay

Only one entry per email. Email must be valid. Shipping address must be in the United States. This necklace giveaway ends at 11:30pm PST on 11/12/13. Winner will drawn and announced on Wednesday, 11/13/13 at 12:00am PST via blog and email provided.
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Small gold plated round beads
Wire Cutter & Pliers on Amazon (similar set to mine)
Gold chain from Amazon
Eye pin, lobster claw clasp, and jump rings from Michael’s

Fisherman Jay

You can now call me Fisherman Jay!

Crab Baskets

I went deep sea fishing this past weekend in a chartered boat, called the Tigerfish, with family and friends, the captain, and the 2 deckhands. It’s so fun when you know everyone on the boat. If you ever decide to go fishing in the Bay Area, check Tigerfish out because the captain is a really nice guy and the deckhands are super helpful. Highly recommended!

Tigerfish

Cabin
Cabin of the boat

We hopped on a boat at 4:30am in Emeryville. Yup, you read right… 4 fricken 30 in the morning. Once everyone is on board, the ship sets sail for 2 hours to Farallon Islands. You fish all day, until everyone reaches their quota of 10 fish, and then we head home, another 2 hours back.

BoysIt’s still dark at 4:30 am

If the sea is calm, the trip is great. Unfortunately for us, the sea was unhappy. First off, it was cold (about 50 degrees) and the fog covered up the sun (though we did get a 30 minute window of sun). The sea was rough. We would fall asleep in the cabin of the boat, and wake up when we banged against the wall, ouch. It was SUPER hard to use the bathroom… try aiming into the toilet while you’re trying to stabilize yourself. Now picture trying to squat and stabilize. That’s pro status right there!

Anyway, 6 of the 24 people that went on the trip all got sea sickness and threw up a couple of times. Thankfully, I didn’t feel any sickness. I called my doctor and asked for the strong medicated patch that you stick behind your ear. We even bought wristbands, ginger gum, and extra motion sickness pills. If you ever go fishing, just take a non-drowsy pill the night before and the morning of your boat trip. You’ve got nothing to lose! Once you feel sick on the boat, the trip is ruined. My poor friend immediately felt sick about 30 minutes into the boat ride… While throwing up on the side of the boat, she also got pour on by the crashing waves, and ended up sitting in her damp and cold clothes the rest of the trip (at least 8 hours). I don’t think she’ll ever go fishing again!

Poor Jess
Poor girl

We fished for Rockcod on this trip. They are dumb fish and eat everything, so it was fun to immediately catch fish when you cast your line into the water. The captain also has a radar to tell you when to drop the line and for how long to cast it (sometimes at the bottom of the sea, sometimes halfway up). It’s definitely an easy trip for beginners. For more fishing trips, visit the Cayman Islands.

When the fog lifted, I was able to get some great pictures! Looksee!

Fishing

Fishing

MG & J
So hard to stand up because the boat is rockin everywhere!

MG
The captain’s 2 labs joined us on our trip. This guy loves to sit in people’s legs. So cute!

Cold
Freezing…

CleaningThe deckhands clean and gut the fish for you for $10. They will filet the meat for $15.

Catch
le tired face but happy with my catch!

Plunder
The Lam stash – 10 fish fillet-ed, and 10 cleaned and gutted

Once we got back, we cleaned up (taking a HOT shower after 10 hours of fishing in cold weather is one of the best feelings in the world), and then we cooked fish! A few people came over and we had a feast with our catch!

Cleaning up
All showered up but cleaning the fish at home now! Getting it all prepped

Dinner!
Steamed fish with seafood soy sauce – get in my belly!

Feast
Sorry for the blur, must be tired at this point…

Coma
Then I crashed after dinner… and woke up with Chubs next to me, in the same position as me. MG had to take a pic!

Who wants to come over for a fish meal? JK. What did you do this weekend?

Fisherman and pro-pee-er,
Jay

One funny story:  In the middle of the night, I was sleep talking to Ming-Gih. I told him “Honey, you don’t need to bring anymore fish home” and gave him a really big hug. Then I rolled back to my side of the bed and fell asleep. He’s still laughing at me! Must have been totally worn out Saturday night!

Halloween Potluck 2013

Halloween is now over… boo (pun intended, har).

If you’ve been reading along, you’ll know that I mentioned that the Lams were hosting a Halloween Potluck here. Here’s a recap of the fun food we had during dinner!

Post-Halloween 2013

Potluck

Ectoplasm Pasta
Ectoplasm Pasta – Pesto/Alfredo wheat pasta, thanks Jon!

Mac and Cheese
Onion Mac & Cheese with finger meats

Monster Balls
Monster balls (brussels sprouts recipe here)!

Mashed Brain Potatoes
Mashed potatoes were dyed and then piped into a brain

Ribs
Yum!

Mummy dogs
These little guys are so cute. Great job Jess!

Peppers
So talented, Dave!

And then there’s dessert:

Guts Jam
It’s my strawberry chia jam recipe!

Scream Cheese Brownies
Cheesecake brownies! Recipe to come soon. These are so pretty for the Fall

Eyeballs on a stick
Of course, red velvet cake pops!

Hope everyone had a great Halloween.

With love,
The Lam Minons

DSC03151

One more thing: It’s the first day of November. How is it that we only have 2 more months until 2014? Only 2 months!

Baking Tip – Flour the Pan

Now that we’re getting into the Fall season, there will be a lot of baking involved! If you rarely bake, I challenge you to make some goodies this season. Your friends, family, and coworkers will love it. They get sweets, and you get compliments. Win, win situation!

Did you ever notice that sometimes when you grease the pan, it can still be difficult to get your baked good out? It’s so annoying, and the bottom of your cake looks so ugly! Here’s a tip that I learned from a good friend.

I use a bit of oil, spread it around, and then sprinkle some flour. A little bit of flour goes a long way. It helps the baked good come off the pan easily. Give it a try!

Oil and sprinkle flourGrease the pan and sprinkle flour so your baked good comes off clean and easy! 

It works great for cakes, bunt cakes, and breads.

Clean pan
I just flipped my chocolate cake upside down. Look how clean it comes off!

Have you heard about this before? What kinds of things do you do to get a clean baked pan?

Get to baking those yummy treats!
Jay