When I left my job in Des Moines, my amazing co-workers were kind enough to throw me a little going-away part complete with my favorite snacks (peanut butter M&Ms, pretzels and cheese/crackers). They also gave me a little gift – a gift card to Williams-Sonoma. Gift cards typically burn a hole in my pocket, but this time I decided to take my time deciding what to buy for my kitchen.

Since I have a pretty well-stocked kitchen, it took me a while to decide what I wanted to get that would be useful and a little bit fun, too. I had been contemplating jumping on the juicer bandwagon for a while now, and this seemed like the perfect time to make the leap. Once Williams-Sonoma started carrying the Breville Compact Juicer, which comes in at an affordable $100, I was sold.

We’ve been juicing for a few weeks now, and I’ve been gathering a few thoughts as we’ve gone along. I was ultra-curious about juicing and wanted more information before I made the leap. Hopefully my observations can come in handy for someone else in my shoes.

What I Like:
-The Breville Compact Juicer is smaller than other models and sits nicely on my countertop. It’s easy to store, fairly easy to clean (just takes a few minutes more than using a blender, but it’s not bad) and makes great juice.
-It’s a great way to use up produce that would otherwise not get eaten duing the week. This is especially true for extra apples, oranges, carrots, and celery that I seem to always have a surplus of at the end of the week.
-It’s a great way to get a few servings of fruits and veggies in the morning with breakfast. Typically I make the juice at night so I don’t have to mess with clean-up in the morning when I can barely make myself a cup of coffee. The juice stores well for up to a day, so that seems to be a good solution.
-I find that Joe and I enjoy drinking juices made with produce that we don’t usually like to eat. Example: I hate eating raw carrots. They take so long to chew! I also don’t care for the texture of mangoes or papayas. But Carrot, Mango, Papaya juice? Love it!

What I Don’t Like:
-I feel a little guilty every time I make a juice when I see the amount of pulp and extras that get thrown away. I can’t help but feel wasteful. I know that some people have used the leftover pulp in baked goods and such, but it seems like that’s just forcing things a bit. Have any of you found good solutions to this problem? This summer when we have a garden, I’m hoping to use the pulp as compost.
-Although I feel great when I drink a glass of veggie and fruit juice, I think it’s important to remember that juice should still be consumed in moderation. Unless you’re making a juice comprised 100% of green veggies, juices still contain quite a bit of sugar. Yes, the sugar is healthier in form, but I wouldn’t get carried away drinking multiple juices a day.

Overall, the pros outweigh the cons by a large margin. Joe and I have both loved playing around with new combinations and flavors throughout the week. As it stands, we probably use our juicer 3 days a week, maybe 4.

Since Joe is allergic to raw apples (crazy, right?!) we’ve been looking for other fruits and veggies that juice well (aka produce a lot of juice per fruit) and found that our favorite base to start with is carrots. Bags of large, whole carrots are extremely cheap so we buy four or five bags for juicing each week. Then, we add in other fruits and veggies, like oranges, pears, tropical fruits (mangoes, papaya), lemons, limes and beets.

The combination above was one of our favorites. Here’s an estimation of how it was made:

Orange, Pear and Carrot Juice
Ingredients
60% carrots
25% oranges (peel removed)
10% pears
5% lemons (peel removed)

Do any of you juice? Or are you considering buying a juicer like we were? If so, I would love to hear your experiences!

Madison

Friends, perhaps you have heard the news about Google Reader going by the wayside in July? If you’re anything like me, the idea of vising your favorite blogs and keeping them all organized in one space without Google Reader seems a bit daunting. I blog for personal reasons but I also read blogs for work and to get inspired. Basically, I use Google Reader and know a lot of other people who do, too. Evidently we are in the minority, since Google cited declining usage as a reason for discontinuing the service.

Joe has a cold right now that’s causing him to snore like a freight train at night. So around midnight I found myself on the couch downstairs battling insomnia and looking for a suitable alternative to GR. After a little digging and scouring of Tweets, I discovered Bloglovin. And while I’ve only used it a little bit it seems like it might make a (more than) suitable replacement for all you fans of Google Reader.

One of my biggest complaints with Google Reader as a blog author has been the fact that when people read Espresso and Cream with Google Reader their visits didn’t count as page views for my site. You’ve probably seen the ads that I run on the side of my blog. Those ads and the payout from them is based on page views as is the case with many other bloggers. More page views = more money to do giveaways, create new recipes and buy new props. I don’t make a lot of money from this site, but the money that does come in makes blogging a self-sustaining hobby.

Also, as a reader of blogs, I hated the idea that I wasn’t supporting my favorite blogs with page views. If I was already reading their content and enjoying it, I felt like I wanted to be able to support them in building advertising revenue.

By using Blogloving, I am able to see the entire site (including pretty design, navigation bars, ads) as I’m reading the post. Since the ads are seen, it counts toward page views. And, probably the best part, it makes it super easy to comment on the post within the window.

Let’s walk through an example, shall we? I’m just starting the process of adding my favorite blogs to my Bloglovin account. You can upload all your current Google Reader blogs with a few clicks, but I wanted to do a little spring cleaning of my reader anyway, so I’m adding them all individuall. I decided to search for my friend, Christina’s, blog to add it to my reader. It looked like this…

 As you can see, I found Christina’s blog and clicked “follow” next to the option I wanted to select. Easy peasy. When I want to read her most recent post for St. Patty’s day, this is what it looks like…

At this point, I can either scroll down and see small snippets of all the most recent posts or, if I want to read the full post, I can click on it. At that point, the post opens in a new window. However, unlike opening in a typical window, this window lets me scroll back and forth through full length posts since the window is still managed by Bloglovin. Here’s what I’m talking about…

And that’s basically the site in a nutshell. I am hoping to start following all my blogs on Bloglovin starting this weekend. And while I think it may take a little getting used to (as all technology does) I am excited to make the switch. For all you out there who have been worried about what you’re going to do sans Google Reader, I hope this helps!

Do you use Google Reader? And if so, what do you plan to switch to? Any other sites that work well?

Madison

A while back I asked you all to take a survey about what you wanted to see more of on Espresso and Cream. So often the only way I know what you like/don’t like is by reading the comments section of each post. But since there are so many more readers than commenters it’s hard to get a good feel for things sometimes. Thank you all who participated in the survey! It was incredibly helpful and I loved reading your responses.

When asked what you wanted to see more of on the site, there was enthusiastic support of more vegetarian main dishes as well as non vegetarian main dishes. Even though I’m a vegetarian, my husband is not so I totally understand! And, just because I’m a vegetarian doesn’t mean I expect all our friends to be, too. 

Dishes like these Simmered Italian Meatballs are the exact type of dish I like to make when friends are coming over to eat. Spaghetti and meatballs, along with a large green salad, seem to be universally appeaing. Plus, the meatballs can be mixed and rolled into form the night or morning before, then cooked in about 20 minutes before company arrives. 

In the past I’ve been accustomed to baking the meatballs in the oven. However, once I discovered this method in a Williams-Sonoma catalog (yes, those recipes are really pretty tasty!) I was hooked. By searing the meatballs in a skillet they take on a great crusty exterior that has more color than baked meatballs. And simmering the meatballs in the marinara sauce gives jarred sauce a little extra flavor that makes it taste a bit more hommeade than it really is. I love “cheating” in the kitchen, don’t you?

Simmered Italian Meatballs
Ingredients
*1 lb. Italian sausage
*1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs
*1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
*1 large egg, lightly beaten
*1 teaspoon each of dried basil, oregano and parsley
*1/2 teaspoon salt
*1/4 teaspoon black pepper
*1 large jar marinara sauce

Instructions
*In a large bowl, combine all the above ingredients, except the marinara sauce, until evenly combined. Form into 16 medium-size meatballs.
*In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium high heat. Add meatballs to skillet and cook until deep golden brown. Turn to the other side and cook a few minutes more. Add the marinara sauce to the skillet along with the meatballs. Reduce heat to medium low. Cover the skillet with a lid and continue to cook for 12 to 18 minutes more or until meatballs are no longer pink inside. Serve with pasta, if desired.

Happy Cooking!
Madison