The Baker's Acres is Moving!

The Baker's Acres is officially moved to WordPress. 

This blog will stay up and I will maintain it, reply to comments, and other things of that sort. But for the blog... it will continue on over at WordPress.

The new blog is more of a personal note type of blog. It's for me as I struggle my way through mental health. I am leaning towards a more personal approach and I love WordPress for their community.

My new blog is located here. You can read the reason why by clicking here.

This was updated 26 May 2016.

Saturday Surfing Web Crawl

Each week while I am researching for posts and just goofing off, I find some interesting links. Sometimes they are funny, sometimes serious, sometimes they are just weird. Here are four links I found interesting this week.

Lady Parts Justice

I found Lady Parts Justice after seeing this video of Sarah Silverman (one of my faves!) having a conversation with Jesus. I laughed a lot through the video but it's about a serious subject... Women's rights. This isn't just about the abortion issue either. Here is a blurb from Lady Parts Justice:

Women are not faking rape and they don’t have magical powers to deactivate rape sperm. We are not pregnant before we are pregnant, we can’t have an abortion if we are not pregnant, and I think we can all agree, women shouldn’t be forced to carry stillborn babies. Abortions don’t cause mental instability and the HPV vaccine doesn’t make girls mentally retarded. No woman’s boss should be able to demand information from her to decide if her reason for wanting birth control is moral enough to grant permission.

The bold words are my doing because on the site, each of those contains links to news articles. These are actual laws and issues we women are dealing with. Click here to check out the site and let me know what you think.

Cued Speech

As the boys and I learn American Sign Language, one of the things we needed to learn was the difference between ASL, Signed English, and Cued Speech. I hadn't heard of cued speech before. We found this video interesting because it explains what it is. I think I'll stick to ASL, but this was neat to see.




The 20-Year Family Mystery Revealed 

A guy posted on Ask Metafilter about cards his Grandmother wrote years ago during her last weeks battling brain cancer. They were written in a code and no one in the family could figure out what they said because no one could decipher them. Well, leave it to the internet to crack the code (or most of it) in about 15 minutes.

Click here to read the mystery as it is revealed!

Gestures that will make people overseas hate you

I love Cracked for their humor and writing style. They also have slides that show interesting things. This week I found one that is...

39 Innocent Gestures that will make People Overseas Hate You.

Enjoy surfing the web today! Have a link you want to share? Want me to look at your site and maybe even share it on a Saturday? Shoot me an email with the address and I'll check it out.

Friday Hang Out Night with Jillee (sort of)

This weeks hang out night will be hanging out and packing my friend for her move at the end of the month. I didn't want to share a blog post of us packing an apartment, sorting through stuff, and playing the "do you REALLY need this?" game. Unless you all really want to see that LOL. 

So instead, we brainstormed and came up with sharing a link to a site I love. This week, come on over and hang out with Jillee! On the internet of course.

It's not just her blog that I love about Jillee. It's here about me page. Click here to read it! She is inspirational to me. Her story speaks to me on many levels that are so personal I don't think I could put them on my blog.

I don't remember how I found her blog in the first place. I was searching some house cleaning tip that eluded me. Maybe it was the spot remover for carpets. Or it could have been how to unshrink my favorite pajama pants. I really can't remember. 

What I do remember is that day I spent HOURS browsing her site and loving every post. Her style is awesome! Her ideas are great. She is super upbeat and positive. Her writing style is awesome and her blog is so bright and cheerful! I fell in love with her blog that day and I find myself going back to it a lot. My favorite part is 

So for today's hang out night... Let's go hang out with Jillee! Check out her blog!

Do you have a favorite blog? 

Share it down in the comments!

Disclaimer: I don't know Jillee personally. But I do love her blog! And I get nothing for saying this either. I am just sharing a link I love.

Homemade Laundry Soap WITHOUT Borax

My sons and I are allergic, or sensitive to, almost all store-bought detergents. I started making my own laundry detergent years ago to help with the skin rashes. I ended up loving it and now I make it because it's also cheap! 

I used the recipe my mom taught me but had to alter it because we don't always have borax and sometimes I just can't afford it. When I'm trying to be frugal, borax is a luxury I just can't afford. Now I have a recipe for making laundry soap that is a little bit more penny-friendly for me.

The last of my batch from July 2013, made with Fels-Naptha.
The Kirks Laundry Soap will look more clear.

And before anyone asks: No, I am not one of those that thinks Borax is a horrible substances. In fact, I have a box of borax sitting under my sink and I use it. Sometimes I even use it in *GASP* my laundry soap recipe. Want to do a little reading on Borax? Here's a great read on the whole Borax is safe/ Borax is dangerous topic, by Crunchy Betty.

NOW! Onto the recipe...

Homemade Laundry Soap WITHOUT Borax

You will need

• Baking Soda
• Super Washing Soda (Next week I'll show how to make your own)
• Kirk's Castile Soap or Fels-Naptha Or any other bar soap you like. I know people who make it with Ivory Soap.
• A large pan for boiling water
• A long spoon or wooden stick for stirring
• A 4-5 gallon bucket to store it in. You can buy them at any hardware store.
• A grater, like the one you use to grate cheese
• A measuring cup. A 1-cup measuring cup will work.

If you can't find washing soda, I added a link to soap items. If you need help finding the items, just click the links above. 

I find washing soda at Wal-Mart and sometimes I can find it at hardware stores. I ended up making my own though since it is cheaper for me.

Before we start: A note about my laundry soap

I prefer a liquid laundry soap since I wash my clothes either by hand with a Mobile Washer Laundry Plunger and five gallon buckets, or in my Panda Counter Top Washing Machine. I don't want to wait for the soap to dissolve in hot water. I need it to mix with the water right away. I use warm to hot water with each load. 

You can make this into a powder form (I'll tell you how at the end) but I will be making it into a liquid.

Step-by-step: Making your Homemade Laundry Soap

Step 1 Gather your supplies
Get everything together! And get ready to make laundry soap! Here is a picture of all my supplies.

Everything you need! Just add water!

 Step 2 Grate your soap

With the cheese grater, grate your bar of soap. If you are making dry soap, skip down to the bottom. If you are making liquid soap, keep reading.

This is Kirks Castile Bar Soap grated

Step 3 Boil your water and melt your soap

Bring a pot of water to boil. Add the grated soap and stir... a lot! Keep stirring until your soap is melted.

Step 4 Add Washing soda and Baking soda

Add 1 cup of washing soda and 1 and 1/4 cups of baking soda. This isn't exact science though. So don't worry if you heap the measuring cup a little. Now stir until it's all dissolved into the soap water.

You can still see little flakes of soap.
It took about 10 minutes for the castile soap to melt once the water was nice and hot.
Fels-Naptha usually takes a little longer to melt.

Step 5 Start filling your bucket!

Carefully pour your hot soap mix into your four or five gallon bucket. Add your hottest tap water to fill it up to almost the top. Stir everything together very well with your stirring spoon/ stick.

Well, it's not pretty and cutesy. But it works for me.
My Homemade Laundry Soap storage bucket.

Step 6 Let it sit overnight.

Now you just let the laundry soap sit overnight. In the morning it will look like a congealed glob. That's okay! It's supposed to look like that. Stir it with your stick again and it's ready to use!

Here it is before I stirred it. I try to make a few bumps in the laundry soap glob but you can hardly see them. The spoon is standing up by itself!

Here it is after stirring. The spoon no longer stands up. You can't tell in the picture, but it's slowly sinking into the laundry soap.

One bucket will last me anywhere from 7 months to a year. My longest lasting batch was around for 1 year and 4 months.

Using your Homemade Laundry Soap

When I had a regular washer to wash clothes in, it was an HE machine and I never had any problems with this recipe since it is a low suds soap. 

You don't have to use a lot it for each load either. I use 1 to 2 TBSP per load. No, really! That's all I use! I have a shot glass that I use for soap. It's about 2 TBSP when full. I just measure it out depending on how dirty the laundry is.

If you have a stain on your laundry, I just take a Fels-Naptha bar of soap, wet the clothes, and rub the soap on the spot. Then I wash it. I guess you could use any other bar soap, but I always use Fels-Naptha because I usually have an extra bar laying around.

To make dry laundry detergent

To make dry laundry detergent, just add the grated soap, 1 and 1/4 cups baking soda, and 1 cup washing soda into a food processor. Run the food processor until it's all mixed together into a nice powder. 

When I made the powder version, I used 1 tsp per load. If you are using cold water, you will need to mix it with some hot water first so it dissolves, then add that to the washer.

Add-ins AKA Stink Pretties

If you really want to get creative, you can add 15-20 drops of essential oils to add a nice smell to your laundry. I don't add any to my soap but, a lot of people tell me that it makes the laundry smell nice. It seems that the main oil I hear of everyone using is lemon. 

If I were to add an oil to my laundry soap recipe, I'd probably pick mint. When I am out of laundry soap, I use Dr. Bronner's Liquid Castile Peppermint Soap instead and the clothes come out smelling WONDERFUL! 

I have been toying with the idea of using the Dr Bonner's castile peppermint bar soap in place of Fels-Naptha or Kirks soap. If I do, I will let you know how that goes. I am guessing it will be lovely!

________________________________________________________________

By the way, this post has affiliate links. If you purchase something using these links, I make a little pocket change and you help me out. If you don't, that's okay too! I'll keep blogging anyway!

Positive Pregnancy Test in Men Detects Testicular Cancer

I learned something new and interesting today. Did you know if a man takes a home pregnancy test and it's positive that they should get checked for cancer? It's true! But don't run out and buy a pregnancy test quite yet!

Might be cancer. Might be babies. Hmmmm.

According to the American Cancer Society, most men won't have high enough levels of the hormone to show up on a pregnancy test. What does that mean? That means that a man can still have testicular cancer, pee on a pregnancy test, and have it come out negative. They also have a page explaining how to do a testicular self-exam.

But it blew me away that it IS possible to to detect testicular cancer through a pregnancy test. I first heard about this in the news last week. At first, I thought it was just another internet medical hoax/ bad internet medical advice. 

But, after doing some research, a pregnancy test CAN be positive if a man has testicular cancer because some tumors secrete the beta-HCG hormone. 

And that, my friends, was the interesting fact I learned this week! 

Reader Question: What is A&E?

I received this question from a couple of readers:

In a couple of posts, like this one, you say ER (A&E). What is A&E? Why do you put that next to ER all the time?

A&E in the UK is the American version of Emergency Room. I put this in my posts because I have quite a few readers in the UK. When I first mentioned ER (years ago), I got an email asking what "ER" meant. I never really thought about it before that because it's something I already know about. It never really occurred to me that someone somewhere else might not know what it means. 

So, now when I write about something going on in the ER, driving someone to the ER, or anything ER related, I add (A&E) afterward ER so that more readers will know what I am talking about if they aren't aware of the the acronym ER. 

I have a dream too.

Sorry for the late posting. I was in the ER (A&E) with my friend this morning so I slept really late.

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr day! One of my favorite things while I was in school was an assignment for Martin Luther King, Jr day. The assignment was, "Write an 'I have a dream' speech describing your dream for 1) yourself 2) your community 3) your country and 4) the world." Our dream needed to have at least five items since Martin Luther King. Jr listed five dreams in his famous speech. 

I enjoyed it so much that occasionally I do that instead of "write your goals for the future". In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr, here are my dreams.

My Dream for the World

I have a dream where we live in a world without countries. Where we live in a world that is one nation. A dream where our world is one family, one community, one people who aspires to reach a common goal for the good of the whole planet.

I have a dream where we do not base our laws on religions. A dream where laws are based on the basic human rights, not based on the deity of any one belief system.

I have a dream where people may worship the deity of their choosing without fear of persecution or death. Where a person may say "I am an Atheist" without being ostracized. A world where your religion was based on your closeness and your own personal relationship with the God or Gods you believe in, or lack thereof, without being excluded from your community happenings. A dream where your religion does not brand you. 

I have a dream where no one starves. Where food is plentiful and nutrition is as much a part of the healthcare system as medicine.

I have a dream where no one desires illegal drugs. A dream where no one relies on the addictive euphoria of a temporary high to feel good. A dream where people are addicted to positive feelings of random acts of kindness. A dream where coffee and tea are the only stimulant anyone will ever desire.

My Dream for My Country

I have a dream where my government has limited rights and  stops taking away our rights and stops treating us like second class citizens. (Cheers to you Mr. King!)

I have a dream where the people of this nation may love and be loved by any person they so choose, without persecution. A love that can be affirmed through marriage without hatred and bigotry following.

I have a dream where hate crimes do not exist. Where you are friends with a person because of their character, and NOT their race, sexual orientation, religion, body size, or any other non-important item, is irrelevant. 

My Dream for My Community

I have a dream where my city neighbors are not angry with one another. Where peace and understanding rule. A dream where the bickering and bantering ceases, as it does nothing to help come to a peaceful solution.

I have a dream where the law enforcement officers are respectful and treated with respect and as a valuable asset to our community. A dream where the unjust and corrupt dealings of the law enforcement officials just does not exist. A dream where when you call the police for help, they actually show up instead of calling and telling you they refuse to help. A dream where they show up and actually do something, instead of drawing on biases from rumors. A dream where when you want to file a report, they do not refuse. A dream where if I need the police, I am comforted in the idea that they will respond, do their job, and treat our citizens with respect.

I have a dream where the medical staff in our community do not judge a person unfairly when they come into the Emergency Room. A dream where the doctors don't refuse care upon the biased idea that the person must be a drug addict simply because of rumors. A dream where they treat the patient with respect and dignity. A dream where my community is not afraid to go to the Emergency Room when they really do need care. A dream where my community will feel safe going to this hospital rather than risking a 90+ mile or 500+ mile drive (that was me!) to another hospital to find medical care. A dream where the medical community is respected and respectable, not a butt of every joke. A dream where the new hospital here will be admired because the quality care will outshine the new building.

My Dream for My Self

I have a dream where my blogging earns enough income to cover my bills with enough left over to put 20% in savings and donate %15 back into my community wherever it is needed.

I have a dream where I am debt free. A dream where I am living in my own home without the fear of homelessness looming over me every month.

I have a dream where my family is closer (geographically) and my friends are all like family.

I have a dream where I wake up one day and am allergy free. A dream (or delusion?) that I go out into the sun for an entire day and enjoy the sunshine, the heat, and the outdoors completely un-medicated and without the fear that I will get too hot and gasp for air. A dream where I can enjoy the daytime as much as the nighttime.

I have a dream where I can work again, outside my home, in a job that I can do and do well, to not only make myself feel useful and needed/wanted, but to also make myself feel like I am more a part of my community. A dream where I am actually able to help people again and make a difference.

Yes, I too have a dream. So why not dream big!?

Behind the Scenes View of Cabinet Peaks Medical Center

Today I decided to take a walk to the new hospital in our town to take a tour. St John's Lutheran Hospital is getting replaced by the new hospital, Cabinet Peaks Medical Center, on January 30, 2014. Because everyone is curious, they were giving tours today.

OOPS! Camera Died.
I didn't take my camera because the batteries died. Sorry about that, but I will try to get a few pictures for you all when I buy more batteries. I did find this picture on the St. John's Lutheran Hospital's website. I don't see a source for the picture though...

Source: sjlh.com history page
Doesn't that look nice!?

Cabinet Peaks Downstairs
We started out in the front lobby area in front of the Walk-in Clinic which will replace prompt care. It's for non-emergency care in case you can't get in to see the doctor that day.  They told us that the hospital was set up with healing in mind. Not sure what that meant, but okay! Cool! Sounds positive!

Then we went around the bottom floor past the cafeteria which will be open to the public. So, if you want to stop by the hospital cafeteria for lunch, you can! I won't, because of my allergies, but they said they have a new menu too. 

That's nice... I wasn't aware they had a menu at the old hospital. Actually, I wasn't aware they had a cafeteria either. Good to know! Hoping they have a lot of coffee there. I did see a coffee carafe section.

We saw the new lab area. That's where I was told that every area of the hospital has it's own waiting area. Cool. The old one has one for the ER and one for everyone else. That's all the waiting areas I know of. Then we headed to the ER staff area. Totally cool! Usually people won't see that area. That lead us out to the Trauma bays. It looks like there will be a lot more privacy with how the rooms are set up. That will be a nice change from St John's where there is little privacy when you are in the Trauma bay. 

We also got to walk through the "walk-in clinic" side and see the rooms there. They all look really nice. The nurses stations look more state of the art compared to St John's Lutheran Hospital. We saw the new helipad too. It's straight across from the emergency room entrance.

We got to see the MRI, x-ray, radiology areas too. They have a machine there were the doctors can see the x-ray right away. Nice. And then we went around to the other area... can't remember what it was though :)

We went upstairs on the new elevators. Those are nice. They work like an elevator is supposed to work. They aren't old and ancient and terrifying! The next part isn't in order... But these are the areas we viewed.

Cabinet Peaks Upstairs
Upstairs looks pretty nice. We got to see the new surgery area, the pre-op and post-op areas. No, I am not missing my oxford comma there. The pre-op and post-op areas are the same areas. No privacy really, except for curtains. The one we have now is pretty private. This one, I hope I never need surgery. That's not enough privacy for me. But it looks nice.

Appropriately placed next to the surgery area is the Chapel. No, I am not making a joke about SJLH poor quality care. I am just saying, if someone I loved was going into surgery, and it was bad, and I was a religious person... wouldn't it be nice to not have to walk across the building to get to a chapel? 

Or in my case, when my first son was dying (in a different hospital)... Down four floors, across the building, out the door, across the campus, into another building, up two floors, across the building and into the Chapel. Yes, having it right there is a nice touch. And it's close to patient rooms, ICU, Labor/Delivery, and other areas I would imagine you would want a Chapel. 

We also got to see the ICU. The rooms are nice and they look pretty private. They also have two isolation rooms. Just around the corner are the regular patient rooms, complete with a private shower/bathroom, a love-seat that turns into a bed, a flat screen TV, and a patient chair with a little table attached to the arm of the chair.

We saw the physical therapy department and a patient room that has a lift attached to the ceiling for patients that need to be lifted out of bed in a bariatric lift.

We saw the mammography center (I think that was downstairs) that has a private area for undressing so you don't have to walk down the hall in your hospital gown. I didn't know SJLH patients had to walk down the hall. I've never had to do that.

The Labor/Delivery/Recovery rooms look really nice. Two of them have a Jacuzzi tub in them. The nursery is rather small since they encourage Mom to keep their baby in the room with them. And there is a "mother's room" for women who need help with lactation. The views from those rooms are overlooking a field behind the hospital where deer gather often.

After that we headed down to the cafeteria where we could ask questions. I couldn't think of any except how are they with allergies? I've never been admitted to the hospital here so I didn't know how they handle multiple allergies. 

Apparently, if you have lots of allergies, they send the dietitian up to talk to you to find out what you CAN eat and try to accommodate your dietary needs. One guy made a joke of "Fly you to Kalispell?" Which I thought was funny, but I don't think the other guy did. Gave me a good chuckle though.

Overall- Nice.
I have to say, overall, the place looks really nice, well laid out, and much more inviting than St John's Lutheran Hospital. I just hope the care is better there. 

While I have heard a few stories from SJLH that leave a lot to be desired, I have noticed that their care there has improved a lot. Let's hope it keeps improving!  As of now, there is really only ONE emergency doctor I feel safe seeing. The other's have not impressed me much. 

But, I am still hopeful that they will give high quality care. I am waiting in eager anticipation! And at the same time, I am hoping I don't need to go to the Emergency Room... ever. 

Hang Out Night: Movie Night! Er, YouTube night!

Tonight is hang out night and we were going to watch a movie. But, no one could quite decide on what movie to watch, so we're doing the YouTube thing! Here are our favorite YouTube videos this week. And since I am going to be an Aunt again, we picked videos of cute babies.

Since Chelsea is new to our family, here is something you get to look forward to. HAHAHA!

Can't have a baby compilation without laughing babies!

Get the tissues ready! This one is adorable!

Being the awesome people they are, my brother and sister-in-law are foster parents to dogs looking for furr-ever homes. I saw this one and hope they see something as cute after their little one is born.

One more, then it's time to break out the games and play something fun! We can even share our toys!

Just one more note before we head off to have fun... Kevin and Chelsea, I hope you had fun watching these and I hope you have a beautiful, healthy, little bundle of joy! And if it's a boy (I here it is!), Chelsea, you are going to have your hands full LOL. Mom and I will tell you all the stories of when Kevin was little. MWAHAHAHAHA!

Juicer Recipe Review: Sweet Potato Pie

With all this juicing, I wanted to find something sweet that tasted like a dessert to give me a feeling of being naughty. I found Sweet Potato Pie juice and it fits the bill perfectly!

The ingredients

• Apple
• Carrots
• Sweet Potato

Run all the ingredients through your juicer, stir and enjoy! 

By now, I started cheating by buying apple juice and just measuring out about 3/4 cup to 1 cup per apple in the recipe. It works! The recipe tastes the same as if I had juiced actual apples and it's cheaper for me than buying whole apples and juicing them.

My rating for this juice? 

I would give it 5 out of 5 stars. It is sweet and tastes like a dessert which is what I was looking for! And it's amazingly filling!

Have you tried this juice recipe? What did you think?

Tobacco Seminar! Surprisingly Positive!

Our local clinic is having a Tobacco Seminar held by two of the psychologists that work there. I decided to sign up and check it out because... why not! What is the worse they can do? Tell me not to smoke? Take my rolled cigarette away? Say "naughty naughty"? Tell me something I didn't know?

Instead, they were really positive and informative. I have a binder for all the information and I have homework too! They aren't telling us "You HAVE to quit smoking! It's bad for you!" They are saying, "We all know it's bad. Let's explore what triggers you to smoke." 

One of the most interesting things we did was go down a list of reason we LIKE to smoke and then went down a list of reasons we don't like to smoke. That actually surprised me. 

So this weekend I'll continue reading through the pages I have and documenting when I smoke, how I felt when I went to smoke, and what I was doing when I went to smoke.

So far, I see a few patterns. I smoke

• When I am around friends.
• When I am out of my house.
• When I get something done (a pat on the back of sorts)
• When I feel really stressed.

Why I smoke:

• When I started smoking, it was cool.
• I like the taste.
• It makes me feel better.

Reasons to Quit:

• The expense of smoking.
• The health risks.
• The smell.
• The added health care costs.
• I want to set a good example for my kids.
• Shortness of breath.
• My food will taste better.

While I can't post anything about the others in the class (confidential), I can post my experience and from my point of view. We meet every Tuesday, so I will update my personal experiences and personal point of view on Wednesday. 

Juice Recipe Review: Arthritis Soother

I've been dying to try this one but I just couldn't bring myself to drink something with asparagus juice in it. I finally got brave and made Arthritis Soother Juice. You can see the recipe here.

Arthritis Soother Ingredients

• Apple
• Asparagus (Actually, I like the taste of the juice!)
• Broccoli
• Carrots
• Celery
• Olive Oil
• Parsley

Don't run the olive oil through your juicer! Put the olive oil in a glass, run everything else through the juicer and pour it into the glass. Stir and Enjoy!

My Review of Arthritis Soother

4.5 stars!

Freaking weird! I like the flavor and it does taste good. But the taste is bizarre. It has a taste that I know but can't describe and leaves an aftertaste that occasionally tastes like butterscotch... but not always. It's sweet but sometimes has a bitter bite to it... but not always. 

I have a second batch to drink today along with Sweet Potato Pie Juice which is a wonderful complimenting juice. I'll post that recipe tomorrow.

Celery Juice Pain Reliever?

A couple years ago, I hurt my back while working as a Nurse Assistant in a nursing home. The pain was unbearable. It felt like my back labor pains from when I delivered my youngest son. 

At first, the doctors gave me nothing for pain. Then they tried Tramadol for the pain which gave me horrendous migraines (pain level 9.5). When I went to the Pain Clinic, they put me on Vicoprofen (hydrocodone/ ibuprofen) which I didn't want to take. I don't like taking narcotics. 

One day I was hurting so bad I couldn't see straight and started looking for natural pain relief when I found a site that said 3 stalks of celery juiced would help with pain. I can't find the site anymore, but I wrote the pain relief recipe down in a notebook and tried it. I was absolutely desperate for some pain relief.




Does celery juice help with pain?


Yes! It really does! I drink a cup of 3 to 5 stalks of celery when I am in a lot of pain and helps a lot! Don't get me wrong... you won't be pain-free and skipping through a field of daisies, but you will feel a lot better. 

It usually brings my back pain down from a 7 or an 8 to 1 or a 2. After being in so much pain, I almost feel pain free.

Found on Mai Thankful Heart.
Best pain scale I have ever seen!

Juice Recipes has a celery juice recipe that adds honey called Sleepy Time. Which is what got me thinking about celery juice again.

What if I don't like celery juice?

Add an apple or some honey to your celery juice to sweeten it.

Add some carrots to help with the flavor. 

Or add apple and carrot for a totally different flavor. You hardly taste the celery. Here is the recipe I follow as a guide. Click here to see the recipe. 

I usually add more carrot because I LOVE carrots! But I also like the recipe as it is because I don't taste a lot of celery, it's a little sweet but not sugar high sweet.

Have you tried celery juice for pain? Did it help you?

Miles' Creation: Blackberry Mango Juice!

After so much vegetable juice, Miles and I decided to try some fruit juices. I let him pick the fruits and he decided on blackberries and mango.

Blackberry Mango Juice Ingredients

The name gives it away. No suspense there at all! Hmmm, I think we need to think of a better name for this juice. 

• 1 container of blackberries
• 1 mango

The name gave it away, didn't it?

Run them all through the juicer. Remove the mango pit first though. Stir it together and enjoy!

My rating for Blackberry Mango juice?

This one is a KEEPER! I never really liked mango before but, juice it with blackberries and it is awesome! The Blackberry Mango Juice is thick, kind of like a smoothie. 

I thought my other juice had a kick... but this one has a punch to it! It makes you pucker for a second there and then it's like OH YEA! That's what I'm talking about!

Juicer Recipe Review: Rainbow Blitz

After my last juice recipe, I was feeling quite good! I actually had a lot of energy. I decided to go out of my comfort zone and try something different. The Rainbow Blitz juice recipe looked interesting. You can see it by clicking here. I had to alter it for my allergies.

Rainbow Blitz Ingredients

This is the list of fruits and veggies in Rainbow Blitz. The red ones are the ones I am allergic to and had to substitute or leave out.

• Apple
• Carrots
• Cucumber
• Ginger
• Lemon
• Pear
• Spinach

My Rainbow Blitz Alternative Ingredients

• Apple
• Carrots
• Cucumber
• Lime
• Pear
• Kale

I was going to substitute garlic for ginger but I wasn't sure how well that would work. Instead, I just left it out.

Next I ran everything through my Black & Decker Juicer. There was a lot of juice! So much that I ended up putting it in my blender because it filled my 32 ounce mason jar all the way to the top and I couldn't stir it. Pouring it in the blender...

...allowed me to stir in together well and drink a cup of juice so I could pour it back into my mason jar.

My rating for Rainbow Blitz?

4.5 Stars!

I was oddly surprised that I really like the taste. I am more of a sweet-tooth kind of person. This juice has a bit of a tang to it with a little kick. Honestly, I really like this though! 

I wouldn't say 5 stars because I had to alter it and leave out one ingredient. But I will definitely be making this again!

Juiced Up Juice Off! Bullet Express Juicer Vs. Black & Decker Juicer

My friend, Nikky, started joining me on my juicing journey. We both have two separate juicers and noticed that it seems like her juicer doesn't get as much juice out of her fruits and veggies as my juicer does. To find out if this was true, we devised an experiment and held a Juiced Up Juice Off in her kitchen. What we discovered fascinated us. Here it is!

THE JUICED UP JUICE OFF!

DUNDUNDUN!

Nikky's Juicer Information

Nikky owns a Magic Bullet BER-0601 Bullet Express Trio 3-in-1 Blender System which we will just call the Bullet Juicer from here on out. The Bullet Express is currently priced at $179.99 for a used one on Amazon. 

Bullet Express Juicer.

Dotchi's Juicer Information

I own a Black & Decker JE2200B 400-Watt Fruit and Vegetable Juicer which will be referred to as the Black and Decker Juicer from here on out. The Black and Decker juicer sells on Amazon, as of today, for $26.99. I bought mine from Wal-Mart for about $30.00 or so a little over a year ago.

The Black & Decker

 Setting up the Juiced Up Juice Off!

First I had to find a vegetable to juice in both juicers. I picked carrots because I was hungry and really wanted some carrot juice. I spent about 20 minutes weighing every carrot in my house. I finally found two carrots that each weighed 3.2 ounces.

 And here are the two carrots side by side so you can see I actually have two carrots.

 Next we set up the experiment area in Nikky's kitchen with both juicers facing each other for dramatic Juice Off effect!

  

Our first difference I noted is that her juicer, the Bullet Express, can juice a whole carrot without needing to cut it. My juicer, the Black & Decker, needs to have the carrot cut in half long way. Since I prefer not to have a trip to the ER, I cut it into fourths. Here are the juicers ready to go!

Next, she ran the carrot through her Bullet Express juicer and I ran the four parts of my carrot through the Black & Decker juicer. 

And then we marveled at the difference in amount of carrot juice in each cup for a moment.

Nikky's Bullet Express Juicer had made just below 2 ounces of carrot juice.

My Black & Decker Juicer had made right at the line of 2 ounces of carrot juice.

Then Nikky scooped all the pulp out of the pulp collection container and ran it through her juicer to see if she could get any more juice. Just to make sure she didn't beat my juicer, I did the same thing. And here are the second results. 

1.8 ounces <-----> 2.2 ounces

We did get more juice by running the pulp through a second time and by tilting the machines a little bit to make sure all the juice came out.

I had the brilliant idea of weighing both cups of juice too! I weighed each cup of carrot juice twice just to make sure I was right. I drank the carrot juice before I remembered to take pictures. But the results were... *drum roll*

Nikky's Bullet Express Juicer: 

1.8 ounces of carrot juice.

My Black & Decker Juicer: 

2.2 ounces of carrot juice.

WOW! Holy Juice Off!

With a 0.4 ounce difference, it really doesn't seem like that much. But, considering that I am using juicing as a source of nutrition, that could make a difference. If I wanted to consume 6 carrots in a day (like I did the other day) I would be missing 2.4 ounces of juice. 

That's more than a whole carrot if all my carrots weighed 3.2 ounces. 

After this, I think I'll stick to juicing with my Black & Decker.

THE WINNER!

Tomorrow, we will experiment with juicing 3.4 ounces of strawberries in each juicer! We'll let you know how it goes.