Allison Cafe

Ok, so it’s a cheesy title for this post, but I couldn’t resist. One of my passions in life is making tasty smoothies. This is one of my favorite ways to get several servings of fruit and some protein each day.

Tasty and healthy

Smoothies can be made with just about any fruit. This is a great way to use fruit that is ripe and you aren’t sure if you can eat it all before it goes bad. Just chop it up, put it in a Ziploc bag and toss it in the freezer. When it’s time to make a smoothie, you’ll have fresh fruit. (See some fun facts below about strawberries to learn about this power fruit.)

Tip: I always freeze my fruit for smoothies because it gives a thicker consistency to the smoothie; think milkshake instead of juice. Yum! Cutting and freezing the fruit ahead of time is a great time saving tip too.

Here is one of my favorite smoothies below. (more…)

For those of you using WordPress to power your blog, I thought I would answer a great question I received recently.

How do you add images to your sidebar to create a “currently reading” section?

WordPress offers several widgets that you can install to meet your image needs, however, if you are looking to do something very simple I will share a quick tip with you. You’ll notice on the sidebar of this blog that there is a simple image of a book cover with the heading “I’m Reading Now”.  Using the already built in “Text” widget for my sidebar I was able to insert some simple HTML code into the text widget to create this image. (more…)

Did you know that dogs and humans both need at least 30 minutes of exercise each day? Not only does it make us feel better, get rid of anxiety, make us sleep better and helps our bodies look good; it also can help us prevent cancer.

Run Hayley run!

According to the American Cancer Society’s research “…People who engage in moderate to vigorous levels of physical activity are at a lower risk of developing colon and breast cancer than those who do not…” (Source: American Cancer Society).

Today Hayley and I went for a long walk/jog by (more…)

Last week I purchased zucchini in bulk from Trader Joe’s with a plan to use the package of 8 medium zucchinis for several recipes. Today I made a basic recipe for zucchini bread with my own twist, chocolate and hazelnuts! But instead of baking the entire recipe in 2 loaf (8.5×4.5×2.5 inch) pans, I divided the batter into 2 mini muffin pans and 1 loaf pan. The mini muffins are perfect size for sharing the recipe and as an added bonus you get the great taste with a smaller serving size. (Of course that only helps if you don’t devour 3 muffins instead of 1. But I can’t help it the dark chocolate adds just enough sweetness to make this a healthy but yummy treat.) Makes 1 loaf and 24 mini muffins or 2 loaves.

Zucchini Bread with Chocolate Chips and Hazelnuts (more…)

Someone once said that a cluttered desk leads to a cluttered mind. While I have always been one of those people to make piles and function well in that environment, it has gotten to a point in which our home office just makes me feel anxious with all its clutter.

I have made it my mission this week to become better organized.

Making a plan

First, I will tackle the paper. With a productive, yet costly, trip to the Container Store and Big Lots, I returned to our home office equipped to whip our paper lives into shape. I am realizing as I sift through years of filed bank statements, pay stubs, photos, receipts and a lot of other paper that we seem to “need”, I am beginning to feel lighter with every bag of paper I recycle. Why do we hold onto so many useless pieces of paper? Sure, some of it we really may need someday, such as tax related documents from the last 7 years. But other pieces of paper, like every pay stub I have ever received, just seem unnecessary. (more…)

The American Cancer Society has launched the Great American Health Challenge. Visit the site today to find out how you or someone you love can take steps to reduce the risk of cancer.

Take the challenge today.

Get a health check online by taking a quick test. Take the Great American Health Check.

Find more ways to get your 30 minutes of physical exercise each day. Take the Get Active Challenge.

Find more ways to eat healthy. Take the Great American Eat Right Challenge.

Do you or does someone you love want to quit smoking? Accept the Great American Smokeout Challenge.

My first attempt at making corned beef and cabbage was a success, well sort of. Let me explain. The flavors came out wonderful. The Guinness stout beer lends a rich flavor to the dish. However, I learned a few basic techniques that I will share with you here for crock pot cooking that might have made the texture of the corned beef more like what we were expecting. (thanks to my husband for enjoying the dish even though it wasn’t the perfection I was seeking, you are wonderful!)

Corned beef and cabbage is a traditional Easter Sunday dinner in Ireland, but it is a St. Patrick’s Day must for us in America! Here are some other useful tips I found online for making this dish.

Corned Beef and Cabbage (more…)

Well, my Irish Soda Bread was a success yesterday! A little history about the bread I have learned:

It traditionally does not include raisins or caraway seeds, or even eggs! Irish soda bread is just flour, baking soda, buttermilk, and salt. That’s the basic recipe. Soda bread was created in the early 1800s and it was made in a large cast-iron pot or skillet. It meant you did not have to have an oven to make soda bread. While this recipe below does instruct to bake it in the oven, there are other traditional recipes out there which call for the traditional method and ingredients, see here for more information. I absolutely love the texture and taste of the recipe below. The buttermilk makes the bread very moist; and if you like raisins, you will love the sweetness that they bring to this simple and easy to make bread.

Irish Soda Bread

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Today I paid a visit to Henry’s market to gather provisions for tomorrow’s St. Patrick’s Day feast. St. Patrick’s day has always been one of my very favorite holidays. Growing up near the small mining town of Butte, Montana, I grew up watching the huge celebration that the city displayed. In fact, Butte has been celebrating St. Patrick’s Day since 1882!

This is the first year though, as a newly married lady, that I will be making corned beef and cabbage and Irish soda bread myself. We will be using our new crock pot (thanks Mom and Dad!). Gotta love using all the new wedding gifts!

I’ll check back tomorrow to tell you how it went and share recipes. Don’t forget to wear your green!

For many professionals wondering how to start their own blog, let me give you a quick start guide to get a blog started on the cheap and with little prior experience.

First, visit a free blog site such as WordPress or Blogspot and set up a free account. Getting your account started at either site is quick and easy. You will choose your own url prefix such as http://joesmith.wordpress.com. Once your account has been created, take some time to choose a free template for your site that best fits with your site’s content and messaging. Now, while you can certainly keep your costs down to $0 with this method, I highly suggest purchasing a domain name from a site such as GoDaddy and directing it to your new blog. It will look more professional. (more…)