Building The Perfect Smoothie

Remember when I shared with you that I was starting to make smoothies? I promised some recipes once I perfected them and those are coming. Before I share some of my favorite concoctions I thought I'd pass along a few tips I've learned.

Above is a visual "formula" for my smoothies. I've detailed each "layer" below. Basically, I mix and match what I have (or what is in season)to come up with the daily smoothie. I love this method because I can customize it by making it low-oxalate (which I've been trying to follow recently due to some recurring GI/pain issues).

Posting Pictures Side by Side with or without Captions

Since I haven’t been in the kitchen much, I thought I would do a blogger tip/trick post.

The longer I blog the more things I learn how to do in blogger. I’ve known how to post pictures side by side in a post for awhile now, but I couldn’t figure out how to put a caption under them. A google search wasn’t much help, so this past weekend I sat down to figure it out. It took a few hours and a lot of trial and error, but I finally got it. I thought I would share the info for anyone else who is having trouble like I was. Now, I am no computer expert, so I can’t say this is the best nor the easiest way to add captions under side by side pictures, all I know is that this is how I did it. And if it worked for me, hopefully it will help someone else.

I know the new editor allows you to drag and move pictures in the compose section but I have trouble getting things arranged to my liking. I find it easier to do it this way, by writing in the Html code in the post.

1. First you need to find out how wide your post area is, so you can make sure your pictures will fit and not be cut off. To do this go to Design-->Edit HTML. Hit Ctrl F to bring up the search box in the upper right hand corner, type in “#main-wrapper {“ to find that part of your template (you could also just scroll down your template and look for the #main-wrapper, but I like the search box because it’s quicker).

Under that main wrapper will be width=(number)px; this width is the width of your post. Mine is 500px. Your’s could vary based on which template you use and/or if you have customized your template. So, since my width is 500px, the total width of my side by side pictures cannont exceed this number.

2. Now that you figured out your maximum width, you can add the pictures to your post. After clicking on "new post," in the post screen, make sure you are on the “edit html” tab. You’re going to set up a table for the pictures. Below is the code I use:

<style type="text/css">.nobrtable br { display: none }</style>
<div class="nobrtable">
<center><table>
<tr>
<td>Photo 1 url height=h width=w</td>
<td>Photo 2 url height=h width=w</td>
</tr>
</table></center>
</div>

I type in values for height and width, usually 300 for both, and play around with the numbers until, when I click on preview, I’m happy with the picture size/dimensions. Just make that when added together, your widths don’t exceed the width of your blog. For example, my widths are 250 for photo 1 and 250 for photo 2, so my total width for both pics is 500, and since my blog width is 500, I’m fine. (See photos at top of my post)

Also, I like to center my photos in my posts. If you do not want your pictures to be centered simply delete the <center> and </center> in the above code. In this example, since both my picture widths equal 500px I don't need to center them.

If you don’t want to add captions to your pictures, then your done. But, let’s say you’d like to add labels underneath the pictures. You just need to add some more code for captions. In the code above, add this code (below) directly above the </table>:

<tr>
<td><center>Photo 1 Caption</center></td>
<td><center>Photo 2 Caption</center></td>
</tr>

So your final code should look like this:

<style type="text/css">.nobrtable br { display: none }</style>
<div class="nobrtable">
<center><table>
<tr>
<td>Photo 1 url</td>
<td>Photo 2 url</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><center>Photo 1 Caption</center></td>
<td><center>Photo 2 Caption</center></td>
</tr>
</table></center>
</div>

And your photos will, hopefully, look like this:

pear brandy	morsels

(I like to make by text italic, by clicking on the compose tag, selecting the text and clicking on the italic button)

I hope these instructions are clear enough to follow, if anyone has any problems or issues, leave a comment and I will try to help resolve it. Hopefully, I have saved someone else the many frustrating hours of trial and error I went through to figure this out.

How to add a printer-friendly link to your blog

I appreciate when food blogs have a printer-friendly version of a recipe. It’s so nice to be able to easily print just the text of the post. I have wanted to add my own printer friendly link to this blog, but couldn’t really find a good way to do it. I did a google search, but I still couldn’t find an easy way to do it. Some people suggested setting up another separate blog that would have text only; I really didn’t want to mess with that. So I fumbled through it myself and figured out how to do it. I am by no means a computer whiz, so I don’t know if this is the best way to add a printer-friendly button to a blog. But it worked for me, and if I can do it, then believe me, you can, too. I felt that maybe others could benefit from this information, too, so I thought I’d post instructions. It’s great for a cooking blog, but it would also work for any blog where someone wants to have a printable text-only version of a post. I may not be the greatest at explaining things nor writing instructions, so feel free to email me (surlykitchen_at_gmail.com) if you have problems and/or questions and I will attempt to help you out.

Adding a printer-friendly link to your blog
printer-friendly version

1. Go to google docs and sign in via your google account. (I’m not sure if it can be done without having a google acct.)
   
   
2. Near the top left hand corner (under the google docs logo) click on the “create new” button, and select document from the drop down menu.
   
   
3. With the new opened document type (or copy and paste from Microsoft Word like me) your recipe. Make sure it’s formatted to your liking.
   
   
4. When your done save document. File-->save, ctrl+S, or click the disc icon.
   
   
5. Then go to “View” and select “webpage preview” from the drop down menu. This will open the document into a new tab. Copy the http link of the new tab.
   
   
6. Open your website post into another tab. Add “Printer-friendly version” where you want it to appear in your post.
   
   
7. Highlight the “printer-friendly” text and paste the google doc address into the “add a link” in your webpage post. Stay with me, we’re almost done.
   
   
8. Now you have to allow the document to be shared. Close the view webpage tab, so that you are back to the original google doc. In the upper right hand corner, there is a “Share” button. Click on it and selet “Get the link to share.” A new window pops open, check the box “Allow anyone to view,” then click “save and close.”**
   
   
9. Visit your blog to make sure the link works. Hopefully, it does.

**Update: Google has slightly changed the way you share documents. When you click on the "share" button, a window pops up with "public on the web...", click on the blue "change" link. A new 'visibility options' window opens, select the first option, "Public on the web." Click save and you're done.

How to get the old google documents editor:
Google introduced an updated version of the document editor, which I hate. To get the old version back is easy. In the upper right hand corner, click on "settings" and select "document settings." Click on the "Editing" tab and make sure the second box down, the "new version of google doc" box is unselected. Click on save and you're done!

*Update Jan 2011*
Google disabled the old editor, (please, Google, bring the feature back to allow the old editor back in google docs), but if you use this link, you can, for now, still get the old editor format for new docs.

**Update Aug 2011**
Google really wants you to use the horrible new format. If you still want the old editor format, click here. Then click the button that says "use this template." Please, please Google, don't take this old format away!

How to Cut a Pineapple (safely and easily)

I’m not the most coordinated person in the kitchen. I’m dangerous with a knife, especially when the knife is extremely sharp.

Back in July, about a week after purchasing a new knife, I’m innocently cutting up a green pepper to add to some eggs on Saturday morning. I’m chatting away with Mr.Surly as I chop, somehow lose concentration and almost completely took off the tip of my thumb. It cut right through the tip of my nail and thumb, leaving the very tip of my thumb hanging by a flap. After nearly fainting from blood loss, I wrapped my hand in a towel and Mr.Surly raced us to the hospital. Luckily the ER was empty so I was able to be seen immediately. Thank goodness the knife was sharp, so the cut was clean (apparently a dull knife will cause more damage), making for an easy reattachment. The doctor was able to sew the flap down and a couple stitches and Percocet later I’m back at home resting.

It’s been almost 8 months and I’m just now getting full sensation back on the tip of my thumb. I am happy to report that it has totally healed; looking at my thumb now you would never know that I nearly lost the tip of it. Needless to say, I’m still nervous of chopping things. So when Mr.Surly brought home a pineapple and asked me to cut it up so he could add it to his morning smoothies, I was a bit hesitant at first. If cutting a relatively soft green pepper almost caused me to lose the tip of my thumb, how was I going to manage cutting into a much tougher pineapple and still retain all 10 fingers?

I did a bit of research on youtube to find, what I felt, would be the safest way to cut the pineapple with little to no chance of injury. Finally, I came across this video. “This looks like something I could do,” I thought to myself. I’d like to give a shout out to Allegra1958 (who posted this video). Thanks to your informative video I can cut up a pineapple and avoid a trip to the ER. I thought I’d share so that others who, like me, are accident prone in the kitchen will also be able to confidently cut a fresh pineapple. Hopefully, it will save someone a trip to the hospital. I encourage you to check out the video (link here). Below I’ve given my own step by step. I apologize in advance for the pics; some are pretty blurry. It was hard photographing myself, while simultaneously trying to keep pineapple juice from getting all over my camera and avoiding cutting off my fingers.

How to Cut a Pineapple

Step 1: First, you want grab a cutting board with a non-slip grip bottom. If you don’t have one, moisten a kitchen towel and put it under your cutting board (a tip I learned from Martha Stewart). Trust me, you don't what that cutting board moving when your trying to cut into a tough pineapple with a sharp knife. Cut off the top and bottom of the pineapple so that it sits level on your cutting board, like so:

Step 2: Next, cut the pineapple into eighths. Below you can see that I only cut mine into fourths, this is because my pineapple was small and I didn’t trust myself to cut it any smaller. I felt that smaller slices would be harder to handle. After my accident, I like to err of the side of caution.

Step 3: Now you need to remove the core. Take each eighth (or fourth) slice and cut off the tip, removing the stiff core. You’ll be able to see the edge of the core, just make sure to cut it all off of the slice.

Step 4: Lay the slice down on the cutting board and make cuts all along the length, however thick you want your pieces of pineapple to be.


Step 5: Using the palm of your hand, gently press down on the pineapple with the heel of your hand. Carefully slide the knife along the bottom of the slice. Your knife should glide along easily, if it doesn’t that means you’re too close to the skin. (Note the tip of my thumb in the picture below, it’s the one that I cut off about 1/4". You can’t even tell now can you? It took a couple months to regenerate and look normal again. The human body is amazing in its ability to heal).

Sometimes, once I get near the end of the slice, I will stand it up to cut off the rest of the pineapple. No reason other than it makes me feel safer when cutting. (Please excuse my red fingers; I’m an obsessive hand-washer, and the air is dry).

That's it. Put your pineapple in an container and refrigerate. That wasn't so bad, now, was it? If I can do it, then anyone can do it.