Let's brag about Red for a second :P

This story begins about 5 years ago, Red and I were just dating and he was already getting tired of doing all of the cooking.  As many people can attest to, I used to REALLY suck at cooking.  How my sister survived some of my attempts at "food", we will never know.  I was so bad that I screwed up Easy Mac on a regular basis, to the point where my roommates would just give up and make it for me. (Thank you!).  I either wound up with a strange soup, or a baked on gelatonous mess that had adhered to the sides of whatever bowl I was using.  With this kind of background I was not keen on attempting to cook for someone I actually wanted to keep around.

Enter Red, he has always been able to cook and was more than happy to cook...for a little while.  Then he started insisting that I make attempts to cook something other than plain chicken and spaghetti.  I kept telling Red that I wouldn't cook for him because he would always hover and "critique" anything that I was doing.  It made me nervous and even if I was doing something right I knew he would come behind me and fix something.  After many attempts at sharing the kitchen I just let him deal with it.  Finally he realized that I wasn't going to cook ever again if this kept up, so he devised a plan.  He promised to at least try anything that I made.

This plan worked out for quite a while because it turned out that real food was easier to cook than whatever is in Easy Mac.  There were still horrific moments, and he would quietly watch me eat, and as long as I kept eating whatever I had messed up then he would keep eating.  After we were through he would say that he was glad I tried something new, but let's keep our options open.  That or "that was good, but we don't need to try it ever again".  Yep.  He made the deal to try ANYTHING I cooked or made, and he has held to his promise to this day.  Well now he is starting to sorely regret that promise as I have gained more confidence in the kitchen and am branching out into the crazy healthy world where gluten free is everywhere, beets are a key ingredient, and protein powder is a fully acceptable substitute to flour.  Ok, maybe not that bad, ok yes it is.  Cue this week's newest "attempts".  For Sunday breakfast we always eat French toast, eggs, and bacon.  I decided that I wanted to try something a little bit different and was a bit healthier.  I attempted "cookie dough cereal".

1 scoop protein powder
1/2 C quick oats
1-2T nut butter
2 tsp vanilla
1tsp cinnamon
1tsp sweetener of choice (we just used sugar)
Enjoy with almond milk.

Red kept his promise, ate half of the bowl that I gave him then looked at me and asked if I was serious.  I continued to eat mine because I thought it was actually good, I also didn't put as much cinnamon in mine which apparently ruined his.  Ok, fine, that was a flop in his book.  I have since had it 3 times and still think it's delicious.

Attempt two:  a juicing/smoothie/drink/thing.  Basically I was bored and thought something would work out.  The jury is still out.  I have been hearing rave reviews about beets and their benefits to athletes, cancer fighting awesomeness, and their ability to balance your checkbook (I made the last one up).  So I figured it must be good!!   While at William Sonoma the other day they had samples of juice.  Instant creativity boost!  During my grocery shopping on Monday I decided to pick up some beets, carrots, grapefruits, and apples for my newest juicing epiphany.  Buoyed by the inspiration provided by William Sonoma I now had a plan.  Today I put my plan into action, and Red again regretted his 5 year promise :)

Juice from 1 Red Grapefruit
1/4 of a beet
1 carrot
2 apples
8 oz of water
I put everything in my Ninja blender and let her go.  When everything was blended I strained my juice, added some sugar, and enjoyed.  As I took my newest concoction to the living room I told Red to try it.  He immediately said no, but I just gave him "the look" and he gave up and tried it.  See, he's such a good sport.  Red has honestly never turned down anything that I have made without at first trying it.  He also is good enough to eat more of it if he knows it's something I really wanted to turn out and something I tried really hard, but yet still screwed up.  Now I'm not going to say that this drink was a fantastic idea, but I've certainly had worse, and this one I can at least get down.

I bring you!  Whatever the crap you want to call this: