ArcaMax

Happy Birthday Tattoo!

Our kitty Tattoo turned 19 this month.

This is a picture of her birthday kitty pate. Of course, we blew out the candle for her and sang a little ditty.

Tattoo had a lot of upheaval this month.

Mid-way through the month we put her in a cage and made her endure two, five-hour long car rides with an overnight stay in a strange hotel. She did great.

Then we holed up at a VRBO in a bungalow until our apartment was ready for occupancy. She lived there for two weeks. I think she thought that was her new home but it’s not very sunny inside and she’s an Abyssinian. She loves to sleep in the sun more than any other cat I’ve lived with.

Next, we put her back in her cage and dragged her up four flights of stairs to our new apartment. The building is so new the elevator was not working yet. She got jostled a lot. We did our best.

Good news is she is living in a brightly lit apartment up at tree height. She can see the birds flying by and get all the sun Chattanooga has to offer — and that’s been a lot.

Unfortunately the bad news is this month came with another birthday “gift” that is not so fun...

Read the full column at PlanZDiet.com

Strawberry Milkshake

I think this makes a beautiful, refreshing dessert. If you can’t get fresh strawberries go ahead and use frozen. Slices are best so they don’t get caught in the blender. For a special occasion top it with whipped cream!

Servings: Serves 3. Can be doubled easily.

Ingredients:

6 large, ripe strawberries, washed, hulled and sliced
3 large strawberries, washed (for garnish)
1 Tbl of stevia (ZSweet or Swerve)
¼ cup of whipping cream
1 cup of full fat plain yogurt
Ice

Instructions:

Blend the strawberries and sweetener in your blender until mush. Add the cream and blend for about 20 seconds. Then add the yogurt and blend for a minute on medium high. This will fluff it up more. Put a big cube of ice in the bottom of the glass for more chill. If you are using frozen strawberries, you won’t need the ice.

Serve in a tall glass to be fancy.

Serve with a straw (preferably bio-degradable) to be a little more fancy.

Garnish with a full strawberry poked over the side to be really fancy.

Serve with sweetened whip cream on top to be super fancy!

Enjoy!
Cheers,
Zola