Another Green Smoothie :)

I just made this and Mike said it's one of the best I've made so far. We make smoothies a lot so I figured I should remember what I put in this one to receive such a compliment :)

2 small mangoes, chopped
2 small bananas
1 apple
2 cups baby spinach
1 cup carrot juice
1 cup grape juice
*ice if none of your fruit is frozen, I used frozen apple slices.

Blend until smooth, add water to achieve desired consistency.

St. Patrick's Day Green Smoothie!

Use St. Patrick's Day as a chance to get your kids hooked on green smoothies! They are so good for you and tasty! Once they get past the green color (which is easier when you say "It's green for St. Patrick's Day!") they will love them and ask for more!

Remember to use very ripe fruit for the best tasting smoothie!

St. Patrick's Day Green Smoothie

Ingredients:

2 bananas
2 oranges
1 pear
2 cups fresh baby spinach
2 cups almond milk (or any milk)
1/2 cup yogurt (we use honey Greek)
Ice (if using frozen fruit skip the ice)

Directions:

Place all of your ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Add more milk for a thinner smoothie.

And now that they love green smoothies keep some fresh baby spinach and fruit on hand for this healthy and tasty snack!

Banana & Chocolate Ice Cream Treats

Playing off of the Breakfast Ice Cream I just posted about I wanted some other fun ways and combinations to eat this healthy treat. Banana and chocolate? Absolutely. I was going to actually mix the chocolate and some peanut butter, but I didn't have any peanut butter so that nummy combination will have to wait for another day.


Ingredients:

4 very ripe bananas (make sure they have brown spots covering the peel, this is when they are at their sweetest!)
2-4 Tablespoons yogurt (I used honey greek yogurt, but use any yogurt of your choice)
Nutella

Directions:

Cover muffin tins with liners (about 20 small or 10 regular), it would probably work fine with no liners but I haven't tried. You could also use those cute silicone ice cube trays in fun shapes!

Mix bananas and yogurt in a blender

Pour banana mixture into each muffin cup (fill them all the way)

Cover and freeze overnight.

Unwrap frozen tarts and put on a serving plate. Top each with some Nutella. As you can see I need to work on my topping technique so it doesn't look like someone pooed on my tart....

You can put them either way on the plate, I tried both and I'm not sure which way looks better, what do you think? Muffin or upside down muffin?




Enjoy!

Some ways I will experiment with this recipe:

Add some peanut butter into the banana mixture before freezing and then top with Nutella.

Mix peanut butter in with the nutella.

Use different fruits and corresponding toppings:

Strawberry (or any berry) with a little whipped cream on top?
Apple with a caramel or peanut butter topping?
Mango and.....

Ice Cream for Breakfast

Okay, technically more like frozen yogurt, but who doesn't love the sound of ice cream for breakfast? This has more protein & fiber with less sugar than most breakfast cereals! And to save 50 calories and 3 grams of sugar eat it in a bowl instead. Or to go the other direction, throw some colorful sugar sprinkles on top and watch those little faces light up! Perfect for breakfast, as a snack or dessert.

I'll get a picture up soon....

This came about because I had a pack of sugar cones to use up. I bought them to make the Cub Scout Camping Cake. We rarely have ice cream cones at home, it's really something we go out and do. The last thing I need in the house is a carton of ice cream, it wouldn't even make it into the cone before meeting it's fate.

If I have too much fruit that is really ripe and I know we can't eat it before it turns, I chop it up and freeze it for smoothies.... or this recipe :)

Ingredients:

1 cup chopped frozen fruit of your choice
2 Tablespoons honey greek yogurt
1 sugar cone

Directions:

Put fruit and yogurt in your blender and blend until smooth. Hold on, it's rough going at the start :)

You can scoop it into your cone with a spoon or put it into a plastic bag, cut the corner and squezze it into your cone all pretty like.

The nutrition facts are using one cone with apple as the fruit, but use whatever fruit you have or love! Mango, banana, berries, pear, orange......

	Nutrition Facts User Entered Recipe 1 Serving Amount Per Serving Calories 118.2 Total Fat 0.7 g Saturated Fat 0.1 g Polyunsaturated Fat 0.2 g Monounsaturated Fat 0.1 g Cholesterol 0.0 mg Sodium 25.7 mg Potassium 204.3 mg Total Carbohydrate 23.9 g Dietary Fiber 3.1 g Sugars 3.9 g Protein 5.5 g Vitamin A 1.2 % Vitamin B-12 3.3 % Vitamin B-6 3.4 % Vitamin C 10.5 % Vitamin D 0.0 % Vitamin E 2.1 % Calcium 7.5 % Copper 2.7 % Folate 2.6 % Iron 1.9 % Magnesium 3.0 % Manganese 3.6 % Niacin 1.3 % Pantothenic Acid 2.9 % Phosphorus 7.8 % Riboflavin 8.4 % Selenium 0.7 % Thiamin 3.2 % Zinc 0.5 % *Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

Strawberry & Banana Muffins

Think banana bread, only better! Like if you glazed your banana bread with strawberry jam and it was still good for you. I am going to top one of these with some honey greek yogurt because I bet it would be heavenly :)

Ingredients:

1 cup strawberries
1 banana
1 scoop protein mix (I used strawberry, banana, vanilla, but any flavor you have works. Chocolate would be great with these) I got my mix from YouBar!
1 cup oats
1/2 cup almonds
1/2 cup milled flax seed
1/2 cup pastry flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup honey
2 eggs
1/4 cup oil
strawberry jam

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 F and line muffin tins with paper cups.

Mix dry ingredients in your food processor. Pour into a large bowl.

Mix wet ingredients (minus the strawberry jam) in the food processor and pour into your dry ingredients.

Mix well and fill muffin cups 3/4 full.

Bake at 350 F for 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Heat about 1/2 cup strawberry jam in the microwave so it spreads easier. Use a pastry brush to glaze the tops of your muffins with the strawberry jam.

Apples and Greek Yogurt

Not really cooking, but for a great snack or breakfast this is tasty :) Grab yourself an apple, wash and slice it. Scoop yourself a 1/2 cup of greek yogurt with honey and dip away! Healthy and tasty, not to mention kids love anything you can dip!

Zucchini Carrot Muffins

These muffins are great for a healthy breakfast on the go and another good way to get your kids to eat their veggies... and even ask for more (three before I had to put the plate up REALLY high.)

Ingredients:

1/3 cup oil
1/3 cup applesauce *using applesauce in place of some of the oil will lessen the fat content and add moisture
2 large eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup oatmeal (ground in food processor) *grinding oatmeal to a fine powder and using in place of some of the flour is a tasty and healthy alternative
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons cinnamon *cinnamon is great for maintaining blood sugar and it tastes good :)
2 small zucchini (ground in food processor)
2 large carrots (ground in food processor)
1/2 cup almonds (ground in food processor) *I don't like almonds, but they are very good for you so I grind them up and throw them in the mix. With all of the other flavors in these muffins I can't taste the almonds.
1/2 cup dried blueberries *full of antioxidants!
1/2 cup raisins or dried cranberries *the dried fruit adds fiber, potassium and sweetness to the muffins.

Wow... that looks like a lot of ingredients.

Heat oven to 375 F and place paper liners in 18 muffin cups.

In a mixing bowl combine oil, applesauce, eggs, sugars and vanilla.

In another bowl mix dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients to the dry ones and stir until combined. Add your fruit and veggies and mix again.

Fill muffin cups about 3/4 of the way.

You can add a topping. I ground up some cinnamon granola and put it on top. It tasted good, but I think I'd leave it off next time. There was enough texture and flavor in the muffins without the topping.

Bake muffins for 15-20 minutes in a 375 F oven.

Eat plain or spread with a little butter and smile knowing you're eating your fruits, veggies and oatmeal for breakfast.

Hulk Smoothie

My three boys Love Hulk. It is super cute to watch 2 year old Joshua use his "big voice" and say "Hulk Smash!!!!!" We like to have smoothies as part of a snack or with breakfast in the morning. When trying to lose weight smoothies make a good snack alone or meal replacement with some protein powder added. But for these little boys, they need the extra calories so we add the smoothies to their meals.

Smoothies are the perfect way to get your kids to eat fruits and veggies. My boys love fruit anyway, except Joshua who loves it on his own terms. He loves bananas, raisins, dried mangos, freeze dried fruit and apples. Anything else he won't eat unless it's of smoothie consistency. He's always been very talented when it comes to swallowing his spoonful of yogurt while simultaneously spitting out the itty bitty pieces of fruit.

Spinach - I seem to sneak it into everything - is a great superfood and is one of the handful of veggies that slips unnoticed into a fruit smoothie. Well, not completely unnoticed. While you can't TASTE the spinach, it does make your smoothie green. Luckily most kids think fun colored foods are well... fun. Just give it a fun name like "Hulk Smoothie" or "Popeye Smoothie" and they'll at least try it and realize they love it.

If they still won't drink it I have another trick up my sleeve.... put it in popsicle molds and stick it in the freezer. I haven't met a kid yet that would turn down a popsicle.

We use whatever we have on hand for our smoothies, but here is one of our favorites.

Hulk Smoothie:

Ingredients:

2 mangoes (peeled and chopped)
1 banana
2 cups raw baby spinach
1 cup 100% cranberry juice
handful raw almonds
1 Tablespoon flax seeds
Water to get your smoothie to desired consistency
handful of ice

Directions:

Wash your fruit and veggies. Put everything in your blender and mix! Add water until your smoothie is of desired consistency. Drink up! *If making popsicles put it into your molds and in the freezer.

If some of your fruit is frozen you can skip the ice. When we have too much fruit I chop, peel or whatever I need to do to prepare it when it's fully ripe and put it in bags in the freezer for smoothies. I learned the hard way that you have to peel a banana before freezing it. Have you ever tried to peel a frozen banana?

Before you say "Eeeew!" try it! You can't taste the spinach, flax seeds or almonds. I HATE almonds, but they are really good for you. This is the only way I will eat them because I can't taste them.

Slow Cooker Applesauce

Time for some dessert don't you think? Although I wouldn't serve it after the Roast with the Apple Ginger Gravy because that's a little redundant....

Mmmmm Mmmmmm applesauce. And fresh, warm applesauce? It's doesn't get much better than that. Of course my slow cooker does it again with this tasty dish that can be used as a healthy snack, side dish or dessert! This is great on top of the Protein Packed Pancakes.

Ingredients:

6-8 apples (any apple works fine, but use more sweetener for tart apples and less for naturally sweet apples)

Juice from 1/2 lemon

2 Tablespoons agave nectar (what we use for sweetener) *adjust depending on the apples you used

2 Tablespoons cinnamon... or more because cinnamon is tasty and good for you :)

3/4 cup water

Directions:

Wash, core and slice apples. You can peel if you want (especially if you want to leave it chunky), but the skins are packed with nutrients. Mix the other ingredients and pour over the apples. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Stir and enjoy as is for chunky applesauce or put it through a blender or food processor for smooth applesauce.

Check out how techie I am (NOT) with my neat video below :)