Totally Awesome Green Smoothies

Ahh, the amazing little green drink. It will make your energy soar, give your immune system a boost, keep your waist line trim while still keeping you full, you can grab and go and as moms we all know how important that is. Miracles do happen in the kitchen people. You just need a blender.



So since I get asked about these All. The. Time. I thought I should probably sit down and share with you how crazy easy it is to mix up one of these. Right along with my normal style of cooking this really is a "throw-anything-and-everything-in-the-blender" kind of things. But I'll at least show you what I throw in on any given day and a few tricks that might help. The things you must have to make this work are:

-Blender, bullet, anything with a blade that turns solids to liquids
-Greens: Pretty much any kind, spinach and kale are my favorite. Try to stay away from ones that are spicy like mustard greens. Or if you do use those pair it with something like apple and lemon.
-Liquid: If you're really staying trim just use water. If you're wanting to create something creamy use a milk base like almond or coconut or regular milk. Try to stay away from most juices. You'll be adding fruit anyway and it's better to keep your sugar levels low.
-Fruit: I mean you can go all green but you might want something to sweeten the deal. Also if you're taking a meal on the go you can get extra potassium, fiber, vitamins and all those other added benefits that you would normally get if you had time to sit down and eat a bowl of fruit. A great fruit to add are frozen bananas, once they get a little ripe just peel, break into chunks and toss in a freezer bag so when you're ready for your smoothie just toss a few chunks in. Apples are great to add, but I will warn you sometimes they will leave your smoothie less smooth and with more "texture" unless you have a blender that totally pulverizes. Other fruits you can't go wrong with are citrus, I usually avoid milk with those, just seems weird to me. Berries of any kind for a great extra boost of antioxidants on top of what your spinach is giving you. Although I will warn you, berries will turn your smoothie less emerald and more... brown. Just put it in a solid color cup. Pears are awesome. Avocado to make it nice and creamy, just remember the fat content here and maybe only put in a quarter to a half of one. Oh the list goes on, you get the point.
-Grains, seeds, nuts: These are totally optional but if you're making this as a meal why not add a little protein to make it complete? Either add some peanut butter, almond butter, a few raw cashews, chia seeds or flax seeds, or even a small handful of uncooked rolled oats just to bulk it up some. If you're trying to up your caloric intake due to being pregnant or nursing you can even add a tablespoon or so of coconut oil.

So should we start mixing?

The first thing you always want to do is mix your greens and liquid. Here we have kale and a little coconut milk.

I fill my blender with greens and then add a little liquid. Just enough to get them combined.

Start pulsing to get the greens moving down.

Eventually you can just let it blend. But you might need to stop it and push the greens down a little bit.

You know you're done when all your greens are blended. Don't worry if you still have a few bigger pieces, those will get blended once you add everything else.

For this one I added an apple. You know me and my inability to peel an apple. Just core and roughly chop.

Toss that in along with anything else you're adding. As you can see I used apple, homemade almond butter, chia seeds and milled flax seeds...

Then I added a small palmful of raw cashews and flaked coconut. Just because.

Then blend baby blend!! If you add a juicy fruit you probably won't need to add any more liquid. But if you're adding frozen banana you might want to add some more milk or water.

Then pour and enjoy!

You can see what I mean about a little "texture" from the apple, cashews and coconut. But if texture bothers you just stick to creamy fruits and leave out whole nuts.

Don't forget to share! The amount I made above is enough to share with baby man. He drinks an entire cup of it and LOVES it!

And just so you don't come get mad at me later here's a little warning for you. If you're not used to consuming this many greens and fruits it *might* get things moving more than you're used to. If you don't know what I'm referring to just google the benefits of fiber. It's a good thing, just might catch you off guard.

Some of my other favorite fruit combinations right now are pear and a little avocado and frozen banana. Mango, pineapple, banana. Banana, coconut, peanut butter. Canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix) frozen banana, teensy bit of maple syrup, pumpkin pie spice. Kiwi, strawberry, banana. Orange, lime, mango. Oh and when you need a special treat try fresh mint in with your greens, dark chocolate chips and a spoonful of cocoa powder, mint extract, and frozen avocado. Top with a small dollop of greek yogurt. Um hello deliciously healthy mint chocolate chip smoothie. If you ever want exact amounts on these just ask, but usually I just toss whatever I have in. Shocking, I know.

Also here's a link to the longest, most amazing list of green smoothies. Try a new one every day! You'll never get bored!

Here's a bonus smoothie for you, this time without greens. I know, I know. Technically you can add them. But I really wanted ice cream for lunch and I was planning on a big salad for dinner. See how I rationalize things? Totally justifiable.

So I threw a frozen banana, a little less than half of an avocado (the baby man ate the other part for lunch) some homemade almond coconut butter, chia seeds, and coconut milk. Yum.

 

It turned into this decadent, creamy, almost soft serve consistency delicious treat. So yes, you can totally have ice cream for lunch.

Oh, here's one more bonus. Buy the biggest bag of spinach and fill your blender like you normally would but just use water. Blend until it combines then toss in some more spinach. Keep blending. You'll have a thick, beautifully green straight spinach smoothie. Pour into ice cube trays and freeze for later use. When I'm making a smoothie and either don't have any frozen fruit to add or don't have any greens I'll pop a few of these in the blender.

So get blending people! After all, it is Earth Day and I can't think of a better way to celebrate!



{Healthy} Cookie Dough Dip

I know what you're thinking, Amanda, sharing a recipe about cookie dough dip? What alternate universe is this?! But not to worry, this is totally one of those sneaky, healthy snacks disguised as a sweet treat. And can you guess what the secret ingredient is? Wait for it....

Garbanzo beans! Or depending on where you grew up, chick peas. These innocent looking beans are packed with nutrients and when well rinsed or cooked from dry really don't have much flavor to speak of but are perfectly creamy on the inside and waiting to be transformed into something tasty.

This is beyond simple and so delicious and satisfying. You can modify it every time you make it by adding what you like and make it as sweet as you want.

Guilt Free Cookie Dough Dip

• 1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed well
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 TBS nut butter
• 1 TBS-1/4 cup milk of choice
• 3 TBS sweetener
• 2-3 TBS flaxmeal or oats
• 1/3 cup chocolate chips and any other goodies you would like to add

You want to start off by rinsing a can of garbanzo beans. Make sure to rinse them really, really well. Toss them in your food processor along with everything but the chocolate chips. When it comes to the vanilla extract I will sometimes only add 11/2 tsp vanilla and add 1/2 tsp coconut extract. For nut butter I usually add homemade almond butter only because I usually have it on hand and it's a little less peanut-y than peanut butter. For sweetener I usually do a combination of honey and maple syrup, I just looooove the way maple syrup makes this dip taste. Another tip, I usually only add a splash of almond milk at the beginning and add a little at a time until it's to my desired consistency.

Blend away then stir in chocolate chips and anything else you would like to add. This time I added unsweetened coconut flakes and butterscotch chips. Everything is better with butterscotch. Serve along side your favorite dippers. I usually like apples, graham crackers, pita chips, cinnamon sugar pita chips, or ya know, just a spoon.

Just makes sure not to tell the kids (or the husband) that it's secretly good for you.

And because this hardly counts as a recipe here's another tasty snack to have with garbanzo beans. Just drain, rinse, and dry and roast a can of garbanzo beans at 375 for 45-60 minutes until crunchy. Then toss with 1 TBS of the oil of your choice, I use olive for savory and coconut for sweet. And then toss with any other seasonings you like. For  parmesan garlic use 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese, 1 teaspoon garlic powder or 2 cloves fresh minced garlic, 1/4 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper, 1/2 teaspoon sea salt. For honey cinnamon add 1 tsp honey, 1-2 TBS honey and a dash of nutmeg. You can pop these ones back in to caramelize if you like. I wish I had pictures but when I thought of it they had already been gobbled up before they could even cool all the way!

 

 

Slow Cooker Steel Cut Apple Oats

You know those recipes that you use every single week without fail? This is one of ours and during the colder months this is in the crock pot every single week. And I don't know about you guys, but cereal is EXPENSIVE! Buying oatmeal in bulk and cooking it with your own add-ins in not only a lot cheaper but healthier too. So here's our steel cut oatmeal for you! And I'm going to use the word "recipe" loosely here, this is more of ingredient guidelines, feel free to make your own additions based on what you like or what you have in the pantry.

Slow Cooker Steel Cut Apple Oats

•        2 cups steel cut oats

•        2 cups milk (I use either coconut or almond)

•        5 cups water (If this is too watery for you cut back to 4 cups. I make this to put right in the fridge where it will continue to thicken to the perfect consistency for us)

•        3 apples

•        1 banana

•        1 heaping TBS milled flax seeds (optional, I use for nutritional boost)

•        1 heaping TBS chia seeds (optional, I use for nutritional boost)

•        ¼-½ cup coconut (optional)

•         ¼-½ cup raisins/cranberries/cherries

•        2 TBS sweetener, I usually use honey or maple syrup

•        1 ½ tsp cinnamon

•        ½ tsp pumpkin pie spice (optional)

•        A good dash of salt

Note- this is enough oatmeal to last the husband, baby and myself all week. If this is just for yourself you can easily cut this recipe in half or freeze your left overs to have in another week or two.

Start by gathering up your preferred cast of characters. In my oatmeal I like to use apples (I'm pretty sure I've used every single kind Winco carries, all are delicious) banana, dried fruit of some sort, here we have dried cherries but raisins are great, coconut, milled flax seed, chia seeds, cinnamon and steel cut oats. Not pictured is water, milk, honey and cooking spray. 

 

 

 

 

 Start by chopping up your apples. Please note: I never, ever, ever peel my apples. I'd like to say it's because the peel has wonderful nutrients and adds great color, but it's probably more because I'm lazy. So chop those bad boys up, peel or no peel is up to you.

Spray your crockpot with cooking spray or rub it down with some kind of oil. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP. You will seriously need a chisel to get the oatmeal out. Spray. Spray it good. Then, after you've oiled up your crockpot,  toss in everything but your water, milk and banana.

Next, mash up your banana with a fork. I usually like to measure out one cup of milk and mix it in with the banana and honey to really combine them. That's totally optional, I just don't really care for chunks of cooked banana in my oatmeal. And by mixing it in with the milk you honestly don't taste the banana but it adds just enough sweetness.

 

Pour your banana, milk and honey mixture over your oats and then add the rest of your milk and water.

 

Stir the whole thing up….

 

And turn it on low for 6-8 hours. I know, it’s a pretty wide range but every slow cooker is different. Mine is a cheepy one and only has low, high and warm. I can leave it for 7-8 hours and it turns out perfect every time. But if I half the recipe I usually only leave it 6-7 hours. Just check it your first time. When it’s done your oats should be cooked through and you should have some crustiness around the edges. Yummmm….

Because I make a batch to last all week I scoop out oatmeal into mason jars and top with a splash of milk and nuts. Let them cool and toss in the fridge and you have breakfast for the week! Just take off the lid, reheat and enjoy!