Peanut Butter Smoothie

My husband and I tested out using peanut butter in our smoothies a while back and found a pretty delicious combination. I decided to try it out with a green smoothie twist and it was fabulous!

Ingredients:

• 8 oz liquid, 1/2 orange juice 1/2 water
• 1 1/2 handfuls of spinach
• 2-4 Tb. milled flax seed
• 1/4 c.-1/2 c. oats
• 1 banana
• 8 strawberries
• about 1/8 c. peanut butter

Directions:

Blend the liquid and spinach for about 20-30 seconds. Add the flax seed, oats, and banana and blend for another 30 seconds. Add strawberries and peanut butter, blend till smooth and enjoy!

Sweet Potato Smoothie

Are you ready for this? I didn't have any spinach or kale (staples when I'm making green smoothies) but I did have some baked sweet potatoes that needed to be eaten. I made my husband try and guess my "secret ingredient" and he couldn't figure it out AND he liked it. The sweet potato flavor was masked by my fruit (not that you need to mask it's flavor...they are so tasty on their own).

Ingredients:

• About 16 oz of liquid--1/2 water, 1/2 apple juice
• 1 1/2 cooked sweet potatoes
• 2-4 Tb. milled flax seed
• 8-10 frozen strawberries
• 1/2 banana

Directions:

Put the liquid and sweet potato in the blender, blend for about 30 seconds. Then add milled flax seed, strawberries, and banana. Blend until smooth. Enjoy!

Notes about this recipe:

1. If you want less of a fruity flavor add less strawberries.
2. I only added 1/2 of my banana because it was really ripe. Ripe bananas can become flavor hogs, just FYI.
3. You don't have to add flax seed. I do because it is so good for you. I'll do an FYI post on it soon.

Breakfast of Champions Smoothie

This recipe comes from Cindy.

Ingredients:

1 15 oz can no-sugar-added peaches in water
Three [very] large handfuls of fresh spinach or kale (it should nearly fill the blender)
1 banana
1 cup plain fat free yogurt
1 cup of ice
As much milled flax as you can handle ;)

Directions:

Pour the peaches and liquid into the blender, puree. Add greens and puree until smooth, about 30 seconds or so. Add in banana, yogurt and flax; blend briefly to mix. Add ice and puree until smooth.

Notes about this recipe:

Super quick and easy, so incredibly healthy, and super tasty. If you have family members who might gag at the sight of green liquid, you can add a cup of mixed frozen berries instead of ice, which gives it a nice purple tone (but ups the price tag).

Pineapple Carrot Green Smoothie

Ingredients:

• About 12 oz of liquid--1/2 apple juice, 1/2 water
• 1 carrot, peeled and cut into 3 or 4 small chunks
• Leaves from 3 stalks of kale
• 1 handful of spinach
• 4 large spoonfuls of pineapple chunks (could use fresh pineapple as well)
• About 8 frozen strawberries
• 2-4 Tb milled flax seed

Directions:

Put liquid in first, then add other ingredients. Blend.

Spinach Strawberry Salad Smoothie

If you like spinach strawberry salad then I'm pretty sure you'll like this.

I have found that if I make this (or any smoothie) in the morning and put the extra in a cup, then it's an easy, cool snack to grab when you get the munchies during the day; AND you feel good about it because you are eating your fruits and veggies. You could also freeze extra smoothie into popsicles.

Ingredients:

• About 12 oz of liquid---1/2 apple juice, 1/2 water
• 2 heaping spoonfuls (big spoon, not a little spoon) of plain yogurt
• leaves from 1 large stalk of kale
• 1 1/2 handfuls of spinach
• About 10 frozen strawberries
• 2-4 Tb milled flax seed
• 2-4 Tb walnut chunks
  

Directions:

Put liquid in first, then add all the rest of the ingredients. Blend.

Spinach Banana Strawberry Smoothie

I made my first "green" smoothie!

Ingredients:

• About 12 oz of liquid---1/2 was water, 1/2 was orange juice
• Almost 1 banana (my baby got a few slices before it went in the blender)
• 1 1/2 handfuls of spinach
• The leaves off of 2 stalks of kale
• Milled flax seed (I didn't measure, but it was probably 2-4 Tb)
• About 2 handfuls of frozen strawberries

Directions:

Put liquids in, then add the rest of the ingredients, and blend!

Notes about this recipe:

1. "Green" smoothies are usually green, but if you add berries or other red fruits they turn brownish. Don't let the color scare you!
2. My baby LOVES smoothies, and she liked today's "green" one too! I think kids and smoothies are a great combination.

Pancakes, Potatoes, and Smoothies

Around here we enjoy eating breakfast foods for dinner.


Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes (adapted from BHG)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 beaten egg
• 1 cup buttermilk or sour milk (1 cup milk with 1 Tb. lemon juice, let sit for about 5 min.)
• 2 tablespoons applesauce

Directions:

1. In a medium mixing bowl stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Make a well in the center of the dry mixture; set aside.
2. In another medium mixing bowl combine the egg, milk, and applesauce. Add egg mixture all at once to the dry mixture. Stir just till moistened (batter should be lumpy).
3. For standard-size pancakes, pour about 1/4 cup batter onto a hot, lightly greased griddle or heavy skillet. For dollar-size pancakes, pour about 1 tablespoon batter onto a hot, lightly greased griddle or heavy skillet. Cook over medium heat about 2 minutes on each side or till pancakes are golden brown, turning to second sides when pancakes have bubbly surfaces and edges are slightly dry. Serve warm. Makes 8 to 10 standard-size (4-inch) or 36 dollar-size (2-inch) pancakes (8 servings).

You can serve them up with jam, fruit, syrup, or yogurt on top.

I made some Oven Fried Potatoes to go with our pancakes. The amazing thing about these potatoes is that if you put these in the oven before starting anything else they will be finished by the time the rest of your meal is done, and you don't have to worry about stirring them in a frying pan. I love them!

(before and after cooking)

Oven Fried Potatoes

Ingredients:

• 3-4 potatoes, sliced as thick or thin as you would like--I usually do about 1/4 of an inch or smaller.
• 1 Tb. olive oil, plus about 1/4 tsp for the pan.
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 1/4 tsp. seasoned salt or regular salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spread 1/4 tsp of olive oil on a baking sheet.
   
2. Slice the potatoes and lay them in one layer on the baking sheet.
3. Combine olive oil, pepper, and salt in a small bowl. Using a pastry brush spread the oil mixtures all over the potatoes.
4. Bake for 20-30 minutes, until desired tenderness (or crispiness) is reached.

And to top off our meal we drank fruit smoothies.

Fruit Smoothie

Ingredients:

• 9-10 oz. of orange juice
• 1 banana
• about 1 cup of frozen strawberries
• 1 small strawberry yogurt

Directions:
Put all the ingredient in the blender, starting with the juice. Blend until smooth. Makes enough for 3 small adult servings.

Notes about the recipes:
1. The crispier you make the potatoes the harder it is to get them off the pan.
2. You can get creative with the potatoes and try other spices or herbs. If you do please add a comment and let me know how they turned out!
3. If the pancake batter is too thick for you just add a little bit of milk to thin it out.
4. Sometimes we like to add oats and/or flax seed to our smoothies.