Smoothies....My best friend!

I will be unplugging for the next 3 days as I head to Phoenix, AZ to attend the Juice Plus conference. I’m super excited! I went 6 months ago and was just blown away by what I learned. I’m going with some of my best girl friends too, so I get a double treat! A girls trip mixed in with one of my biggest passions health and wellness.

One thing I cannot live without are my smoothies! I make them almost everyday, usually after my workout or when I’m crashing about 2:00 pm. Her is the recipe for my Complete Smoothie::

Frozen or fresh organic fruit (1/2 -3/4 c.)
Organic vanilla yogart (1/3 c. – 1/2 c.)
1-2 T. of ground flaxseed
1 scoop of Juice Plus Complete Powder (vegetarian, contains fruit and vegetable powders and non GMO soy isoflavins!)
Juice or water

Blend it up and it is a Complete on the go meal! I’ve always got a can in my car too. I take it into places that make smoothies, like Starbucks, etc., and they will add a scoop of this to my drink for me. The chocolate is good in coffee too! Makes it like a mocha, a mocha that also has about 13 fruits and vegetables in it without you even tasting them!

If you want to follow me on Twitter or FaceBook I’ll be Tweeting some great information from the conference!

Don’t these look just fabulous? I’m pleased to tell you that they are healthy too! I was recently reading Natural Health Magazine {if you don’t know me well, I’m a total health nut!}. I came across this fabulous recipe by Ivy Larson. I was even more thrilled because I’ve heard Ivy speak before! Larson has been battling multiple sclerosis since 1998. She did not see improvement in her disease until she eliminated processed foods from her diet. Her latest cookbook is the Whole Foods Diet Cookbook.

use what you have!

I was thrilled that I had all the ingredients needed to make these Blondies! I’ll share my adaptation of the recipe with you! Use what you have, but keep in mind, the more natural or organic the ingredient you have, the “cleaner” {meaning no processed or minimally processed foods} the end result will be.

1 cup of all natural peanut butter {I used crunchy!}
3 organic eggs
3/4 cup of brown sugar
1/4 cup of organic milk
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 cup of wheat germ
1/2 cup of light whole wheat flour {I like King Arthur the best – available at Harris Teeter}
3/4 cup of chocolate chips {I prefer Ghiradelli 60%}

1. Combine the peanut butter, eggs, brown sugar, milk and vanilla until smooth.
2. Add the baking powder and blend. Mix in the wheat germ and flour just until blended.
3. Stir in the chocolate chips.
4. Pour into a greased 8 x 8 glass baking dish.
5. Bake @ 350 for 25 minutes, or until a knife inserted in center comes out clean.

Let cool and ENJOY! You can get great fiber from the whole grain flour and wheat germ. The peanut butter packs in the protein and the chocolate just satisfies the need for some chocolate! Remember dark chocolate is a source of anti oxidants!

If you want 10 free recipes from Ivy, go to her website The 2 Larsons!

So, who is goning try to make these?

I’m very passionate about what I feed my family. They love it when I make them home made and healthy foods to snack on. It is also fun to get them involved in kitchen as well. Banana bread is a staple at our house when we have bananas to use up.

I start with at least 3 ripe bananas. Peel and mash away.

The Best - Stoneyfield Yogurt!

My next favorite ingredient to bake and cook with is Stoneyfield Yogurt. It’s organic, wholesome and very delicious. I feel good knowing there are no hormones or artificial colors in their products. I’m a butter girl, so I always bake with organic butter…again the rBGH hormone factor for me.

My Flour!

Another great ingredient I use to bake with is King Arthur Flour. This one is unbleached and whole grain, a very important choice. To get used to it, you can start baking with 1/2 white flour and 1/2 whole wheat flour. This brand is very light and bakes well. The kids won’t even know!

Yum!

I almost didn’t get this picture! We inhaled most of it before I realized I needed an finished shot!

So, here is the receipe….

1 c. sugar (organic raw if you choose)
1/4 c. butter
3 mashed bananas
1/3 c. vanilla yogurt
1/4 c. milk
2 large eggs
2 c. whole wheat flour
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt

Combine sugar and butter. Add banana, milk, yogurt and eggs. Add flour, baking soda and salt. Add nuts if desired. I really like pecans. I’m the nut so I’ve always got some nuts on hand!

Bake at 350 degrees about 40-50 minutes.

It is always fun to share my DIY stuff with Kimba’s readers.

I am a big fan of Bakerella! Her pictures of her gourmet treats are just incredible. I get hungry every time I click over there. After craving her red velvet cake pops for quite some time, I gathered up the ingredients with high hopes of perfecting these and wowing everyone with my new found talent!

red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting

I baked my red velvet cake, let it cool and then mixed in a can of cream cheese frosting…yumo!

cake on a stick!

I rolled this sweet cake into little balls, and carefully inserted a stick into each ball before putting them in the freezer for several hours, anticipating the excitement to dip them into my pink bark. I picked pink in honor of breast cancer.

I melted a bag of pink meltaways from Michael’s and starting dipping….

Bakerella I am NOT!

I dipped, the cake started coming apart, it was not smooth, the sticks were coming out too! My visions of becoming famous in my hometown for cake pops were gone in a dip! With each dip the got uglier and uglier! I just started laughing at each one! I even had an audience for this adventure…they laughed with me…not at me!

tray of ugly

This is my end result….Bakerella I am not. But, I will tell you that the taste was DIVINE! They were so yummy! Rich red velvet cake with that sweet cream cheese frosting in the perfect bite size treat.

I will attempt again…I have not given up. I dream of one day having a tray of perfect looking cake pops!

Even though these were not a huge success in the visual department I sure have enjoyed eating them! So, I will enter them into Kimba’s DIY day for a chance at her wonderful giveaway’s she has on Tuesdays. Who knows, maybe she will take pity on my failure!

I’m reposting this for DIY Day on A Soft Place to Land. I’ve made them several times since this original post in May…sinful every time!
Remember this post when I sampled The Baked Brownie (Oprah’s favorite brownie) and met the owner? Well I purchased the cookbook and finally got around to making this amazing brownie and I must say I DID IT! They were sinful! So easy that I’m going to share the recipe with you.

Gather your ingredients:

1 1/4 c. flour
1 t. salt
2 T. dark unsweetened cocoa powder…good quality..not Hersheys…I got Ghiradelli
11 ounces dark chocolate (60-70% cacao) coarsely chipped….I used a bag of Ghiradelli 60% cacao chocolate chips
2 sticks of butter, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 t. instant espresso powder
1 1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
5 large eggs, Room Temperature
2 t. pure vanilla

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, salt and cocoa together.

Put the chocolate, butter, and instant espresso powder in a large bowl and set it over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate and butter are completely melted and smooth. Turn off the heat, but keep the bowl over the water and add the sugars. Whisk until completely combined, then remove the bowl from the pan. The mixture should be room temperature.

Add 3 eggs to the chocolate mixture and whisk until combined. Add the remaining eggs and whisk until combined. Add the vanilla and stir until combined. Do not overeat the batter at this stage or your Brownies will be cakey.

Sprinkle the flour mixture over the chocolate mixture. Using a spatula (not a whisk), fold the flour mixture into the chocolate until just a bit of the flour mixture is visible.

Pour the better into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake at 350 in the center of the oven for 30 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the brownies comes out with a few moist crumbs sticking to it. Let the brownies cool completely, then cut them into squares and serve.

OK, now I want some right now! Let me know if you plan on making any yourself!

Is Monday over yet?  Not quite, but here is visual of where I perched about 2 hours ago.

I’m really into Mexican flavors right now and we’ve been eating a lot of beans lately and not as much meat. I thought I’d show you how you can take a really great recipe and change it up a little as well. I love Southern Living recipes and get a lot of inspriation each month from their basic easy recipes that are always packed with great flavor. This one looks great and it has the slow cooker element in it as well. I’m going to put my changes with healthy choices next to it…do it either way you want or mix it up your way too!

Slow Cooker Beef Taco’s

Prep: 20 min.; Cook: 6 hrs., 10 min. We brown the beef before slow-cooking to add color and enhance flavor. This mixture is also great over baked potatoes with your favorite toppings.
Yield
Makes 8 servings

Ingredients
2 pounds boneless beef chuck roast, cut into 1-inch cubes use chicken instead
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 (6-oz.) can tomato paste use organic tomato paste
2 cups beef broth use good quality and/or organic broth
1 small white onion
1 (8-oz.) can tomato sauce
1/2 medium-size green bell pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Flour or corn tortillas, warmed use whole wheat tortilla’s
throw in a can off organic black beans in the last 30 minutes before serving!
Toppings: shredded Cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese, sour cream
Preparation
1. Sprinkle beef evenly with salt.
2. Cook beef, in batches, in hot oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat 5 to 7 minutes or until browned on all sides. Remove beef, reserving drippings in Dutch oven. Add 1 Tbsp. chili powder to Dutch oven; cook, stirring constantly, 1 minute. Stir in tomato paste, and cook, stirring constantly, 2 minutes. Add 2 cups beef broth, and stir, scraping bits from bottom of Dutch oven. Return beef to Dutch oven, and stir.
3. Place beef mixture in a 4 1/2-quart slow cooker. Add onion and next 4 ingredients. Cook on HIGH 4 hours or on LOW 6 hours or until beef is tender. Serve with warm tortillas and desired toppings.

Last Thursday I found myself with 3 bags of organic carrots from my vegtable coop. I declared it carrot day and Grayson and I started grating and chopping them! We got quite a workout and some very orange fingers. First we threw some in stew in the crockpot and then moved on to some carrot cake bread using a recipe I found on Food Network. It was so delicious that we made another whole batch! Sorry I was too lazy to get the camera out…but here is our recipe…

Healthy Carrot Muffins

Ingredients
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2/3 cup dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons wheat germ
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch fine salt
2 large eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil (I used organic coconut oil)
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
4 medium carrots, grated (about 2 cups)
1/2 cup canned crushed pineapple, drained
Special equipment: 12 cup muffin tin and paper liners (I put mine in mini loaf pans instead)

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line twelve 1/2-cup muffin cups with paper muffin liners.
Whisk the flours with the brown sugar, wheat germ, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. In another medium bowl lightly whisk the egg, then whisk in the vegetable oil, and vanilla extract.
Quickly and lightly fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients with a rubber spatula. Stir in the carrots and pineapple just until evenly moist; the batter will be very thick. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in the centers comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Turn muffins out of the tins and cool on a rack. Serve warm.

Enjoy!!!

I always find great recipes at www.southernliving.com. Today I found some wonderful, qucik and easy fish recipes.

Ingredients
6 (6-oz.) trout fillets
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
4 tablespoons olive oil
Italian-Style Salsa
Garnish: lemon slices
Preparation
1. Sprinkle fillets with salt and pepper.
2. Cook 3 fillets in 2 Tbsp. hot oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat 1 to 2 minutes on each side or until fish flakes with a fork. Repeat with remaining fillets and oil. Top fish with salsa. Garnish, if desired, and serve immediately.

Italian-Style Salsa

Ingredients
4 plum tomatoes, chopped
1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
12 kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons drained capers
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese (optional)
Preparation
1. Stir together first 10 ingredients, and, if desired, feta cheese, in a medium bowl. Cover and chill until ready to serve.

Is it already Monday again??? How does this happen? Today I have a SUPER easy bean soup recipe and you only need 2 things and a crock pot!

Buy some orangic dried navy beans…it is important that you use always use organic beans. 2 large cartins of vegtable broth…quality matters so go for the organic here too!

Dump the 2 containers (8 cups) of vegtable broth and the beans (rinse them first) into the crock pot. Turn on the crock pot. I put mine on the high 4 hour setting. Mine switched to warm after 4 hours and we ate it about 7 hours after I turned it on and it was perfecto!!! Kids liked it too!

I’ve been really into beans lately and trying to get my kids to eat more of them too.

Also, thank you ladies for letting me know about history behind the blue painted roofs! I did not know that!! I have wasp problems so maybe I should paint over my porch blue!

Happy Monday!

MJ