Green Smoothie (For Beginners)

There are A LOT of recipes out there for Green Smoothies.  I decided to try this recipe by Vitamix* because in their description it says, "a great starter recipe for those who are new to Green Smoothies."  We are definitely new since none of us have tried a Green Smoothie.

I'm not telling anyone that there's spinach in this smoothie.  Let's see if my family can guess the "secret" ingredient. :)

Ingredients (printable recipe)
1 cup green grapes
1/2 cup pineapple chunks (I used canned)
2 cups fresh spinach, packed
1/2 ripe banana, peeled
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup ice cubes
Directions
1. Place all ingredients into your blender's container in order listed and secure lid.
2. Blend until smooth.
3. Serve immediately 
Makes about 2 glasses

Adapted slightly from vitamix.com

The Results...
I didn't say a thing about the spinach in this smoothie.  Of course when I handed them their smoothies, they asked what was in them. My reply was, "banana, grapes, pineapple (all things they like) and a secret ingredient.  Can you guess what it is?"

Everyone finished their smoothies, but no one could guess the secret ingredient.  Not even my husband.  My son guessed kiwi---wrong!  They were surprised when I told them about the spinach.  The ripe banana and pineapple were the strongest flavors.

My husband thought it was pretty good.  My teenage son didn't mind drinking it.  My oldest daughter was a little suspicious and gave this smoothie only 2 stars (out of 5).  My little 5 yr. old and toddler loved this smoothie.  My toddler drank all of her smoothie and then climbed up on the table and tried to sip any leftovers out of the cups left there. :)

This was a great way to sneak some fruits and spinach into the kids' day.  They get a tasty smoothie and I know they are getting some extra vitamins and fiber.  Win! Win!  I will make this again, especially for my two youngest who don't always eat their veggies.

*I am not being paid by Vitamix.  I don't even own a Vitamix blender.  I just thought this would be a fun recipe to try and add some more fruits and veggies into my family's day.

This recipe is shared at:
 
I share recipes at the following linky parties.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Crock-Pot Hot Cocoa

We had a nice, long Thanksgiving break.  The older kids just went back to school today.  I'm trying to catch-up on laundry and housework and decorating for Christmas.  We do have our Christmas tree up.  The kids all helped put the ornaments on last night.  I only moved a few from the very bottom branches and decided to leave the rest how they put them.  We will see how the tree holds up over the next few weeks since we have a toddler this year.  She found some pine cones and called them "balls" and then threw them all over the room.  This influenced our decision to not put glass Christmas ornaments on the tree this year. :)

Our family loves hot cocoa.  It's a great treat during these chilly winter months.  The kids love a cup of hot cocoa when they come in from playing outside.  Last year, I made hot cocoa on Christmas morning.  I enjoyed sipping it while watching everyone open presents.  Here's a recipe I found that makes a little over a gallon of hot cocoa at once!  And you can keep it warm in a Crock-pot for holiday parties.

Ingredients (printable recipe)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups cocoa
1 1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup hot water
1 gallon milk
1 tsp. vanilla
Directions
In a large saucepan combine sugar, cocoa and salt. Add hot water slowly, mixing well. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture boils. Boil and stir for 2 minutes. Add milk; heat to serving temperature, stirring occasionally. DO NOT boil. Remove from heat; add vanilla and whip with a whisk. Serve hot with whipped cream or marshmallows if desired. This hot cocoa can be kept in a crock-pot for easier serving to large groups.

Source Drinks Mixer

The Results...
This recipe makes A LOT of hot cocoa.  You are using a whole gallon of milk in this recipe.  You could cut the recipe in half.  Our family of six drank about half of this hot cocoa on a Sunday afternoon.  Using a funnel, I poured the extra cocoa back into the milk container and stored it in the fridge.  Then, we just shaked and poured some cocoa into a mug and zapped it in the microwave when we wanted more.

If you're planning on serving a really large group, you could even double the recipe and keep it warm in a couple of Crock-Pots.  Make it fun and have all the fixin's, too, like whipped cream, candy canes and marshmallows.  There are so many different flavors of marshmallows now.  Last winter, we had a hot cocoa bar at a church activity.  At my local grocery store I found 6-7 different flavored marshmallows like caramel, peppermint, strawberry, gingerbread, cinnamon bun and coconut to serve with the hot cocoa.  A friend also made chocolate dipped spoons for extra fun and chocolatey-ness.  Here's some cute chocolate dipped spoons from alphamom.com.

There's just one thing I noticed while the cocoa is in the Crock-Pot.  If it doesn't get stirred often, it develops a skin on top like pudding.  I just removed it.  I don't know if there's a way to prevent it, any ideas?


I share recipes at these linky parties.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Moose Juice by Dr. Seuss

My family is very supportive of my goal to try new recipes.  My older kids even keep their eyes out for new recipes for me to try.  My 8 yr. old daughter recently brought home a Dr. Seuss cookbook from her school library, Green Eggs and Ham Cookbook by Georgeanne Brennan.  This recipe is based on Dr. Seuss's Sleep Book...........

A moose is asleep.
He is dreaming of moose drinks.
A goose is asleep.
He is dreaming of goose drinks.
That's well and good when a moose dreams of moose juice.
And nothing goes wrong when a goose dreams of goose juice.
But it isn't too good when a moose and a goose
Start dreaming they're drinking the other one's juice.

In the cookbook, there is also a recipe for Goose Juice that has kiwi and lime sherbet in it, but we decided we'd rather try the Moose Juice.  The combination of orange juice, banana and orange sherbet seemed like it would be delicious!

Ingredients (printable recipe)
1 1/2 cup orange juice
1 cup orange sherbet
1 banana, sliced
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Whipped cream  or Cool whip
Candy Corn (optional for garnish)
Directions
1. Combine the orange juice, sherbet, banana, and vanilla extract in a blender. Puree until smooth.
2. Pour into a glass and top with the whipped cream or Cool Whip. Add candy corn if desired.
Makes 2 servings

Adapted from  Green Eggs and Ham Cookbook by Gerogeanne Brennan

The Results...
Not bad.  It was easy to make and doesn't it look fun!  It was cool, sweet and orange-y, but it didn't blow us away.  My daughter thought it was good, but could've been better.  I was expecting it to be similar to an Orange Julius, but it wasn't.  It just tasted like really sweet orange juice.  I have a recipe for homemade Orange Julius that my mom use to make when I was a kid and it is much better than this.  Moose Juice was worth a try, but we'll stick to our Orange Julius recipe.

I share recipes at these linky parties.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Pudding Milkshake (No Ice Cream)

Sorry, this isn't the best picture.  It was getting dark.

We all need a little motivation sometimes.  I asked the kids to pick up the house yesterday evening.  They gave me that "do we have to?" look.  When I offered to make milkshakes, they jumped up immediately and started cleaning.  They hurried and put everything away.  A little bribe motivation works well.  The house was looking great!

I went to the freezer to start whipping up milkshakes.  But, there was a problem....no ice cream!

Luckily, I remembered a recipe for a no-ice cream milkshake that I recently found online.  We were still going to have milkshakes, Pudding Milkshakes.

Ingredients (printable recipe)

1 cup milk

1 cup frozen strawberries

2 1/2 cups Cool-Whip (or one small 8 oz. tub)

2-4 Tablespoons instant pudding*--I used Jell-O Strawberry Creme

1/2 to 1 cup ice

Directions

Put all ingredients in the blender. Blend until smooth.

Makes 2-3 glasses

*The more pudding mix you use the thicker it will be. Be creative and use different pudding flavors.

**You could make a lighter version with skim milk, Lite Cool-Whip and sugar-free pudding mix.

Inspiration netcooks.com

The Results...
Cool, creamy and delicious!  This is a fun recipe that you can be creative with and change the flavors to whatever you like.

The kids really liked their sweet reward.  They gave their Pudding Milkshakes 4-5 stars.  They didn't miss the ice cream at all!  I wonder what else the kids would do for a Pudding Milkshake?  :)   

This recipe is featured at Lady Behind the Curtain.


I also share recipes at these linky parties.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Dennys Food and Recipes: 5 Cooling Watermelon Drinks 4 Summer

Dennys Food and Recipes: 5 Cooling Watermelon Drinks 4 Summer: "From Denny: Did you know that America ranks as number four in production of watermelons? Bet you didn't know that important factoid. Now you are ready when you see the Trivia Crowd coming your way. You are sure to impress."

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Citrus Cream Smoothie

It's Friday, but we're in no rush this morning to get ready for school.  There aren't any lunches to pack, shoes to find or messy hair to brush.  It's almost 9:30am and we're all still in our PJ's.  The kiddos have the day off (parent/teacher conferences).  Since there's no rush, I thought it would be nice to try a new smoothie recipe this morning.  I saw Giada De Laurentiis make this smoothie yesterday on her show.  I love oranges and bananas together and wanted to see how they would come together in this smoothie.

Ingredients (recipe from foodnetwork.com by Giada De Laurentiis)
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
3 cups plain Greek yogurt
1 1/4 cups orange juice
2 medium bananas, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 tablespoons grated orange zest (from 1 large orange)
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup ice
Directions
In a small saucepan, bring the sugar and water to a boil over medium-high heat. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved, about 5 minutes. Cool for 20 minutes.

Pour the cooled syrup into a blender. Add the yogurt, orange juice, bananas, orange zest, vanilla extract, and ice. Blend until the mixture is smooth. Pour into glasses and serve. 

The most time consuming part is making the simple syrup and letting it cool.  This takes about 25 minutes.  In the future, I would make the simple syrup ahead of time and keep it in the refrigerator to have it ready when needed.  This would save a lot of time in the morning.  Since I had a BIG bag of oranges, I made freshly squeezed orange juice to use in this recipe.  Of course it would also be faster if I had used already prepared OJ. 

The Results...
2 out of 3 kids at our house liked this smoothie.  My son didn't like it.  He prefers thicker, richer smoothies.  My kids usually aren't big breakfast eaters.  I liked that this smoothie has some protein and vitamins packed inside to get them going in the morning.  Overall, I liked this smoothie.  I thought it was very refreshing and had a nice creamy texture.  But, I thought the orange zest was a little overpowering.  Next time, I would significantly reduce the amount of zest and see if that helps.  Citrus Cream Smoothie was still a delicious start to our "day off."

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Maraschino-Lemonade Pops

My 6 yr-old was looking through this cookbook and asked if we could make the maraschino-lemonade pops. Yes, my 6 yr-old likes to look at cookbooks, especially creative and fun kid cookbooks like this one. She's gonna be my helper and we can't wait to make these. Cold, refreshing, fruity pops are just what we need for these hot August days.

This recipe is from Favorite Brand Name Silly Snacks by Publications International, Ltd.  This book is an older version.  Here's a newer version on Amazon. 

Ingredients

1 jar (10 ounces) maraschino cherries, drained, juice reserved

8 (3-ounce) paper cups

1 container (12 ounces) frozen pink lemonade concentrate, partially thawed

1/4 cup water

8 wooden pop sticks

Directions

Drain cherries, reserving juice.  Place one whole cherry in each cup. Coarsely chop remaining cherries. Add chopped cherries, reserved cherry juice, lemonade concentrate and water in blender or food processor; cover; blend until smooth. Fill paper cups with equal amounts of cherry mixture.

Freeze 30 to 40 minutes or until very slushy. Place pop stick in center of each cup. Freeze 1 hour or until firm.  To serve, peel off paper cups.

note: Serve immediately after peeling off paper cups---these pops melt very quickly.

Ready, set, go....I had a 16 oz. jar of cherries.  I used 2/3 of it.

First step: a cherry in every cup.

Next: We added the rest of the cherries into the food processor and chopped them.  Then, we added the other ingredients and blended until smooth.

My super-duper helper filled the cups.

Don't forget to put the sticks in when they get slushy (I almost did!).

The Results...

Pucker up!  These are some strong freezer pops!  We thought they were too strong to eat alone.  I diluted mine with some ginger ale and it became quite tasty.

When the freezer pop melts, it leaves the cherry at the bottom of the glass.  It was kinda like a Cherry Limeade from Sonic.  I'm thinking we'll make this again, but use limeade concentrate and dilute it with Sprite to see if it will taste just like a Sonic Cherry Limeade.  Although this didn't turn out as a very good freezer pop, it did end up as a delicious drink.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad