Smoothies

I've always loved smoothies.  When I was in middle and high school, whenever my mom and I were out shopping, we'd get smoothies for lunch or dinner instead of eating out.  We usually went to Smoothie King, and I always got the same thing- the "Frozen Goat."  Sounds weird, right?  It's bananas, frozen yogurt, and mocha... and it couldn't be better.  I frequently make a home-made version of it when I happen to have a little coffee left in the pot from the morning's brew.  Today, I did a twist on it, so I'll share that with you, as well as my recent experiment with green smoothies, inspired by one of my favorite foodie blogs.  Hope you enjoy!

Nutty Strawberry Smoothie

Ingredients:

2 large scoops of strawberry frozen yogurt (I used BlueBell's, which is non-fat and has hunks of frozen strawberries in it!)

      -this could be replaced with plain or vanilla yogurt (frozen or non) and frozen strawberries

2 T peanut butter (for the record, I ALWAYS use crunchy. I love the crunch, and it's usually lower in fat than reduced-fat creamy. For smoothies, I just blend a little longer and it smooths out.)

2 T flax seeds

1 c coffee, unsweetened

3-4 ice cubes (can be increased or lessened to preference.)

Directions:

Combine all of the ingredients except ice in the blender, and blend on high until smooth (1-2 minutes).  Add ice cubes and pulse 10-15 times, to make it "icey."

I like to place mine in a plastic container or cup, and stick it in the freezer uncovered for about 5-10 minutes. This chills it more and gives it a nice, thick, icey texture. :) This makes 1 large serving. 

As I was making this, I realized that since it contains grains (flax), protein (peanut butter and yogurt), dairy (yogurt), fruit, and coffee, this is the perfect balanced meal! 

Pear Medley Smoothie

2 small pears

1 c frozen unsweetened applesauce

Large handful of raw spinach leaves

¾ c grape juice from concentrate

3-4 T flax seeds

Directions:

Rinse pears, and cut them into quarters lengthwise.  Core them by cutting off the tough center edge from each quarter.  Cut them into large cubes, and set aside.  Place spinach and grape juice in blender and puree until there are no bits of spinach left.  Add pears and flax seed and puree again for a few minutes.  Finally add applesauce, and several ice cubes, if you like it icey (I do!) and pulse the blender 15 or so times, until the ice and applesauce are crushed.  This recipe makes about two servings.  

Enjoy!  My next post should be coming soon... I have a few projects I'm tweaking before I share them.

Second Promised Recipe...

Ok, so here's the second recipe I made during mid-terms week, but didn't have time to write about then.  I adapted it from a recipe found on Angel Food Ministries Website.  By the way, if anyone is looking for a way to trim their food budget without sacrificing quality or health, I highly recommend Angel Food Ministries.  Angel Food puts together a variety of different food packages and offers them for sale at discounted prices.  You can look at their menu online and order a month in advance.  The food is good, healthy food, even if it's not always what I would think to buy.  However, I like to look at it as a challenge to widen the variety of foods and recipes I can cook!  This was one (VERY successful) attempt to do just that.

"Standing Up" Roast Pork Chops with Veggies (for crockpot)

-Pork Chops in 4 oz. portions (use as many as you like/ will eat, these portions are very flexible.)
-1/2 medium to large yellow onion
-2-3 tbsp butter 
-Salt, Pepper, and your favorite seasonings to taste.   I used Garlic, Seasoning Salt, Cracked Black Pepper, and Montreal Steak Seasoning (Mrs. Dash.)
 -Carrots
-Celery


Healthy Hints:
My mother-in-law makes a mix of half butter, half canola oil, which she refrigerates in a container and uses in place of butter.  It still has the buttery flavor, but the bad fats are cut in half, and it melts and spreads like a dream.  Also, I recently discovered "No-Salt," which is a fairly cost-effective and tasty salt alternative.  


Directions:
Place pork chops in crockpot skinny side up, like a wheel.  To help them stay standing, place small balls of aluminum foil between them, leaving some space to fill in with veggies later. Cut onion into slices like rings, then cut a slit on one side.  Arrange the curly onion pieces over the tops of the pork chops.  Chop carrots and celery into bite-size pieces and drop into empty spaces around pork chops.  Drop dollops of butter over onions, pork chops, and veggies, and sprinkle liberally with salt, pepper, and seasonings.  Cook on Low for 6-8 hours.  I served it with rice and a side salad, which worked great! It does need light, less flavor-intense sides, since the veggies and pork absorb so much of the flavor.  This is a great dish for meat lovers who have trouble with veggies, because they become so soft, and catch a lot of the meat flavor.  


Enjoy! :)

A-Mazing Apple Muffins

So, it's definitely about time I finally delivered on my promised blog :)  This past Monday night, I made apple muffins; it really reminded me of when I used to have "Muffin Mondays" in high school, and make baked goods for the week on Monday morning before school.  Anyways, these muffins were basically a severely doctored version of a mix.  However, I think the same idea would probably work with a good basic muffin recipe.

Apple Muffins

2-3 small apples of choice (I used Pink Lady)
1 packet apple cinnamon oatmeal
1 package apple cinnamon muffin mix (I used "Jiffy")
  - include whatever water, milk, or egg amounts are recommended on the package
1 extra egg
1/4 cup milk


Core and chop the apples into very small pieces, about the size of "Legos," keeping the peels on.  In a large bowl, mix all the rest of the ingredients using a spoon or spatula.  Place in greased muffin tin and cook according to directions on muffin mix package.  However, due to the extra moisture, they may require a few additional minutes.  A toothpick inserted should come out sticky, but without any wet dough on it.  I recommend leaving them out to cool overnight, or for several hours, so that they don't get too moist and sticky in a container.  


These muffins are amazing both warm with butter, and cold with a sack lunch! (If I do say so myself!)

preview...

So, I've cooked two things this week that I can hardly wait to share, but since all my professors have decided to bombard me with tests right before Spring Break, I've forbidden myself to blog about them until my tests are done.  However, I can't resist a little preview... I made some A-mazing Apple Muffins on Monday night, and on Tuesday night I made Pork Chops and Veggies in my crockpot, and it was such a success that my fiance asked me to make more for a "second dinner" later that night, instead of asking for dessert!  Needless to say, I really can't wait to give up writing about educational philosophers for a week, and write about these recipes :)

foodie blog post number one...

So, since becoming a slightly more regular blogger, I've decided to create a secondary blog to catalog my foodie experiments.  I'm hoping this will help both my personal blog and my new food blog have more coherent themes.  I'm really looking forward to being more purposeful in trying out/modifying new recipes, and recording the results. 

I had hoped to make my first post about this fantastic homemade garlic lover's pizza that I slaved over Saturday night, but sadly, it turned out pretty tasteless.  I had counted on garlic providing the main flavor to the crust and vegetables, but I had not counted on my generic jar of garlic being essentially flavor-less.  This was a real tragedy, since both my fiance and I LOVE garlic AND pizza.  So, my first short post will be a cooking moral; if something usually comes in small packages, and the generic offers a huge package for a small price, don't buy it.  It's liable to have more food coloring than flavor.