Nutritious Peanut Butter-Chocolate Banana Smoothie

We're kind of smoothie fanatics at our house. Almost every morning I break out the blender and whip up a smoothie with whatever fruit we have around--sometimes vegetables, too! My boys slurp them down in no time and it makes me feel at peace to know they're at least getting their daily servings of fruit. This smoothie is a little different than what I generally make--but it's amazing! While it's not exactly low-calorie, the fat in it is at least the good kind! It's very filling and a great source of protein.

And somehow, the bananas, milk, and peanut butter combine in such a way to create the creamiest concoction I've ever made! It really feels like a milkshake. We all adore this smoothie!

Recipe from Blendtec

2 bananas (I like to use frozen so it doesn't get as diluted with ice)

1 c. milk

3 Tbsp. peanut butter

2 Tbsp. honey

1 Tbsp. cocoa

ice

Blend first 5 ingredients until smooth. Add ice until smoothie reaches desired consistency.

*I've also added in several cups of fresh spinach and a tablespoon or two or ground flaxseed with great results. If you can get past the murky camo-green color the spinach creates, it really doesn't taste much different. Just make sure to blend your spinach with the milk alone until it's pureed well in order to maintain the smooth consistency.

Knox Blox (Fruit Juice Jigglers)

I used to think Jell-O jigglers were such a fun treat! I was thrilled when I found this more nutritious option. We cut some with cookie cutters and cut the rest into squares. You can use any fruit juice, as far as I know (even not 100% juice), so I'm looking forward to experimenting with more! We used plain ol' orange juice this time and they turned out great.

Recipe from Knox Gelatine

4 envelopes (1 box) Unflavored Knox Gelatine

1 cup cold fruit juice

3 cups fruit juice, heated to boiling

2 Tbsp. sugar or honey, optional

Sprinkle gelatin over cold juice in large bowl; let stand 1 minute. Add hot juice and stir until gelatin completely dissolves, about 5 minutes. Stir in sugar or honey if desired. Pour into 9x13 pan (I also think it would be fun to try them in candy molds!). Refrigerate until firm, about 3 hours. Store in refrigerator.

Panera Bread Broccoli Cheese Soup

One thing I've noticed Utah has an abundance of but Texas seems to be lacking is a good selection of mid-grade places to eat. You know, places like Zupas, Cafe Rio, Kneaders, Guru's, Fazoli's...great places to grab a bite to eat which are nicer than fast food but don't break the bank. Panera Bread is one of those places. I've only been there once, but their bagels are the best I've ever had, and this copycat soup I found online is delicious!

Panera is owned by the same company who operates Paradise Bakery & Cafe in Utah. And, just an interesting sidenote, they have a few restaurants called "Panera Cares" where they serve food on a donation basis. They have been able to operate these restaurants and meet all expenses with this method. Some people donate more than necessary for their food, and those who can't afford it are always welcome to come and take what they need. It's a very intriguing concept!

In any case, this soup is amazing. :) I definitely suggest using fat-free half-and-half since there is a substantial amount of cheese and butter in the soup. It really doesn't make much difference in taste. I also suggest using sharp cheddar cheese, as listed, rather than a more mild version. Mild cheddar tends to get lost among other flavors, so I always like to use sharp cheddar in soups.

Recipe adapted from www.food.com

1 Tbsp. butter

1/2 medium chopped onion

1/4 c. butter

1/4 c. flour

2 cups half-and-half (I use fat-free)

2 cups chicken broth

1/2 lb. frozen broccoli

1 c. carrot, shredded

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

8 ounces grated sharp cheddar cheese

salt and pepper

Saute onion in 1 Tbsp. butter and set aside. Melt 1/4 c. butter in a large pot. Add flour and whisk for 3-5 minutes until it is thick and bubbly. Stir constantly and slowly add the half-and-half. Add the chicken stock. Stir well and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cook broccoli according to directions on package (I use the microwave). Add broccoli, carrots, and onions to soup and simmer until all vegetables are soft. Add salt and pepper.

At this point the soup can be transferred to a blender and mixed to desired consistency. This is optional, but definitely helps picky kids swallow down those veggies! Return to heat and add cheese. Stir until melted throughout and stir in nutmeg.

Cheesy Garlic Bread Swirls

Not the most nutritious bread option out there, but this is one fabulous side to anything remotely Italian! I recommend sliding a cookie sheet below the muffin pan in the oven. Sometimes the butter drips over the pan and sets off smoke detectors! Talmage declared, "I smell a little bit of pancake fire." :)

Recipe adapted from Our Best Bites

French Bread Dough:

1 Tbsp. yeast

1 1/2 c. warm water

1 1/2 Tbsp. sugar

1 tsp. salt

4-5 1/2 c. flour

3 Tbsp. vegetable oil

1 egg yolk

Garlic Butter:

1 stick butter

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 Tbsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. oregano

1/2 tsp. basil

1/2 tsp. marjoram

1/2 tsp. parsley

1-2 c. mozzarella cheese

Combine yeast, water, and sugar in a large mixing bowl and allow to stand 10 minutes until bubbly. Add salt, vegetable oil, and egg yolk and combine. Add 3 c. flour and mix well until combined. Add enough remaining flour to make a soft dough that barely sticks to your finger. Knead, either by hand or in mixer, for another 2-3 minutes. Cover and allow to rise 1 hour.

Soften butter and mix with seasonings. Spray counter with non-stick cooking spray and roll out dough into a large rectangle, about 18-20 inches by 6 inches. Smear garlic butter over the entire surface of the dough and sprinkle with cheese.

Roll up cinnamon-roll style and slice into 12 equal sections using a strand of dental floss (preferrably non-mint flavored!). Spray a muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray and place rolls in muffin cups. Allow to rise while preheating oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 18-22 minutes.

Mediterranean Delight Pizza

This might be our favorite pizza. It is an imitation of Papa Murphy's Mediterranean DeLite Pizza, but our version isn't quite as light. :) We start out with our traditional pizza crust and layer on olive oil, Italian seasoning, spinach, chicken, oven-dried tomatoes, feta cheese, and a sprinkling of mozzarella. There are so many delicious flavors in each bite!

I use a lot of approximation for the pizza crust, but here are the basics I follow:

1 1/4 c. warm water
1 Tbsp. yeast
pinch sugar
1 tsp. salt
3 1/2 c. flour
2 Tbsp. olive oil

Combine water, yeast, and sugar and let sit until yeast foams. Add salt, flour, and olive oil and knead in stand mixer with dough hook or by hand. Continue to alternate adding olive oil or water as needed. Dough should not be sticky at all but should form a cohesive ball. Lightly coat ball of dough with olive oil, cover with towel, and let rise until double. Makes enough for 1 large jellyroll pan or 2 8-9 inch round pizzas.

Toppings:

olive oil

Italian seasoning

1/2 bag spinach, finely shredded

4-6 oz. feta cheese, crumbled

1-2 lbs chicken, diced, cooked, and seasoned according to taste
(I prefer to use chicken thighs on pizza since they are more moist and tend to not get dried out during cooking at high temperatures)

oven-dried tomatoes (1 pint before drying)

1 c. mozzarella cheese (optional)

Sprinkle cornmeal over pizza stone or pan. Roll out pizza dough and place on pan. Brush lightly with olive oil and sprinkle liberally with Italian seasoning. Sprinkle spinach over crust and press into dough. Top with chicken, tomatoes, feta cheese, and mozzarella cheese. (Note: this is optional but I like to add it simply because it holds everything in place and makes the pizza easier to eat.) Bake at 500 degrees for 10 minutes.

Important: The tomatoes tend to scorch at such a high temperature (you can see some of mine are a bit scorched in the photo). The pan should be placed low enough in the oven to avoid this. Check the pizza periodically throughout the 10 minutes and if tomatoes are starting to burn, lower the pan.

**You can make this pizza "lighter" by halving the crust recipe and making the crust half as thin. You will just need to reduce the baking time accordingly.

Bean Dip Pasta

I stole this recipe from Laura, but since she hasn't posted it yet I thought I should share the goodness. This recipe is delicious, very filling, and tastes much better than it looks (I tried and tried to get a good picture, but this is the best I could get).

Ingredients:

1 bag of your favorite pasta (I use Penne)

1 can chili

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can stewed tomatoes - drained

1 can olives - sliced

1/2 block cream cheese

Diced cooked chicken - I usually put in 2 breasts (optional)

Cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain. Add all ingredients to hot pasta and stir together. Cook on low for a few minutes to make sure the cream cheese melts in and everything is warm all the way through.

Spinach Blackberry Salad

 My friend made this salad for a bridal shower that I hosted (it was actually the bride--I made her bring a salad to her own bridal shower!) and I LOVED it. It's sweet and tangy and crunchy, and the feta cheese mellows everything out. This is a great summer salad but we thought it was wonderful in snowy February.

Ingredients:

Spinach

Arugula

Grapefruit chunks

Blackberries

Feta Cheese

Mint Leaves (optional)

Make sure the grapefruit and blackberries are in bite-sized chunks and mix it all together. 

Two hints: I made it once with arugula and spinach but no mint, and once with mint and spinach but no arugula. I personally thought the mint was a little too strong in the salad (I only put a few in, torn into pieces) but my friends didn't notice it. The arugula was a great addition (as long as the arugula is good), but it is ok with just spinach too if arugula is too expensive (it is for me!).

How to Make Oven-Dried Tomatoes

I mentioned how to make oven-dried tomatoes in a previous post, but I thought since I would continue to reference them it would be easier to do a seperate post on them. So here it is...these are delicious, chewy little bites just packed with flavor. We love using them on pizza, in pasta, in quesadillas, etc.

Just chop up some cherry or grape tomatoes into fairly uniform sizes, drizzle them with olive oil, and sprinkle with kosher salt. Bake in a 250 degree oven for several hours, until tomatoes are shriveled and somewhat leathery when you rip them apart. They should look something like this:

Just watch them closely for the last little while, as they go from perfect to burnt somewhat quickly. If you need to, you can take the pan out and remove the ones that are done to let the rest cook a bit longer.

Creamy Avocado Pasta

Right after Wesley's first birthday something reversed and he went from being a bottomless pit for just about any food to being even more picky than Talmage was! But this pasta is a dish that both of my kids gobble up, believe it or not. It is a stand-by for a super quick, nutritious meal. The avocado makes a wonderfully creamy sauce without the addition of cream or butter. We love it!

Recipe adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod

1 12 oz box pasta (I use whole wheat)

3 avocados, pitted and peel removed

3 Tbsp. fresh squeezed lime juice

3 cloves garlic, minced

3/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt (or to taste)

freshley ground black pepper, to taste

Cook pasta according to package directions. Combine remaining ingredients in food processor and grind until smooth. Toss sauce with pasta and serve warm.

3-Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies

I'm going to give a disclaimer right up front that although these cookies are delicious, I don't think they taste as good as regular peanut butter cookies. BUT, I like these cookies for several reasons: 1) they are super kid-friendly to make, 2) they are a great treat to make if you need to go gluten-free for someone, and 3) the idea is just so novel! They have a nice, pure peanut butter taste with a slightly gritty texture (from the sugar) and a very dense consistency. Basically, they're just pure, sweetened peanut butter. My peanut butter crazy family loves them!

1 c. creamy peanut butter

1 c. sugar

1 egg

Combine and roll into balls. Press criss-cross style with a fork and bake at 350 degrees for 10-14 minutes.

Copycat Hidden Valley Ranch Seasoning

I don't know about you, but I think having ranch/sour cream dip makes raw vegetable eating about 100 times more manageable. But every time I hand over the nearly $3 for a packet of approximately 1 Tbsp. of seasoning, I feel a little bit irritated. One day a friend gave me a can of powdered buttermilk she said she wouldn't use. I found this recipe online and found it to be quite similar to the packaged seasoning. I mix up a batch of this and keep it in the fridge to use as needed. 1 Tbsp.=1 pkg. of Hidden Valley ranch seasoning, so if I'm doing single servings I just mix 1/2 tsp. or so into some sour cream.



Original recipe from food.com

1/2 c. dry buttermilk
1 Tbsp. dried parsley
1 tsp. dried dill weed
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. dried onion flakes
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. ground pepper

Comebine ingredients in a blender or food processor and pulse until seasonings are crushed and combined.

Whole Wheat Applesauce Blender Pancakes

I love these pancakes! When Grandma and Grandpa were on their mission here, I visited them once and Grandma gave me this recipe. The original recipe actually uses melted butter instead of applesauce, but I prefer using applesauce. It makes the pancakes more dense and gives them a terrific flavor. But they do tend to be pretty flat, so if you prefer fluffy pancakes, I would stick with using butter.

These also freeze well, so I like making a huge batch and sticking them in the freezer for quick breakfasts.



1 c. milk

1 c. whole wheat flour

2 Tbsp. sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. baking powder

2 eggs

1/2 c. applesauce

Blend milk and flour for 2 minutes (this softens the wheat and breaks it down). Add remaining ingredients and blend until smooth. Cook on a griddle at 300 degrees.


P.S. I don't really know why I've been on such a posting spree lately, but you can expect it to continue for at least a while longer--I've got lots more recipes in the works! :)

Yummiest Hot Cocoa EVER!!!

I'm kind of crazy about hot chocolate, so I find many excuses to drink it, even during our not-so-cold Houston winters. This one is absolutely delicious! It's rich and creamy without being overly sweet. I've also seen it with baking chocolate used instead of cocoa, but since cocoa is a bit less expensive and I have it more readily available, this one is my preference.

And by the way, YES that is a mug from Brick Oven Pizza in Provo. Consider it a merging of my Utah roots and Texas living. :)

Recipe found here.

1 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/8 tsp. salt

6 1/2 cups hot water (start with 5 and then add according to taste)

In a large saucepan, combine sweetened condensed milk, cocoa, vanilla, and salt. Mix well. Over medium heat, slowly stir in water; heat through, stirring occasionally. Do not boil. Hot chocolate can be stored in the refrigerator up to 5 days. Mix well and reheat before serving.

Enjoy!