Green Monster Smoothie (Basic)

I've been seeing tons of these green smoothies popping up on all my favorite food blogs. I am a pretty picky eater and the thought of drinking my veggies sounded repulsive, but finally I decided to cave. My first version was actually a mocha (I figured with coffee and chocolate it couldn't be that bad), and I quickly developed an addiction for these tasty, healthier smoothies. I honestly feel like I have more energy on the days I have one of these. This is the base recipe, you can add so much more to it and change the flavors. I have already made about 6 or 7 versions and plan on getting them (and many more) posted soon.

Trust me on this one, you REALLY can't taste the spinach! ;-)

Classic Green Monster
Adapted from: Oh She Glows
Yield: 1 serving/2 cups

Ingredients:
1 cup almond milk, or milk of choice
1 ripe banana, preferably peeled + frozen
2 handfuls organic spinach
1 tbsp chia seeds OR 1 tbsp ground flax (optional)
1 tbsp nut butter,
1-3 ice cubes (I skip this if I have a frozen banana, or I freeze almond milk in cubes and use that as well)



Directions: Starting with the liquid, add in 1 cup of milk of your choice. Now add in the chia or flax and nut butter. Next, add in the spinach followed by the banana on top. Blend until smooth. Add in your ice cubes and blend some more. Serves 1- about 2 cups.

Breakfast Cookies

So just about every morning Hunter asks for cookies for breakfast, and every morning I say "no cookies for breakfast silly" and we both laugh. Well this morning I really threw him for a loop when he sat down for breakfast and had a cookie on his plate! I saw this on a Food Network Clip for Ellie Kruger's Healthy Appetite Show and since I knew we had all the ingredients I tried them out. They were really good! Fluffier and more cake-like than I expected, but delicious. I couldn't taste the carrots, it tasted more pumpkin-like with the cinnamon and nutmeg. They were a big hit here!

Breakfast Cookies
Source: Ellie Kruger of Food Network
Nutritional Information
Serves:12, serving size: 1 cookie
Calories 190, Total fat 9g, Protein 3g, Carbohydrates 23g, Fiber 2g, Cholesterol 25mg, Sodium 120mg


Ingredients
3/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup (1 small jar) strained carrot baby food
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup bran cereal flakes
1/3 cup raisins
1/3 cup walnut pieces, lightly toasted in a dry skillet for 2 minutes, until fragrant and chopped

Directions
Place rack in center of oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Whisk together flours, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a medium-sized bowl.

Combine butter, oil and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix on high speed, scraping down sides if necessary, until sugars have dissolved and mixture is light in color, about 1 minute. Add egg, carrot puree and vanilla and beat an additional 30 seconds. Add flour mixture and beat an additional 30 seconds. Add oats, flakes, raisins and walnuts and mix over low speed just until incorporated. Dough will be slightly sticky and less cohesive than traditional cookie dough.

Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper. Using between 3 to 4 tablespoons of batter, form a ball and place on cookie sheet. Repeat with remaining batter, leaving about 3 inches between cookies. Wet hands and use palm of hand to flatten cookies until about 1/4-inch thick.

Bake for 12 minutes, until cookies are fragrant but still soft. Let cookies cool slightly, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Baked Oatmeal

I have seen lots of baked oatmeal recipes floating around the web lately. This one was adapted from another blog Chocolate Covered Katie - who has lots of delicious healthier recipes. Her recipes are all vegan which is helpful for me looking for dairy-free recipes. This was a hearty little bowl of oatmeal! It would be neat to make for guests. You could multiply the recipe and bake in a muffin tin to serve more. This would also freeze well.

There are 2 versions Pumpkin and Applesauce, I'm jointly posting the recipe, but the picture above is of the pumpkin version. Mmm.....

Baked Oatmeal
Adapted from CCK's Pumpkin Boatmeal
Serves: 2, Serving Size 1 ramekin
Nutritional Info: (coming soon)

1/2 cup oats (50g)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp cinnamon (or 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice for pumpkin version)
3 Tbsp brown sugar
1/4 cup canned pumpkin or applesauce
1/4 cup milk or creamer or water ( I used almond milk)
1/8 tsp salt
pinch of raw sugar (turbinado)

Optional: 1 to 2T oil or favorite nut butter (if oil, scale the milk back a tiny bit)
Optional: raisins, walnuts, brown sugar for the top (I didn’t use any optional ingredients, but maybe next time I’ll add some nuts.)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine all ingredients except for raw sugar.

Pour into a small baking pan, 1-cup ramekin, or mini-loaf pan. Sprinkle with raw sugar

Cook for 20 minutes, or more until it gets firm. Finally, set your oven to “high broil” for 3 more minutes, or until it reaches desired crispy-ness (or simply just bake longer, but broiling gives it a nice crust).

Crockpot Turkey Meatballs

Whenever I think of meatballs I think of how when I worked for the ambulance company we always had meatball sandwiches on an employee's last day(obviously when they left on good terms/good reasons). I'm not much of a meatball fan because I don't like the meaty taste but these I like. Because they are turkey the flavor of the meat does not dominate the seasonings. I typically serve over pasta the first night and make meatball sandwiches for lunch the next day. I'm still dairy-free so I omitted the parmesean when I made it last, and just doubled the breadcrumbs. It was still just as good!

Crock Pot Italian Turkey Meatballs
Adapted from: Skinny Italian Turkey Meatball recipe at Skinnytaste.com
Servings: 6 • Size: 4 meatballs with sauce • Old Points: 5 pt • Points+: 5 pts
Calories: 200.4 • Fat: 8.1 g • Carbs: 12.6 • Fiber: 0.6 • Protein: 17.3 g • Sugar: 4.4
Sodium: 427.5 mg

Ingredients:

20 oz (1.3 lb) ground turkey breast 93% lean
1/4 cup whole wheat seasoned breadcrumbs
1/4 cup Reggiano Parmigiano cheese, grated
1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped
1 egg
2 large cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp kosher salt + fresh pepper

For the sauce:
1 tsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic, smashed
28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 bay leaf
salt and fresh pepper to taste
1/4 cup fresh chopped basil or parsley

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine ground turkey, breadcrumbs, egg, parsley, garlic and cheese. Using clean hands, mix all the ingredients and form small meatballs, about 1/8th cup each.

In a small saute pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and saute until golden, being careful not to burn.

Pour crushed tomatoes into the crock pot with bay leaf. Add garlic and oil.

Drop meatballs into the sauce, cover and set crock pot to low, 4 to 6 hours.

When meatballs are ready, adjust salt and pepper to taste and add fresh chopped basil or parsley.

Spaghetti with Kale and Bacon

I've been getting a lot of Kale in my CSA box lately. Other than my Zuppa Toscana Soup, I hadn't tried cooking with it much. I found a recipe similar to this and have now made it several times. The original recipe calls for Brie cheese which is probably delicious, but I'm on a dairy-free diet right now (for Baby James), so I made several adjustments. The first time I made it (prior to going dairy-free) I made it with parmesean, so that is how I will post it. But if you want a dairy-free version, leave the cheese out and melt some vegan butter (I use Earth Balance), and pour over top when finished (to prevent a dry spaghetti).

Spaghetti with Kale and Bacon
Adapted from PBS Food


Ingredients
8 oz spaghetti pasta
3 slices bacon (you can use turkey bacon too)
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 large onion, diced
1/2 cup shredded parmesean
1 large bunch curly green kale, washed and roughly chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Cook the pasta in boiling salted water. Drain and set aside.
In a large pan, fry the bacon until crisp. Remove the bacon and crumble. To the hot bacon grease, add the diced onion and minced garlic and sauté briefly over medium heat until fragrant. Then, add the kale and sauté until it begins to wilt, about five minutes.
Add the hot, cooked pasta to the kale along with the cheese and bacon crumbles.
Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve with additional bacon crumbles on top!

Yield: 4 servings