Protein Power

I recently found out that I am a bit low on protein. Why? I don't know. But, in an effort to up my protein intake at breakfast, I created this smoothie. So yummy, and is now one of my go to smoothies.


Protein Power


1/2 Banana (I still prefer room temp, for a creamier base)
1/2 cup non fat, plain greek yogurt
2 T honey or maple syrup
3 T almond butter, (or peanut butter if you like the stuff, yuck!)
2 T hemp hearts
1 T Chia seeds
1 - 2 T cocoa powder
About 1 Cup of almond milk (or any milk of your choice)
Blend and enjoy.


If you want a colder drink, you can use frozen bananas, or 4-5 ice cubes and blend. You could also add a shot of espresso.

Banana Split Smoothie

OH YUM! One of the best smoothies I have made. NOT neccesarily the healthiest, but very good! 

Banana Split Smoothie

1 Banana

1 Cup Strawberries

1 Cup Pineapple

1 T dark cocoa powder

1/2 C greek yogurt

1 T Wheat Germ

1 T ground flax seed

2 T hemp seed

Almond Milk to make a smoothie consistency

This made more than 4 cups, but I gave some to all the kids. They loved it too!

Immune Boost

Little girl is sick. Puke on the carpet sick.  Since I know today will mean I have my hands in puke (glamorous job that it is) I thought I best boost my immune system. I still have 2 more kids that could potential catch this bug.  Today's smoothie is full of immune boosting benefits and tastes so yum!

 

Immune Boost

1 banana (always a banana!)
1 packed cup of spinach leaves

2 cups orange juice

1/2  cup Greek yogurt

1 T bee pollen

1 T Goji berries

2 T raw honey

handful of frozen strawberries

almond milk to make 4 cups

Except for the banana, everything above is full of immune boosting properties.  Here's hoping it works!

Antioxidant Boost

Wow! Almost a whole month since I posted something. I have been Blending...some. I don't think anything really interesting though. Just basic smoothies. Lately, my creative juices are not going into my smoothies. Today I am creative. 
Last grocery store trip, pomegranates were on sale for $0.99! I bought 2. I juiced one up today, added some blueberries and was wondering what else would go. I thought of my Greek yogurt. A lot of yogurt is used in the middle east right? So the flavor combo should work.

Antioxidant Boost

1 juice pomegranate (or 1 c pom juice)

1 banana

1 cup frozen blueberries

1 c Greek yogurt

1 T Bee Pollen

Enough water to make 4 cups blended!

Yum! As usual the Greek yogurt makes it creamy. The combo works. Maybe this will help me kick the almost-getting-sick I am feeling lately.

Dragonfruit Smoothie

I came across something interesting in the grocery store the other day, a Dragon-fruit! Definitely not ND grown! It got my interest though. I have never tried one before and I thought it might be interesting to add to a smoothie. I also picked up 1/2 a papaya.  As usual I am behind on my smoothie posts and have 3 to share with you.

Basic Dragon-fruit

1/2 Dragon-fruit

1 banana

1/2 cup Greek yogurt

blend with a splash of almond milk. 

 I didn't make this the normal 4 cups because my husband had already eaten. This particular smoothie was very creamy.

 Tropical Dreams

1/2 papaya

1 banana

1/2 cup frozen mango chunks

1/2 cup frozen pineapple chunks

1 cup almond milk

water to make 4 cups

Suprisingly, both my husband and I didn't care for this as much as we thought we would.

Island Dragon-fruit  

1/2 Dragon-fruit

1 banana

1 c coconut milk (the stuff from a can)

1/2 cup frozen pineapple chunks

1/2 c Greek Yogurt

1 cup almond milk

water to make 4 cups 

Very yummy. Creamy and tropical and makes me wish I could be on a beach.

I have to say the experience with Dragon-fruit was a good one, however I don't think I will be having too many of these smoothies.  It cost $6.50 / lb for the fruit here. I paid about $5 for the 1 I bought.  Fun trial, not practical!

Stawberry Sunrise

Yum! Today was a great smoothie! 

Strawberry Sunrise

2.5 cups Pineapple Orange Juice

handful frozen strawberries

1 cube ginger 

1 T goji berries

5 dried apricots (heat up in 1/2 cup oj to soften)

1 T bee pollen

1/2 C greek yogurt

2 T hemp seed

2 T raw oatmeal

Almond milk to make 4 cups

Blend and enjoy this smoothie. 

I need to make note of my 1 cube of ginger.  I purchase a ginger root from the grocery store. At home I peel it, blend in with a bit of water and freeze it in an ice cube tray. Pop them out of the tray and store them in a zip bag. The keep for a long time and are handy to have to throw in smoothies, curries, or anything else that calls for fresh ginger.  

Back to Blended

I can have bananas in the house again, the fruit flies are gone. The weather changed (6 inches of snow yesterday!) and the flies are dead.  I have started to blend again.  I missed my daily smoothie. In replacement I found myself back at my old breakfast, tea and some type of bread / pastry/ doughnut etc.  I am behind on a couple smoothies so I have 3 to post today.
The first smoothie I made was basic:

Green Blueberry Smoothie

1 banana

handful of mixed greens

1 T wheat germ

1 T ground flax seed

2 T hemp seed

1 cup frozen blueberries 

almond milk to make 4 cups

The second smoothie is:

 Carrot Mango Ginger Smoothie

1 banana

handful of greens

4 cubes of frozen pureed carrot (I made this for baby food and threw it in on a whim, now I will need to make more!)

1 cup frozen mango

1/2 cup Honey Green yogurt

3 shakes of powdered ginger

3 shakes cinnamon

1 cup water

Almond milk to make 4 cups

This was a really yummy smoothie. I will definitely be making this again! Probably add some of my grains next time.

Today's Smoothie is:

Green Apple Crisp Smoothie

1 banana

handful of greens

3/4 cup applesauce

2 T honey

1 T wheat germ

1 T ground flax seed

2 T hemp seed

2 T raw quick oatmeal 

random shake of powdered ginger, cinnamon, all spice, cloves (heavier on the ginger and cinnamon)

1 cup water

almond milk to make 4 cups

If you noticed I am adding water, I am trying to cut back on calories (and cost) of the almond milk. I keep adding some almond milk to get the calcium.

Black Bean and Corn Salsa / Stawberry Basil Smoothie

Yesterday was a productive day.  I was up at 7, so not an extremely early start, but by 2:00 pm I had several things accomplished.  I started by making 8 pts of

Black Bean and Corn Salsa.

8 cups tomatoes, peeled, chopped and drained (I use canned diced tomatoes)
2 1/2 cups onions, chopped (I use sweet onions)
1 1/2 cups green peppers
1 cup jalapeno pepper, chopped
1 cubanelle pepper, chopped
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon Corriander
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 cup canning salt (if you don't have canning salt, you can use sea salt)
1/3 cup vinegar

4 T Sugar

17 oz  tomato paste
2 cup cooked black beans
2 cups frozen corn or canned or fresh

2 cups chopped fresh tomatoes

 

1. Slip skin of tomatoes

2. pulse in a food processor

3. De-seed and remove membranes all pepper and pulse / dice in a food processor

4. Dice onions in a food processor

5. Add all ingredients except corn, beans, chopped fresh tomatoes, and tomato puree. Simmer with the lid off for 1.5 hrs.

6. Add the corn, beans, fresh tomatoes, and tomato puree. Cook for 10 min, until corn is mostly cooked. Watch so tomato puree doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.

7. Can in prepared hot jars and process via water bath or steam for 10 mins, 5 additional minutes for every 1000 ft above sea level.

After all that I picked 2 gallons of green beans and made 3 pts of pickled green beans.  I also gave a couple bags of green beans to the neighbors.

We enjoyed an afternoon as a family at the Pioneer Heritage Days.

After supper we went to a friends and picked 2 bags of apples.  I am processing them for applesauce today. Also picked a large bag of basil.

I made pesto to freeze last night. I also made basil mush to freeze and use to throw into a soup pot for flavor. 

Because I picked basil last night I thought I would try a unique smoothie

Strawberry Basil Smoothie

Found a recipe for that here.  I didn't add as much sugar. I also didn't make enough for my husband. He would not appreciate this one. It is pretty good, but not a regular smoothie.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Creamy, yummy and a great way to get a vegetable into a smoothie.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

2 cups pureed pumpkin (homemade from last years jack-o-lanterns, mine is runnier than the stuff you get in a can)

1/2 cup honey greek yogurt

1 banana

2 T oatmeal

1T ground flax

1 T Wheat Germ

dash of cinnamon and nutmeg

 Enough milk to make the 4 cup mark.

Add the main ingredients and blend.  Then add the milk and pulse a couple times.

I should note that any of my smoothies could be made with any type of milk.  Depending on what I bought that week, almond or soy, will depend on what I make my smoothie with. Cows milk would work just fine as well.

Cucumber Mint Mango

 I have a good resource of materials of some of the best quality food right in my back yard. My garden is producing, and I want to find a way to use some of the garden produce in smoothies.  I am sure I will have some that fail, but today's smoothie was a success. Right now I have many Long English Cucumbers hanging on the vine. I wanted to make a smoothie using these, partially to find another way to use them! Very refreshing smoothie! Modifications for next time would be to add more mango.

Cucumber Mint Mango

1 banana

1/2 long English cucumber, peeled

2 sprigs of mint, just the leaves

1/2 cup frozen mango chunks

1/2 cup honey Greek yogurt

 1 T ground flax seed

1T wheat germ

2T raw quick oatmeal

Soy milk- enough to make 4 cups of smoothie

Creamy Strawberry Banana

I was feeling up for something classic this morning.  Nothing fancy or using a interesting ingredient.

Classic Creamy Strawberry Banana Smoothie

1 banana

1/2 cup honey greek yogurt

large handful of frozen sliced strawberries

1 T wheat germ

1T ground flax seed

1 T raw quick cook oatmeal

soymilk

Add soy milk and blend until you get the consistency you want. I ended up with about 3 cups worth of smoothie.  This would also be an easy smoothie to make green with a handful of spinach. 

Blended Iced Coffee

Skipped the morning breakfast smoothie today. Had some yogurt and tea.  However, I decided I would make an iced coffee for an afternoon treat.  I have made this before, but I added a twist with the Greek Yogurt today.  It changed the flavor a bit, but still very good.

Blended Iced Coffee with Greek Yogurt

2 cups coffee, room temperature of chilled

8 ice cubes

4 T Southern Butter Pecan Creamer

2 T sugar

1 T Chocolate Syrup

2 T caramel coffee syrup

1/2 C Honey Greek Yogurt