Strawberry Banana Spinach Smoothie
Hey Folks! Cooper here. I know it's been a long time since you've heard from me so here I am! Today I want to tell you about one of my favorite things--- SMOOTHIES! Every morning I beg my mom to make me one. Some days she jumps right to it and other days she tells me to go drink my milk. Yesterday was the best because we got to make smoothies at breakfast together. She pulled up a chair for me to stand on at the kitchen counter and let me put a few things in the blender. I'm totally not allowed to touch the power cord or the button that starts the machine but that doesn't stop me from pretending to! I like to see how she reacts and it makes me laugh. This morning she almost forgot to put the green leaves in that blender thing. Can you believe that? My monster smoothie isn't very monster-like if there's no green in it! I pointed that out to her and she was thankful. I'm very helpful, you know.
My mom wants me to tell you that this smoothie has a healthy dose of greens, fruits, protein and fiber...whatever that means. All I know is that it's sweet & tasty and I have to be really careful when I drink it. Since it's kinda thick, I can't drink it in my sippy cup. You know what that means?? I get to drink out of big boy cup with a cool straw!! When my mom's not looking I put my hand in the cup and then toss a few things in there...like raisins...bits of toast...bananas. When I'm not looking, my mom sneaks a few sips for herself. That's right mom, I'm onto you.
Everyday Chickpea Salad
Everyday. Chickpea. Salad. Everyday--meaning this salad is so good, you could eat it every day and can use everyday ingredients to make it! Nothing fussy, nothing crazy, just GOOD simple ingredients in a delicious/healthy salad that will make you feel full AND exceptional afterward.
I'm such a sucker for adaptable salads because there's a nice ease to making stuff with what I already have in the kitchen. When I went to gather the ingredients for the dressing, I looked to see how much olive oil I needed to measure out and realized that there IS NO OIL in the recipe! Brilliant! The cashews and Dijon mustard act as the emulsifiers! The combo of balsamic vinegar and Dijon mustard make it tangy! I love how the dressing soaked into the couscous, adored the crunchy sweetness of the peppers, and loved the creaminess of the chickpeas. I'm glad to have this salad & dressing in my current rotation.
Whitney & Anna both seduced me into picking up a copy of the Appetite for Reduction cookbook. Everything is entirely vegan, low calorie, low fat, but definitely NOT lacking in flavor. I made the Brussels Sprouts Potato Hash (post coming soon!) for lunch this week and now I'm totally hooked. I have over 15 recipes marked to try! I love that feeling.
So yeah, I'm back on the salad wagon (again). It's such a nice wagon to be on. It always makes me feel fantastic, healthy and light! I hope my friend Jenny (who is going vegan for a week) LOVES this salad!
Spinach Celery Cucumber Juice
That's right. Juice is back on my radar. I'm eating & drinking everything GREEN.
Just look at my last post and you'll see why.
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Spaghetti Squash with Turkey Meatballs
I have a confession to make. The only reason I tried this recipe was because I was seduced by the magical powers of sprinkled Parmesan cheese on top of meatballs. The bright yellow spaghetti squash intrigued me and I knew the mushroom/spinach profile would be good, but MEAT & CHEESE sold me. I loooove meatballs. I'm 1/2 Italian. It's in my genetic makeup. My grandma's meatballs are what broke my 3 years of Vegetarianism. Seriously.
Is spaghetti squash like pasta? NO. There's really no comparison BUT! spaghetti squash does taste fabulous in its own right. It's soft & semi crunchy and a good vehicle for sauce---hence the pasta substitute. The strands aren't soo long that you hafta twirl your fork over and over again. This means you can get it into your mouth faster. Win!
So how was this dish? Pretty good! I really liked the mushroom sauce and might add more mushrooms and spinach next time. If you are vegetarian, cut out the meatballs and you'll still have a wonderful, hearty dish! People with children? You listening? I learned that you cannot trick a 2 year old boy into thinking that spaghetti squash is noodles. Cooper tossed them on the floor to show is disapproval. Someone is too smart for his own good....
Mushroom Spinach & Asparagus Pasta
Are you a creamed spinach fan? Do you also love mushrooms & pasta? Ever wish you could combine all three? Then you'll probably love this! The end result is a very creamy pasta that won't have you slaving for hours in the kitchen. It comes together super quick, and now that I've been through it once, I probably don't need to follow the recipe again! I found some asparagus chilling in my fridge, so I tossed it into the sauce. It added a really yummy crunchy bite to the pasta- and a little more depth.
My only advice is- eat the pasta fast (the sauce starts to thicken up when the heat escapes) and make sure you have someone else to eat it with! No one can be trusted with a pot of this at hand. Maybe you can answer this question for me...All those veggies negate the calories & fat in the creamy sauce, RIGHT?! I thought so!
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Spinach Salad with Fruits & Goat Cheese
I don't know about you, but I've been overdosing on fruit right now. I take all the fruit I have in the house, chop it up, toss it in a bowl and pop it in the fridge to cool! I'll walk pass the fridge during the day and poke my fork in to get a few bites before I start an activity. Yes. I am totally THAT person. Last night I had a bright idea to eat fruit for dinner! I wanted something savory, substantial & simple with what I had left, so here's the salad I came up with.
In this bowl of fruit you'll find kiwis, strawberries, blueberries, mangoes & plums!
I added crumbled goat cheese, a bag of spinach & the remains of the salad dressing used in my Mom's salad to the fruit.
I realized that it was missing a crunch factor. Enter SUNFLOWER SEEDS!
Everything worked really well together! Casey loved it too. WIN!
So here it is. Our dinner. Served with some crusty toasted bread. DEEELISH!
Have you been into fruit too?
Spinach Feta Pocket Pies
Awhile back I made these Chicken Pocket Pies and they were fabulous. The dough worked out perfectly, angels sang, and we left nothing but pie dust in the kitchen. Remember?
I've been "trying" to bring spinach back into Cooper's diet so I thought these Spinach Feta Pocket Pies might do the trick! Plus this momma loves spanakopita, and these are pretty similar (except they're made with cream cheese pastry instead of phillo dough).
I whipped up the pastry dough the night before using light cream cheese instead of full fat. I am soo happy to report that it tastes just fine! A bullet has been dodged, people. We can have a tasty lower fat pie crust and eat it too!
The spinach pockets were super. I was delighted every time I got a chunk of feta in a bite. Next time I am going to add a little more cheese to the filling. Oh man do I love feta! The pies totally satisfied my spanakopita cravings!
Apple Celery Spinach Juice
Another green juice under my belt. This one was amazing!
The sweetness of the apples balances out any bitterness that comes from the celery and spinach.
Honestly, the spinach was barely noticeable in the taste, but look how much green I got out of it!
I was surprised at the amount of juice that was produced with these simple ingredients:
