Red Monster Smoothie

I just love this Red Monster Smoothie - I am still trying to love the green ones as much as the rest of the whole world does. 

 

 I really like to buy lots of berries when they are in season and freeze them for making smoothies and nice cream. Berries never seem to last as long as I would like them to in my fridge. 

If you are using frozen fruit, go ahead and leave out the ice - you'll have a plenty frozen smoothie. And I really do like to use water in mine, anything else just adds sugar and calories that you won't miss. And adding more water, which your body will thank you for! 

 

Fresh Watermelon Mint Lemonade

I love a good drink! I know how that sounds, but I love to make a sweet icy treat and sit out in my porch swing with Joseph and enjoy the last few hours of the summer day. 

I made this lemonade because the watermelon that we bought was not good. It wasn't sweet and juicy and I couldn't get anyone to eat it. So I decided to see if I could use it up in a drink. 

I had lots of mint because I ordered a mint plant with my grocery pick-up order and they didn't have one... so they gave me 3!! packs of fresh mint leaves. I was swimming in it. 

I love to make lemonade by putting whole lemons (that I cut the peels off of) in my blender, so I thought I would test this out.  It is Delicious! So sweet and refreshing and the mint and watermelon together are just perfect. You'll wonder how you didn't put them together before. 

Ultimate Green Smoothie Recipes - Create a Smoothie

I have never been very skilled at making smoothies, but there are so many different ways to make them. You can practically put anything in to a blender and if you put the right supporting ingredients in with it - it turns out amazing!

My kids are shockingly good smoothie makers. I think it is because they have no fear. Brave little teenager taste buds.

Food $ense has the most amazing Smoothie Pattern to help you make up your own.

Create a delicious and nutritious smoothie from simple foods. Just choose an item from each category and follow the directions. Use your imagination!

Each smoothie serves 1 adult.

DIRECTIONS:
Choose a liquid (½ to 1½ cups, depending on desired consistency)

Choose extras (optional)
• Water: inexpensive, easy, and calorie free.
• ¼ to ½ cup raw oats
• Milk: dairy, soy, almond, rice, hemp, coconut, etc.
• 1-2 tablespoons peanut butter
• 1-2 tablespoons chia seed
• ½ cup yogurt
• ½ diced avocado
• cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla
• ice as needed
• Fruit Juice: use sparingly for added flavor, and combine with water or milk.
• 1-2 tablespoons ground flax seed

Choose produce (2-3 cups)
• Fruit: fresh, frozen, or canned such as strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, blueberry, cranberry, banana, pineapple, peach, pear, plum, cherry, melon, apple, kiwi, mango, papaya, orange, lemon, lime.
• Vegetable: fresh spinach, chard, kale, green pepper, avocado, carrot, cooked, frozen, or canned pumpkin, squash, sweet potato, peas.

Select a food from each category, or use your own favorites.

Combine all ingredients in blender or food processor in order listed. Blend until smooth.

HINT: You will need minimal to no ice if using mostly frozen produce. You will need more ice if using fresh, canned, or cooked produce. Do not overload blender, and chop any large pieces of fruit or vegetables for the best texture.

Here are some tips specifically for those popular Green Smoothies. They look a little while and kinda Incredible Hulk-ish, but they are sure are good for you - and they really Are dang delicious!!

The sky's the limit when it comes to smoothie combinations you can whip up in your blender.

And while you don't always need to follow a recipe, if you're not careful even green smoothies packed with things like kale or bananas can easily turn into sugar- and calorie-bombs.

Try one of our suggested green smoothie combos below—or create your own favorite flavor!

Liquid - 1/2 cup: You’ll need some liquid to get everything whirring in your blender, but choose wisely. Skip juices—they’re high in sugar (even when they’re 100% fruit juice).

Try these: Unsweetened almond milk or other unsweetened nondairy milks (soy, rice, hemp), low-fat milk, coconut water, water.

Frozen Banana - 1 cup: For natural sweetness and always rich, creamy (not icy) body, frozen banana slices are a must. Another bonus: bananas are a relatively inexpensive fruit.

Frozen Fruit - 1/2 cup: Frozen fruit makes a frosty smoothie without added ice (some blenders can’t handle ice cubes). Buy already frozen fruit or freeze your own.
Try these: Blueberries, cherries, strawberries, pineapple, mango, apples, raspberries, blackberries, grapes.

Protein - 1/3 cup: To give your smoothie staying power add protein. Protein slows the digestion of carbs, keeping you full longer.

Try these: Nonfat or low-fat plain Greek yogurt or cottage cheese, silken tofu.

Greens - 1 cup: Add 1 cup of greens to help meet your daily veggie quota without overpowering your smoothie.
Try these: Baby spinach, kale (stemmed and chopped).

Health Bonus - 1 Tbsp.: Throw in chia seeds or flaxseeds, for a boost of omega-3s and fiber. Or add nut butters for healthy fats and a little more protein.

Try these: Chia seed, flaxseed, hemp seed, peanut butter, almond butter.

Optional: Have a sweet tooth? Add up to 2 tsp. liquid sweetener like maple syrup or agave.

Strawberry Green Smoothie

My family just can't get enough of these Green Smoothies or Popeye Smoothies are you sometimes here them called. I have been making them thick to be like shakes and thin to be like smoothies. 

They are perfect for the hot weather that we are having as a quick nutritious cool down or for a healthy afternoon snack. Lots of people enjoy them for breakfast, but at our house, that means I would have to run the blender while the littlest ones were still sleeping - and you know that isn't happening. 

I am getting much better at mixing flavors and even venturing out onto my own. I haven't gotten brave enough to just start throwing anything in, but perhaps we'll get there soon. 

I am also learning lots of basic steps, like a banana will sweeten it, and also make it creamier. If you use frozen fruits, you will need a lot less ice. And a huge tip that I have learned is that fruit juice in them, doesn't really do much. You can add water and save yourself the sugar and the calories. 

Ingredients:

1 ripe banana

4 large strawberries (I used frozen)

1 cup low-fat yogurt

1 handful spinach

(water and ice to desired consistency)

Directions:

Add all of your ingredients to your blender. 

The more ripe that your banana is, the less you will have to sweeten your smoothie. 

Blend all of your ingredients together. 

You can add in a little water and/or ice to get the consistency you prefer. 

The ice will thicken it a bit and make it colder, of course.

Pineapple Orange Green Smoothie

I know the whole world has been drinking green smoothies for a really long time, but we are just getting around to it at our house. 

They are a little bit scary to me. Joseph was all in, he wants to have them everyday. The kids were excited to try them, and it really took some time for me to get brave enough to take a sip. 

I know everyone says that you can't taste the greens, but I didn't believe them. The smoothie is GREEN for heck sakes! But you really couldn't taste the greens, and I really tried to taste them. 

I used a bag of mixed greens, but you can use spinach alone just as easy as can be. They even make bags of spinach or greens just for smoothies. This is a really popular thing. 

Ingredients

1 cup kale or spinach

1 banana, medium

1/2 cup low fat milk (or optional coconut milk or almond milk)

1/2 cup plain yogurt

¼ cup pineapple juice

1 cup frozen pineapple

1 TB Frozen Orange Juice Concentrate

  

Directions

In a blender, blend your greens and the liquid of your choice. (This means your greens get smooth)

Add in the rest of the ingredients, blending after each item.

Serve and enjoy, cold.

Thanks to USDA Mixing Bowl for the Recipe Inspiration

Creamy Popsicles - Pudding Pops but Way Way Better

The weather has been above 50 degrees at our house and that means just one thing.... The natives are restless for Popsicles! They dig and search in the back of the freezer looking for one that might be left behind from the summer and dropped into the very back of the freezer. If somebody finds one, the rest rush to the freezer desperately hoping for their luck to be just a chilly and sugary. If they don't find one, they turn to begging the lucky popsicle finder to please, please share the one they have.

Who knew my whole house revolves around frozen treats!

When my boys' dad comes down to visit them, he traditionally buys a box of Creamies brand treats. ( I don't think you can call them popsicles) - They is a lot of specific name "branding" in the world of frozen liquid on a stick. Kinda like pudding pops.... anyway!  My three boys think that Creamies rule the world, and when they come home, the little ones are in awe over the forbidden treat on a stick.

So when the weather got a bit warmer and the frenzy for frozen treats started, I busted out the trusty popsicle makers and decided to make something. Thing was..... I had no juice or fresh fruit, I was out of yogurt. and I LOATHE making them out of Kool-Aid. And so I attempted to make a pudding pop/ Creamie hybrid and take back my title as most awesome parent.

Pudding Pop Directions -

Make pudding (any flavor) According to Directions
then Quickly, Quickly before it starts to set.... Pour it into your molds or little paper cups and freeze.

** Remember if you are using paper cups to let them freeze for about an hour and them poke the sticks in - this bypasses the annoying and "never works" step of coating with plastic wrap **

But we were searching for Creamies... that means I needed to step up my game - I have had pudding on a stick and no matter what Bill Cosby says - it is Not really very good.

1 large box chocolate pudding
3 cups cold milk
2 cups frozen whipped topping (Cool Whip)

Make your pudding with the milk and pudding mix, then stir in the softened whipped topping.

(Use same instructions as above to freeze into pops.)


Become favorite parent again.

Pineapple Popsicles

Do you ever end up with strange ingredients in your house and you aren't exactly sure what to do with them. This sometimes happens at my house. We ended up with the chopped frozen pineapple and two cans of frozen concentrated pineapple juice. It has been in the back of the freezer for longer than I care to say. 

My kids think that Popsicles essentially grow on trees, or at least they self-replicate in the freezer while we all sleep and there is a never ending supply. I know that they can be cheap to buy and you can get a lot of pressure from you kids to have them. But try and resist if you can, they are essentially just sugar and coloring and with no nutritional value at all. Not really something you would want to eat, let alone feed the growing little bodies of your kids. 

If you are feeling brave enough to experiment, you can practically freeze any smoothie that you can make. I am not quite as adventurous as some people in my house when it comes to tossing things in the blender and enjoying what comes out. But I felt pretty safe mixing pineapple fruit and pineapple juice. They reminded me of those "whole fruit" frozen juice bars that cost a fortune and look so darn good in the commercials.  

I made the juice first and then tossed it in the blender with the chunks of fruit. I didn't add any sugar or honey, or yogurt or milk, (or ice), but I think it would have been amazing with coconut milk added to it. 

We ended up with quite a bit of mixture. So we filled the plastic molds and then did our little trick that we did with the strawberry ice pops and used paper cups and wooden sticks. Just pop them into the freeze and then after about an hour, poke the sticks into the mostly frozen pops. WaaLaa!

 Big frozen-treat smiles all around!

Orange Julius Smoothie

I absolutely go crazy for the taste of this Orange Julius smoothie. It brings back memories of being a teenager and hanging out at the mall and buying this ice-y, creamy smoothie. Orange Julius was where it was at before the days of the juice bar boom. 

When I was pregnant with my third child, these were my main craving. The healthy swaps to yogurt and milk make this a guilt-free dessert or a fantastic breakfast. I can almost guarantee that when I get the stuff out to make these, I am going to have a line in my kitchen with requests for me to "make them one too" 

INGREDIENTS

1/2 Cup Frozen Orange Juice concentrate

1 Cup Milk

1 Cup Vanilla Yogurt (I have a secret crush on this Vanilla Honey Greek yogurt - But it if you can!) 

1 Teaspoon Vanilla

2 Cups Ice

INSTRUCTIONS

Step 1 – Put the milk, yogurt, vanilla, and orange juice concentrate in the blender and blend for 30 seconds

Step 2 – Add the Ice and blend for another minute until the ice is chopped up

Step 3 – Pour into cups and serve

Be sure to add the ice to any smoothie or milkshake last.  If you put it in the blender first, it can stick together and jam up your blender.

Strawberry Ice Pops - Without a Mold

Last summer we had a Popsicle mold that my mother-in-law bought the kids at the dollar store. It was their favorite kitchen tool and they were making Popsicles almost every single day.  There was a real down side though. This mold only held four little frozen treats (and I have a lot more kids than that). And we ran into the problem of whoever made the treats thought they were the "boss" of them and didn't have to share. (Ya gotta love kids, right?) 

It wasn't long before the mold started breaking. We lost the handles that you put into the top one by one, and I was not sad to see it go when the last one finally broke. I have considered a few times buying a new one, but I haven't seen one at the store that suits our needs. Plus, I have been a little undecided about whether I am ready to accept the drama into my life again. 

So when I happened upon this recipe, I was really excited to try it. I could make plenty and they would be lots better than the frozen Kool-aid my kids were so fond of making. I was also very excited about the easy technique. Usually there is a lot of hassle involved with getting the sticks to stay in the ice pop, but waiting just an hour for them to freeze and then putting the sticks in, is a magical solution. 

These took about 5 minutes to whip up and will definitely be a summer staple in our freezer. 

Strawberry Yogurt Ice Pops  (makes 10 pops, depending on the size cup you use)
Prep Time: 5 mins,Rating:

Ingredients
1/2 cup milk
1 cup plain greek yogurt ( I just had regular vanilla yogurt - so I used that. I thought it was great!)
1 cup diced fresh strawberries ( I had a bag of frozen mixed berries and cherries - I used those)
3 tablespoons honey
2-3 extra strawberries, to slice into rounds for garnish, if desired

Preparation
1. In a blender place 1 cup strawberries, milk, yogurt and honey and blend for 1 minute until smooth.
2. Place a strawberry slice in the bottom of a 3 ounce dixie cup. Repeat with the other cups.

3. Fill each cup 3/4 of the way full with the strawberry yogurt mixture and place them in the freezer.

3. Remove cups from the freezer after 1 hour and stick a popsicle stick into the center of each cup. (I didn't actually remove the cups. I just opened the freezer and poked them in) 

4. Place cups back in the freezer and let freeze for an additional 4-6 hours.
5. Remove cups from freezer, peel off the paper and serve immediately!

 Yes! They taste as good as they look. If I had the room in my freezer, I would make enough to sell them from a stand in my front yard and make a killing! Plus, with the ingredients being so healthy, I don't cringe every time I see one of my kids sneaking into the freezer to grab another one.

Simple Strawberry Smoothie

For as incredibly simple and wonderful as they are, I find myself almost never making smoothies. It is strange, because Creating a Smoothie is almost the easiest thing you can do in the kitchen. 

I think it is because I don't have one of the Fancy blenders. You know, one of the ones that cost hundreds of dollars and can grind up phones and rocks and stuff. I just have a regular old kitchen blender (that I actually got as a hand me down when my mom got one of the Ferrari Blenders - that grind rocks)

So here is a simple classic recipe, for my simple classic blender. You can add ANY fruit you want, but we had some strawberries that were needing to be used. If you want to be a flavor scientist you can experiment with flavors of yogurt today, but since this is a simple, classic recipe, we are going to stick with vanilla. 

 Ingredients 
makes 2 servings

 8 strawberries, hulled
 1/2 cup skim milk
 1/2 cup plain yogurt
 3 tablespoons white sugar ( you should try and leave this out - it isn't great for you, but sometimes - it needs it)
 2 teaspoons vanilla extract ( this is the super secret ingredient to making it taste Amazing!)
 6 cubes ice, crushed