Tag Archives: fruit
24 Jun

super greens smoothie

On any given day, if you search the internet for a “green smoothie”, you will undoubtedly find endless variations of just that, green smoothies.

However, I want to let you in on a little secret…

Ready?

You can add spinach to pretty much any smoothie that contains berries and/or pineapple and as long as you blend it long enough, you will not taste it.

Promise.

There are no recipes to follow and you don’t need to get any measuring cups out.

Just get a handful of fresh or frozen spinach and throw it in.

For realsies.

Spinach in smoothies is all well and good but what I really want to tell you about is how to take it a step further and add kale.

Yes, I’m serious.

Kale is good for you. Super good.

Here’s a helpful graphic:

Isn’t it large and informative?

Here’s another graphic just in case you weren’t swayed by the last one:

I drink this smoothie several times per week. I just feel better when I do and I can also see a noticeable improvement in my skin and energy level.

It’s also husband and super picky teenager approved because it tastes like peanut butter and banana – not greens. If that means anything to you.

I used to use fresh kale and just cut the leaves off of the stem. But I recently discovered bagged organic kale at my grocery store for less than $4, so that goes into my cart every week and then right into the freezer when I get home. For this smoothie you can use fresh or frozen greens.

You’ll notice that there are no measurements when it comes to the greens so it’s customizable to your taste. Add as much or as little as you like.

I put two good handfuls of kale and about half a bag of spinach in my smoothie. If it’s too thick, I add a little more almond milk.

It’s a smoothie. It should be simple.

Ingredients:

1 frozen banana – peel and slice a few and store in a resealable freezer bag

1 Tbsp natural peanut butter

1/4 – 1/2 cup yogurt

1 – 1 1/2 cup milk (I use almond milk)

spinach

kale

Just toss all that goodness into your blender and let it whirl for at least a couple of minutes. That gives everything enough time to get thoroughly chopped and blended. Makes for a much tastier smoothie.

If you want more peanut butter flavor, add more peanut butter.

Want a thicker smoothie? Add more banana or yogurt.

Too thick? Add a little more milk.

Now that you’re putting kale in your smoothies, why not take it a step further and put it in rice, couscous, pasta, meatballs, sauces, soups, and mashed potatoes!

Chop it up, saute it in extra virgin olive oil with garlic and a little sea salt until tender and mix it into mashed potatoes. Then top a shepard’s pie with it! I’ve done it – you should too!


* Makes 1 large or two regular sized smoothies.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Daily Bento

18 Jun

 

For lunch today Cam had two crescents that she filled with Applegate Farms all-natural pepperoni and colby jack cheese. She also had some organic gala apple wedges, broccoli, and organic fruit snacks.

My kids love crescent rolls and they make a super quick lunch. Just fill the crescents with their favorite meat and/or cheese, pop them in the oven, and about 10 minutes later, lunch is ready!

Tags: , , ,

Daily Bento

14 Jun

 

For lunch today, Camryn had a grilled cheese sandwich cut into a cupcake shape using our Lunch Punch, organic strawberry mango fruit snacks that I found on clearance yesterday (Yay Target!), an apricot, and a few cucumber slices.

 

 

Items used in today’s lunch:

             

 

 

 

Tags: , , , ,

Gralowly Bars

13 Jun

gralowly bars

 

These are the granola bars that I give to my kids.

They don’t come individually wrapped in a box.

There’s nothing hydrogenated, high fructose, or artificially flavored about them.

They’re just little bars of oats, nut butter, honey, a little sugar, and whatever seeds and dried fruit I happen to have in my pantry thrown in for good measure.

They got their name from Camryn (naturally). She couldn’t say granola when she was little and “gralowly” was about as close as she could get. Over the years, the cuteness factor caused the name to stick.

Gralowly bars are a bit different from regular granola bars in that they don’t have any puffed rice or sweetened coconut that so many other granola bars have but if you like those things you can certainly throw them in as well.

These bars are dense yet chewy and surprisingly filling.

Making them is easy, there is no baking required, and you can pretty much put anything you want in them.

And because they don’t require refrigeration, they’re great to wrap individually in wax paper or small baggies and throw in your purse for a quick snack when you’re out with your kiddos.

They won’t keep your little ones from screaming their faces off for happy meals but at least you’ll feel better about offering them a healthier option.

Mom win.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup honey

1/2 cup natural peanut butter or any other nut butter (yay protein!)

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp sea salt

3 cups quick-cooking oats

1/4 cup seeds  (I used my chia/hemp seed mix – use anything you like)

1/4 cup wheat germ

1/4 cup sliced almonds or other nuts (optional)

Dried fruit  (I used goji berries and cherries. I don’t measure. I just throw in a handful or two)

Chocolate chips   (I don’t measure here either. I just throw in a couple of handfuls)

Directions:

Combine the honey, peanut butter, and brown sugar. This can be done two ways:

In the microwave: Put honey, PB, and brown sugar in a microwave safe bowl & microwave on high for two minutes. Stir halfway through and again at the end of the second minute.

On the stove top: Add all three ingredients to a sauce pan and stir over medium heat until combined. You shouldn’t feel any sugar granules when you stir.

Take off the heat and add the vanilla, cinnamon and sea salt.

In a large bowl add all of the other ingredients. Seriously, just throw all that other stuff in and stir to incorporate everything.

Pour the liquid mixture over the rest of the ingredients and stir to combine.

Dump mixture into a lightly greased 8×8 pan and pack it down to make everything even.

Let the mixture cool completely before turning out and cutting into bars.

Store at room temp in an air tight container for about a week.

* If you prefer puffed rice cereal in your granola bars, reduce the amount of quick-cooking oats to 2 cups and add 2 cups of puffed rice cereal.

* For a cheaper/vegan friendly option, feel free to substitute honey with corn syrup. The consistency is similar so it should work just fine.

Tags: , , , , ,

Daily Bento

11 Jun

Just popping in to quickly share today’s lunch.

In her ELB, Camryn had brown sugar deli ham roll-ups, a mozzarella cheese stick cut into thirds, a few Spring Ritz crackers, broccoli, and a parfait made from yogurt, strawberries, dried cranberries, almonds, and granola.

Tags: , , , , , , ,

A Simple Snack For Summer

10 Jun

frozen fruit & yogurt bites

 

Is it hot at your house too?

It was 90 degrees here today and it’s only going to get hotter.

Summer is no joke.

Come snack time, cool treats beat out everything else.

So I whipped these frozen fruit and yogurt bites up in just a few minutes for my kids to snack on this afternoon.

They don’t take long at all to freeze either which is a good thing because my kids are not patient people.

As I was eating them I couldn’t help but think that they would be great on top of a salad.

Somebody try that and let me know.

Anyway, to make these for your kids (or yourself) just wash and dry some fresh fruit, then coat in yogurt, add toppings, and freeze on a large plate or sheet pan covered with wax paper until hard.

I added wheat germ, chia seeds, hemp seeds, and a few sliced almonds here and there to the tops of our fruit.

If you’re using a thinner yogurt, you may want to dip them a second time once they’ve firmed up a bit in the freezer so you get a nice thick layer of yogurt. Add your toppings after the second dip.

I used cherries (which had been pitted and cut in half) and red grapes but you could use any fruit you prefer.

Obviously the toppings are up to you as well.

Chopped pistachios and chocolate drizzle over cherries?

Heck yes.

Bring it on summer.

 

frozen fruit collage

*The chia seeds, hemp seeds, and sliced almonds came from this mix:

Tags: , , ,

Daily Bento

6 Jun

rainy day lunch

I’ve said it before but unfortunately, gloomy days make for gloomy pictures.

Tropical Storm Andrea has been hanging out at our house since last night.

It’s been raining pretty much non-stop here for the last 15 hours and we’ve been under a tornado warning all day.

Good times.

Not to worry though. All my laundry is done and I washed my hair this morning.

I wouldn’t want you guys to see me on the news wearing dirty clothes with greasy hair if my house gets carried away by a water spout.

Never mind the stocking up of survival things like canned goods and batteries.

Priorities.

That might sound crazy to some of you but most native Floridians I know don’t get too concerned until we’re dealing with at least a Category 3 situation.

For us, a tropical storm is just another rainy day.

It’s a perfect day to read a good book, watch some movies, blog something, and just hang out with family. As long as you stay away from the windows, off the streets, and out of the water you’re good.

I will say that Andrea needs to carry on up north so I can get out to the store before my kids eat us out of house and home.

I watched the two of them tear through a family sized box of Cheez-Its last night like it was their job – after they had cleaned their plates at dinner and had dessert.

Hollow legs much?

Things aren’t looking good for my food budget.

In Cam’s lunch today she had Annie’s organic mac n’ cheese, organic strawberries, organic grapes, and sugar snap peas with a little sea salt.

Tags: , , , , ,

3 Jun

soft and chewy spiced oat bars

 

It’s very very rare that I get a recipe just right on the first try.

This was an unusual exception.

I’m not talking about following an already established recipe. That, I can do.

What I’m gettin’ at here is coming up with an original recipe because as far as I know, none exist.

Normally the process takes time and numerous do-overs and eventually destroys my kitchen, my patience, and my ego before it’s all over.

But this time everything just worked.

 

Occasionally we get these in our Graze* box:

 

They’re called flapjacks and they’re fabulous! They’re also very small and you only get three, which is fine if your daughter doesn’t steal them all from you and shove them in her face like a chipmunk gathering nuts for the winter.

Flapjacks are lightly sweetened oat bars with dried fruit and a little spice. They’re somewhere between a chewy granola bar and a soft oatmeal cookie.

I ♥ them. So does my kid.

So naturally I knew that I needed to figure out how to make them myself just in case there is ever a flapjacks shortage some day or Graze discontinues them.

Since flapjacks aren’t technically granola bars, my usual granola bar recipe wouldn’t work here.

And since they’re not technically oatmeal cookies, my oatmeal cookie recipe wouldn’t work either.

So I checked the ingredients for all of the different flapjacks on the Graze website and did my best to recreate them.

The end result was pretty darn close.

If you’re a fan of flapjacks, I really think you’ll like these.

If not, I think you will be soon. 😉

 

Soft & Chewy Spiced Oat Bars

Ingredients:

1 stick of unsalted butter

1/4 cup of honey or golden syrup

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 Tbsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp allspice

1/2 tsp salt

2 1/2 cups quick cooking oats

 

I also added these to my bars but you could use any dried fruit you prefer. Sweetened coconut, nuts, chia seeds, hemp seeds, toffee chips, and mini-chocolate chips would be yummy as well.

 

Directions

Add the butter, honey or golden syrup, and brown sugar to a sauce pan and stir over medium-low heat until the mixture begins to bubble.

Stir the mixture slowly as it bubbles for 2-3 minutes and then take it off the heat. You don’t need to time it, you’re just looking for everything to become well incorporated. You shouldn’t feel any sugar granules when you stir.

Remove the pan from the heat and add the vanilla, cinnamon, allspice, and salt. Whisk to combine.

In a large bowl, add the oats and any additional items you might want in your bars.

Add the caramel mixture to the oats and stir until the mixture comes together and everything is well incorporated.

Lightly spray an 8×8 pan with non-stick spray, or line with plastic wrap or parchment paper.

Dump the mixture into the pan and press it with your fingers to even it out. If things start to get too sticky, just dampen your hands a bit.

Allow the bars to cool completely before slicing.

 

Chewy Spiced Oat Bars

Store in an airtight container.

*Updated 9/5/15: After making these bars several times since the recipe was originally posted, I’ve been able to make a few changes that actually make this recipe much faster and easier than it was before.

I’ve listed a few additional alterations below. I hope you like this new and improved flapjack recipe as much as the original.

Rolled oats can be used instead of quick-cooking oats. Just give them a pulse or two in the food processor or blender first.

I sometimes toast my oats before adding them to the caramel mixture by spreading them onto a dry sheet pan and sliding them into a preheated 350° oven for 1-2 minutes.

For crispier bars: Press the mixture into an 8×8 pan and bake in a preheated 350° oven for about 10 minutes. I’ve actually gotten sidetracked and left them in the oven for up to 15 minutes and they were fine. Allow to cool completely before slicing into bars.

 

* Graze is a weekly snack subscription service.

 

Tags: , , , , ,

Daily Bento

31 May

Summer vacation.

Or what I refer to as: Three seemingly endless months of incessant whining about how there’s nothing to do and there’s nothing to eat and how hot it is outside and how we never go anywhere…

Can’t wait.

My husband and I dread summer.

Sure we’re all tired of the homework, the endless things that need to be filled out and returned to school, last-minute book reports, IEP meetings, waiting in the car lane every afternoon, getting up earlier than any person should be required to get up to make sure the teenager eats, grooms himself, looks presentable, doesn’t forget his lunch, and doesn’t miss his bus and summer does allow us a welcome break from all that.

But couldn’t it be a shorter break?

There’s just something about your kids sticking their heads in your fully stocked fridge and/or pantry every half hour and then yelling across the house “Mooooooom, there’s nothing to eat in here” that will drive even the most sane, put together woman to the brink of madness.

It also gets hot – really, really hot and humid here in the summer. So you have to hit the park or the beach or any other outside activity early in the morning, otherwise you risk burning to a crisp or passing out from heat stroke.

Been there, done that. No thanks.

Don’t get me wrong. We’re very lucky to live where we do.

We have quick access to parks, beaches, amusement parks, zoos, aquariums, movie theaters, libraries, and museums. But the novelty of those places wears off all too soon.

We’re also right next to a very popular summer vacation destination so the traffic becomes horrible and the crowds are almost unbearable everywhere you go. It’s easier on my sanity to just stay inside.

My kids have just three days of school left.

Those three days are filled with parties, movies, games, and an outside water play day for my daughter.

My son gets to take exams.

He sure got the bad end of that deal.

Since today is Cam’s last Friday of the school year, I made her a colorful and fruity Friday lunch.

She’s basically having ice cream for lunch next week so it seemed like the right thing to do.

 

For lunch today, she had a fruit salad that contained organic strawberries, pineapple, organic grapes, and organic cherries. She also had french green beans, cheese, crackers, and a slice of a banana bread/carrot cake hybrid with salted caramel glaze that I whipped up two nights ago.

The banana bread/cake contains carrots and pineapple so it’s pretty much a salad in its own right as well.

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Big Kid Bento

30 May

Today is a first.

I’m posting my oldest child’s lunch.

Can I still refer to him as a child if he’s old enough to drive?

That fact makes my brain hurt. It’s just weird. Wasn’t he just 7 last week?

I can’t even handle it. He’s like this huge teenaged person with a man-voice that still plays video games and watches cartoons, so child seems like the appropriate term here.

Anyway, he’s always been a lunch packer.

I could give him money for school lunch (which would be a lot cheaper) but he’d most definitely buy pizza and pop-tarts every day and that kind of diet isn’t good for anybody.

He’s not so good at making wise choices when it comes to food.

He’s also an Aspie (a term of endearment for someone with Asperger’s Syndrome) so for many years, he would eat the same lunch every day.

Every. Single. Day.

Sandwich, chips, cookies.

That’s it.

No fruit, no veggies, no variation.

The only exception to this rule was if pizza, chicken fingers, or a sugary treat of some sort were involved.

It’s hard to get kids to try new foods but it’s next to impossible to get a kid with Asperger’s to do it.

And even if you’re lucky enough to make that happen, it will almost always end in tears, gags, or vomits (if not all three).

Nobody needs that drama.

All that changed over the last couple of years.

I became super persistent about getting him to try new things and I finally wore him down.

I’m no quitter.

Of course there was whining, crying, and gagging in the beginning, but over time the process became easier for both of us and he has a much more varied diet these days as a result.

Now, let’s talk lunch!

 

I try to make bread at least once a week. The recipe I use is fabulous because it’s so versatile. That one dough recipe can be turned into cinnamon rolls, garlic & herb rolls, swirled breakfast bread, pizza crust, hoagie rolls, sandwich loaves, and so many other things. One day I’ll get around to posting it on this site.

I like to take that dough, roll it out, top it with all-natural lunch meat and cheese, roll it back up, slice it, and bake it. Pretty much the same way you would make cinnamon rolls (see, versatile).

D just pops them in the microwave at lunch time and in about 20 seconds they’re all warm and soft again with crispy meat on the edges and melty cheese in the center.

Nuthin’ wrong with that.

For lunch today, he had two of those meaty/cheesy spiral thingies, fresh pineapple, and some Big Cheez-Its.

 

Tags: , , , ,

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →