Another Green Smoothie Recipe

 

Chocolate-Covered Cherry Smoothie

Makes (2) 16oz servings - cut in half if only making one (obviously...)

1/4 cup skim milk

1/2 cup plain nonfat yogurt

1 giant handful of spinach (basically as much as I can grab with one hand)

1 banana

Blend these together first to get a smooth consistency with the spinach.  This is typically the base of all of my spinach smoothies.  Both the milk and yogurt can be substituted depending on your tastes.  
Now, add in...

1/2 cup frozen sweet cherries

2 tbsp ground flaxseed

3 tbsp Nesquik chocolate powder
2 handfuls of ice (I'm at it again with the handfuls... but it works!)

Blend until you see the swirling vortex of goodness in the middle top of your mix.  That's when you know it's mixed through (did you know I was once a smoothie barista as Smoothie King?).  

Pour and enjoy.  I promise. 

Well, maybe not promise - as all taste is subjective and relative... but seriously, this is good stuff.

A Highly Requested Recipe

I've only recently come to appreciate the Pumpkin Spice Latte (can you believe it?) and thus went about searching and tweaking and settling upon what I find to be my favorite order of things for this delicious fall drink.

Pum(mmm)pkin Spice Latte
makes 1 serving

Ingredients:
1 cup milk
1 tbsp canned pumpkin (or homemade puree, if you're especially resourceful - unlike me)
1 tsp honey (some recipes call for 1 tbsp sugar... I like mine w/ honey & less sweet)
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 shot espresso (if you don't have an espresso machine, 1/4 cup of strong brewed coffee is a good alternative)

Directions:
Combine milk, pumpkin and honey in a saucepan and cook on low-medium heat, until steaming. Don't forget to stir! Remove from heat, and whisk in vanilla and pumpkin pie spice. Pour into your favorite mug and add the espresso last! Of course, you can always dollop with a little whipped cream and added pumpkin pie spice.

Friday Link Love

• So Erin totally tweeted about this earlier this week, and I just had to share.
• Too funny. As I heard it called, the ultimate source of WTF?-ness.
• So it seems like it'd take some time, but making your own pita bread seems totally like something I'd love to do.
• Who doesn't love patterns?
• I don't even remember how I found this, but I really want to swim in some of these sometime in my lifetime.

Friday Link Love

• I really liked this. Kind of nostalgic, kind of new.
• Speaking of nostalgia, I spent way too much time clicking through these the other day.
• Some really good ideas for photographers.
• I'm a sucker for appetizers and fingery-foods. Don't be surprised if I bring this to the next party you invite me to. Hint, hint.
• This video is 20 minutes well-spent for my creative friends and any fans of author Elizabeth Gilbert. Think, "Eat, Pray, Love."
• Dave's March e-Newsletter is particularly packed full of some great info, especially with the way our economy is right now and with it being tax season.
• Okay, now this a pretty ingenious idea. How stinkin' clever.

Friday Link Love

• This makes me want to read Atlas Shrugged all over again. I think I just might.
• I can't get over this video post that Zach Arias guest-blogged for Scott Kelby the other day. Incredible. Worth every minute of watching, even if you're not into photography.
• I have requested that we build one of these in our backyard one day. Cliff agreed!
• Nerdy, but totally cool.
• This site and its subjects blow my mind. (And make me feel not so weird anymore for my preferences for certain food-pairings.)
• One of the many reasons I appreciate Donald Miller.
• And what is a little link love without a delicious recipe?

Salad, The Other Pizza

I just ate the salad I made at home for lunch today and immediately felt the compulsion to blog about it. Why? Well, I think that might speak to some deep psychological need I have regarding food - or - I just think it's so fun to share in the creativity and overflow of really darn good food. Like, something as simple as pizza or salad; things that take all of five minutes to put together but the memories of which span weeks, even months and bring me back to them over and over again.

And I think I've figured it out, now. The why of how pizza and salad can just bring me to a state of euphoria when putting them together. It's about the marriage of simple ingredients and creative pairings that ends up in flavor like none other. Hence the caramelized onions, chicken, buffalo sauce, goodness of the pizza on Sunday night (and lunch yesterday!)

My salad? Spinach (the big leafy kind, not baby... not that I have anything against it), feta cheese crumbles, grilled chicken, Jodi's famous vinaigrette (she was kind enough to share her crazy-easy recipe with me), and the icing on the cake - blueberries. So unexpectedly good.

I feel like greens, pizza crust, and pasta are the ultimate blank canvases of food; they are each deeply appealing to the artist inside of me. Can you think of any others?

Pizza-Making

Is so much fun!


I took Dianne's suggestion from last time and took a picture.


I made this one Sunday and like to call it Sweet Home Buffalo pizza.

Ingredients:

• thin crust
  
• light spread of sauce
• light dusting of part-skim mozzarella cheese
• caramelized onions (with just a hint of brown sugar)
• grilled chicken strips
  
• blue cheese crumbles
• and finally, a sprinkling of buffalo sauce

YUM. SERIOUSLY YUM.

Friday Link Love

• Yeeeeeees, please. Because these look so very much like the Warm Chocolate Melting Cakes from Carnival ships, they sure do hold a lot of promise.
• I have seen this snippet posted in about a kajillion places this week (talk about viral), so I thought I'd share in case you hadn't seen it yet. You have to at least make it to 4:00...
• So, I think Cliff and I should make it a goal to stay in at least one of these hotels in our lifetime. Eh?
• I think the tampon stun gun might be my favorite? Or not... What's yours?
• Gosh, I love cats. And I'm seriously not kidding. They are a genius species.
• I think this is what was meant by "shout to the Lord."
  

Dear Lord

Thank You for:

A great day at work. A good workout at the gym. Ground beef (not to be mistaken for my hunk of a husband, whom I also thank You for), caramelized onions, blue cheese, spinach, and Tabasco sauce. And finally...

Ree Drummond (also known as The Pioneer Woman) without whom I could not have been so divinely inspired during meal planning this week (and every week, for that matter).

This was our dinner tonight (aren't you proud, I took a picture!):

and it was nothing short of amazing. Spectacular. Fantastic. Delicious. Superb. Wonderful. Fabulous. Memorable. You get the picture.

Cliff even let me put the blue cheese on his, too, and he LOVED it!

So thank you, Lord, and thank you, Ree, as always.

Friday Link Love

• How did I not know this?
• Speaking of "how," I love how-tos. And this one came in handy last week when I made tuna paninis with avocado, monterey jack, and yummy caramelized onions.
• Okay, so it's Friday afternoon and I'm starving. So here's another great recipe for one of my all-time favorite foods.
• A quick convo with mom about offering up my old acoustic guitar to someone on freecycle reminded me of this useful little gem. Who doesn't like free stuff?
• Have you ever been somewhere wondering where the closest wi-fi locale, was? Well, wonder no more.
• I don't know if you've ever used trip advisor, but it's kind of my go-to for travel reviews. See what you think!

Friday Link Love

• This is seriously too cute.
• I want to swim in a vat of this stuff. It's that good.
• With the inauguration just a few days away, this advice could be useful.
  
• Doesn't this look delicious?
• I like Switchfoot. And I think Jon Foreman's a genius. Therefore, Fiction Family is something I am very excited about. Now if only I can wing a visit for us to the Belcourt on the 30th...
  
• And lastly, this is an inspiring article that sums up the reason I decided a couple of days ago to take today off. On that note...
  

Friday Link Love

• "Want" to "see" something "funny" ?
• Or maybe even something funnier like this. Please be warned, there are slightly hairy (though humorous) buttocks involved. And despite the humor, I do feel really bad for the guy.
• If you've ever seen "Anchorman" you'll enjoy this product. And no, before you look at the URL and freakout, it's not a naughty site.
• I go here, sometimes, to remember that when I find the occasionally poorly parked vehicle... I am not alone.
• Alright, it seems there's a theme. A kind of snarky theme. And this site is no less so than some of the previous.
• I like pizza. And I like that there are things that can make it more nutritious for you. And I also like that now I don't have to buy the stuff in the store any more. I can make it!

Friday Link Love

• If you haven't started on your 2009 resolutions yet, challenge yourself to some reflection on 2008. Here's a great starter list of questions.
• This place is SO COOL! That is... if you like rustic and antiquey looking furniture. Which evidently, I do. I dream of furnishing a rustic mountain home meets farm house with stuff like this...
• You know, I'm actually little excited about seeing Bruce Springsteen perform during the Super Bowl halftime. Anyone else?
• Roasted potatoes have never looked so good...
  

Friday Link Love

• I kind of think this is hilarious. And obnoxious, at the same time. There's just something about the beat. Or maybe the fact that we went to college with these guys. Who knows.
• So, we're a little behind on the twitter bandwagon. But after my tutorial with Molly last night, I'm fixated.
• I seriously had to wipe up the saliva that made it to the keyboard after drooling over this recipe. Finchers, wethinks this might do for a side on Sunday?
• Nashvillians, if you've never read or haven't yet bookmarked Nashvillest, you should. It's incredible the things you learn about your city. And two of my fellow Virginians-turned-Tennesseans run the site.
• You've seen this one, right? Because if not, you might want to.
• I can't stop listening to Erin McCarley.
  

Friday Link Love

So the last night wasn't as late as it could have been.
But that certainly called for an early morning.
The job is done.

It's time for some mental sanity...
or something like it.



Now, for this week's edition:

• The Pioneer Woman's posted a great running list of Thanksgiving dishes, including recipes and colorful pictures, that she's showcased on her site.
• Love the song. The kid. The dog. The premise. This whole video.
• Another classic SNL skit.
• Speaking of classic. This music video is a couple of month's old but we re-watched it this week and really enjoy seeing Cliff's co-worker rock it out as the main character. Funny, funny guy.
• Oh, dear, heavens. These are so cute.
• This is probably one of the most comprehensive guides for staving off house fever that I've seen yet. I'm just sad I didn't write it first.
• The ELP Department has a blog!
  

Good Morning!

More like GREAT morning, if you ask me!

Last night Cliff got home and to celebrate his hard week at work:

we enjoyed a delicious (if I do say so, myself) dinner of salmon and a warm spinach salad with raisins, green apples, and pecans. I warmed up some homemade apple cider and we finished up our puzzle we had been working on since the other night. (Finally, three years after he bought it for me on his first trip out to Yellowstone, we opened and completed it. The significance, now that we've been out there together, is just that much greater).

Beginnings:

Endings:

Then we watched old episodes of "The Office" that we'd missed the last two weeks and retired late into the evening, ready to sleep in for SURE.

And sleep in, we did! I just finished fixing a pair of Pioneer Woman's Cowboy Breakfast Sandwiches and we are incredibly contented... ready for a day at the Farmer's Market and the Franklin Pumpkin Fest. It's a beautiful day and I hope you all are out enjoying it!

Because Culinary Genius Knows No Limits

...and because when you can't watch Food Network, YouTube is the next best thing. Oh and because the smell of onions, garlic, and cinnamon sauteed in garlic is quite possibly the most heavenly scent ever...

I present to you today's new daring recipe from the land of strangely and unexpectedly good vegetable-based soups:



(Cliff is not so sure about this new soup fascination, I think...)

Food Stuff

Okay, so I'm working on a post about our great weekend with the family. But I just have to tell you about something before I get to finishing that.

This morning, I have reveled in culinary genius (not devised completely by myself). Two food items I have never made before that are so simple, my twelve year old brother could probably make both of them at the same time with his eyes closed. (Okay, so I never said I don't occasionally exaggerate.)

Here they are:

Happy Tummy Hummy (That's the name I made up for my own hummus... a basic recipe experimented with until I got this...)

1 15 oz. can of organic Garbanzo beans (chickpeas), fluid reserved
2 tbsp of Tahini (otherwise known as sesame paste that is hard to find, but at Publix was located both in the "Greenwise" section and on the aisle with Kosher food and beans, strangely enough)
1 lemon's worth of lemon juice
2 cloves of garlic, quartered
1/2 tsp of kosher salt (I only added a little because there is salt in the Garbanzo beans and their liquid)
1 dash of chile powder (or to taste)
1 dash of paprika (or to taste)
2 dashes of cumin (or to taste)

Throw everything above in a food processor (Magic Bullet, blender, whatever), adding small amounts of reserved fluid from the Garbanzo beans until fabulously smooth. If you're like me, you might eat so much of the "stuck on the spoon" hummus that the pita bread you bought to eat with it seems pointless.

and...

Pioneer Woman's Creamy Carrot Soup (So what if it's "for Kids") - I just made a batch of this stuff for later tonight (to serve with chicken and pear turnovers, booyah) and I, of course, had to make sure it wasn't wretched. Aaaaand, it wasn't. It was amazing. So amazing I reconsidered my whole menu for the evening and had it for my mid-morning snack.

Whatev.


p.s. Pioneer Woman is my hero.

Just Perfect

We've been drinking a lot of smoothies, lately. With the right ingredients, they pack a powerful punch of both nutrition and energy, and if enjoyed in smaller amounts (say, 8 oz. instead of the 24-32oz. that some smoothie establishments offer), can serve as a great mid-morning, late-afternoon, or after-dinner (i.e. dessert) snack.

We've been playing around with some ingredients lately, and my personal favorites always involve strawberries (we go for frozen, so we don't have to add ice). I just opened up my thermos to enjoy the smoothie I made for Cliff and I to split for our morning snack and am relishing the deliciousness of this smoothie. It's just perfect! (And SO easy.)

So, I thought I'd share the recipe in case you're feeling the urge:

Kristine's Trial-and-Error Smoothie (a strawberry banana masterpiece!)
1 cup of nonfat 'french vanilla' organic yogurt (Stonyfield)
1.25 cups of frozen strawberries (we buy the big bags of Dole strawberries at Sam's)
1 ripe banana (if it doesn't have spots, don't use it - you'll miss the flavor)
1 tablespoon of skim organic milk (Greenwise!) (try 2 tablespoons if you like your's not as thick)
.5 scoop of vanilla whey protein powder (EAS) (this scoop is approximately 2 tablespoons, so one tablespoon should do)

This makes about 20oz total, so if you're making for two or saving some for later in the day, it's perfect. If you're only wanting one serving, of course, you can just split the ingredients right in half!