Sweet and Spicy Tropical Smoothie

Hello everyone! Welcome to 2016!!!, from three years ago, until now :/. We wanted to pop in and give you new smoothie recipe from the January 2016 edition of Prevention Magazine. We think that this is one of the most delicious smoothies we have ever tried, well I do anyway. It is sweet and spicy at the same time and super creamy. The ginger and cayenne (what?!?) are said to rev up your calorie-burning ability. Under the "Smoothies" section in the magazine, pages 84-91, Khalil Hymore and Linda Pugliese have teamed up to create an eye catching and informative New Year's Resolutions smoothies combo pack! I hope you check out the magazine, it is really awesome.

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Ingredients: 

• 1/2 cup coconut water
• 2 tbsp lemon juice 
• 1 ripe avocado
• 1 scoop whey protein powder (or any other plant-based protein powder)
• 1/4 tsp cayenne powder
• 2" piece fresh ginger
• 1 cup pineapple and/or mango
• 1 frozen banana (optional)

Directions: 

1. Wash, cut, and prep all produce.
2. Add all ingredients to a high power blender.
3. Blend and divide between 2 glasses. 
4. Enjoy :)

Nutrition (per serving);

280 cal, 11 g protein, 28 g carbs, 9 g fiber, 14 g sugars, 15.5 g fat, 2.5 g sat. fat, 91 mg sodium. 

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The spicy kick might not be for everyone but I love the flavors. I also love the new and improved Simple Green Smoothies website. We will try to get out some more healthy/vegan recipes soon!

Apple Pie Parfait

The title of this blog post is really attractive isn't it? :) Anyways this blog post will be about a recipe I whipped up while I was playing with my original Strawberry-Banana Parfait recipe the other night. It came along when I realized that I didn't have any more coconut milk to make the strawberry banana ice cream so I decided that I would try a brand new parfait that day, so here's what I did.....

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Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup Old Fashioned Oats
• 1/2 Almond Milk 
• Pinch of Nutmeg
• 1/2 Teaspoon Chia Seeds
• 2 Pinches of Cinnamon
• 1 Apple
• 1 Tablespoon Blue Fig Agave or Honey
• 1/2 of a Banana
• 1 Tablespoon of Peanut Butter (optional)
• 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extarct

Directions:

1. Mix your old fashioned oats, almond milk, nutmeg, chia seeds, cinnamon, agave, and vanilla extract into a fairly large bowl.
2. Funnel or scoop the well mixed mixture into jars or a bowl to sit overnight.
3. Use your apple cutter or knife to chop up your apple into very small pieces. (I do not recommend using a gala apple or any other relatively soft apples for this recipe.)
4. Pour the apples in your bowl or jar and cover with plastic wrap and place in your fridge overnight.
5. The next morning take out your overnight oats and slice the banana into thick pieces and pour the banana into your jar or bowl. (DO NOT PUT THE OTHER HALF OF YOUR BANANA IN THE FRIDGE- it will dry it out and bye the time you get home from work/school it will be brown.)
6. If you like you could scoop the peanut butter on top (I liked the taste of peanut butter, apples and banana but Colbie did not want to try it because she doesn't really like peanut butter. Either way it still tastes good. :)
7. Wah-lah, you are done | Enjoy!

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 * Sorry no fancy picture for this one because it looks really close to the Strawberry Banana Parfait. The picture above is from Yummly on "MyRecipes" page under this link. Let me know if you want to see mine and I won't be lazy and actually take a picture for you guys :)*

Strawberry-Banana Parfait

So today I tried making my own parfait. It was really tasty and I liked it a lot, but  in the future I will try creating and or using a better recipe than this one. C'mon give me some slack this was my first one. :) Okay so let's get started.

Ingredients:

• Frozen Fruit of your choice (I used strawberries)
• Vanilla Coconut Milk
• Trader Joe's Coconut Cream
• 1Cup of Old Fashioned Oats
• 1/2 Tbs Chia Seeds
• 1 Tbsp Vanilla Extract
• A Pinch Nutmeg
• 2 Cups of Soy Milk (or you could use almond milk)
• Grapes (Left), Blueberries (Right)- It depends on how much you would like.
• 1/2 Cup of Granola

Directions:

1. Make the Healthy Ice Cream (which is in the middle) the night before. Here is the link to make that.
2. Next you take a fairly large bowl and pour your Old Fashioned Oats in.
3. Then you add the Soy Milk, Chia Seeds, Vanilla Extract, and Nutmeg.
4. Place your overnight oats in a jar or bowl to sit in the refrigerator for the night.- Covered or uncovered, it doesn't matter.
5. The next morning your oats should be thick, so you can pour the Ice Cream on top of the oats.
6. Next add your fruit- I added blueberries in the picture above.
7. Finally top off your parfait with granola and a spoon. | Enjoy! 

Green Smoothies

Today we made green smoothies for the first time and we really liked them.We got them from a site called Simple Green Smoothies!! They are amazing and I think that you guys should check them out! So the smoothie that I picked from their site was the Beginner's Luck green smoothie. It is really easy and fast to make.This recipe does serve two, and is approximately 20 oz/159 ml each . I thought that this one was the perfect smoothie to make for my first time, so let's get started.

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Ingredients

• 2 cups spinach, fresh
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup pineapple
• 1 cup mango
• 2 bananas

Directions

1. Blend spinach and water until smooth.
2. Next add the remaining fruits and blend again.

So next is how I stored my ingredients, and I did it exactly the way that the two ladies from simple green smoothies. I loved their way so much I actually put all the ingredients together last night, and then I made the smoothies that morning! The link is here! I also took a picture of how I put my ingredients to storage!

***If you make this particular smoothie I advise you to put the spinach on the top because when you blend the spinach and water first it is easier to get to it if is on the top and you don't have to stick your hand in cold fruits and veggies :)***

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Swaddled Asparagus

Hello guys! Today I have a delicious treat, its asparagus wrapped in ham! My mom found this recipe on Pinterest and once we saw it we just had to try it out! So here we go!: 

Ingredients/Tools:

1. Thick Asparagus Spears
2. Sharp Knife or Kitchen Scissors
3. LandO'Frost's Smoked Ham (we just used this kind, but you don't have to. You could even use turkey if you like.)
4. Flat Toothpicks

Directions:

1. First preheat your oven to 400°F, then wash and dry your spears, tap water and a paper towel will do
2. Then use your scissors or knife to cut off the crown of your asparagus.
3. Now grab your ham and start to wrap each spear with a piece of ham. (I had to use two spears in each piece of ham because I accidentally bought my spears to small.)
4. Once your done wrapping you can chose two ways to secure your spear to the meat.
1. Use use the toothpick and push it straight through the spear.
2. Or use the toothpick and diagonally push it through the asparagus.
5. Your oven should be done by now so pop them in and set your timer to 12 minutes or until browned. Check them at about 6 minutes in to flip them.
6. Once done you can take them out let cool for about a minute or two. | Enjoy! ッ

 Credit to Kalyn's Kitchen on Pinterest.:

Bundle O' Blueberries

Hello! This post will be about a quick snack that you can make in about 30 mins! It is delicious and a sweet treat you can eat without guilt!

Tools/Ingredients:

1. Vanilla Yogurt (can be Greek, Fat-Free, Lactose-Free, Pro biotic, etc.)
2. Skewers
3. Blueberries

Directions:

1. If your blueberries are frozen, then defrost them. If not then you can skip this step.
2. Grab your skewers and push your berries up the stick.
3. For this step you can either pour your yogurt on a plate and roll your kabob in it. Or you could do what I did and take a spoon and scoop out some yogurt and coat the blueberries that way. 
4. Cover your kabobs with Saran or Cling wrap (after you place them on a freezer friendly plate)
5. Depending on how cold your freezer is this might take longer. My freezer settings were set on "4" and I put the kabob's in for 30-45 mins.
6. When they are completely frozen take them | Enjoy!
   
   
   
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    The final picture is at the top, sorry for the inconvenience 
   
   This is just a random picture, but I saw this beautiful butterfly today
   

   eating it's lunch! :)

Cream Puff Tutorial

I made this video on We Video, and I wanted to share it with you 

guys! So the video explains everything, and I hope you get a chance to look at my 2 new Facebook pages. I need likes on the page so help me out guys thanks!! Sorry about such a short post.

Love you!! 

Link to the Video is Here!

Facebook Page Links Here!