Green Smoothie - Day One - Khrista

My artsy portrait of Day One's green smoothie. :)

Stage 1: 5 oz. frozen strawberries, 2 frozen bananas, 2 clementines (peeled), 1 1/4 cups filtered water.

Stage 2: Fruit blended for approx. 3 minutes, agave nectar, and 4 cups organic baby spinach waiting.

Stage 3: In they go!

So pretty!

Stage 4: Blended for at least 3 more minutes.
In the end it made approx. 4 cups.
3 of which I drank, and my daughter drank the remaining cup.
Ready to pour...

My beautiful glass that I sipped on for about an hour. Held me over until lunch.

This was my lunch:

Fresh green salad with cucumber, grape tomatoes, diced fennel, sliced almonds, and crispy chow mein noodles. I know they aren't the best for you (I haven't actually checked the ingredients as this was in an unmarked baggy from a previous salad, I wonder if they are terribly awful?)
Neither was the Asian dressing I topped it off with.
Baby steps. :)

On the menu for dinner:
Equadorian Quinoa Vegetable Soup

My First Green Smoothie ...

.... was so NOT green !!!

I'm not sure why ... I had lots of spinach in it. All picked from our garden, I might add ...

We'll see how today's goes !

Here's what I put in the NOT green smoothie ...

1 frozen banana
handful frozen blueberries
handful frozen raspberries
a squeeze of agave nectar
a bit of vanilla
a couple scoops of the fruit salad I had in the fridge
(it contains rockmelon, strawberries, blueberries and kiwi fruit)
a cup or a bit more of water
and then the spinach

It was yum.
A bit tart though.
I'll use less raspberries next time ...

{30 days green}

I happened to see a link to this on Khrista's facebook today. It starts tomorrow and I am TOTALLY in !! And just in case you are wondering, the green in this challenge has nothing to do with global warming and everything to do with spinach !! I have been wanting to get back into my morning smoothie routine and since I love a challenge, this is just what I needed to kick my behind into gear ! Some of you may want to join me, and Khrista, who is also going to do the challenge. Here's what you have to do. I'm copying and pasting from the Happy Foody ...

"Last year I launched the Happy Foody 30 Day Green Smoothie Challenge…it was a huge success and helped many people change their eating habits. SO…we’re going to do it AGAIN! It’s the perfect time to kick start a healthier you…summer is coming to a close soon and fall upon us. Seasons are changing…and you can change too! Adding a green smoothie to your day is the BEST thing you can do to get on the path to a healthier you. When you drink a big green smoothie in the morning, it fills your body’s need for those vital nutrients to function throughout the day. You will slowly STOP CRAVING junk food. It’s like magic!

We will begin on August 17 and end on September 17. Here is what you are committing to:

• Drink at least 16 oz. of green smoothie per day (a quart would be even better!)
• Do some sort of activity every day. This could be an intense workout, or just dancing with your kids around the living room. It could be a 15 minute yoga session or a walk around the block.
• Add a green leafy salad to your lunch or supper (with light dressing…stay away from the creamier sauces).
• Stop drinking pop.
• Cut out all white sugar.

So who is in?! Leave a comment below with your intention and watch your life change. Feel free to grab the little icon from above and link it back to this post. Tell your friends. Tell your co-workers. Tell your family. Get yourself a green smoothie buddy. Can’t wait to hear your stories!

Be sure to join our Facebook group here for additional motivation and inspiration."

I am going to go for the quart a day smoothie to start my morning. I'm going to walk 30 minutes a day while the kids play at the park. I love salads ... the greener and leafier the better so bring it on !! I don't drink pop so no prob. Cutting out white sugar will be my biggest challenge ...

I hope to share some great smoothie combos as I'll be totally making it up. I did my shopping today and THEN read about this. Since tomorrow is the starting day, I'm going to have a be extra creative for the first week !!

PS ... If you don't know what a green smoothie is or how to make one ... check out this great video by the Happy Foody !

Yup, it IS delicious!

I made this recipe of Bonnie's. I changed a couple of things due to availability, but it was very very yummy!
I used a Serrano chili instead of thai chilies. I did spoon a little garlic chili sauce over the top at the end for a little more spice.
I also have never heard of, nor could I find tamarind concentrate. But I found a web site that suggested I substitute some lime or lemon juice mixed with a touch of brown sugar. So I did.

Snickerdoodles

I printed this recipe ages ago but had never tried it.
I just went looking for the website where I got it (to give credit where credit is due)
but it no longer exists ....

These were my favorite cookie as a kid.
And, I'm going to have to say ... still, as an adult !
Our kids loved them too but
oh my goodness ... there is a bit of an issue with the name here
in Australia.
You see ... as much as we have tried to teach the kids the proper names of human anatomy,
they still go to school, and at school the kids call the bit that boys have a doodle !
So ... you can only image the giggles that erupted when I said
these cookies were called snickerdoodles !
Alia said "it's got doodles in it" ... and Jono thought she meant the cookies had
"doodles" in them ... but she was just talking about the name.
Oy vey !
What's a mother to do ?

Give you the recipe ?
Ok ...

1 cup softened butter
1 and 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 and 3/4 cups self-raising flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

• Preheat over to 350 F or 180 C.
• Cream together butter, sugar and eggs.
• Stir flour and cream of tartar together, and then stir that into the creamed stuff.
• Chill dough completely. I just made the dough while I was cooking dinner, stuck it in the fridge and then baked them after dinner.
  
• Roll dough into small walnut size balls.
• Roll each ball in a mixture of 2 tablespoons sugar and the cinnamon.
• Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes on an ungreased baking sheet until lightly brown but still soft.

Eat and enjoy and snicker about the doodles ....

COPS ~ Cabbage Onion Polish Sausage

I ordered a box of veggies last week.
It included a whole cabbage.
What the heck does one do with a whole cabbage ?

Rory and I do this.

Chop up half the cabbage.
Chop an onion.
Chop up some polish sausage.

Heat a bit of olive oil.
Brown sausage.
Add onion.
Add cabbage.
Pour a big of soy sauce on top.

DONE !

Put it on top of rice.
Easy.
Yummy.

We still have 1/2 a cabbage and 1/2 a polish sausage ... we'll be having this again next week !

{lunches}

Lunches ...

But first ... dinner dishes.
I've always hated doing the dishes after dinner.
Ok, ok ... I always hate the dishes.
But especially after cooking dinner.
I cook dinners that take a bit of effort ... sometimes a lot of effort.
I do it because I love it.
But to have to do the dishes after has always been so discouraging.

A couple of months ago, Rory started doing the dishes after dinner !
Just out of the blue, he suggested that I have the dishwasher emptied before dinner
and he'd take care of the cleanup after dinner.

I'll tell you what ... it is wonderful !
I wake up every morning to a shiny clean kitchen and I didn't have to clean it !!

One thing that Rory has always hated doing is packing his lunch.
We've tried different things but really ... he just wanted me to do it ! :)
I don't mind doing it but the problem always was that I would be too tired after cooking
and then cleaning up to even think about packing lunches at night
and he leaves WAY TOO EARLY for me to do his
in the morning.

So ... this week, I started doing all of our lunches, at night.
And it works wonderfully !!

There's no scurrying around in the mornings anymore !!

And I pack much healthier lunches this way !

Here's the whole lot so you can see ...



I made a big fruit salad at the beginning of the week. It lasted three days.
This is the first time I've done that, I'll definitely be doing it again.
It was so easy to just grab the big container and scoop it into each of our boxes !

I also try to incorporate as many leftovers as possible.

Here's the kids lunches for tomorrow ...
The spaghetti is leftover from earlier in the week.
The foccacia from last night's dinner.
They have fruit salad,
"greek" salad ... it's just tomato, kalamata olives, feta cheese and yellow bell pepper chunks,
a hard boiled egg, and a yogurt.



My lunch is similar to the kids, except I'm having leftover spaghetti with the leftover sauce.
And I'm having crackers instead of foccacia. And no yoghurt.

Rory needs a much bigger lunch.
He works loooooooooooooong hours.
He has lasagna that I pulled out of the freezer.
A ham sandwich.
The tomato/lettuce are to put on the sandwich at work.
(I keep 'em separate ... who likes a soggy sandwich ?!)
Fruit salad, hard boiled egg, crackers, and a bar.



And here we are ... all stacked up in the fridge, ready to go in lunchboxes in the morning !

Chicken Fingers ... the Quinoa Way

I can't believe I haven't posted this recipe yet.
I've actually got a list of recipes I need to post,
I've just gotten out of the habit of posting regularly to this blog !!
I'm going to change that ...

Starting now ...

I got this recipe from skinnychef.com
I served it with Yummo Spinach Salad ... a Pioneer Woman recipe that I changed a bit.

These are a bit of work but totally worth it !!

Here's what to do ...

1 kg chicken tenders or skinless boneless breasts, sliced into 3-inch long tenders
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon paprika
2 cups cooked quinoa
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
2 eggs
2 tablespoons olive oil

Spread out the quinoa on a piece of baking paper. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs onto quinoa. Push the breadcrumbs into the quinoa ... they will soak up the moisture of the quinoa.

Beat the eggs in a shallow bowl.

Sprinkle the chicken with salt, garlic powder, pepper, and paprika.

Dip the chicken in the egg and then into the quinoa mixture.

Warm the oil in a large skillet over high heat. When the oil is hot, add the chicken and reduce the heat to medium. Cook each side 4-5 minutes, turning once, until the crust begins to brown, and the chicken is cooked.

Serve immediately.

Menu Plan Monday - Bonnie - 10 August 2009

Menu Plan Monday is hosted by Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Remember how last week I said I was going to "make a huge batch tomorrow night so there is plenty to freeze to have on hand for those nights when I need to pull something out of the freezer quickly. I think I will try to make one meal like this each week to keep the freezer stocked with easy to re-heat home cooked meals ..." I was talking about spaghetti sauce and I did. We have four dinners worth of sauce frozen ! Then last night, I double a lasagna recipe and we now have four lasagna dinners and four lasagna lunches frozen !! I'm so excited about this !

Do you have any recipes that freeze really well ?? I'd love for you to leave a comment with a link so I can get some ideas for what to fill the freezer with. Rory is even talking about a deep freezer now ...

Here's this week's menu.

Monday
Trying a new Ratouille with Crusty Bread on the side. I'm going to serve it on quinoa ...
I want to try Khrista's one next ...

Tuesday
Zucchini Pie with salad from our garden

Wednesday
Cabbage/Polish Sausage
Will serve on rice or mashed potatoes

Thursday
Spaghetti ~ from the freezer

Friday
Funky Lime Pizza

Saturday
ooops ... haven't planned for Saturday

Sunday
or Sunday either ...

A Revelation in Omelets

After going to see the move Julie & Julia, I went immediately home and youtubed old Julia Child cooking shows. The first one I stumbled across showed how to make French omelets. It looked pretty easy, so I gave it a whirl today.

Holy
Freaking
Cow.

I will never eat scrambled eggs again. Also, I may need to build a small, tasteful shrine to Madame Julia in my apartment.

What you need:
A non-stick frying pan at least 7 inches in diameter (cooking surface).
A whisk
A bowl
2-3 eggs (I used 2)
Salt & Pepper
Butter
Water

Crack open the eggs into a bowl, season with salt and pepper and add a smidge of water (I never measured, but it couldn't have been more than a teaspoon). Whisk together until well incorporated.

Meanwhile, heat the pan to VERY hot. Seriously, use the highest heat setting your stove can manage. Once the pan is hot, add a tablespoon of butter (yup, a whole tablespoon!) and swirl it around the pan, making sure to get some on the sides. Once the butter has stopped foaming, but before it turns color, add the egg mixture. It should sizzle.

Wait a moment then firmly grasp the pan's handle and start swirling it over the burner. When it looks like it is starting to set up, start vigorously jerking the pan back and forth until the eggs sort of fold over themselves and collect at the far end of the pan. It should finish cooking in a few seconds.

Turn upside down onto a warmed plate and either top with a little parsley or just enjoy plain (which is what I did). Seriously, it's quick and super easy and seriously impressive! Also, Julia says it makes a fantastic lunch when combined with a nice green salad. I made these for a couple of friends today and we indeed had them with a spinach salad. Oh that Julia - she's always right.


One a side note...the third one I made also happened to be the ugliest one I made. Sadly, it was the only one I thought to take a picture of. So sorry 'bout that, maybe someone else can make this a take a nicer photo.

Excuse me, this is delicious, shrimp salad !

I got this recipe from Zested.
I didn't change it very much but I'll do a few things differently next time ... here's what I'll do.

3 T. peanut oil
1 large shallot, thinly sliced (i used a few spring onions)
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 inch fresh ginger, grated
2-3 Thai chilies*, with seeds, minced
1 lb. large shrimp, peeled and cleaned

* I can't find these here. I've bought some seeds and am going to grow some, 'til they are ready though, I just use a jar of chili/garlic paste when something calls for these ...

Sauce
2 heaping teaspoons tamarind concentrate
3 T. sugar
2 T. soy
2 T. Asian fish sauce
2 T. lime juice

Salad
2 avocados, chopped
1 large cucumber, chopped
1 half sweet onion, diced
3 T. lime juice
1 t. sugar
1 t. Asian fish sauce
3 T. fresh coriander, chopped
Rice, cooked ... to serve

Make tamarind sauce by mixing all sauce ingredients.

Make salad from salad ingredients. I didn't know if you were supposed to combine the lime, sugar and fish sauce, I didn't. I just threw them on top.

Cook shrimp. Heat peanut oil in a heavy skillet and sauté ginger, shallot, garlic, chilies, stirring constantly ... for about 30 seconds, don't burn them ! Add shrimp and sauté until barely pink, about 2 minutes. Stir in tamarind mixture and simmer until shrimp are just cooked through, about 2 minutes more. ( I think this took me a little longer than 2 minutes ... )

Spoon shrimp and salad over rice.

Ps ... you'll notice the peaunuts in this photo ... I didn't think they added to the meal and I won't put them in the next time so didn't include them in the recipe I posted. If you think you'd like them check out the original recipe ...

Menu Plan Monday - Khrista - 08.03.09

Monday
Zucchini Pie #4 on her menu

This was new to us, and really yummy. Almost like a Frittata. Used up the zucchini we had!
Tuesday
Grilled Ratatouille Salad with Whole Wheat Pasta

Never did get around to eating this last week, so it's making an appearance on the menu again this week. I have to use the eggplant before it goes bad!
Cauliflower with Mustard-Lemon Butter New to us...will let you know how it is!
Wednesday
Yellow Peppers Stuffed with Quinoa, Corn, and Feta - From a book I borrowed from a friend titled: "Vegetarian Suppers" by Deborah Madison. It is the book cover recipe! ;) I'll post the recipe if it's good.
Broccoli with Asian-Style Dressing This recipe came in our farm share newsletter last week. Will let you know how it is.
Thursday
Lemon Spaghetti with Salad

One of our favorites for Summer...Winter...Fall...Spring...ANYTIME! :)
Friday
Pizza Night!

Pictured is Pizza Primavera...minus the asparagus I believe...
Saturday
Stress-Free Pasta with Salad

Sunday
Eat Out or "Raid the Pantry"

Menu Plan Monday - Bonnie - 3 August 2009

Menu Plan Monday is hosted by Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Rory and I were talking in the car the other day about how I haven't made Spaghetti is a loooong time. I'm going to make a huge batch tomorrow night so there is plenty to freeze to have on hand for those nights when I need to pull something out of the freezer quickly. I think I will try to make one meal like this each week to keep the freezer stocked with easy to re-heat home cooked meals ...

No photos as I'm in a hurry ! I'm doing ZERO new recipes this week. Eeeek ! I am doing a bunch of old favorites that we haven't done in a while ....

Monday
Spaghetti Bolognaise

Tuesday
Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Wednesday
Rory's Carbonara

Thursday
Crock Pot Fajitas

Friday
Macadamia Chicken

Saturday
Stir Fry ~ to be invented, hopefully by Rory !
I am a BAD BAD stir fryer !!

Sunday
Leftovers or whatever we throw together

{my bread maker pizza dough recipe}

200ml water
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 & 1/2 cups bread flour
1 & 3/4 teaspoons yeast

put into bread maker. select 'pizza dough'. press start button.

takes 45 minutes ...

Funky Lime Pizza

I got this recipe here. If you need a recipe for the dough she's got one included. Or you could try Khrista's whole wheat dough, or my bread maker dough. (I used my bread maker dough for this, as I do for every pizza I make !)

So ... I made two pizzas with this amount of topping ... (and yeah, I modified it but not too much)

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 T extra-virgin olive oil

1 ear of corn, kernels removed

pinch of black pepper

1/2 t red pepper flakes (I just put this on the table for people to sprinkle as wanted)

1 lb Mozzarella, shredded

1/2 onion, thinly sliced

zucchini, thinly sliced

feta cheese, crumbled

fresh cilantro (coriander) leaves, coarsely chopped

juice of 1 lime

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. (she did a bunch of tricky stuff with the pizza baking process, i prefer simple so didn't do any of that ... you should go check out her way if you like tricky ... )

In a small bowl, combine the garlic and olive oil and set aside.

In a bowl, toss the corn kernels with the black pepper and red pepper.

Scatter half of the Mozzarella over the pizzas, leaving a 1/2" rim. Place the onion over the cheese and the zucchini over the onion. Scatter the remaining Mozzarella over the zucchini. Sprinkle with the feta and the corn.

Bake for about 8 minutes then swap which rack the pizzas are on. Bake for another 5 - 8 minutes, til cheese is done to your liking ! I like it a bit brown ...

Immediately after removing the pizza from the oven, brush the garlic oil onto the rim, squeeze the lime juice over the top and garnish with the cilantro.

This method of brushing with the olive oil left the garlic a bit raw for our tastes. Next time, I think I will add the garlic to the pizza itself and just brush with plain olive oil at the end ...

Menu Plan Monday - Khrista - 07.27.09

I'm trying to get back on track here...
We have been participating in a local CSA here this Summer. This is the 3rd Summer for us, and we always enjoy all the fresh veggies we receive week after week. We're into week 5 of 12 so far. This year we are sharing our farm share with a friend. We couldn't seem to consume all the veggies ourselves last year and ended up wasting some of it, much to our disappointment.
It seems to be working out well so far. There is still PLENTY of vegetables to consume.
Today I went through the fridge and listed ALL the veggies we still needed to eat.
I then took that list and cross referenced it with some of our favorite recipes and recipes from this site and this one, to come up with the meals for this week using up those good veggies! The first site is really helpful because you can search by key ingredient! Love it! I got the Escarole with Beans + More recipe from that site. (And yes, I realize Escarole is misspelled on my menu image, but I am too lazy to go fix it!)
The Sweet Pepper Pasta Toss with Kale is from the other site and can be found in this week's farm note.
Those are both new recipes for us. I will let you know how we like them!
The other three recipes are ones I have made before:
Mediterranean Rice Salad

Grilled Ratatouille Salad

I'll try and post the Chicken Green Chile Enchiladas recipe later in the week. It is most certainly not a healthy meal, but tasty nonetheless... and a perfect meal to take to new parents, which is just what I plan to do...and double the recipe so we can enjoy it too!

Menu Plan Monday - Bonnie - 27 July 2009

Menu Plan Monday is hosted by Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie.

I've been in a bit of a slump the past couple of weeks ! Haven't planned a menu, haven't shopped. Just tried to use up what was in the fridge and pantry for the most part. Grrr ... I don't like weeks like that. Back on track this morning ! The menu is planned, I'm just getting ready to put the grocery list together and I'm going to head out to the store a bit later ... I have some other errands to run as well so will do them all at the same time ! I didn't get myself organized to shop on line over the weekend. Sounds ridiculous but ... it's the truth.

ANYWAY ... I've found some really interesting looking meals for this week. I am so excited to try them ... especially tonights !!! I'll let you know if they are good ... I've linked to the recipes and amazing photos ... you can check them out there if you can't wait til I've tried them !! :)

Monday
Corn and Zucchini Pizza with Lime and Cilantro

Tuesday
Tropical Tamarind Shrimp with Avocado Cucumber Salad

Wednesday
Garlic and Coriander Chicken
Rocket (from our garden !!), tomato and carrot salad with a homemade asian dressing

Thursday
Biscuits with Salmon and Cream Cheese

Friday
Rory and I are going out !

Saturday
Will have to play this one by ear ...

Sunday
Homemade Mac and Cheese
Roasted Cauliflower

.. the fresh stuff ..

oh dear
my poor neglected beans blog
can it really be that i haven't posted a single recipe for 15 days ?!
eek !

well, here's a little something something to cheer you up
fresh coriander (cilantro) doing it's best to grow up to the sky !
i'm thrilled ... i've never had this good a success with it in any other veggie garden



i'll get back to posting soon !

Pita Bread

My mother in law posted this to her blog ... I have cut and pasted it in it's entirety so we can try it ... who will do it first and post a photo ?? I'm going to try it with Khrista's Chicken Souvlaki !! I think it might just answer my pita prayers !!

Pass The Beans Please: Chicken Souvlaki

This is a marvelous recipe especially since I can no longer buy the quick fix ingredients in the supermarket. Thank you so much for this great blog, girls.

Have you ever tried to make your own Pita bread? I use two cups of plain flour, the required amount of dried yeast, one cup of slightly warm water and mix. Roll on to floured surface and kneed for 10 minutes.

When you have a nice elastic dough ball, put in the bowl, cover with plastic, and leave in a warm place to rise for abut 30 - 40 mins. (In a warm climate and warm day less time.)

When it has doubled in size punch down the dough onto a surface and break into 6 or 8 balls.

Roll each one with a rolling pin till it is flat and about the size of a small saucer. Place on baking paper on a tray. (heat oven to 365deg. F or 185 C). Let the flat cakes rest till they rise a little like flying saucers.

Place in the oven for up to 10 minutes. They should puff up like a pocket. Don't over cook.

Remove from oven and make a small cut in the edge on one side. The deflated pocket is excellent for any Pita purpose!

Have fun!!!!!!!!!

Menu Plan Monday ~ Bonnie ~ 6 July 2009

I know it's only Sunday, but I've just finished planning this menu and I just want to post it.
Who says I can only post my Menu Plan Monday on Monday ??
No-one ?

Phew !

What's cooking at your place ?

Menu Plan Monday is hosted by Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Monday


Khrista's Mexican Chicken Soup
I'm so excited that I can make this ... thanks to Khris sending me green chiles !!

Tuesday



we're having friends over and i'm going to make
Thai Chicken Soup
oh yum !


Wednesday



Crock Pot Steak Fajitas

Thursday

my father in law has been telling me about this green pasta he makes
there is no recipe ... i'm just going to wing it !
i'll let you know ...

Friday



Trying some new pizza's ...
Roasted Garlic and Peppers
and this one
(and I'll make this basil pesto to go on it - with basil out of my garden !!)


Saturday



Cold Somen Noodles
(It looks like I haven't posted this recipe here before ... will get a photo and do that this time !)
Gyoza

Sunday
we'll see what we've got left in the fridge by Sunday and just come up with something
maybe eggs on toast
or onigiri
if there's not much else ...

**

You know what I love about this new way I'm planning and shopping ?
The menu is planned, the shopping is done and I haven't left my computer !
I can't wait til tomorrow morning when my groceries get delivered right into my kitchen !!