I’d fallen off the smoothie wagon for awhile. It’s been all about eggs for me in the mornings. But now that summer is here, my love of the breakfast smoothie has been re-energized!
Also, I recently bought a Margaritaville blender. And to justify the cost, I knew that I would be making more than just margaritas in it. :)
Raspberry Banana Smoothie
Recipe from The Chew
Ingredients:
1 1/2 – 2 cups raspberries
1 frozen banana
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
1/4 cup rolled oats
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 – 1 cup ice
Almond milk, to thin, if needed
Instructions:
Combine all ingredients into your blender. Blend until smooth. If mixture is too thick, add some almond milk.
Makes 2 small smoothies or 1 large smoothie.
Hey there! How was your weekend?? Mine was great! Thanks for asking.
I went with my friends to see Magic Mike….along with lots of other ladies! I really enjoyed it! Hot guys that can dance…um yeah! I’m a big fan of Channing Tatum. He has really good comedic timing too.
One of my favorite parts of the movie was actually not even the movie! Before the movie started, the theater showed a Channing Tatum/Dirty Dancing spoof! Have you seen it before?? So funny!!
After the movie, we went out for some drinks. One of my to-go/summer/I’m an adult drinks is a simple drink of bourbon + ginger ale.
Bourbon Highball
1-2 fingers of bourbon
Diet Ginger Ale to taste (I go heavy on the Ginger Ale as bourbon is strong.)
lime wedges
ice
Combine & sip again.
Are you planning on seeing Magic Mike??
What’s your go-to summer cocktail??
Happy New Year!!!
Do you need a little hair of the dog to ward off your hangover from last night’s debauchery?
Or do you just want to enjoy a Sunday brunch beverage staple?
There are many variations on Bloody Marys. Spicy variations do it for me.
Spicy Bloody Mary
Makes one tall drink or 2 short drinks
Ingredients:
2 shots of vodka
6 shots worth of low-sodium tomato juice
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
6 drops of Tabasco sauce
1/4 teaspoon celery salt
1/2 teaspoon horseradish
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Instructions:
Mix all ingredients in a glass. Add ice. Add the garnish of your choice: celery stalk, slice of cooked bacon, pickle, or etc.
I’m a pickle gal myself.
Drink up and have a fabulous first day of 2012!!
Mondays are not often oh happy days. They’re just…Mondays. Today was a pretty darn good day though.
I did a little shopping before heading home to make dinner.
Dinner was:
fettuccine
1 can Healthy Request cream of mushroom soup
2 small cans low-sodium tuna, packed in water
salt & pepper to season
scallions for garnish
Serves 4. 290 calories per serving.
It was tasty!!
After dinner, Haley and I went for a walk and to get the mail.
What’s this???
Yes! It’s the giveaway I won on Julie’s Eats and Treats. It’s the first blog giveaway that I’ve ever won. 
I received 2 Sunflower potholders, tongs, a berry colander, and a peeler. I was just looking for my peeler last week and couldn’t find it either. Score!
This berry colander is super cute too. Thanks again, Julie!!!
I also got a book in the mail today that I ordered.
I’ve heard so many wonderful things about Plate to Pixel. It’s no secret that I need HELP (and some inspiration) with my photography. And since I can’t hire Helene to be my personal food photographer, her book is the next best thing.
Finally, The Sporkful is one of my favorite podcasts to listen to on iTunes. They gave me a shout out on their blog today too. I’m pretty sure that I scared Haley when I started squealing tonight when I read it.
I must make some iced coffee to celebrate with tomorrow.
A toast!
This blog post is my 100th post! Yay! That’s some sort of milestone, right?? It feels like one.
I thought that I might blog about cupcakes for my 100th post. But then I decided it needed a cocktail to celebrate!
After recently buying some frozen pineapple, I was reminded about my favorite summer time drink. The Bay Breeze!
I started drinking Bay Breezes after watching Red Eye and Rachel McAdams orders one. Hey, we all have to find out about new cocktails somehow! I find all my favorite drinks via movies.
Bay Breeze
1 part vodka
1 part pineapple juice
3 parts cranberry juice
Mix and enjoy!
I used frozen pineapple chunks in lieu of ice. I’m fancy like that.
Cheers!!
Can we all agree to LOVE Justin Timberlake? He can do no wrong.
I like the JT/Jimmy Fallon History of Rap 2 even better than one. I still have that episode of Jimmy Fallon on my DVR.
Can also we all agree to LOVE Andie on Can You Stay For Dinner? too? Her food blog is beautiful. She recently did a series on healthy foods that she loves. One of the items was frozen pineapple. I immediately went and bought some!
Pineapple Vanilla Green Monster Smoothie
Ingredients:
6 ounces non-fat plain Greek Yogurt
1 scoop of vanilla protein powder (I use Spiru-Tein, but whatever floats your boat!)
1/3 cup Almond milk
about a handful of frozen pineapple cubes
about a tsp of Chia seeds
2 handfuls of spinach
2 handfuls of crushed ice
It’s a smoothie…just eyeball the ingredients. There’s no precision to my smoothie makin’. Combine in your mixer or as always with me…my immersion blender!
Happy Saturday! It’s only noon and I’ve already:
–cleaned the kitchen
–cleaned the bathrooms
–dusted
–vacuumed
–mopped the floors
–changed the sheets on the bed
–done 4 loads of laundry
I can attribute my burst of energy to another round of iced coffee.
Last night, I was at one of my FAVORITE stores……Bed, Bath, & Beyond! Do you ever find yourself at B3 to get one thing and end up with 10 things? Yeah, me too! I went to B3 to get a new strainer. I left mine on the stovetop last week and the heat from oven was enough to melt a hole in it. Oops.
Check out my new strainer though! Cute!
I finally remembered when I was at B3 that I wanted to buy an ice cube tray. I heard on The Sporkful podcast months ago about using iced coffee cubes in your iced coffee.
With the iced coffee cubes, your iced coffee doesn’t get diluted as the ice melt. Genius! A must have for a coffee addict like myself!!!
I highly recommend you get an iced cube tray with a cover on it. You don’t want to spill coffee in your freezer. I also recommend brewing your coffee the night before and putting in the refrigerator overnight. I’ve made it both ways and really enjoy the coffee that’s cooled overnight much better.
The iced coffee cubes are a bit messy to touch, but really liked the added strength to the coffee!!
Drink up!
Hey y’all!!
Yes, I’m channeling Tami Taylor. Tami Taylor is (or should I say WAS {tear}) my favorite character on Friday Night Lights. Her southern drawl, her boots, her aviator sunglasses (love!), and her hair (double love!!)….
I decided to wait to watch the series finale until this morning. I thought that watching it in the quiet of a Saturday morning would be more special. I’m weird.
But first, I had to make some iced coffee.
Thanks to Sarah for this insulated Starbucks cup! I only had a generic one up until now. I’m snazzy now.
I first brewed some coffee and stuck it in the fridge for awhile. The K-Cups say you just brew it over a cup with ice in it. That’s ridiculous. The ice will melt instantly that way. It’s even smarter to brew the coffee the night before. But I’m not much a planner.
I added some half & half, cinnamon, and Agave syrup. Check out my new KitchenAid food processor too.
Back to Friday Night Lights, I don’t want to give away spoilers in case you haven’t watched it. Let’s just say I loved the series finale so very much. I teared up at least seven times and was all out bawling at the end. This series was so genuine and heartfelt. I loved every minute of every episode. I’m so sad that it’s over. When the original “class” of Jason Street & Tim Riggins graduated 2 years ago, I thought that was the end of me liking the show.
And honestly, when Vince Howard started as quarterback I was very skeptical. But in the end, I enjoyed these last 2 years of the show even more….probably because more of the focus was on Coach Eric & Tami Taylor. I’m so happy that Kyle Chandler & Connie Britton are Emmy nominees this year. Well, okay I’m a bigger Timothy Olyphant fan that Kyle Chandler, but that’s okay.
Okay, I lied about the spoilers. Stop reading if you haven’t watched it!!!
One part I wasn’t thrilled with: Tim & Tyra getting back together…or alluding that they would. Why didn’t Tyra go see Landry instead? I always wanted those two to work it out.
And finally, I absolutely loved how they ended the state championship game with the 63 yard pass and then when the ball is mid-air it suddenly cuts to 8 months later. BEAUTIFUL!!! (That’s when my bawling started!)
If you never watched Friday Night Lights, I highly recommend that you rent the past seasons. You won’t regret it.
Texas forever!
Last night, Sarah had her housewarming party in Charlotte. She was kind enough to wait to have it until I was in town. Thursday, we planned the menu of goodies. Friday, we got the groceries. And Saturday, we were busy cooking from about 8 am to 3:45 pm!!! Just enough time to spare to shower, get ready, and put my feet up for 15 minutes before friends started arriving!
On the menu:
Pulled Pork Sliders
Pulled Chicken Sliders
Deviled Eggs
Pepperoni Rolls
Sausage & Cheese Tray
Veggie Tray & Dip
Fruit & Fruit Dip
Pita Chips & Hummus
Chips & Salsa
Oreo Balls
S’Mores Cookies
Making S’Mores Cookies is so much easier now that I’ve discovered the Graham Cracker Crumbs! Up until now, I’ve just placed sheets of graham crackers in a Ziploc bag and went to town on them with a rolling pin!
Sarah had been infusing vodka with strawberries, pineapple, and watermelon for 2 weeks! Holy potent fruit!! The strawberries do lose their red color after soaking for 2 weeks though. So remove those and add fresh ones before your party. There was also a huge cooler full of different beers too and multiple bottles of wine. I mainly stuck to my Skinnygirl Margaritas!
I did try a Creamsicle drink though. Sunkist mixed with whipped cream flavored vodka…..yum!!!! You can also use orange juice, but I preferred the Sunkist.
And finally, someone brought chocolate alcohol infused whipped cream! Fun! Spray some on top of a strawberry and pop that baby in your mouth!!
On a side note, I love this little elephant Sarah has on her mantle! Her Mom got it for her at Marshall’s. Shari—if you ever want to come to Wichita to help decorate my place, you’re always welcome!! 
I try to be healthy. I really do try. When I’m not eating this or this or drinking these, I try. Emphasis on try, not necessarily succeed. I don’t think I’ll ever be one that bounds out of bed at 5 am to work out. Blech.
But I have gotten on board with a few things:
–almond milk
–protein powder
–Chia seeds
I’ve learned of all three things from different food blogs over the last 12 months. Now, I’m obviously not a nutritionist so I can’t really tell you why these things are good for you except that someone else told me so! That’s official, right?
Enter the smoothie.
First, I had to get some sort of blender. I actually had a smoothie maker years ago and never used it. It was too hard to clean! Enter the immersion blender. I love this immersion blender so stinkin’ much! It’s so handy and small and easy to clean. I believe I learned about them from my beloved Bethenny.
Second, I finally got some protein powder. I’ve been buying individual packets of this for awhile, but it was time to buy a tub of it. Why the Spiru-Tein? Heck if I know. There’s too many options and it makes my head hurt. I’m pretty sure that I saw Janetha using it and her abs rock!
Third, I decided to get some Chia seeds. I had no clue what the heck Chia seeds were. Once again, I saw them popping up on blogs and one day I saw them at the grocery stores and went with it. They are loaded with healthy omega-3 fats and antioxidants. And Dr. Oz said they were healthy, so that works for me.
Triple Berry Banana Smoothie:
Combine ingredients below in blender and serve.
1 cup almond milk
1 small banana
1/2 cup frozen berries
1 scoop vanilla protein powder
1 tsp Chia seeds
handful of crushed ice
2 handfuls of spinach
And this may be the most awesome things I’ve learned about smoothies. Add spinach! You won’t taste the spinach, I promise! It’s just a quick and easy way to add in some vegetables. And a great way to use up the spinach before it dies in the crisper.
Enjoy!
