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!!
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!
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!
I think I’m pretty set for awhile! Hope you’re enjoying your Memorial Day Weekend all!!
I’m always looking for a new way to make chicken. I ran across this recipe in May’s Oxygen magazine. And when I realized that I already had all the ingredients at home, it was a no brainer.
Almond & Oat Chicken Fingers
Recipe from Oxygen
Ingredients:
4 chicken tenderloin strips or 2 chicken breasts halved
2 egg whites
1/2 Old Fashioned Quaker Oats
1/4 cup almonds
1 tbl Italian seasoning
salt & pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 350. Lightly coat a baking sheet with cooking spray. Use paper towel to pat excess moisture off of chicken. Place chicken strips into a Ziploc bag. Pour egg whites into bag and shake to coat.
In a food processor, crush almonds. Combine oats, almonds, and seasoning and mix. (I don’t have a food processor. I simply added the almonds in a separate Ziploc bag and used my meat tenderizer to go to town on those almonds. It takes more time to crush the almonds this way, but it’s a good way to beat out some frustration!)
Add almond mix to chicken in Ziploc bag and shake to coat. Bake for 25 minutes.
Serves 2. 270 calories per serving.
I served my chicken fingers with a side of Alexia fries and a side salad with Giada’s Parmesan Garlic vinaigrette. I also had a Xingu black beer. Ah this beer is so smooth!
I came across this beer several months ago at book club at Cocoa Dolce. Chocolate & beer? Sign me up. I’m a big fan of Xingu. I mean, it’s no Amstel….let’s not go crazy here, people!
Today, Haley’s been rubbing it in how nice it is outside.
I decided to join her outside for a dinner of fish tacos, Jasmine rice, and sautéed veggies.
I’m a bit behind on my Entertainment Weekly reading.
Sunny outside eating + fish tacos + magazine reading…..what’s missing? A margarita, of course!
I’m a big fan of these ready-to-drink Skinnygirl Margaritas. Heck, I’m a big fan of everything Bethenny Frankel.
Haley agrees.
