Cantaloupe banana smoothie

My daughter got another "fat" lecture from her doctor.

The junk will be removed from our house. Part of this is my fault, as my daughter loves carrots, cucumbers & peppers yet I don't keep enough of these foods in the house.

Breakfast:

In the blender

For 2

- 3 slices cantaloupe

- 2 bananas 

- 1 cup milk

- 1 serving green vegan protein powder

- 1 serving EAS vanilla whey 

Easy tropical ham

Target had tropical fruit in juice on clearance for half price. It's two different varieties of papaya and pineapple. With a tropical tortoise in the house and a child who adores fruit, I bought them.

ALL.

My mother-in-law brought a big old ham steak with the bone. I slapped it in the cast iron skillet and poured a can of the fruit on top. Sprinkled a pinch of ground cloves and here we are:

Cinnamon and honey plantains

I did an impulse buy in the grocery store last week.

Plantains.

Tonight I fried them in butter with fresh ground cinnamon and sprinkles of vanilla.

Then right before I took them out of the pan, I drizzled them with local honey.

Peanut butter banana smoothie for two

This peanut butter banana smoothie turned out to be a delight.

For two people, throw in the blender:

- two bananas

- about four ounces coconut water with pulp

- about two tablespoons peanut butter

- about one cup plain yogurt

- one packet carnation breakfast essentials vanilla

Tropical vanilla smoothie

I made a smoothie so incredible today I forgot to take a picture, I just drank it all.

In the blender:

- about 1/3 of a cantaloupe

- about 4 ounces very vanilla soy milk

- about 1/3 cup plain nonfat yogurt

- 1 small very ripe banana

- 1 packet carnation breakfast essentials classic vanilla

Red almond smoothie

I've been making smoothies for a long time. My husband used to make them as a cold summertime treat but after I fell and broke my teeth four years ago, my blender and I became more intimate.

Now I use my smoothie skills to combat two phenomena: when I'm too lazy to eat  (drinking is easier) and when I can't motivate myself to eat fruit. 

Today's smoothie is based on the success of yesterday, but cooler and more tart.

For one big smoothie:

- about 3/4 cup plain yogurt

- 1 packet vanilla carnation breakfast essentials

- about 1 cup frozen strawberries and cherries

- about 3/4 cup unsweetened organic cranberry juice

- about two tablespoons black chia seeds 

- about 1/2 cup ground raw almonds

Kitchen sink breakfast smoothie

We had a lot of random odds and ends in the house so I made a breakfast smoothie out of all of them.

Last night I ground some soaked raw almonds in the food processor and a topping for my yogurt. When you see ground almonds as an ingredient that is what I used,

This was tasty and milder than I expected.

In the blender:

- one very ripe banana

- 1/2 cup unsweetened homemade applesauce

- 6 fresh strawberries

- 3/4 cup ground almonds 

- 1/4 cup black chia seeds 

- 1/2 cup unsweetened soy milk

- 3/4 cup plain yogurt

- 1/2 cup organic unsweetened cranberry juice

- 1 packet vanilla carnation instant breakfast powder

Serves 2

Cranberry relish

In the food processor combine:

- 12 ounces fresh cranberries

- 3/4 teaspoon almond extract

- 5 small clementines cut into chunks

- 1/4 cup local raw honey

- almost one cup sugar

- almost one cup raw almonds

Chill for several hours. 

I'm going to can this. For Christmas.

School breakfast

Yesterday was my nine-year-old's first day of school. Her breakfast was Chobani blood orange yogurt, graham crackers, and banana with a glass of cold water.

Today it's a gala apple with homemade cashew-almond butter made with local raw honey and topped with golden raisins. Glass of Very Vanilla soy milk and a side of one peanut butter pop tart. 

(She was in a mood. I was trying to cheer her up.)

Coconut milk fruity ice cream

We had a yummy food night. 

Dinner was homemade kale chips and peanut butter and fresh strawberries on Wegmans apple oat bread.

We're ending the night with homemade dairy free ice cream: vanilla coconut milk, fresh strawberries, the leftover fruit purée I froze after making quick pops last week, local raw honey, fresh raspberries, and chambord.

Crazy rhubarb crumble

This is my crazy, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants cooking at its. At least, I hope it's the best. Looks good. Smells intoxicating. How can we go wrong? It's in the oven now...

Gayle gave us our annual batch of rhubarb. My husband started cutting and we got a yield of about seven cups. This recipe required three. The rest went into the freezer.

My daughter went to work making crumbs. I monitor her dairy intake so I reduced the butter and included some coconut oil. She didn't really listen when it came to "we're making crumbs, not stirring it into a solid mass" so I ended up with a wet solid mass that we had to keep adding solids to. But if I had to guess, these were the final ingredients:

- one cup unbleached white flour
- one quarter cup whole wheat flour
- about one third cup coconut flour
- about one third cup local raw honey
- about one cup sugar
- about one third cup brown sugar
- about two cups oats
- a ridiculous amount of cinnamon
- 1/2 stick butter
- close to 1/2 cup coconut oil

We greased the bottom of my huge Le Creuset skillet and sprinkled about half the crumbs into the bottom. To combat any residual over wetness, we sprinkled even more oats into the pan. Then we sprinkled a few cherries and about 1 cup strawberries into the pan. And then added three cups rhubarb.

Gradually, we heated the following ingredients to a near boil to make a sauce:
- About three tablespoons blackstrap molasses
- one cup water
- two tablespoons corn starch
- one cup sugar

We poured over the fruit. The we added more cinnamon. And dollops of unsweetened applesauce. And topped with the crumbs. And added about 1/4 cup sliced almonds on top of that.

Bake at 350 for 1 hour. I'll let you know if it's incredible. *I hope so*

Verdict: yum!

Clearance Indian

I bought Chicken Tikka Masala on clearance on Target. $2.48 for 2 servings. Archer Farms. To offset the processed food, I made a nice plate of fresh spinach and spring mix, which we'll put the chicken and rice on top of it. Then we'll have non-dairy fruit smoothies-- my new recipe of coconut milk, pomegranate juice, strawberries, peaches, pineapple, mango, banana and local raw honey.

Oats in a Jar

People have been placing food in mason jars and ball jars lately and I'm not referring to home canning.

Salad in a jar.
Oats in a jar.

I had to try oats in a jar.

My mix, for each jar:
- homemade raw mixed nut butter, about two tablespoons
- 1/2 cup oats
- 2/3 cup vanilla almond milk
- 1/3 container Noosa yogurt in strawberry rhubarb
- handful of frozen mixed berries
- sliced banana

They say you refrigerate overnight and serve cold. Eileen Breslin had a similar concoction she called vegan breakfast pudding-- but she didn't put it in a jar.

Fruit canning

We went to Piazza Farm this weekend for produce, including the best New Jersey watermelon.

Today we made a light syrup of sugar and local honey to can mixed fruit.

Our yield was 3.5 pints. Our fruit included: three peaches (one very large), two plums, two red plums, two white nectarines, two nectarines and a pear.

Waiting impatiently for them to come out of the hot water bath.

Honey Fried Bananas

I imagine if you'd like to make this vegan, swap the honey with agave nectar.

Coat bottom of frying pan with honey. Warm. Add sliced bananas. Sprinkle with lemon juice and cinnamon.

For one banana, use roughly 2 tablespoons honey and 1 teaspoon lemon juice.

Pear refresher

A few entries ago I made a fabulous batch of chilled pear soup. This morning I used the remaining portion as a fruity beverage by diluting it 50/50 with the carbonated water we make with our Sodastream.

Chilled Pear Apple Soup

Ah, these 100 degree days... Makes me anxious to visit Djibouti or the Sahara desert.

I had the eight-year-old prep a variant of Eileen Bresslin's vegan chilled pear soup. I say variant because I lost the recipe long ago and I added applesauce to it.

INGREDIENTS:
- 1 can pears, the big car, the 30-some ounce can. I use pears in juice, and I drain half the juice
- about two cups your favorite applesauce
- about one tablespoon or maybe slightly more lemon juice. Up to half a lemon worth.
- ginger to taste
- spearmint leaves from the garden

Combine all the ingredients except spearmint and blend until smooth. Pour into a bowl.

Roll the spearmint leaves between your fingers and then lay across top of bowl. Chill until nicely cold.

Pumpkin breakfast bars

Adapted from:

http://www.thedailycrumb.com/2011/11/01/chewy-pumpkin-breakfast-bars/

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix wet ingredients:
- 1 cup pumpkin
- 1/2 cup peanut-almond-cashew butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup natural unsweetened applesauce
- 3 tablespoons blackstrap molasses

In separate bowl mix dry ingredients:
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 1/2 cup unbleached white flour
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
- cinnamon
- nutmeg
- ground cloves
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2/3 cup brown sugar

Add dry to wet ingredients, slowly.

Add:
- 1/8 cup organic apricot preserves
- 3/4 cup golden raisins
- 4 medjool dates, chopped

Bake 30-40 minutes

Spinach salad with fruit and seeds

Mix in proportions that make you happy:

- spring mix
- spinach
- mandarin oranges
- dried cranberries
- dried blueberries
- raisins
- unsalted roasted sunflower seeds
- unsalted pumpkin seeds
- sliced honey crisp apples
- dehydrated peas

Top with Newman's Own Light Raspberry & Walnut Dressing

Chicken salad on pretzel rolls

I bought Gabby's Pretzel Dinner Rolls at Target. These are scrumptious little things.

I make many varieties of chicken salad, and the label 'chicken' salad will take you to them. I liked this one, despite the low volume of crunchy bits.

- one can, 12-ounce, canned white meat chicken, diced
- about 2 teaspoons mayonnaise (I often use vegan mayonnaise, but today I used regular)
- one teaspoon country herb seasoning
- 1/4 cup mandarin oranges (I use a sharp knife to cut the oranges into thirds)
- 1/4 cup chopped apple (leftover from the orchard)
- 1/4 cup blueberries (I let frozen blueberries thaw inside the mix)
- shredded carrots and red cabbage picked out of a Fresh Express Veggie Lover's Salad