Peanut Butter Banana Green Smoothie

Oh my! I just had the best! smoothie :)

I have been a little wary of green smoothies but decided to give it a try (especially since I can't seem to digest spinach by itself [ie. in a salad, or just raw]). Boy, am I glad I did.

My recipe is based off of this one from The Spunky Coconut! Thanks for the inspiration!

I love, love, bananas and peanut butter! And since I don't have any protein powder but wanted some protein in this smoothie, I decided to put peanut butter in it!

So good! I could taste both the peanut butter and the banana. (And I couldn't taste the spinach :)).

Not only is it delicious, this smoothie sneaks in some not usually kid friendly vegetables (which are full of antioxidants- especially good this time of year), protien, fruit, and water to hydrate! And it is not full of sugar or juices. :)

Here's the recipe

3 handfuls baby spinach

2 T. peanut butter (natural)

1/8-1/4. t. powdered stevia

1 c. water

5 icecubes

1 frozen banana, in chunks

Combine in blender and blend well. Makes one very large and filling serving or two normal size servings.

Mini Chicken Meatloaves!

MINI CHICKEN MEATLOAVES

I was flipping through some recipes I had saved and saw one that sounded really good! Of course, I couldn't just leave it like it was, soooo I Ariana'itzed it! :)

First off, I didn't have any ground turkey or chicken (if you want lean ground turkey or chicken, you have to pay an arm and a leg for it, so I never buy it. ) Instead I make my own.

How to make ground chicken or turkey in three easy steps:

First off, I used chicken breast that I half-defrosted and then cut into chunks.

2. Then I pureed it into

ground turkey in my food processor.

3. Put it all together. In the end, I ended up with about two cups of ground turkey. (I tried to

weigh it but my scale wasn't working.) Use it for this recipe or freeze for later use :).

Sorry if those pics are kind of unappetizing but it is so worth it in the end :)

The finished product, well, before cooking :)

Mini Chicken Meatloaves!

Yield: 1 Dozen Mini "Muffin" Size Meatloaves :)

Ingredients:

3 large chicken breasts (pureed into ground turkey)

1/2 c. chopped carrot (sneak some good veggies in there- your kids won't even notice)

1/2 c. breadcrumbs (I used GF ones I saved from my bread every time crumbs fall off and then put it in the freezer for future use)

1/2 c. sugar-free ketchup + (see my sugar-free recipe on that link :))

1 egg

1 t. marjoram

1 t. salt

sprinkle pepper

Preheat oven for 350. Mix all the ingredients. Distribute evenly into 12 muffin cups (about 3/4 full). Squirt ketchup on the top and place in the oven for 35 minutes. Enjoy!

See this and other entries here at the Simply Indulgent Carnival. Give it a shot! This weeks giveaway is perfect for the coming holidays! A $25 Amazon gift card!

Homemade Sugar-Free Ketchup

I found this recipe and changed it up a bit. :) The original recipe had onion and garlic powder in it but I don't handle those well unfortuntenately! However, this recipe came out wonderful anyway! Here's the end yummy result!

Homemade Sugar-Free Ketchup

Ingredients:

12 0z can (or two 6 oz cans) tomato paste

1/2 c. + 3 T. water

1/4 c. + 1 T. agave nectar (honey will probably work too)

1 t. salt

1/4 t. cumin

3/4 t. cinnamon

2-3 T. apple cider vingear, depending on how tangy you like it :)

Directions: Blend together in a blender or food processor. Pour into sqeezeable container. Store in fridge for a few weeks (if it lasts that long!) Serve with french fries etc. :)

(In case your wondering, yes, my container is an old agave bottle :) that I recycled :))

Easy Beansy Black Bean Soup

I almost called this post easy peasy but I thought, hey easy beansy is more appropriate right? :)

Anyway, with my corn bread, I made a simple nourishing (and inexpensive) soup my aunt taught me to make. It is so delicious! I had two bowls of it today :). It goes great with the my corn on the cob bread.

Here's the simple recipe. It can be made in a snap especially if you used canned beans or you already have some beans prepared.

Take your cooked beans and place the desired amount in your blender or food processor. Add a little water (about 1/4 c. to one cup of beans) and puree. Add more water if necessary, until you reach your desired consistency. Scoop out puree into a pan, warm, and then serve in bowls. Serve with corn on the cob bread! :) Enjoy!

Corn on the Cob Bread

This is version two above, made with 1 c. teff flour and no sweetener (but the rest is the same).
This is version one below, made with 1 c. whole wheat and following the recipe to exactness.

Sorry I have not posted in quite a while! I have been so busy with school and things and just have not had much time to cook or blog.
Here's my newest creation though! Corn on the Cob bread! Yum! I had never heard of this before but I was so intrigued with it that I decided that I would be making this soon! (Usually I just bookmark it thinking "That looks really good! I'll have to make that one of these days!" And then it sits there forever until I get back to it)
Not this time! Stephanie used raw kernels, but I had already cooked my corn so I decide to experiment anyway. The results! Mmm...So tasty! Very moist, and not crumbly or dry like most corn bread. You can really taste the sweet corn flavor too.
I made this twice this weekend. I tried leaving out the sweetener since the corn helps give it a sweet flavor but decided I would at least leave half of it in next time. Also, I think what I would try next time is to leave out the applesauce, leave in the agave, and just try that. I think that would produce the best results. But hey, I ran out of corn on the cob ok? :)
Also, if you use think that it would work better with a GF mix versus just one GF flour if you go that route. Still tasted good though. :)
Just a heads up, it will be quite crumbly when hot but as it cools, it is easier to cut and not as soft.
I still prefer it warm though, especially with "butter" or in my case "Earth Balance" and agave nectar on top! :)
As I was making these I had another idea. I think these would work great as muffins.


In any case, whether you use GF flour or not, the recipe below should work well for you. :) And it's sure delicious! I served it with my easy black bean soup. MMMM :)


Corn on the Cob Bread

This recipe was inspired by my mom's classic corn bread and Stephanie@ Gluten Free by Nature's Corn (on-the-cob) bread.

Ingredients:

• 2 ears of cooked corn on the cob (mine were large so that's about 1-3/4 c.-2 c. cooked corn, this allows you to use fresh corn anytime of year, even if you have to resort to frozen)
• 1 c. flour (GF mix or whole wheat, one time I used whole wheat and one time I used teff but I suggest a mix, see above explanation)
• 1/4 c. agave nectar or honey (I used agave)
• 1/4 c. applesauce (or oil, but my philosophy is to put it where you can taste it most-on the bread!)
• 4 t. baking powder
• 1-1/2 eggs (I used one whole egg and one egg white)
• 1/2 t. salt

Directions: Preheat oven for 425. In a blender or a food processor (which I used) puree corn on the cob (after it's been cut off) until fine. Then in a bowl combine the flour, sweetener, salt, baking powder, and pureed corn. Stir with a spoon or mixer. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir again. Pour into a greased square pan. Cook for 20-30 minutes or until top is brown AND bread comes clean when checked with a toothpick. :) If the top gets brown before the bread is ready, cover it with foil and place it back in the oven.

I entered this for Slightly Indulgent Monday's. Check it out here.

3-in-1 Peanut Butter Cookies, Muffins, and Bread

I was craving peanut butter so badly last night!... I decided to make something with peanut butter. I started out making cookies (inspired by a recipe by Amy from Simply Indulgences and also another recipe that I've seemed to misplace) but the dough came out more bread like soooooo I decided to experiment and see!

So I ended up making a small pan of about 12 cookies, a tin of 6 muffins, and mini loaf pan of bread! They all came out gorgeously! Yum!

In the future, I would use agave or honey instead of stevia and decrease the water amount accordingly. See the recipe for details on that. I also would like more peanut butter taste. So I would sub 1/4 c. more peanut butter for the "butter".

In order of taste and texture, my favorite was the bread. I know, you're thinking, "But I thought that they are all the same batter?" To me, it definitely seems to make some difference though in the texture and just plain mood of the recipe :). Try it out. You decide!

3-in-1 Peanut Butter Cookies, Muffins, and Bread

Ingredients:

1/4 c. Earth Balance or butter (softened on the counter or for about 3 secs in the microwave)

3/4 c. creamy natural peanut butter or other nut/sun butter

1/2 c. applesauce

1 egg

1 c. water and 1-1/2 t. stevia OR 1/2-3/4 c. agave and 1/4-1/2 c. water if needed*

1/2 t. baking powder

1/8 t. salt

1/2 c. oats (gf if needed)

2 c. flour (whole wheat, gluten free mix, etc, I used whole wheat this time since I have to eat gluten this week)

1 t. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream 1/4 c. "butter" with peanut butter. Add the egg and applesauce. Add the agave if using. Next, Add the flour, baking powder, salt, flour, oats, and vanilla, and stevia if using. Stir. If it needs more water add and stir again. Batter should be pretty thick almost like bread dough but not quite. :) If making cookies, scoop onto greased cookie sheet. If making muffins, scoop into greased or paper-lined muffin tins. If making bread, scoop into regular or medium bread pans. For cookies, cook for about 10-15 minutes. For muffins and mini loaves of bread cook for about 20-25 minutes. For a full loaf of bread cook for about 25 minutes and then adjust accordingly until the top is firm and when check it with a toothpick it comes out clean. Enjoy hot out of the oven or cooled if you can wait! : )

*You could experiment with using regular sugar in this if you wanted. I think brown sugar would be wonderful in this. Just adjust the water ratio accordingly to get the right thickness and wetness in the dough.

I submitted this to Amy's Slightly Indulgent Mondays.