Healthy Smoothies

I thought I'd share a newly discovered healthy lunch the kids and I have been eating daily. On a friend's blog I read that she makes smoothies which include greens such as spinach, kale or chard. I was sure it would taste gross but thought I'd give it a whirl. I happened to have one of those huge bags of spinach from Costco!

Here's my "recipe":

pack blender 1/3 full of raw spinach (about 1 and 1/2 C packed?)
1 ripe banana
about 1 C Nancy's honey yogurt
dash of vanilla extract
1/2 tomato
juice, milk, coconut milk or soymilk for liquid
about 2 tsp. coconut oil (don't put it next to the frozen stuff or it hardens)
about 2 T frozen 100% juice concentrate (I just keep the can in the freezer and take spoonfuls out and it lasts me probably 10 batches of smoothies)
frozen kiwi, strawberries, blackberries, etc. (I happen to have frozen kiwi left over from last summer and I buy the large bag of frozen berries and frozen strawberries (I have to soften these a bit in the microwave) from Costco. I've also used frozen peaches that I cut up and froze last summer).
I tried putting hard-boiled eggs into a smoothie once. The kids thought it tasted great, but I think I could taste it.
My mother-in-law has also put frozen peas into a smoothie and thought that tasted good.
You can also grind up some flaxseed and add that.

If my blender is filled to the top it makes enough for a large smoothie for me and 3 kid-sized smoothies.

The kids love these smoothies! Sometimes I give them a spoon full of peanut butter after the smoothie for a little bit of extra protein.

Scotcheroos!

Here's a family favorite. I brought these cookies to a girls' party the other night and they were devoured pretty quickly.

Scotcheroos

Lightly grease 9"X13" pan.

In large saucepan or pot (I use my dutch oven pot) bring 1 C sugar and 1 C light corn syrup to a boil. When sugar is completely dissolved stir in 1 slightly heaping cup of smooth peanut butter (I use Skippy or Jif). I have not tried this recipe with Adam's Peanut Butter which is what we normally eat, but somehow I think it wouldn't be the same ;) Mix well and then stir in 6 C Rice Krispies. Stir thoroughly and press into pan.

In microwave or double boiler melt 1 C butterscotch chips and 1 C semi-sweet chocolate chips until smooth. Spread on cookies. Refrigerate just until chocolate is set (if you leave them in too long they will be hard to cut into squares).

Christmas Cookies!

Weston had been eagerly awaiting the day we were to make our Christmas cookies. As you can see it was quite the project (especially for me)! Although it's a lot of work, I know the kids will treasure these Christmas memories.

Here we're wrapping up the rolling, cutting, and baking .

Grace loved the messy flour part. After this photo I went into the kitchen to make the frosting and Grace stayed on the chair playing with the leftover pile of flour for 10 minutes (she also loves to make a mess with her food; a bad habit I'm trying to discontinue ;)

Decorating! The kids loved creating their own cookie artwork.

Grace probably ate cookies and licked frosting off her fingers more than she decorated!

The perfect team! I frosted them and then Grace ate them!

Still going! This was very serious and hard work!

Apparently frosting is fun to squish between your fingers.

Weston's green Christmas tree with lots and lots of green sprinkles.

The finished product! We took these plates over to Dave and Julie next door. Don't tell them about the "licking the fingers" part of the process ;)

Santa's Vanilla Cookies

Makes about 2 dozen

2 C flour

3/4 C sugar

1/2 C margarine (softened)

2 tsp. vanilla

1 T water

1 egg

Mix wet ingredients and sugar. Add dry ingredients. Mix well. Requires lots of flour for rolling and cutting out. Roll dough NO THINNER than 1/4". If you roll it too thin the cookies end up dry and crunchy. Roll thick and they are moist and chewy! Bake at 400 degrees for 5-6 minutes.

The frosting is a basic powdered sugar recipe.

About 3-4 (or more) C powdered sugar, 1-2 T butter or margarine, 1 tsp. vanilla, and about 1-2 T milk. A alternately add powdered sugar and milk until I get the right consistency (it has to be pretty thick to not run off the cookie).

Housewife Delight!

Here's a crockpot recipe I recently found. I call this post "Housewife Delight" as this is the kind of recipe I love. Easy, not tooooo bad for us, makes good leftovers, and tastes great!

Creamy and Beany Crockpot Chicken (I made up my own name for it):

4-5 frozen chicken breasts
1 15 oz. can corn, drained
1 15.5 oz. can black beans, drained
1 15 oz. jar salsa (I used the regular kind from a jar)
8 oz. package cream cheese (I used regular, but I'm sure it would still taste good if you want to use light)

Put frozen chicken breasts into crock pot.
Add black beans, salsa, and corn (remember to drain the corn and beans).
Cook in crock pot on high for about 4-5 hours or until chicken is cooked. Add 1 package of cream cheese (just throw it on top!) and let sit for about 1/2 hour.

I spooned out some of the excess liquid before adding the cream cheese and decided to shred the chicken to put into warmed tortillas. I added some green tabasco to mine, and it was delicious! Husband loved it too! Kids were not so sure, but unless it's candy or cookies, they usually aren't ;)

*Another suggestion would be to add some olives or some cooked rice.
**If anyone has any good crockpot recipes that meet my above criteria (easy, not too bad for us, etc) I would love to receive a copy.