Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie

This peanut butter banana smoothie is one of my favorite breakfasts. It's easy, filling, and tasty, a perfect way to start your day! It is also works well as a post workout smoothie, since it provides you with protein, fiber, and potassium.

I add ground flaxseed to this smoothie, which you could leave out if you don't have any on hand, but I recommend buying some. Flaxseed has great health benefits (click here to see more specifics) and is very versatile. You can throw a tablespoon into hot or cold cereal, mix it in some mustard before putting it on your sandwich, use it when baking, or add it to your smoothie like I did here.

The smoothie tastes better with bananas that are a little brown and ripe and you should definitely adjust the quantities to suit your tastes and preference on how thick you like your smoothie.

Ingredients
1 frozen banana (doesn't have to be frozen, but I prefer it that way)
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon peanut butter
1/4 cup old fashioned oats
1 tablespoon ground flaxseed (can use flaxseed oil if you like a thinner consistency)
Ice (optional)

Directions
Place all of the ingredients up until ice in a blender and combine. If you would like a thicker consistency add a few ice cubes, if you are looking for a thinner consistency add a little more milk or water.

It's Football Season!

It's football season! That means it's one of my favorite times of year, I love lazy Saturdays and Sundays of watching football, snacking, and drinking bloody mary's and beer.  Go Chiefs!, Go Jayhawk!, and Go Blitz Divas (my fantasy team)!

To kickoff the season I'll share this easy and tasty dip that my aunt made when we were out visiting last week.  It doesn't look pretty, but trust me, it's good and perfect for Gameday.

Ingredients
1 lb ground turkey breakfast sausage
1 can Rotel
1 brick low fat cream cheese
Tortilla chips

Directions
Break apart and brown turkey in stove top pan over medium heat. Add cream cheese, stir until melted. Then add rotel and stir until combined. Use tortilla chips for dipping and enjoy!

Hurricane Irene

As you probably know, by the end of last week there was a lot of hype about Hurricane Irene coming up the East Coast and gearing up to hit the NYC area hard. I don't live in NYC, but across the river from downtown Manhattan on the Jersey side. The main concern for the area was flooding and power outages. We live on the 25th floor so clearly flooding wasn't a concern, but a power outage definitely was. So while my husband was making sure we did all of the hurricane 'preparedness' needed, I had some concerns of my own.

Not related to food, I wanted to make sure we had plenty of entertainment for us and our friends in the building if the power went out. I made sure our board games were easy access and downloaded a hurricane playlist for our battery operated ipod speakers. You cannot imagine how many songs are out there relating to hurricanes, storms, wind, rain, etc. They ended up in a pretty good mix in my opinion. Then I of course wanted to make sure we had plenty of cold beer in the cooler. Below was our selection.

It included Anchor Steam, Ithaca Beer Co. Cascazilla, Dogfish Head IPA, Keegan Ales Hurricane Kitty, Stone IPA, and the light choice was Miller Light. Most of these are favorites around our apartment, but the Hurricane Kitty was one we hadn't tried and obviously had to get for the occasion. It was an IPA and surprisingly good considering we only got it because it had Hurricane in the name. We also had plenty of red wine on hand, and we didn't even need to worry about keeping it cold.

Now onto the food, I wanted to bake some snacks up to go along with the other non-perishable food we loaded up on. So I made these peanut butter granola balls from Martha Stewart.

Baked Plantain Chips

My family bounced around a lot growing up, and we lived in Puerto Rico for a couple years. This is when I learned about plantains and all of the different ways you could cook them.  I was a picky eater as a kid so there were several ways that plantains were cooked that I didn't like, but I really liked plantain chips and mofongo.  Mofongo is mashed plantains with garlic, herb, and meat or vegetables. The other day I picked up some plantains at the store and decided to try and make baked plantain chips. I was a little nervous they wouldn't turn out well or be that crisp, but they definitely beat my expectations. They were supposed to go with the Tri Tip Asada I bought at Trader Joe's, but we scarfed them all down before the meat came out of the oven. I'll be making them again for a healthy snack or side dish. See below for the recipe and adjust seasonings to fit your taste.

Fig and Goat Cheese Crostini

I had a lot of leftover fig pasted from the Fig Crumbles I made last week, and I definitely wasn't going to  let it go to waste. One use I found for it were these easy fig and goat cheese crostinis, which make for an easy appetizer. Usually when I make these, I use a fig compote made of chopped dry figs (1/2 cup), red wine (3/4 cup), granulated sugar or brown sugar (2 Tablespoons) , and a couple pinches of thyme, but I figured the fig paste was a good substitute since I had it on hand.

Ingredients (choose how much you need based on how many you would like to make/serve)
Baguette
Log of Goat Cheese
Fig Compote or Fig Paste
Olive Oil

Directions
Slice baguette and brush both sides with olive oil. Toast bread on a grill pan over medium high heat (2-3 minutes each side) or for bake about 6-8 minutes at 400 degrees in the oven, turning half way through.

Once baguette slices are toasted, smear goat cheese onto crostini and top with fig compote or fig paste.

Soft Baked Fig Crumbles

My friend recently introduced me to Eat Live Run's blog and I'm hooked. There are so many recipes on her blog I want to try, and the added bonus is that she also blogs about travel and wine country, 2 things close to my heart.

I decided to make the soft baked fig cereal bars, as they looked like a healthy option for breakfast or for an afternoon snack. Also, because I love figs.  You're probably starting to notice that I love a lot of food. I didn't have the patience to put the love into rolling out the crumbly dough, so mine turned out more like soft baked fig crumbles, which worked just as well for me. I 'rolled' out the bottom rectangle straight onto the cookie sheet, covered it with the fig paste, and then pieced together the other half of the dough on top as crumbles. I also baked it as one big giant bar and then cut it into squares after it was cooked. Needless to say I had one for breakfast this morning, and I was sad I didn't bring an extra for an afternoon snack.

An added bonus is that I had a lot of left over fig paste and I can't wait to use that up with some other recipes. I'll keep you posted on what I end up using it for.

Strawberry Green Tea Smoothie

Smoothie's are such a refreshing summer breakfast, drink or snack. Almost as refreshing as an ice cold beer on a nice summer day, and definitely healthier. Smoothies are a great way to use up fruit that is on the verge of going bad, which is exactly what I did here.  I'll be adding this strawberry green tea to my smoothie rotation, changing up the fruit depending on what I have on hand.  One of my other favorites is my peanut butter banana, yes it's as good as it sounds and I'll be posting about it here at some point.

I also completed the Philadelphia Triathlon, ate a Pat's Cheesesteak, and had a lot of fun with friends this weekend, which is my excuse for taking the easy way out and posting an easy baked sweet potato and smoothie recipe in a row.  Don't get me wrong they are both delicious, but I'll be honest, it's my filler for not cooking in the past 5 days.  Keep reading for the smoothie recipe, and keep in mind that you can substitute any fruit you have on hand for the strawberries and peach.

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa

I've always been a fan of Mexican and Tex Mex foods, and chips and salsa are one of my favorite snacks. So when I saw tomatillos at the store last weekend I decided to venture away from my normal red and give my try at making some salsa verde.  Tomatillos look like small green tomatoes that grow in husks, and create a salsa that is a bit more tangy and mild (which can be made up for with extra jalapeños and a little hot sauce).  It goes really well with enchiladas, tacos, fish and eggs, among many other things.  


Keep reading for the Roasted Tomatillo Salsa recipe and check back later this week for the fish tacos we had with it tonight for dinner.

Baked Artichoke Dip

I've had my eye on this Baked Artichoke Dip from 101 Cookbooks for quite awhile.  I'm a sucker for dips and anytime I can find a healthier version I'll give it a try.  I will definitely be making this again, although I will make a few changes next time.  I will leave some artichoke chunks in the puree, add spinach, a little more cheese on top, and add more cayenne or crushed red pepper flakes.  And now that my husband is a fan, I won't have to hide the fact that there is tofu in the recipe!

Strawberry Shortcake Popsicles

Strawberry Shortcake Popsicles

We just got back from vacation to some hot New Jersey weather so I decided to make these refreshing treats.  I used some 3 oz cups I had on hand (leftover from Jello shots I had made), 1 lb of strawberries, 12 golden Oreo's, and 2 cups of vanilla yogurt.  They did take longer to freeze all the way through than the recipe suggested, but it's worth the wait.  They were extremely easy and definitely hit the spot on this hot summer day, I'm happy to say I have several more in my freezer waiting to be eaten.  I'll be making these again, possibly adding some rum or other sort of alcohol.