Monday Motivation (Breakfast Mealplan)

  Breakfast is my motivation again this week.

Monday: We had donuts.  Not homemade. The store bought kind.  Of course there were no complaints only fights over how many each of them could eat.

Tuesday: Oatmeal
https://www.marthastewart.com/315903/strawberry-oatmeal-breakfast

Wednesday: Muffins
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/6865/to-die-for-blueberry-muffins/

Thursday: Crepes
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/16383/basic-crepes/

Friday:  Fruit Smoothie and breakfast cookie
https://www.shelikesfood.com/healthy-baked-oatmeal-breakfast-cups-6-ways

  There we have it breakfast is the most important meal of the day!   I will have some happy people this week!

  Have a great week and don't forget to eat your breakfast!  What's your favorite breakfast?

Chocolate Banana Smoothie with peanutbutter

  I am a breakfast person.  I wake up and I'm ready to eat.  Unlike my kids whom wake up ready to eat but sometimes it's because they skipped dinner based on personal preferences.

  I cook/prepare a variety of items for breakfast.  Sometimes the meal is cereal or oatmeal but I'm ok whipping up pancakes, waffles or muffins too.  I also like to make smoothies.

  Smoothies are hit or miss with the kids.  Sometimes I actually win getting fruits and vegetables in them this way sometimes the taste gets them straight out the gate.  I remember making a spinach one but my daughter had seen me put strawberries in prior to the spinach. She asked why is it was green?  I lied and said because strawberries turn green when blended sometimes. Hmmm. She has this hate with green things: broccoli specifically.  I will tell you what. She drank that green drink and it was good. Bye, bye spinach do your nutritional magic!

  Today was a banana smoothie with peanut butter.  This recipe was dairyfree but you could easily change milk in place of my substitute. Skipping the peanutbutter is not a big deal either.

1 frozen banana
1 cup of chocolate almond milk
1 T peanut butter

Blend it all together.   Depending on how many mouths are tempted to drink or try it, I may think it out with more milk.  I like thicker smoothies.

  I find it to be sweet enough based on the almond milk so I don't add any extra sweeter but you could add a tablespoon of syrup or honey.

 
Bottoms up! Try a glass of this to accompany your next breakfast or in place of eating if your in a rush!  Do you drink smoothies what's your favorite blend?
 

Silk Yogurt (review)

  I recently tried Silk Dairy-free Yogurt Alternative strawberry flavor.   

I picked it up easily at my local grocery store.  Also available that day was peach and mango but there are a variety of other flavors to choose from.

Upon opening the yogurt you can visibly see the chunks of berries blended into the creamy base.  Consistency is definitely the same as traditional yogurt.  Flavor is definitely not.  This is a soy-based yogurt and even if you didn't know you can tell something is different.

I thought the flavor was ok.  I would like to try a different flavor to see if maybe my favorite just wasn't strawberry this time.  However if I was looking for a quick, healthy snack the 5.3 oz portion would be fine.

I tried to have fun with it after initial tasting some of it and choose to add it as a base to a smoothie bowl.

I added a couple tablespoons of the yogurt with some frozen bananas into a blender along with a few splashes of

 Silk Nutchello Chocolate with walnuts and blended it all together.  

I ate this bowl and had a little left to pop in the freezer to see how that would turn out.

My goal is to maybe buy a little more and turn them into popsicles and feed them to the unsuspecting children if the taste tests go well with them.  

They don't have to avoid dairy but 9 grams of protein is a nice bonus to slide in them! 

I was provided a coupon to purchase these Silk products  from Crowdtap for review purposes and all opinions stated are my own.

A Smoothie (Strawberry Style)

  Strawberries go in anything and although I can't confirm they make everything better; I can say I like everything with them.  Today we went with a liquid treat again.

  Strawberry Banana smoothie.  The name says it all.  Basically if you freeze both of these they will make any drink thicker.

  For this recipe I only used 3 ingredients and was pleased with the results.  I switched out the milk with almond milk and I'm sure this only enhanced the flavor.  If I had coconut I would have choose that.

I tossed my frozen strawberries and bananas in the blender

 and a little then less than a cup of almond milk

Blended it up and that was all.

Pour myself a glass and it immediately made me feel better.  It was just sweet enough with a red color from the strawberries a hint of banana flavor and I don't even recall the almond flavor but maybe it was there but also lightly.

Either way this is a nice drink to keep in mind.  You could add more to it or keep it the way it is.  I wonder how it freezes because it would be nice to make smoothies ahead of time and just reblend them prior to drinking.

Check out the recipe here:http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/strawberry-banana-smoothie-recipe/

Cheers to Strawberries

  I saw a recipe on Foodnetwork the other day.  This channel is on in my house as much as cartoons and some prime time shows.  It was a newer show or at least to me.  She made a comment that her husband always had strawberries for breakfast and she decided to merge the strawberries with his drink.

  It was a super easy recipe! Frozen strawberries and oranges.  I can't keep an orange in this house for anything.  They are gobbled up within days of being purchased so I used orange juice from a carton.

  I can only imagine how awesome the drink must be with fresh squeezed juice but I will save that for another day.

  Blend your 2 ingredients together and pour in your glasses.  That's its.  2 ingredients no diary. All natural  (potentially based on your orange selection) all healthy drink.

The frozen strawberries are blended up and turn your drink into a smoothie consistency.  I may add bananas or even a mango next time as this would be even a good base to build on but definitely good by itself!

Check out the recipe here:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/nancy-fuller/strawberry-oj.html

What's orange and round and only comes out in fall?

  Surprise, it's pumpkins!  I am a pumpkinlover.  I am going to start a petition to all business owners to start their pumpkin promos on the same day.  I hate when I get excited and my hopes up to start binging on pumpkin at my local eateries only to find out that not all eateries are have their pumpkin goodies available yet.

  You have no idea when I walk into a coffee shop to find out they have it (I asked because I didn't see it).  I see it on a business sign down the street. Great to know I will be back but no all businesses are as punctual.  I just went to a restaurant the other day not specifically for the pumpkin goodness but it would have ended my lunch better.  They told me the pumpkin goodness would be there after October 1st.  Ok, thanks for supporting the pumpkin movement but it would have been nice if you started a little earlier.

  I am giving myself a new challenge.  A 31 day challenge! It's for health reason.  I will consume pumpkin everyday this month.  I will try to do my part to help the pumpkin farmers!  I may not make all the yummy goodness some of it may be bought but I will still be indulging in pumpkin for 31 days.

  Today I started with finishing off some pumpkin coffee from yesterday and then I made some fresh goodness.  I made a smoothie to start out my 31 day challenge.

  I have made this recipe before and really enjoy the flavors.  I am not to concerned with the specific ingredients it calls for Greek yogurt and skim milk.  Unless you are counting calories or shooting for more protein.  Just have fun use the ingredients you have on hand and make this.

   I have everything which always makes whipping something up easier.  Grab your blender and these ingredients.  You will not be disappointed.

I just bought 5 cans at the store last month.  I will need to go back and get more cans to supply this challenge but I don't always use a whole can for everything I make.  

A frozen banana is a staple in my freezer.  I do run out of fresh bananas on the counter sometimes but I do have a bag of them in the freezer awaiting to be utilized.  Most of them make it in there due to be borderline rotten but these are when a banana is the sweetest and the best ones to use.  I often use frozen bananas in smoothies not just for flavor but as a thickening agent, banana ice cream and peanutbutter banana snacks.

The infamous maybe under used kitchen appliance.  The blender.  I don't do any fancy tricks with mine and it is years old but works great.  As long as the job gets done that's all that matters.

  The result is amazing!! Pumpkin Pie Smoothie is my go to pumpkin drink every year.  If you like pumpkin I don't have to sell you on the deal but if you like pumpkin you really should try this.

 Here's to a happy healthy pumpkin season.    
Thank you sallysbakingaddiction for your delicious pumpkin-pie-protein-smoothie.  I use this recipe several times!!

Young chef and a smoothie

  I am trying to eat healthier for a 30 day challenge and young chef is more than happy to help me with whatever task that requires in the kitchen.  Today she helped with a smoothie.  The even better news is she saw what went in it and still had a cup of it!!!

A peach and carrot smoothie was for breakfast today.  Some basic ingredients go in here and this smoothie went without yogurt as all my yogurts have been for the week.  This one did take water but a couple other smoothies from the week took almond milk.   I also haven't put yogurt in any of them.  Some may have called for Greek yogurt and at the moment I don't have any of that on hand either.

This smoothie just like all the rest called for a banana!

 Here comes the water!

Plus some carrots. Young chef is ok with carrots, she won't eat them but apparently can handle them.  She does however have this strange hatred towards broccoli. I told her I'm going to look that recipe up. I mean after all she just drank carrot and liked it maybe I can bring her and broccoli closer together.
 She is all of a sudden proficient in the blender.

I must admit she took the first sip before me but, only because I was still pouring my cup.  She approved it before I even took a drink.  I took a sip and decided to add the optional honey.  Umm, yeah. This smoothie was definitely strong in the carrot department in regards to flavor.  There were of course the shreds of it but, I didn't taste that poor yummy peach at all.  I will try this drink again and maybe reduce the carrots next time.

Recipe credit: peach-carrot-smoothie

Day 4

  So I told myself that I am almost done with week one. It made me feel better.  This didn't start till Monday so technically it hasn't been a week not even close but, I'm sure I can coast through the weekend. Just need to make it past Friday.  Pizza or guaranteed junk food night.

  If nothing else from this week I am getting more endurance in the gym and gaining some new recipes.  I look forward to seeing the end result of this challenge and hope to have instilled in me some good habits.  Habit meaning I will keep it going and be more aware of what I am doing.

The only meal new to me was the smoothie this morning for breakfast.  I changed the spinach into kale and was very pleased with the taste.  My young chef even liked it despite what she saw me put in it.  The banana and peanut butter were more intense in flavor.

Lunch was nothing special but I will say a bowl of fruit is the best.  I never just ate a bowl of fruit. I would eat a piece here and there.  When you eat a bowl you are sitting down relaxing and enjoying it.  Not like eating a banana on the run.  I am going back to the store to get more peaches!! I hope they are still on sale.  The tuna wrap was plain nothing special tuna with a cut up carrot and some sesame seed oil on it.  I was not impressed and will not eat it like that again.  I was trying to add flavor to the dried tuna. I would rather just eat it dried.

  Dinner was Zuppa Tuscany soup.  The soup from Olive Garden.  This is a great knockoff.  Everyone in my family enjoys it.  Of course you could add something else with it; salad or bread but, I'm trying to stay on track.  Never a disappointment.  Young chef even helped me.  

She had to get her hands dirty to start with.

She is getting better at leveling ingredients!

 She added the spices!

This is the chicken bullion I use for the stock.

Soups simmering!

It was a great day. Thanks for listening. Thanks for reading! Thank you for your support!

Recipe credit:

clean-eating-peanut-butter-and-banana-smoothie

real-food-copy-cat-zuppa-tuscana-olive-garden-copy-cat

Workout today was 67 minutes on the treadmill.  I alternated between speed and incline.  Various weights and ab work.