Chocolate-Banana-Peanut Butter Smoothies

This is my go-to smoothie when I'm having a chocolate fix. I make it a bit thicker so it is more like a shake. I use my Magic Bullet and the large cup.

 

Fill cup half full with frozen banana

1 Tbsp baking chocolate

1 Tbsp natural peanut butter

1 Tbsp flax seed

Enough Almond Milk or soy milk (usually around 1/2 full in the cup)

Process. Sometimes I need to add more milk

Serve. 

Clean Smoothies

I am so in love with smoothies. I could drink/eat these 3 meals a day. There are so many varieties to chose from. Two of my favorite recipes are below. I use frozen fruit so I don't have to add ice cubes. Once a week, I buy a lot of bananas, slice them, and freeze them. All the rest of the berries (if I'm out of them in my garden) are in the freezer section of your local grocery store. I also use my Magic Bullet for this.

Banana-blackberry-blueberry-coconut milk (or water)
1/3 cup each of the fruit
1/2 cup of liquid (coconut milk, soy or water)
1 Tbsp. flax seed
Ice to fill the cup ( if wanted)
Process and enjoy.

Juicing and UCTD

I don't know where the time goes, but I sure haven't kept up on my UCTD part of my blog. So here goes.....juicing! I love juicing. I aim for only once a day. I need to focus on the vegetable side of juicing. Most of us (UCTD folks) are lacking in the vegetable department, especially eating enough greens. The simplest way to add them in for me is to put spinach or kale in my juice. If I'm not eating the kale fast enough, I add water to it and run it through my food processor. I then pour that into ice cube trays and can add as much or as little as I need to my juice. I've also added that to my split pea soup and spaghetti sauce. You can't taste it, but you're getting it in your body. I do the same with spinach. Instead of iceberg lettuce in my wraps, I use baby spinach. Also, throw in some ground flaxseed. You can never have enough of the good stuff.

Give this recipe a try.
Kale (3 leaves or 6-8 ice cubes)
1 apple, cored
2 stalks of celery
ginger (just a little)

Run through your juicer. Add water if you'd like. This should make 2 glasses. You can of course cut back on the kale and celery if you just want 1 glass. I'd keep the entire apple.

Peeling hard boiled eggs

Hard boiled eggs can be the most frustrating job in the kitchen. There are times I won't make deviled eggs just so I won't have to peel them. Most of my eggs look like they've gone through a meat grinder. I have tried everything from using old eggs, letting eggs get to room temperature, adding vinegar, boiling then immediately plunging into ice cold water, and I still have those few eggs that are just hard to peel. I read a post a couple of weeks ago, and as soon as I find the source, I will add the link. Hold your hat. Steam the eggs. Fresh or old, doesn't matter. I know, I did both yesterday. Each and every egg peeled and my eggs look edible.

Place eggs in a steam basket. Place lid on pan. Steam for 12-15 minutes. You can then allow them to cool naturally, but I was in a hurry, so I plunged them into some ice water for 5 minutes. The shells just slipped off. I had a dozen eggs peeled in less than 5 minutes.

I know there are dozens of methods. But knowing how quick this worked, I will use this method.

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Dehydrating Potatoes

I am on a mission. I am teaching myself to be more sufficient in making and processing food that is not loaded with harmful chemicals. I am slowly but surely eliminating processed foods out of diets. Not to say, I occasionally use boxed foods.
A little while back, my sister-in-law gave me about 20 lbs of potatoes. Red and white. Not sure how long these last, I started to dehydrate them. I was also worried about them turning black. They didn't~so, yea me! Below is the process I used.

First peel and rinse potatoes. Thinly (paper thin) slice potatoes. I used my Pampered Chef mandoline. Soak thin cut slices in water. You will see a bunch of starch in the water. At this point, put a nice sized pot of water on to boil. I sprinkle a little salt in the water. After all your potatoes have been sliced and rinsed, add sliced potatoes to the boiling water. Boil for 8 minutes. Immediately remove from boiling water and put in a bowl of ice water. This stops the cooking process.
Once all of your potatoes are cooked and cooled, place potatoes on a dish towel and pat dry. I usually dab with another dish towel.
Layer potatoes on a food dehydrator and allow to dry for 24 hours. Place in a tightly sealed glass container.
You can also put your dehydrated potatoes in a food processor and process until powder form. These would be great for mashed potatoes or as a soup thickener.

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A freezer challenge....starts NOW

Knowing that fresh fruit and vegetable season is just around the corner, I know, without a doubt, that my upright freezer needs cleaned. I don't know how it happens, but it is a mess. I try and keep it organized. Meat on one shelf, veggies on another, boxed foods on another and leftovers on their own shelf. However, right now, my freezer looks like food was just tossed in it willy-nilly. Today will begin my freezer cleaning. We are going to eat as much as we can out of it for the next month. I have a lot of fresh garden food that will be replaced shortly. I've also been making double casseroles and storing them for "sports" nights.

First step to accomplish this feat...I will be purchasing a dry erase board that is magnetized so I can keep track of what goes in and what comes out.

Next, I will make a list of what I have in it right now and start preparing my menu. This should be fun. NOT! I don't mind the menu, it is trying to use all the ingredients we have in there already.

Last, when it is warm enough, defrost and wash it out. Replace any food left in an organized fashion. Yeah right. I wonder how long this will last?

This is what it looked like this morning~

 

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Alternative (healthy) to Cream of Chemical Soup

Here is a healthy alternative to the Cream of Anything soups. It takes 5 minutes to mix the ingredients, but you will have about 9 cans of soup mix available. Use a large glass jar with a tight lid. This will stay fresh for a very long time. The flavor is amazing.

4 cups powdered milk

1 1/2 cup cornstarch

1/2 cup vegetable or chicken bouillon

4 t. minced, dried onion

2 t. each thyme and basil (crushed)

1 t. pepper

Mix and store.

To use:

1/3 cup of mix added to 1 cup of cold water in a saucepan. Stir and thicken over medium heat. At this point, you can add 1/2 cup of minced or chopped chicken, broccoli, onion, mushrooms or celery. The ingredients are endless.

 

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