My Favorite Smoothies

Who Doesn't love a Good Smoothie?  I used to enjoy a healthy smoothie often for my breakfast or lunch, I really loved it!  It would fill me and give me energy and was yummy too! I find that eating healthy is a habit.  When you do it all the time it becomes easy and routine.  When you get out of the habit, it is very hard to get going again.  I seem to always get out of the habit with each of my pregnancies (  the reason I gain 40-50lbs with each one..HA!).  Emmalyn is now 18 months and I am ready to started again.  So my smoothies are back and I am so glad!  I do not use a recipe so this may need to be tweaked to your liking.  Use more milk or add ice for a thinner smoothie and add more yogurt, keifer, or bannana for a thicker smoothie. 

I often use the Baby Bullet for single serving,s but I have the Breville blender that works very well.  It even has has a smoothie setting.  These just happen to be what I use, but any blender would work fine.

Berry Banana
1/4 C Strawberry Keifer*  (I get mine at Trader Joe's)
1/2 C Organic Rice Milk or Almond Milk
1 C Frozen Kale or Spinach* (or a mix of both)
1/2 C Frozen Strawberries*
1/2 C Frozen Blueberries*
1 banana* (frozen or not, your choice)
1 T Goatein Powder (I use Garden of Life)
1 T Wheat Germ

Add all ingredients to blender and mix until smooth.  Pour into glass and top with wheat germ.  Enjoy!

 Going Green
1/2 C Organic Rice Milk or Almond Milk
1/4 C Organic Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice
1/4 Organic Plain Yogurt*
1 Med Apple* (peeled, cored, and diced)
1 C Frozen Kale*
1 C Frozen Spinach*
1 Banana*
1 T Goatein Powder (I use Garden of Life)
1 Lemon Juiced*

Add all ingredients to blender and mix until smooth.  Enjoy!


*Extra Tips
All ingredients that I use are organic.  Any flavored keifer or yogurt would work.  I suggest an organic greek style or Stoneyfield Farm Organic Yogurt.  Please do not use any with artificial sweetners in it.   I buy bags of fresh kale and freeze so that I always have it available.  You can also purchase bananas in bulk to freeze.

A Quick Meal

I love to cook and come up with new quick recipes.   My newest favorite was inspired by my friend Tara's blog over at the The Tiny Hummingbird.  Her recipe was for quinoa and black bean burgers.  They were delicious.  I just loved the combination.  I have recently been playing around with different quesadilla recipes, when it came to me.  A quinoa and black bean quesadilla! I made it the other night and it was amazing.  My husband thought I was a genius and my 3 and 6 year old had second and thirds.  That is what I call success.  The best part about it was that it was super quick and I had everything that I needed already on hand.  You can find the recipe below.  What is your favorite quesadilla recipe?   I would love to know if you try this one and how you liked it.  Let me know by leaving a comment in the section below this post.

Package of flour tortillas  ( I use whole wheat)
1 can black beans
1 cup quinoa (I like the tricolored from Trader Joes)  cook according to directions, usually 2:1
2 cups Shredded cheddar cheese
2-4 t of your favorite Mexican seasoning
1 T of EVOO

Toppings:  salsa, sour cream, shredded lettuce (whatever else you enjoy)

Combine the cooked quinoa and the can of drained black beans to a saute pan.  Heat on low until heated evenly.  You may add a little water if it gets too dry.  Fold in the Mexican seasoning.  Heat a separate pan on low and coat lightly with EVOO.  When pan is hot lay your flour tortilla in and fill on side with quinoa/bean mixure.  Top with cheese and fold the top of the tortilla over to form your quesadilla.  Flip after about 1-2 minutes.  This may depend on how much heat your stove gives off.  It should be lightly browned on both sides.  Serve with your favorite choice of toppings.  Enjoy.