Quick Smoothie Tip for Quicker, Healthier Smoothies!

Quick Tips for Yogurt Smoothies!

Strawberry Blueberry Yogurt Smoothie

Hey guys, sorry I didn't post on Friday, but we didn't even get groceries until late last night.  Being down to one car and Patrick working full-time, plus some, has greatly hindered my errand running.  This is actually somewhat good for our budget, bad for keeping food in the house!

Anyway, one of our favorite things to have for breakfast or snack time are smoothies.  I want the kids to keep yogurt in theirs, but they tend to not want to bother.  They end up with milk, frozen fruit and protein powder.  That, and more often than not, they end up with more fruit than anything.  For those on a tight budget, you know that fruit can get expensive, and we need to make it last.

This is what I use to get the yogurt in there!:)

So, the other day I made myself some strawberry protein yogurt (just plain, unsweetened yogurt, strawberries, blueberries and some protein powder.  And I made WAY too much.  This gave me a great idea.  When the kids were babies, I always pureed our food in a blender for them.  I then froze the puree in ice cube trays, leaving me with perfect serving sizes for a baby.  I thought this would be a perfect way to ration out the fruits and make sure the kids were getting some yogurt, too!

Blend the whole container of yogurt, strawberries and blueberries, some liquid stevia for sweetener.  I also added some vanilla protein powder.

I don't happen to have ice cube trays (but I'm going to get some now!), but I poured the rest of my yogurt in ziplock bags and told the kids these were our new smoothie cubes.  Now all they have to do is take some smoothie cubes, add some milk and blend away.  For moms with little ones, it can make smoothie time quicker for you too.

Tada!  I froze them in thin layers in ziplock bags, so one good knock on the edge of the table and it breaks apart for the blender!

Oh!  And a money saving tip... if you can find overripe bananas at your store (I've gotten a 5# bag for less than $1.50 before!) you can take them home, peel and chop into thick slices and freeze in zip lock bags... or, like I mentioned today, puree them with protein powder and yogurt for future smoothies.

*I say "protein powder" often, when, although I use extra protein powder, we use a raw, organic meal replacement powder for our kids snacks or breakfast.  Since we simply can not afford organic all the time, it is nearly impossible in this day and age to get enough nutrition out of our food.  This is not a typical diet meal replacement with artificial sweeteners and sugars, so read your labels.  I do NOT recommend feeding your children 'diet' foods or any meal replacements with artificial sweeteners, high fructose corn syrup or refined sugars.

Another great thing to add to smoothies is spinach, bee pollen and if you're not using yogurt already, probiotics are great as well.

Oh!  And in a "Why didn't I think of this before" moment, my freezer is SO much more useful now, since stuff isn't falling out every day!

Dollar Tree baskets and I'm good to go.  One for fruit, one for veggies!

Have a great week!  I'll see you next week with a video on juicing and possibly wheat grass juicing too, if all goes well!

I Think I'm Going to Vomit

I'm not joking in the least.  I just launched our kickstarter, and seriously, the second I hit that final "launch" button... I started shaking inside.  This project is HUGE.  It is our dream.  It is the perfect blend of our entire family and I am so excited, it is literally making me feel incredibly nauseated.  I may have to take a sedative.

You may think I'm exaggerating, but I assure you that I never ever exaggerate about anything.  Ever.  Nope, never ever ever.

Okay, I just remembered that my husband reads this blog.  Scratch that last part.  I love to exaggerate.  I do it a lot, although not as much as my "There wasn't that much guacamole to start with" hubby or my "I'm going DIE OF STARVATION" son.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I am literally shaking in my boots.  Err... in my robe.  What?  I know its 4:00 in the afternoon, but I'm FREEZING today.  Who knew that 2 gallons of iced tea could make a person so cold?

Anyway, we've been planning and researching how to do this Children's Web Series for months... and we finally got everything together... as well as we could with our horribly subpar equipment (to say the least)... and we've done it.

Our kickstarter has launched.  Have you ever wanted to be a part of something much bigger than yourself?  Have you ever wanted to support a small business, a family working together towards a common goal?  This is your chance.  Once we're all successful and on television, you can have a chance to say, "I helped those people right there!  I was in on it from the get go, and it is in part because of my support that they ended up where they are today!"

Give it a look and please, spread the word.  This little venture has a lot of potential and we want to make it into something amazing!  Thank you for taking the time to at least take a look at our project!

Sprouting!! Yep, I'm on the Sprouting Bandwagon now, too!

Warning:  I am feeling like a smart aleck today, so read with this in mind.  I'm feeling humorous... so please pretend I'm funny and leave me appreciative comments about how I made you smile.  Or else next week I'll bore you to tears with something bland.

Okay, ladies and gentlemen... I'm back.  I've promised my hubby and facebook fans that I will indeed commit to making a clean eating (and at the moment gluten free) post every Friday.  It may be midnight on Friday, but I am going to do my best.

At the moment, as many of you know, I am obsessed and consumed by a certain purple monkey and all that entails, but we all still need to eat, so I will suck it up and put forth some effort to be a good wife and mom for my family... (wait for it...) by cooking/making something edible at least once a week.

WHAT??? I know, I know, hold the applause and cheering for later.  I know I've raised the bar for moms and wives everywhere by this bold commitment.  Feel free to show it to your spouse as a definitive post on what a good wife/mom can accomplish.

As another example of my awesomeness, I bought my son a sprouting kit for Christmas.  A deluxe sprouting kit, no less.  I thought he'd be all into it and whatnot, having always been into plants.  Not so much, apparently. However, my husband and I have found a new snack love... sprouted things.

We started out with sprouted lentils and now have moved on to the variety packs.  Sprouted radish seeds are surprisingly spicy and radish tasting.  Sprouted lentils are awesomeness.  All sprouted things are awesome on salads or just to sit and munch on and they last forEVER.  Especially when I make them, because every single week I forget how much beans GROW when you soak them.  I end up with so much overflow, its ridiculous.

This was only supposed to be three trays, and yet I ended up with all of this AND a big strainer full!!!

Instructions:

Anyway, get your beans/seeds/lentils, whatever you're going to sprout, and start by soaking them in water for about 24 hours, like so:

See?  Beans and seeds under water.  Its like they're going out for a swim!

*I have found that the trays I bought with the kids actually DO make a BIG difference.  You can sprout just using a strainer and something to cover it with, but when done side by side, I get a lot more "sprout" our of using the trays.

Day 2:  Rinse the beans and cover.

Look!  Isn't that snazzy???   They just stack up like blocks!

Day 3: (This is where it gets complicated) Rinse beans and cover again.

Day 4: (Now hold onto your pants, people, this is really complicated) Rinse and cover beans again.  Admire, if you will, the delicate sprouts...

Day 5 and so forth.  Keep repeating these steps until your sprouts look like... well, sprouts.  Like so:

When you are so happy with your growing little beans, and feel that they are "just right", take the covers off and place them in your window so that they glowing, amazing orb of light in the sky can shine down upon your new baby sprouts and fill them with chlorophyll.

Once they're a nice pretty green, take the sprouts and stuff them into baggies or your container of choice.  As I said above, they are great for just crunchy munching and taste AMAZING on salads.

Enjoy... and, you're welcome.