My Favorite Green Smoothie Recipe

I splurged and bought myself a Vitamix recently and I'm soooooo happy I did. I've been experimenting with different combinations and so far, this recipe is my favorite. I made some the other morning for the kids and they not only drank it, they said it was "delicious"! Granted, I prepped them by reminding them that it wasn't going to taste like the smoothies I make them with yogurt and berries. I wanted to manage their expectations so they wouldn't immediately say they didn't like it just because it was different. I also told them (for the gazillionth time) that our bodies need a lot of different nutrients and that this smoothie provided many, many good things for them without them having to eat things like a kale salad.

I got these ingredients from Sprouts and Trader Joe's. I try to get the greens from the farmer's market, but when I can't make it, I find Sprouts has a good selection, especially in the organic section. Trader Joe's has great prices on frozen fruit.

Pineapple-Mango Green Smoothie:

1 cup of water (to start)
1/2 cup of light coconut milk (unsweetened)
3/4 cup of frozen pineapple
1 & 1/2 cup of frozen mango
1" x 3/4" thumb of fresh ginger, peeled 
1 & 1/2 cup of spinach
1/2 cup of flat leaf parsley
1/2 cup of dandelion greens
1 cup of purple kale

I like my green smoothies very liquid-y so I usually end up adding some water at the end. I also like them very cold so I usually add a little ice. This recipe made enough for me to have a HUGE cup, my husband to have a normal-sized cup, and my kids each to have a small cup. That is all I had for breakfast at about 7 a.m. and it kept me satisfied through teaching a Zumba class and a Strength and Stretch class. I didn't eat again until 11:00 a.m. and I didn't feel like I was ready to pass out or commit a homicide!

I hope you enjoy the recipe. Let me know what you think and if you tweak it at all, please share the results!

Turkey Quinoa Meatloaf (Gluten-Free!!!!)

This is my son's plate from dinner tonight

I usually make a double batch of this recipe in the hopes of having leftovers. This is one of maybe 4 recipes I make that the kids (and Dwayne) actually cheer for when they find out it's for dinner. I found the original recipe on allrecipes.com

Ingredients:
1/4 cup quinoa (I use the red but the white is fine)
1/2 cup water
1 tsp. olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped (Cuisinart!)
1 large clove garlic, finely chopped
1 (20 oz) package of ground turkey (I use Jennie-O, lean)
1 Tbs. tomato paste
1 Tbs. hot pepper sauce (I usually use Frank's Red Hot; if you have a family member who's sensitive to spicy food you might want to use less or omit all together.)
2 Tbs. A1 sauce (the original recipe called for Worscestershire but I didn't have any so I subbed A1 and it was delicious!)
1 egg or egg replacer
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
2 Tbs brown sugar
2 tsp A1
1 tsp water

Directions:
1. I use my rice cooker to pre-cook the quinoa and follow the directions for brown rice. Here's how to cook the quinoa stove-top: Bring the quinoa and water to a boil in a saucepan over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the quinoa is tender, and the water has been absorbed, about 15-20 minutes. Set aside to cool. If you purchase raw quinoa, you will want to rinse it first. Quinoa in the box should be ready to go.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C)

3. Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in the onion; cook and stir until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute; remove from heat to cool.

4. Stir the turkey, cooked quinoa, onions, tomato paste, hot sauce, 2 Tbs. A1, egg, salt, and pepper in a large bowl until well combined (I put surgical gloves on the kids and have them help with this step). The original recipe has you form this into a loose loaf on a baking sheet. I actually make something more like meatballs in a muffin tin. It doesn't take as long to cook and it makes portion control simpler

5. The original recipe calls for mixing the brown sugar, 2 tsp. A1, and 1 tsp water in a small bowl and then rubbing it over the top of the meatloaf. I actually skip this step as the meatballs taste great and I figure "why add the extra sugar?" If you make it once and feel it needs a little extra sumthin', try adding the glaze next time.

6. Bake in the preheated oven until no longer pink in the center, about 50 minutes for a loaf, about 15-25 minutes for balls, depending on size.

When I put this into the Weight Watchers recipe builder a few months ago it came back with 2 points for a muffin-tin sized ball. If you are tracking points, you should make a batch and figure out how many servings you end up with because the size of the balls can vary so much. I'll be interested to hear what other people get when they enter the recipe into the recipe builder. I have not figured out the exact nutrition information and I wouldn't use the original recipe as a guide because that author used fattier ground turkey and I changed a few of the ingredients. But I can tell you that it's got lots of great nutrition and is a yummy dish that will hopefully please your whole family the way it does mine!

Italian Bean Dip

This is a recipe I've made for a few parties and people seem to really enjoy it. It's great as a dip for veggies and would be fantastic as a sandwich spread. I put a TJ next to the ingredients I got at Trader Joes. I'm sure most are easily available at other stores as well. I "cook with love", which is the lazy cook's way of saying, "I don't measure ingredients". You might need to taste as you go and play around with it.

1 -- 15 oz. can Garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed TJ
1 -- 14 oz. can of Artichoke Hearts in water, drained TJ
1 -- 12 oz. jar of Fire Roasted Red and Yellow Peppers, drained TJ
1/2 -- bag of Sun-Dried Tomatoes (in a bag, NOT a jar of oil!) TJ
3 Tbs. Balsamic Vinegar (splurge on the good stuff, it's worth it!)
3 Tbs. Olive Oil
Fresh Herbs to taste: Basil, Oregano, Sage
Can add garlic to taste (definitely more yummy, but also more smelly!)

All you do is throw the ingredients into a food processor and whirl away.

The recipe makes about 3 1/2 cups total. For a 1/4 cup serving it is 2 Weight Watchers Points Plus. It has fiber, protein, healthy fat, and above all, it's yummy, yummy, yummy, and easy, easy, easy! Enjoy!