Smoothie Basics: Blueberry

     Smoothies are great. And healthy. So here's my favorite most basic, simple blueberry smoothie recipe. You can easily take this basic formula and run with it, try different berries, add-ins like spinach or flax seed.. etc.

    

Simple Blueberry Smoothie

• 1 cup frozen blueberries
• 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
• a little less than 1 cup of almond milk (I don't usually measure this, just add more as needed to achieve desired texture)
• 1 tablespoon of honey

I like to blend the berries and milk first to get those nice and pureed. Then add in the Greek yogurt, honey and a little more almond milk to get the perfect consistency. This smoothie is sweet with the honey and creamy with the Greek yogurt, not to mention filled with antioxidants from the blueberries. I like smoothies for breakfast or for a mid afternoon boost before yoga or other physical activity. Also if you're counting calories, this specific smoothie recipe is about 270 calories (give or take a few depending on how much almond milk you use). 

Best Homemade Pizza Dough // BBQ Chicken Pizza Recipe

I'm obsessed with this pizza dough recipe. I can't even tell you how many times we've used it and how fantastic it turns out every time. It's really not too difficult of a recipe and can be a fun group/family activity. It makes enough dough for 2 pizzas and is a freezer friendly recipe so you can make one and throw the other one in the freezer for a quick backup dinner plan. Bonus: it only takes 10 minutes to bake. I got the recipe from Money Saving Mom. 

For the dough:

• 2 cups warm water (105 to 115 degrees F)
• 2 tablespoons active dry yeast
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 4 tablespoons oil (vegetable, canola or olive oil)
• 5 cups flour (can use all whole wheat, half white/half whole wheat, or all white)
• a bit of olive oil, garlic powder, salt & pepper and a blend of Italian seasonings

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F.

Pour the warm water into a large bowl and sprinkle yeast in. Stir to dissolve.

Add remaining ingredients and mix.

Dump onto a floured surface and knead dough for 2-5 minutes until smooth and no longer sticky (you could also use your electric mixer at this point if you want!)

Divide pizza dough into two equal sections and roll out one half (if only making one pizza) with a rolling pin into a circle that's a little bit larger than the pizza baking pan. Place dough on pan and roll up the sides to make a nice thick crust and spread some of the olive oil/garlic & Italian seasoning mix on the crust. 

*If you wanted stuffed crust you could roll up some cheese into the crust at this point. Strips of string cheese seem like they would work well. Disclaimer: I haven't actually tried this, just an idea.*

Add sauce/toppings and bake at 500 degrees F for 10 minutes (until crust looks crispy and lightly browned).

To freeze:

Place dough (your other half) in an airtight freezer bag and freeze for up to 4-6 weeks. To thaw place frozen dough in the fridge overnight or at room temp for 3-4 hours. Roll out and follow directions above.

Easy BBQ Chicken Pizza

• Frozen chicken breasts
• BBQ sauce of choice
• cheddar cheese
• tomatoes
• red onion (not pictured)
• pizza dough from recipe above

Throw some frozen chicken breasts in the crock pot with a good amount of BBQ sauce (I'm so detailed with my measurements, I know) and cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 8. Shred the chicken with forks (or with your mixer!) and stir to blend the BBQ sauce in.

Roll out your dough and spread some BBQ sauce across the surface. Layer shredded chicken, cheddar cheese, sliced tomato and sliced red onion. Follow baking directions for pizza dough (above).

Other easy homemade pizza ideas:

Buffalo ranch chicken pizza: Same concept as the BBQ chicken pizza. Throw some chicken breasts in the crock pot with buffalo sauce and a dry ranch mix (I use my homemade one).

Caprese chicken pizza: Grilled chicken breasts with fresh mozzarella, tomato and basil. Get extra fancy and trickle a Balsamic reduction on top of that! 

Classic pizza: Make a yummy homemade pizza sauce  and top with the favorites: cheese, pepperoni/sausage, green peppers, mushrooms, olives.. really whatever floats your boat! 

Easy Dinner Idea: Egg Bistro Sandwiches

These things are AMAZING. They make the perfect Sunday brunch or quick dinner when you don't want to put too much effort into it. I've made them a few times now and every time I'm in awe of how delicious and simple they are.

Ingredients:

• french bread
• eggs
• deli ham (I like the Hormel Natural Choice Ham)
• shredded cheddar cheese
• mayo
• tomato
• blend of Italian seasonings (oregano, basil, rosemary, thyme)
• salt & pepper

Preheat the oven to 350.

Slice french bread in half to make open face sandwiches and cut into sections approximately the length of a fried egg.

Spread on some mayo and layer the sliced tomato on top of that.

Add a couple pieces of deli ham and some cheddar cheese on top. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook your eggs over-easy in a frying pan with salt and pepper and some of your Italian seasonings sprinkled on top. I like the yolk nice and runny.

Once the bread part of the sandwich is done slap that egg right on top and enjoy!

PS: You're welcome.

Cilantro Lemon Salmon with Peppers and Cherry Tomatoes

     I've been so inspired lately to make new meals that are delicious AND nutritious (overused phrase anyone?)! I've done fish with peppers for a long time as a quick go-to lunch. But today I had a few more fresh ingredients to use so I did some experimenting with it! Here's what I came up with.

Cilantro Lemon Salmon with Peppers and Cherry Tomatoes

For 2 servings:

2 salmon fillets (thawed)
2 bell peppers (sliced)
1/2 lemon (sliced into wedges)
handful of cherry tomatoes (quartered)
fresh cilantro
salt and pepper
cooked rice for serving (quinoa would be good too)
feta cheese for topping (optional)

Lightly coat a large frying pan with olive oil and heat on medium-high.

Season the salmon with salt and pepper. After the pan is hot, add the salmon. If you want to sear it let the pan get really hot before putting the salmon in.

Throw the sliced peppers and cherry tomatoes on top of the salmon. Squeeze the lemon wedges over the whole thing and throw those in as well. Sprinkle a small amount of salt and pepper across everything and cover for a minute or so.

Turn the salmon and give the veggies a good stir. Salmon is done when it flakes easily with a fork.

Serve over rice with fresh cilantro and feta cheese if desired.

This is a quick and extremely easy recipe. Perfect for lunches at home or if you need a fast dinner idea!

Homemade Crockpot Apple Sauce

     Homemade apple sauce is super easy and delicious to make! I buy a bag of whatever's on sale or not too pricey- these ones were Fuji apples I believe. You can use whatever kind you prefer. Peel the apples and then dice them up.

     Throw them in the crockpot with a few teaspoons of water, a drizzle of honey (in place of sugar) and roughly 1/2 tablespoon of pumpkin pie spice (which usually consists of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and allspice) and 1/2 tablespoon of cinnamon. I honestly don't really measure much when I do things like this, so you can adjust the amounts of spices you would like according to your tastes. 

Mix it all together and throw a lid on it. Turn it on high and let it be for 3-5 hours. This makes the BEST homemade air freshner ever by the way. It smells amazing.

Of course I didn't take a picture of the final product.. but once the apples are nice and mushy, mash them together with a vegetable masher. Or if you want the consistency to be really pureed you can throw it in a blender if you so please. Store in the refrigerator. Enjoy!

Homemade Chai Tea Latte Recipe

  

   I promised I would deliver on the fall recipes, and today I did 3 of them. So here's the first: Homemade Chai Tea Latte, served hot or iced. I started making this over the summer and it is a very good recipe. I based it off of a few different recipes that I found online. Overall, it's pretty simple, and you can go a lot of different directions with the chai concentrate. So here's what you need:

To make the chai concentrate: 

- 8 Vanilla Chai Tea bags (I like to buy the boxes of Bigelow)
- 4 cups of water
- 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- dash of black pepper
- honey (optional)

-Bring the water to boiling in a medium saucepan. If you want to make a larger quantity of the concentrate, just go by the rule of 2 tea bags per 1 cup water.

-Once the water is boiling, add the pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, dash of black pepper and a drizzle of honey if you so please.

-Take the tea bags and tie them together at the top, it makes it much more manageable to keep track of them all.

-Steep the tea bags in the boiling water, give it all a good stir and then remove from heat and throw a cover on it. When steeping the tea bags be careful to not let the tags catch fire from the burner! I don't want any readers with a fire on their hands! I usually make this when I'm doing something else so I'll leave it sitting there anywhere from 15-60 minutes. The longer you let it steep the more concentrated the flavors will be.

-When it's done steeping, you can either make a hot chai tea latte by following the directions below or you can throw it in a mason jar with a cover or whatever else you would like to store it in and put it in the fridge to cool. I have kept the concentrate in the fridge for up to a week and it was still good.

To make the latte (served iced or hot):
-chai concentrate
-milk of choice (I use almond milk)
-sweetener of choice: sweetened condensed milk is really the secret ingredient that gives you that coffee shop taste. You can also use sugar, or whatever you prefer.

To give it a Pumpkin Spice twist:
-Add a bit of pumpkin spice coffee creamer.

I usually do 1/2 chai concentrate and 1/2 milk with a 1/2 to 1 tablespoon of sweetened condensed milk. In this case I actually did 1/2 concentrate, 1/2 milk and then just a dash of pumpkin spice coffee creamer, and it turned out pretty fantastic. So this is where you can really experiment with your own taste buds and see what you prefer. Serve hot or iced, either makes a delicious drink.

Super Easy French Bread Pizza

     This stuff is ridiculously easy and ridiculously good (but not necessarily ridiculously healthy but that's alright!). I honestly think I might like this better than real pizza. And yes, that is a remote in the background, it's a perfect Friday night in movie watching kinda meal. 

Super Easy French Bread Pizza

You will need:

A loaf of French Bread

Pizza sauce or marinara sauce (certainly feel free to make your own as well!)

Mozzarella and Cheddar shredded cheese

Garlic Powder

What ever toppings you would like to put on. We were boring this time and just used turkey pepperoni. But you could put on sausage, Canadian bacon, chicken, mushrooms, onions, peppers, olives... etc. 

Preheat oven to 350. After that just cut your loaf in half (like shown above), add sauce, sprinkle a little garlic powder over the sauce, then add the cheese and toppings. Bake for about 15 minutes until the cheese is melty and the bread is just crispy enough. 15 minutes was perfect for ours. I like to have a little extra sauce nearby for dipping. Enjoy!

Experimental Oatmeal Banana PB "Cookies"

I was inspired by a few different recipes on Pinterest that I found (energy-bites, breakfast cookies.. etc) to make these "cookies" up. They are almost more similar to a scone than a cookie in my opinion, but you can make up your own mind as to what you would like to call them. This was my first time actually making up my own baking recipe, but there aren't many ingredients at all, no baking powder or anything like that to worry about. These are definitely on the healthier side of the cookie healthiness spectrum, and you can always add or leave out ingredients that you don't like (or don't have!).

Healthy Oatmeal Banana PB "Cookies"

2 ripe bananas
2 tablespoons flax seed
1 1/2 cups oatmeal
1/2 cup peanut butter (roughly)
1-2 tablespoons honey depending on how sweet you'd like them
chocolate chips (optional- they are obviously healthier with out or with a vegan substitue)

Preheat oven to 350.
Peel and mash the ripe bananas.
Add flax seed to bananas and mix well.
Add the oatmeal and mix well.
Add in the peanut butter and honey, mix well.
Lastly add your chocolate chips (I didn't even measure, I just poured. I like me some chocolate) and mix it up together.
Plop them onto a greased baking sheet. This recipe made 9 (odd number I know) large cookies for me. You could certainly make them smaller and get a dozen out of them. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes depending on how crispy you like them to be. Like I said earlier, they are almost more like a scone in my opinion, so don't expect the middle to get really crispy. They'll be nice and soft.

Note: You could try adding almonds or walnuts. Also some coarse sea salt might also be really good with these cookies to give it that salty sweet flavor. Let me know what you guys think!