Cinnamon Orange

The Holidays aren't really over yet.  I love the smells of orange and cinnamon combined and thought, why not try that in a smoothie!  Why not, indeed?

Cinnamon Orange Swirl 

1 large orange, peeled and sectioned
1 clementine, peeled and sectioned
1 100g container vanilla Greek yogourt
1 cup Almond milk
2 Tsp Cinnamon
Sweetener (to taste) - I added 1 packet of Sugar Twin
Ice

Absolutely decadent treat which inspired me to create another!!  Watch for it!

Hello Dahl

Soup's On!  Finished these babies last night so a quick trip to the vet this morning with Princess Xena, then I'm back in the kitchen!

Dahl Soup, 1 cup servings

Breakfast on the run this morning - all staples from the freezer/fridge/pantry so easy peasy!  If you want to see my list of house staples, you can check out this post here: Master List


Blueberry Filler

1 cup frozen blueberries
1/8 cup oatmeal
1 cup skim milk
1/4 tsp vanilla
Ice

Blend that baby!

Enjoy, be kind to yourself and others xoxo

Jumpstart!

So you think you can blend? Of course you can!  Jumpstart to the morning...a brand new smoothie recipe that'll kick your butt into gear and start your day off right :-)

Mango-Tango

1 cup of frozen or fresh mango (I used President's Choice frozen)
1/3 English cucumber (skin on for nutrients!)
1/4 cup of orange juice (non-sweetened)
3/4 cup of water or coconut water (again with my President's Choice)
1 handful pomegranate seeds (optional)
Ice (if needed)

This blend will make you dance throughout your day! Or, is that just me? ;-)

Chopped Out!

20 + kilos of fresh fruit, chopped and bagged into single servings and frozen, another 10+ kilos of frozen fruit purchased, pumpkin bagged in 1/2 cup servings and hamburger soup on the stove. The rest (Dahl soup, carrot and celery soup) shall wait until tomorrow, I am all chopped out!

We now have, ready to go:

- Pineapple
- Pumpkin
- Mango
- 4 fruit blend
- Strawberries
- Black Cherries
- Peaches
- Pears
- Mandarins
- Clementine
- Blueberries
- Grapefruit

Soups tomorrow and we are good to go!  Tonight, the big salad! WOOT!

Should also mention I may have emptied the stores of their Almond, Coconut and Almond/Coco blends. And we must not forget, their Coconut water!  

Back At It!

OH MY.  The Holidays have been horrible to my body, lol.  I am back with a vengeance!  Watch for new recipes, new thoughts and much sharing.  HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Cranberry-Blueberry, ooops!

Sometimes, you can't win them all.  Always looking for different combos, I gave cranberry, blueberry a whirl!  Not my best work, lol.  I think it may have been better with a juice base, but, I drank it anyway (hey, it's still good for you!) - May have been just my taste buds that were off, so give it a try and let me know what YOU think.

Cranberry-Blueberry

1 cup PC frozen blueberries
1/2 cup PC frozen cranberries
1 cup Silk almond milk (will sub with fresh, unsweetened OJ next time)
1 100g container Oikos Greek lime yoghurt

Blend and (hopefully!) enjoy!

Be good to yourself today!

I'm Obsessed

Seriously, obsessed.  Have you tried the new Fibre 1 Lemon Bars? OH MY GOODNESS!

I am admittedly, a lemon FANATIC - Nanny's lemon bars, lemonade, fresh lemons, lemons fudge, dried lemons, sour lemon candy, lemon, lemon, lemon.  I just LOVE it.

These new lemon bars at ONLY 1.2 points per bar cure my sweet tooth and fill my lemon cravings.

TRY THEM, really!!

THANK YOU to the folks at General Mills.  You made my heart sing ;-)

Feeling glum? Overeat? There's a cure for that :-)

We've all done it!  The over indulgence.  One too many scoops of mashed potatoes, garlic sauce or Tim Bits? Bah.  Fret not!  There's a cure for that :-)


Citrus Slam!

1/2 frozen banana
1 handful of kale or spinach
1 lime, peeled
1/2 lemon, peeled
1/4 cup pure, unsweetened orange juice or grapefruit juice
1/2 cup coconut water (chock full of electrolytes!)

Blend this baby and feel the magic!  Your body will thank you.  As do I.

Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Dream

Who says healthy can't include chocolate?  HECK YA!  This one packs a real punch and will keep you going all morning long!  I'm meeting with a personal trainer today (gulp) so I'll let you know if it stands up to the ultimate test.  Unless she breaks me.  Which is entirely possible. In that case, this blog will come to a full stop.  If you don't hear from me, come looking, ok?


1 cup UNSWEETENED Blue Diamond Chocolate Almond Breeze
2 tsp pure, unsweetened cocoa
1/2 tbsp honey (optional)
1 Tbsp peanut butter (I use all natural, unsweetened, but your favourite brand will do)
2 Tbsp. Flax Seeds
Ice

I like mine frothy and icy so I put in quite a bit of ice.  You can adjust to however you like it.  Don't be afraid to experiment :-)

Be kind to your mind, be kind to your body, embrace the change!

Fruit Blaster

Sometimes genius strikes!  This Fruit Blaster had me RARING to go!  Tart, smooth and absolutely delicious!  You're going to love it :-)

Fruit Blaster

1 cup Moov 3-fruit medley, frozen
1/2 cup President Choice cranberries, frozen
1 cup Coconut Dream, original, unsweetened

Blend, blend, blend
Get movin', get movin, get movin'

JOY!

Shout-Out! Cherry-Almond Pumpkin

And she's back!  I want to start by giving a great, big shout out to some new visitors from our Facebook Cooking Group.  A great bunch of ladies and fabulous cooks who are looking to add smoothies to their own journeys.  JOY!!!

I've struggled with those 8lbs the darned Holidays packed on (just so we're clear, Holidays in my house run from November until May, lol, between birthdays, Christmas, more birthdays, Easter and Mother's Day with more birthdays packed in between!!) but I am resolved!  Enough already :-)  Time to get back to my goals!  Why? Because I'm worth it and SO ARE YOU!

I have been loving the cherry-pumpkin smoothies lately...absolute bliss in a cup!  So little fat, so much flavour!  Looking for more pumpkin recipes?  There's a search bar in the top left hand corner...just type in pumpkin and others will come up.  Pumpkin is SO healthy and SO delicious - indulge!!


Cherry Almond Pumpkin Smoothie

1/2 cup PURE pumpkin (straight out of can or frozen)
1 cup frozen cherries (I like the President's Choice)
1/4 tsp pure almond extract
1 cup Silk Almond milk (unsweetened)
Ice (optional)

Blend until desired consistency is achieved.  ENJOY THE BENEFITS!

Blending Tips:

I recently killed the blade on my Cuisinart and now have a basic Oster.  Working well so far....
Today's Tip:

If your blade is at the bottom (like a traditional blender) - add your liquid first, then your other ingredients.

If your blade is at the top (like the Cuisinart) - add your liquid last so it will be at the bottom once you've flipped your cup to blend.

Be good to your body, be kind to others but most importantly, be good and kind to YOURSELF.

Well Phancy That, Indeed!

YOU MUST TRY THIS!  Especially if you do not like breakfast.  Holy moly, why didn't I do this sooner?

CHIA PUDDING!  Breakfast of champions!  Saviour of those in a rush.  Sweet tooth lovers unite.  Pudding for breakfast.  OH.MY.GOODNESS.

PACKED with goodness as in, GOOD FOR YOU!  Chia pudding for breakfast. OH.MY.  Can't stop repeating myself!!

1 cup unsweetened Coconut Dream milk
2 Tbsp chia seeds
Add chia seeds to milk and let stand 15mins (very important step) at room temp.
Stir and refrigerate (I waited a few hours prior to adding strawberries)
Add 1 cup strawberries, refrigerate (overnight in my case)
Stir and enjoy!

5 points on the original program and it will keep you going WAY past lunch time.  Oh yeah!

Strawberry, Chia Pudding

It's Been A Long Winter...

And Spring for that matter.  And it took ages to get here.

It was a winter of change, a winter of lessons, a winter of...eating.  Too much.

We moved, we've renovated, we're still renovating.  We hibernated somewhat, we weeded out the bad from the good.  But we (I) did not eat as we should.  My son's birthday morphed into Christmas, my birthday, my two other kids' birthdays, Easter, Mother's Day....see how this happens?

But today is another day, right?  And it's a day like no other.  I am giving up smoking.  I can't do it anymore.  I shouldn't be doing it anymore.  I won't do it anymore.  I hope.

So let's call this DAY 1 - back to healthy eating, no more smoking (I can do this!!) and getting back on track!  Join me?

On the menu this week...as soon as I run out for groceries, lol.

1. Fat burning dahl soup
2. Homemade pea soup
3. Smoothies, smoothies, smoothies!!!
4. Pumpkin Soup
5. GIANT salad for the week
And not on the menu, but on the priority list....WALKING, faster, every day.