"Milkshake" obsession

I knocked over 6 other glasses, two containers of soap, a teapot, and a clock to get to this tall, clear glass in the picture. Then I stepped on some sort of unknown berries that are always appearing on our deck outside to get the mint garnish. I suffered for this picture. Enjoy it.

In all seriousness, you really have to try this recipe. There are alterations GALORE, so feel free to explore, and make it your own. This is MY own favorite ever. Yes, maybe even favorite food. You know, for the time being anyway.

It's healthy, decently low calorie, a good combination of carbs, protein, and fats, and it is cheap and easy. Did I mention the taste is TO DIE FOR?? Because it is. It can also be vegan if you sub the milk for almond milk or some other substitute and you change the whey protein to soy protein. I'm pretty sure the results will still be ridiculously wonderful, any way you slice it. I am currently continually on the search for those bags of cheap, overly ripe bananas for slicing and freezing, because I'm pretty sure we go through about 10-15 bananas a week these days, between Steve and me.

I call this my "workout shake," but who am I kidding?? It's 9:00 at night, I worked out 3 hours ago, and I'm craving a snack that won't make me mad at myself later on. Enter this shake. I'm pretty sure there isn't an appliance in my house more used than my lovely Martha Stewart blue Kitchenaid blender. (Thanks, mom! :D) Anyway, here's the recipe.

Choco-peanut butter banana bliss:

118 grams (one medium) banana- chopped and frozen

2 tbsp PB 2 Chocolate (this is a wonderful product available on amazon, with 85% fewer calories and fat than peanut butter, but if you don't have it/don't want to use it then use regular peanut butter. No sweat.)

1/4 cup whey protein. I use half Bob's Red Mill whey concentrate unflavored and half my husband's cheap protein that's cookies and cream flavored. I don't like using much of his because it makes me bloated (thanks, creatine!) but a little adds something to the shake. Plain or vanilla or chocolate protein or leave it out completely if you like will also work nicely.

1 cup milk of your choice

1 tbsp flax seeds, because I'm a health nut vegetarian, and I'm sure I'm not getting enough Omega 3's. ;)

Blend the dry ingredients with the milk until smooth and then add the banana and blend until smooth and creamy. It will be just like a milkshake, thick and slurpy! Garnish however you like.. or slurp it down like a kid. ;)

Impromptu lunch

There is no picture of this yet.. I am ashamed to admit to eating it all before I could snag one, and this is, as it says an impromptu situation. There doesn't need to be a picture just yet, because trust me, there will be many repeats of this meal. This is my quintessential impromptu meal: Pad Thai. There's always SOMETHING in the house that I can throw into a sweet, saucy mix topped with fresh peanuts. Why do we always seem to have everything needed for this dish?! Oh yeah, and for chocolate chip cookies. But the reason for that one is obvious. Perhaps they are just both so very crave-able? That's my take on it anyway. It's delicious, quick, healthy, and SUPER versatile. What I had today fit perfectly. I had a shredded up head of cabbage, half an onion, a clove of garlic, some shirataki noodles (Hooray! I finally found the perfect way to use those noodles!) an egg, and about half a fresh zucchini. Whatever you have will be fine, I assure you. So you don't have cabbage? Do you have spinach or another green? Pssh, then don't worry about it! You have carrots? Throw a couple of those in there. I'm serious, it's hard to go wrong. If I had my very pick of veggies, I'd go with bok choy, onion, garlic, and an egg. But honestly, you put in it whatever good, fresh veggies you want. Let's just say you don't have the right kind of noodles- you don't have rice noodles or shirataki noodles. But maybe you have fettuccine or linguine noodles. Go ahead and use those. They make it a bit heavier, but it's really okay. I've made it with all different types of noodles, and while my favorite is actually this shirataki I just used, everything works fine. Here's the "recipe." hehe, it just feels wrong to call it that!

Impromptu Pad Thai:

Serves 2 a decent lunch:

1 8 oz package of shirataki noodles, rinsed and in warm water. Drain and dry before using
2 eggs
1/2 a zucchini- julienne cut. Or whatever.
1/2 white onion, sliced very thin
1 cup shredded cabbage
1 clove garlic, finely chopped. But I'm lazy, so I use the fine cheese shredder..
3 tbsp soy sauce
3 tsp sugar
1 tbsp light flavored oil
1 dash sriracha sauce
1 dash onion powder
1 dash ginger powder, or grate a little fresh. Whatever you want.
small handful of peanuts, chopped

First off, get your ingredients out and prepped. The cooking will be really quick and you don't want to be scrambling to get something chopped up while your eggs are burning. So once everything is prepped, you'll start by scrambling your eggs. No salt, no nothing. Just scramble and remove from the pan. Set aside. Then you'll need to start your veggies to cooking. Put the onion, garlic, and zucchini in a hot pan with the oil and the rest of the seasonings. Cook it for about 4-5 minutes, and then add your noodles, making sure they are decently dried before adding them. I put in a handful of peanuts then, and stirred it all around until the noodles have soaked up a good bit of the sauce, maybe 3 more minutes. I then toss in the eggs, stir around a bit, plate it up, sprinkle with peanuts and thai basil (because it's in my garden) and voila! Delicious! And so quick and easy.. This will likely be a common impromptu meal of yours as well! Pictures coming, I swear!

Easiest Bread Ever: Foccacia

I know you're thinking it's too hard. It's easy to just buy it. Granted, you will have an easier time if you have a stand mixer, but even if you choose to hand knead the dough, it's still an easy task. Not to mention you can get out any stress or tension from all that kneading! And trust me, once you start making your own bread, there's no going back! It's so easy, you'll be mad you haven't been making it all along! It's simple, easy to customize, and beyond delicious. Ask anyone who has ever had mine. They are all spoiled now. Even my husband says he is going to start making this bread! I like to throw in fresh herbs from the garden, but I'm telling you, dried herbs are perfectly wonderful in this bread. No need to splurge on buying fresh herbs if you don't grow them. Now here's my super simple, fool-proof recipe!

Herbed Foccacia bread:

1 tbsp honey or sugar
2 cups warm water
1 tbsp (or one packet)dry active yeast
1 tbsp kosher salt + extra for sprinkling on top!
2 tbsp olive oil + extra for basting bread
1 tsp dried oregano or a pinch from the garden
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp minced garlic (or garlic powder)
5-6 cups unbleached, all purpose flour (I like to do half whole wheat flour also. Makes it wonderfully nutty and adds nutrition!)
1/4 minced onion (optional)
6 or so cherry or grape tomatoes (optional)

Start by "proofing" the yeast, making sure it's still alive and active. You have no idea how disappointing it is to make a bread with dead yeast. Trust me, proof the yeast. To proof it, you put the sugar, warm water, and yeast into your mixing bowl and let it sit until it's poofy looking. You'll know what I mean when you see it. The yeast feeds on the sugars in the honey or the table sugar and get bigger. Once it's going, I like to add the salt, half the olive oil, and the herbs at this point. If you have a stand mixer, you will need to start the whole adding flour part with your regular flat mixing attachment, and then you'll need to move to your dough hook once it's nice and mixed. If you're using a wooden spoon, don't worry about that part. ;)

So now at this point, you'll start adding the flour, cup at a time. If you're using the onion and garlic option, you'll need to have them already cut up and sauteed a bit before this part. You'll need them to be going into the mixture at the same time as the flour so that they can be well incorporated. There is a good bit of variation in the amount of flour needed because it can depend on the exact amount of water you use, the weather, the way you hold your tooth, and whether or not the bread gods are smiling on you that day.. Anyway, just keep adding flour until it starts to form a ball in the center of the bowl. Then you'll need to keep kneading the dough for a while to develop the glutens, making a crispy outside and soft fluffy inside to the bread. I let mine go on the second setting in the mixer for around 5-7 minutes. Once it's nice and mixed comes the easy part- Cover the bowl and the dough with a warm, wet towel, and let it be.

In the meantime, preheat the oven to 450. Given about 15-20 minutes, the dough will have become huge and puffy, and you're ready to bake! I bake mine in an oiled, enamel coated dutch oven if I'm serving it immediately, because it makes the crust so perfectly crisp that it's irresistible! If you're baking it for later, you can bake it in two big loaves at the same time on a cookie sheet or whatever you want. Flatten and use your finger to create indentations all around the dough, so it doesn't puff up too much. I then baste it with olive oil, more kosher salt, and rosemary. Bake it for around 20 minutes, or until golden and lovely! It will make two large loaves or 8-10 individual sandwich sized rolls.

Enjoy your bread making! Mix it up! Love it and feel accomplished! :)

Southwest roasted salad

I have done so many wonderful variations on the roasted romaine salad since I learned how to do it, that I figured I'd share a few delicious and easy (I don't have to mention healthy, you know that if you're reading about it on my blog, it's healthy.)

Mexican inspired roasted romaine salad: This is a single serving. But it should easily double or quadruple to suit your needs.

Cut, rinse, dry, and roast the romaine just like the previous salad. I sprinkled a bit of chipotle powder and garlic powder along with the salt, pepper, and olive oil. Just to keep the mexican theme flowing.

Now for the thing that makes this different: the corn.

In a saucepan, get about a teaspoon of olive oil heating up with a shake or two of chipotle powder, garlic powder, cumin, salt and pepper. Once it's nice and hot, and you are smelling the spices really well, add about 2/3 of frozen corn. If you have an onion, go ahead and chop it up and add it at this point as well. Saute everything until it is hot and smelling fabulous. This is when I add about a quarter of a cup of hot salsa to the mix. I let it cook for a couple more minutes to get some of the water out.

In the meantime, take two tablespoons of light sour cream and mix in about 1/4 of a teaspoon of chipotle powder, and a pinch of salt and pepper, a bit of skim milk to make it somewhat salad dressing consistency, and then let it sit in the bottom of your serving bowl, in the fridge, until the other ingredients are all prepared. You could also add a little salsa to it to thin it out and add a little extra zest.

Now it's time to plate it all up. I put the romaine in first, and mix it up with the dressing in the bottom until it's nice and mixed. Then I put the corn on the top. You can garnish with cilantro for a bit of flair! Delicious!


Mexican Inspired Roasted salad


1 heart of romaine, cut in half lengthwise, rinsed, and dried
2/3 cup of frozen corn
1 small onion
1/4 cup hot salsa
1/4 tsp chipotle powder
1/4 tsp cumin
1/8 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoon light sour cream
cilantro for garnish

Roasted romaine salad

My new obsession is roasting greens for a new and interesting approach to the salad. This is a little creation that made a wonderful lunch for me, but you could certainly add a little more flair and make it into a wonderful dinner salad! Light and healthy, but hearty and warm, this salad has it all!

Roasted Romaine Salad:

1 boiled egg white. (I actually hate egg yolks, but if you like them, you can keep it!)

1 small head of romaine lettuce, cut in half lengthwise, rinsed and dried

6 seedless grapes, cut in half

6 cherry tomatoes, cut in half

1 corn tortilla, cut into strips, salted, and baked at 450 until crunchy

1 oz feta cheese (sub goat cheese if you like)

salt, pepper, and olive oil to taste


Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Drizzle the two halves of romaine with salt, pepper, and olive oil and put it cut side down onto a greased (with olive oil, of course!) baking sheet. Cut the grapes and tomatoes and arrange them around the lettuce. Salt and pepper everything and put it in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until slightly browned and roasted looking. Once done, chop the romaine, and layer it in a bowl and top with cheese and the crunchy tortilla! You can sub toasted nuts for the tortilla if you like. It would be equally delicious and delightful! You will be amazed at the flavors that develop in the roasted romaine! I'm a serious foodie, and I know that this certainly wouldn't make it to my blog unless it were flavorful, healthy, and hearty!