Drink Your Fruit! Best Smoothie Recipe

10:51 AM | Posted by | | Edit Post
I hate to admit it, but I really am not a fruit of veggie eater. I've always been a picky eater and just have not found one fruit or veggie that I really like (except corn.) As I'm getting older, I'm realizing that I need fruits and veggies in my diet in order to stay healthy and help keep my body going.

Here's my smoothie recipe that I have everyday - I love it! Even though both of my kids love fruits - they don't eat near enough of the green stuff, so this smoothie has some good stuff in there for them too.

Smoothies are also a great way to help weight loss. We all know that in order to lose weight, we need to eat better. Most of us don't eat enough fruits and veggies and smoothies are a perfect way to get what your body needs and help fill you up too!


Here's what you'll need: 
(Makes 2 Smoothies)

Spinach
Vanilla Yogurt
Some type of low-sugar juice. We love this carrot juice from Trader Joe's
1 banana
1 apple
4-5 Strawberries (frozen or fresh)
1/3 cup frozen berry medley (raspberries, blueberries, blackberries)

Now to assemble your smoothie...


Core and peel your apple. I normally only put in half the apple and feed the other half to the kids for lunch.


Add your banana.


Add two heaping tablespoons of yogurt.


Strawberries!


Add your berries. You can use whatever type of berries you have on hand, or happen to be on sale. I like this mixture for all the antioxidants these berries have!


Throw in a handful of spinach.


Pour in about a cup and a half of your juice. If you like a thicker smoothie, add only a cup. If you like yours a bit thinner go for about a cup and 3/4. 


Blend away! If you have kind of a crappy blender like I do, you might have to stop it several times and take a spoon and jam all the frozen stuff down to the bottom. That way everything gets blended! 
(I really need to get myself one of those Ninja's!!!)

Pour and serve with a straw! These smoothies don't have the most appealing color (spinach) but they are so, so good. Like I said before - my whole family of meat-eaters love this one!

Here are some great add-ins you can toss in:

Flax seed
Chia Seeds
Protein Powder
Any and all green veggies that you wouldn't normally eat - you won't even taste them with all the great fruit in this smoothie!


There you have it - a great smoothie the whole family will love! I drink these every morning for breakfast and occasionally as a later afternoon snack if I'm in the mood for something sweet! 

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a Happy New Years!

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Grandma Ruby's Old Fashion Peanut Butter Balls

7:51 PM | Posted by | | Edit Post


My hubby loves to make his grandmothers peanut butter balls every Christmas. He remembers her always making up a huge batch during the holidays and would give them out as gifts to friends and neighbors. He was also always excited as a kid to get a big batch of them all for himself under the tree each year.

Chris's mom - Linda, Grandma Ruby and Grandpa Clyde (1953)
I love this recipe not only for the family story behind it, but because we also have Grandma Ruby's hand-written recipe!



It makes me laugh to remember after we first got this recipe that we had to call Chris' mom to find out what exactly oleo was! Neither of us had ever heard that before! (It's an older term for butter.)

Out of all the Christmas baking that we do, the peanut butter balls are the only thing that Chris does 100% on his own. He always makes a double batch, so he we have plenty to eat and plenty to pass out to our friends and neighbors. Now that our boys are getting older and like helping out in the kitchen, Chris has a few helpers to roll out all of the peanut butter balls - and it was a lot!

Grandma Ruby's Old Fashion Peanut Butter Balls

1 stick of butter
18oz (2 cups) Smooth Peanut Butter
3 cups Rice Krispies
1 lbs Powered Sugar
12oz Milk Chocolate Chips
3/8 of a bar of Cake Wax (or use 1/8 cup of coconut oil)

Start by melting the butter.


If you were a woman, you would add the powered sugar, then mix well. Then you'd add the peanut butter a little at a time and mix as you go. 



However, if you were a man, then you just throw it all in there at once. Paying no mind to your wife reminding you of last year and how hard it will be to stir. 



Either which way, this takes some time to stir all together. Make sure you use the largest bowl that you have!
Once the butter, powered sugar and peanut butter is mixed - add the Rice Krispies.

Again - if you were a woman, you would add maybe a cup at a time and stir as you go. 

If you were a man - you'd fill the whole bowl up at once....



Then you would ask your (beautiful) wife to get you a second bowl, because the first one is over-flowing with peanut butter ball goodness. 

Once the Rice Krispies are mixed in, grab a cookie sheet and line it with wax paper...and get to rollin'! 
Grab some helpers to make this job move along faster...



You'll probably need as least two cookie trays for one batch of PB balls. As you fill each try up - put them in the refridgerator to harden. (About 30-45 minutes)

When your PB balls are about ready to come out, start making your chocolate sauce. 

While I don't think that we should be adding wax to our food, this is the way Chris' grandma made these peanut butter balls for years - so Chris does not want to change it. But, in place of the cake wax, you could use coconut oil. Here's what Grandma Ruby's recipe calls for. 


At this point, you could use a double boiler, a bowl in the microwave or do it like me a grab a huge pot and put it on the stove at low. Add 3/8 of a stick of cake wax or 1/8 cup coconut oil and your chocolate chips. 


Make sure your stove it on low and just keep stirring. If in the microwave - I'd say microwave your bowl for 15-20 seconds at a time, stir and return to microwave until smooth. On the stove, it took me about 15 minutes to get the chocolate just right. 


If the chocolate isn't smooth enough, just add more cake wax or coconut oil. As you drip the chocolate back into the pan, it should smooth out quickly. Keep the pan on low on your stove the whole time your dipping - chocolate, when it cools, is horrible to work with and it difficult to re-melt sometimes. 



Chris likes to throw a few of the PB balls into the pan, stir them around and fish them out with a slotted spoon. Tap the side of the pan to get rid of the excess chocolate. Return the balls to a wax lined pan. 


Once you've finished dipping all the PB balls, return them to the fridge for about another half hour until completely hardened. They store best in an air tight container in the fridge. 
Your friends, neighbors and even your family will love you for making these! They are beyond yummy! 
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