Blackberry Sunshine Smoothie

Mmm. Blackberry+orange is one of the best flavor combinations in the world. I had already slurped up half of this not-green-colored green goodness before I realized I should take a picture of it. I may or may not be currently wishing my tongue was longer so I could lick the bottom of my glass.

I should preface this post by admitting that I have fallen down on the blog!

But it was a busy fall semester back at school, and then a busy winter break flying/roadtripping between Texas, Kentucky, Wisconsin, and Ohio, and now spring semester (my last semester of college, can you believe it?!) has started and it's about time for me to start blogging again so I can tell you all about my marathon training because I know you're so interested... right?

I kid. But today after my Sunday long run in the sudden 45-degree heat wave, I came in craving a smoothie.

The thing about smoothies is... actually no. The thing about smoothies is that I absolutely love them, and it hasn't been warm enough to want one for a few months now, so thank you bipolar Ohio weather!

But the OTHER thing about smoothies is that almost all the smoothies I make have bananas in them. Bananas just seem to do something that perfects the flavor of smoothies and makes them wonderful. But the thing about bananas is that I love them. I love love love them. I love them in the morning before my run, I love them in the morning after my run with peanut butter or yogurt or in my cereal, I love them as a mid-morning snack, I love them on peanut butter and honey sandwiches for lunch, I love them as a mid-afternoon snack, I love them as an after-dinner snack, and I love them as a midnight snack. I wish I could eat 650,740 bananas a day. But that would get expensive, not to mention the interesting side effects of potassium overdose.

So I get really sad when I have to use bananas in recipes, because I love them so much in their natural state. I used 3 in banana muffins last night, and I had one with my cereal this morning, and I just couldn't bring myself to put one in my smoothie. So this smoothie might be even better with a banana, but in my opinion, the berries and orange juice were perfect without it, and thus my giant banana bunch that I just bought MIGHT make it till Wednesday. And that's good news.

Berry Sunshine Smoothie

Ingredients:
2 c fresh spinach
1/4 c frozen orange juice concentrate
1/2 c fresh or frozen blackberries
1/2 c strawberry nonfat Greek yogurt
2-3 tsp flaxseed meal (optional, but yummy and oh-so-healthy!)
4 large ice cubes
Milk, as needed for texture (I used about a Tbsp)


By the way, does anyone have a magical formula for what order to put things into blenders to make them blend faster? Or maybe it's just that I need more of that thing called patience...

Crock-pot Zucchini Chicken with Orzo

Another day, another crock-pot meal! I’m beginning to think even once I have my own kitchen I’ll still be cooking out of the crock-pot pretty consistently. It’s so simple! I threw this one-pot meal together last week, and I’m still loving the leftovers! (Mmmm zucchini! J) Plus, this recipe is super healthy, coming in at just 140 Calories per cup.

There are a lot of misconceptions (or, at least, I would consider them misconceptions) about what can and cannot be cooked in a crock-pot. I don't have as long-ranging experience as many people, but from that short experience I can definitely refute a few of them.

-YES, you can cook pasta in a slow-cooker. In fact, I think it turns out less sticky and more flavorful, since you are kind of "marinating" it in its sauce.
-YES, you can cook chicken in a slow-cooker. Just make sure you don't cook them for too long (not too much over 6 hours) to prevent them from drying out too much. Fattier meats cook better in crock-pots, I'm told, but I don't really like fattier meats, so I'm stickin' with chickin'!

If you don't believe me, try this recipe and you'll see!

Crock-pot Zucchini Chicken with Orzo

3 (4-oz) small boneless skinless chicken breasts (I cheated and used Perdue Italian Style Perfect Portions, due to my aversion to touching raw meat... Plus, they are pre-marinated.)

 ½ large onion

2 small zucchini

1 (14.5-oz) can stewed tomatoes (again, I like using Italian style)

½-¾ (15-oz) can tomato sauce

½ teaspoon minced garlic

¼ teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon basil

½ teaspoon oregano

½ cup orzo pasta

3 cups fresh spinach

2 Tablespoons low-fat cream cheese

1.      Place chicken breasts on the bottom of the pot. Cover with tomato sauce, onions, stewed tomatoes, zucchini, and spices. You may need to add more tomato sauce to ensure the chicken is completely covered, depending on the sizes of your chicken breasts.

2.      Cook on low for 4-6 hours.

3.      Shred chicken (I did this in the crock-pot to save the mess), then add orzo and spinach. Cut the cream cheese into small cubes and stir them in as well to melt.

4.      Cover and cook for another 8-10 minutes, until the cheese is melted and the orzo is tender.

5.      Stir again to evenly distribute the melted cream cheese.

6.      Be sure to let it set for a few minutes before digging in!

You can see (in the picture above) mine was runny the first night because I put in a whole can of tomato sauce. Obviously, after being in the fridge awhile, it wasn't as runny (and also not as photogenic), so I served it with a warm pita the next night. Yum! I really like this sauce. I might have liked it so much that I cleaned my plate really well. I won’t go into any more detail than that. No one was here to witness either way.

[Yield] about 8 cups (serves 4-6 people, or one person for a week!)
[Calorie count] 140 Calories per cup

DIY Flavored Oatmeal

I love those flavored instant oatmeal packets, but when you're trying to save money, it's much more cost-efficient to buy the big boxes of oats... not to mention the incredible list of ingredients you'll find in those instant oatmeal packets (you can keep the partially hydrogenated soybean oil, artificial flavoring, artificial color, artificial...yeah, you get it). I find myself putting lots of cinnamon and brown sugar in my plain oats, though, and compared to the instant packets it still seems flavorless!

I'm a tea drinker, and one morning while I was making my oatmeal and thinking about making myself a cup of peach tea, I decided to see what they would taste like together! I loved the result and wish I would have thought of it before!!

DIY Flavored Oatmeal:

1/2 cup quick-cooking oats

1 cup water

1 fruit-flavored black tea bag (I like peach, raspberry, and spiced apple chai!)

1 Tablespoon milk or half-and-half (if you like your oatmeal creamy)

Nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice... whatever spice mixture goes with your tea flavor!

Brown sugar or honey, to taste

Other mix-ins - chopped apples, craisins, walnuts, golden raisins, flax seed meal, etc

Steep the tea bag in at least a cup of hot water. Add 1 cup of the tea to your bowl of oats (put the rest in your mug to drink while you make your breakfast!), stir it around a little to make sure the flavors mix in, and stick it in the microwave for 1-2 minutes. 

That's it! Now you can add your milk, spices, and toppings. It may not be instant, but it's oh-so-much more fun! I love peach tea oatmeal with nutmeg, cinnamon, and flax seed meal. What about you??

Recipe note: So maybe I'm a tea snob, but I would suggest avoiding Lipton for this... you want something with more flavor! Some lower-quality teas you won't be able to taste hardly at all.

Winter Butternut Soup

First, let me tell you my sob story. The building I live in had all the ovens removed because of some kind of fire code. I didn't learn this until after I'd applied to live here. It's torturous to love cooking and baking and have to spend a year without a stove or an oven! But then, one happy day, I found a gorgeous crock-pot on Amazon for $20, and now I have both that and the microwave in which to prepare food! Much as I might complain, I know that I really am blessed to have that much, plus the money to buy all the delicious produce my heart desires to experiment with cooking. 

I think crock-pot cooking is really quite fun, especially in the winter-time. Soups are lovely in fall and winter, and crock-pots make it so easy! I buy some assortment of veggies, beans, pasta, rice, or whatever and throw it all together with some spices before I leave for class in the morning and voila! a delicious dinner is waiting (I can smell it from the stairwell... my poor tortured housemates!) when I get home that night.

Tonight's soup was inspired by a recipe in the book "Wholefood" by Jude Bleareau. (Which I highly recommend, by the way.) She put sweet potato, winter squash, and garbanzo beans together in a recipe, and, well, first of all, I happened to have all those things, and second of all, it's 23 degrees outside and that just sounded amazing. 

So, here's my Winter Butternut Soup:

1 butternut squash (or other winter squash), peeled and roughly chopped

2 sweet potatoes, chopped into 1/2 inch cubes

1/2 large onion, chopped small

1 red bell pepper, chopped into 1 inch pieces

1 can garbanzo beans

1 14-oz can diced tomatoes

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1 teaspoon basil

salt and pepper, to taste

4 cups water

Now, here's the best part: throw it all into the crock-pot (potatoes and garbanzo beans will cook best closer to the bottom of the pot, but you can stir it up a bit anyway to mix the flavors), and let it cook on low for 8 hours. I started it later than I meant to today, and so was impatient and hungry and dug in at about hour 6 and a half, so the beans were still a little al dente (can you use that word to describe beans? anyways.) but it was still delicious! 

Had to take another picture from the side just to show off my new dinnerware. I got my first set of porcelain dishes yesterday ($11.25 for a set of 4!) and I just think they're so pretty!

Let me know what you think of this recipe--I'm not a very experienced cook, so I'd love to hear what changes you would make! Enjoy!