Strawberry Lemon Italian Ice (low sugar)

So I know the shave ice places are really popular around here. They are also loaded with sugar. I thought it would be fun to make a refreshing ice drink without all the sugar. That tastes fantastic. Mission accomplished I was very happy with the results. It was wonderful to the last drop.

Ingredients

1 C water
2 1/2  C Ice cubes
2 C frozen strawberries unsweetened
2 T chia *optional
juice from 1 small lemon
3 T honey or other sweetener


Directions


1. Put ingredients into the blender starting with the water.
2. Then blend and pulse. I stopped in a couple times to stir it. It works best with a high powered blender.
3. Serve at once.
Enjoy

Strawberry Spinach Salad With Vinaigrette

This salad reminds me of Spring! I love Spring. My husband made this salad yesterday. I love when he helps in the kitchen. He adds a nice extra touch to the things he makes. It is a busy time around here getting ready for our daughters wedding next week. Happy Time!

The salad was:

5-6 C spinach

1/2 C sliced almonds

1 C sliced strawberries

1/2 C sunflower seeds
sometimes I also add a thinly sliced red onion

Optional items

1/3 C bacon bits

1/2 C shredded Parmesan

Layer the ingredients so you get all the ingredients in each serving. 

I put the dressing on right before serving.  It will get soggy if you do it too far ahead. Add a little bit of dressing at a time to get just the right mix. 

dressing:

2/3 cup olive oil

1/4 honey or sugar 

2 TBSP. diced purple onion

1/2tsp. salt

3TBSP. apple cider vinegar
1/4 C chia *optional

Blend in blender or food processor until smooth. 

*If you use bacon. An easy way to do the almonds is to take the bacon bits and the almonds and saute' them together.  This gives the almonds some of the bacon flavor and roasts them a bit.  

Strawberry Banana Parfait Smoothie (no added sugar)

By posting this recipe I am entering a recipe contest sponsored by National Dairy Council and the Quaker Oats Center of Excellence and am eligible to win prizes associated with the contest. I was not compensated for my time.

We're here with another dairy and oat submission for the Quaker Oats Center for Excellence and the National Dairy Council. We love the combination of oats and milk! This is a yummy way to enjoy the taste of a parfait in a smoothie. It has no added sugar. This can add a boost to your energy any time of the day. Great for the mornings when you need something on the go.  Enjoy!

Ingredients

1 C 1% milk or skim
1 C frozen strawberries
1/3 C old-fashioned oatmeal
1 frozen banana
2 T plain Greek yogurt
2 T Chia (optional)

Directions serves 1

1. Pour all the ingredients into a blender starting with the milk. Blend until nice and creamy.
2. Pour into a glass and enjoy.

An InLinkz Link-up

Mango Strawberry Coconut Frappe (Healthy)

I love creating different creamy fruit combinations. I also love mangoes and strawberries so this is a wonderful smoothie for me. These kind of drinks are fun to drink all year long, but especially fun to make in the warmer weather. This recipe is fast and easy to make.

Ingredients
1 C frozen mangoes
1/2 C frozen strawberries
1 C canned coconut milk
1 T honey or vegan sweetner
6 ice cubes

Directions  serves 1-2

Put all the ingredients in the blender and let blend until nice and creamy. Serve right away. 

Refreshing Strawberry Kiwi Chia Smoothie

So as you can see from my latest posts strawberry season is being enjoyed at out house. We love strawberries around here. We have been lucky to get some really yummy ones. We are doing are part in enjoying the season. :)

This is a yummy smoothie with mostly using the fruit at the sweetener. If you want to make it thicker cut down on the milk. You could have a nice soft serve treat. It will also thicken if you put it in the freezer for a while. It is a refreshing treat. You are also getting the benefits of Chia if you add that too. Read the health benefit to Chia here. :) It can be healthy and taste great at the same time.

Ingredients  Serves about 3

2 C almond milk *Cut down to 1 1/2 C if you want it more like ice cream.
2 C frozen strawberries
2 kiwi peeled
1 frozen banana
2 T chia
1 T honey *optional
*You could add a handful of spinach too

Directions

1. Pour all the ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth. Drink right away or put in the freezer to thicken up. 

Banana Splits for Breakfast!

So you really can have a healthy version of banana splits that is yummy. Think of the surprise on your families faces when you say we are having banana splits for breakfast. This is loaded with fruit, yogurt, granola and a little bit of chocolate. A fun healthy way to start out your day. 

Ingredients

1 ripe banana
1 C sliced  fresh strawberries or any fresh berry or your other favorite fruit
1 C greek yogurt (your favorite flavor)
1 C granola
1/4 C dark chocolate chips
1 tsp coconut oil
*Optional chopped nuts and cherry for on top garnish 

Directions  makes 4

1. Slice bananas lengthwise and then cut in half again. Distribute evenly laying on the bottom of the dish kind of letting them go up the sides.
2. Place sliced strawberries or your other choice of fruit evenly distribute amongst the dished on top of the bananas.
3. Then scoop 2 spoonfuls of yogurt in each dish.
4. Pour about 1/4 C of granola into each dish on top of the yogurt.
5. Then place the chips into a small dish with the coconut oil and melt in the microwave or on the stove. Drizzle over the top of the granola. Top with Nuts and a cherry if desired. Enjoy!          

Strawberry Banana Cream Smoothie

 

 

Smoothies are some of our most popular posts, and this one should be another favorite! What better way to share your love than to give the gift of health!



Ingredients
1 C almond milk
1 C frozen chopped strawberries
1/3 C yogurt plain Greek
1 frozen banana
1/2 C ice cubes
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp honey
1/4 C old fashioned oatmeal (optional)
 
Directions (Serves 1 to 2)
1. Pour all the ingredients into the blender. Blend until nice and creamy. Serve at once.

For more Valentine's ideas, look at our Strawberry Vanilla Valentine Pudding and Whole Grain Heart Pancakes.

Morning Berry Smoothie in a Jar

This Recipe Redux theme is Raising the Bar on Food in a Jar. Nowadays canning jars are just as likely to be used for something completely different than canning. You know what we use canning jars for the most?

Yep, that's right. Water. We love using them for that because it is an easy way to not only drink a lot of water (instead of making multiple trips to the sink to refill a smaller cup), but it is also a way to measure your water intake.

But don't worry, that's not our recipe. (Side note--I did see Martha Stewart once do a how to on the perfect glass of ice water . . . then realized it was for April Fools Day. Haha!)

Instead, we made a beautiful purple smoothie, just the kind that is great for starting your day off right. We like using the canning jars for serving smoothies because they are usually bigger than the typical cup, and they hold just that much more fruit and veggie goodness! And you can screw on a lid to take it with you.

Ingredients
1 1/2 C almond milk
1/2 C frozen blue berries
1/2 C frozen strawberries
1 frozen banana
1/3 C old-fashioned oatmeal
optional items to add:
1 C spinach
1 scoop of whey protein powder
1 peeled cucumber

Directions
1. Put all the ingredients into the blender and blend until smooth. Serve immediately.

Serves 2.

Green Strawberry Banana Smoothie

I have loved having fresh flowers from Mothers Day! We had a really nice Mothers Day. My husband goes all out on Mothers Day, making wonderful food with my children. It is a day we all love, and look forward to. I love being a mother. It is a gift that blesses my life everyday. They are the jewels along with my husband that fill my jewel box.

It was a really warm day yesterday. I am not complaining. I love sunshine. I thought it would be fun to whip up a smoothie to  refresh with. That could go with our dinner. ( I usually have a smoothie in the morning this was a nice change.)  This is what I came up with. It was a great way to eat some of our greens for the day.

Ingredients: Serves 3
12 strawberries
5 basil leaves *optional
1 C spinach
1 frozen banana
1 C plain yogurt
2  C ice cubes
1 tsp vanilla optional

Directions:
1. Blend all together putting in the yogurt and ice first. Blend until all combined and smooth. Enjoy today!.   

Strawberry Banana Orange Sorbet (Sugar Free)

This is one of those healthy treats that tastes so good. I love eating foods that don't have all the additives. This whips up super fast, and is very refreshing. It could be enjoyed anytime of day. It doesn't have to be hot outside to enjoy this.

Ingredients:
2 oranges peeled and divided
1 banana peeled
3 1/4 C frozen strawberries


Directions: 3 servings
* This works best in a high power blender. You could do it in one with less power and do smaller amount at a time.
1. Put in oranges and bananas and blend until smooth.
2. Then put in berries. Blend until smooth. May require some stirring to get it all mixed together. Blend until all combined and smooth. 
3. Pour into glasses drink immediately or store in freezer. Yum!

Strawberry Banana Basil Smoothie (Green Smoothie)

Strawberry Banana Basil Smoothie

My wonderful family!

Sometimes life  feels like a dream. Today I was thinking about this past weekend, and it felt like it was all a dream. Life moves at a quick pace and if you aren't careful you will miss it.

This past weekend was a sweet one. My son and daughter in law surprised us with a quick weekend visit. :) The squeal my grandson made when he saw them was priceless. It was a wonderful treat to all be together. We had a weekend of enjoying a beautiful day on the lake. (Why can't summer last forever?) Then we enjoyed a wonderful out door concert.. We enjoyed yummy food, homemade ice cream, that my son made. It was divine. Lots of laughter. Good times!

I looked at this picture today, that we took together last night and I couldn't get the smile off my face. They are what is important in my life. They make each day a little sweeter. Life doesn't get much better than this.

I made this wonderful smoothie tonight. I got the idea from a friend to add basil to the smoothie. I really liked it. The other sweet thing was the only sweetener was the fruit. I liked that too. It was very creamy yum!

Ingredients: 4 servings
1/2 C plain coconut yogurt or regular yogurt
6-14 basil leaves ( I used 14 mine were small)
2 C frozen strawberries
1 1/2 frozen bananas
1 C water

Directions: 
1. Put all the ingredients in the blender. Blend until creamy.  Serve in cups!

 

Strawberry Yogurt Kamut Cake (Low Gluten)

It was my Dads official 80Th b-day. We had celebrated it earlier at a family reunion. We had another low key party at the park. It was a beautiful night. I love this time of year. :) I thought this cake would be fun to make for the occasion. I made this cake out of Kamut flour. I was very pleased how moist it turned out. It would be wonderful breakfast or snack. I also used no butter only coconut oil and it worked great. I will be making this again. :)

Ingredients:
3/4 C coconut oil
1 C honey
3 eggs
3 T fresh lemon juice
1 tsp lemon zest * optional
2 1/2 C Kamut flour Or another whole grain flour
1/2 baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 C plain yogurt or greek yogurt
1 1/2 C frozen strawberries
powdered sugar to sift on for a garnish

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 Grease and flour pan bundt pan.

2. Sift together into a bowl, 2 1/4 C flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir in the zest. Put bowl aside.

3. Beat in a bowl, oil, honey until nice and light and creamy a couple min. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Then stir in the lemon juice. Then you alternate the yogurt and the flour into the oil mixture. Mix until it is all combined. Don't over mix.

4.Put the frozen berries in the blender and chopped them in small pieces. Then add 1/4 of remaining flour into the berries. (In the blender.) Fold into batter.

5. Pour the cake batter into the bundt pan. Bake in oven for 30-40 min., or when the toothpick comes clean, when you put it in the center of the cake. It should be a nice golden color. Don't over bake.

6. Place pan on wire cooling rack and cool 10 min in the pan. Then turn out on to the cooling rack. Let cool. Place on cake platter and sift powdered sugar on top. Enjoy!

Mango Strawberry Smoothie

So we went and joined the Recipe Redux club, and we are so excited about it! Recipe Redux is a once-a-month recipe share where all of the participants share healthy recipes based on a monthly theme. And since healthy is our middle name (well, not really), we decided that it would be lots of fun.

From now on, once a month on the 21st, we will be sharing a recipe for Recipe Redux and also linking to the other healthy blogs that participate. That way you can find some other wonderful resources for eating healthy!

This month's theme is Summer Beverage, which is awesome because this is a perfect time of year for a cool, fruity drink. This Mango Strawberry Smoothie is just what the doctor ordered. Mmmmmm . . . fresh mangoes. . . .

Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

1 fresh mango peeled and pit removed
1 C frozen blueberries
1 C fresh or frozen strawberries
1 frozen banana
1 C almond milk
1-2 tsp fresh lime juice (optional)
Fruit for garnish

Directions:

1. In the blender pour in the milk and then the remaining ingredients. Let pulse until completely blended. Pour into glasses and serve.

Here are the other Recipe Redux member's contributions:

• Gretchen, kumquat Ginger Ale
• Dr. Barb, Nutrition Budgeteer Triple Cherry Chiller
• Carlene Helble, Carlene's Figments Mint Berry Seltzer
• Kara Lydon, Peace, Love, and Food Blueberry Basil Lemonade Fizz
• Deanna Segrave-Daly, Teaspoon of Spice Cantaloupe Basil Aqua Fresca Fizz
• Jessica Fishman Levinson, Nutritioulicious Blueberry Basil Cooler
• Marie Spano, Performance Nutrition Post-Workout Power Smoothie
• Elizabeth Jarrard, Don't White Sugar-Coat It Southern Blackberry Smash
• Emily Greenfield, The Nutriscientist Apple, pear and strawberry smoothie with Chia
• Kristen Bourque- Swanky Dietitian Fresh Fruit and Club Soda Cooler
• Regan Jones - The Professional Palate Berry-Lime Bubbly
• Kat Lynch - Eating the Week Sparkling melon fizz - nice & naughty
• Lisa @ Healthful Sense Berry Refreshing Chia Seed Smoothie
• EA Stewart-The Spicy RD Gingery Peach Float
• Alysa Bajenaru - Inspired RD Blackberry Banana Swirl
• Ann Dunaway Teh, Eat to Nourish, Energize & Flourish Pregnancy Mocktails
• Yuri - Chef Pandita Green Tea Ginger Limeade with Chia Seeds
• Karman Meyer-Nutrition Adventures Orange-Mint Iced Green Tea
• Cherie Schetselaar-Grain Crazy Mango Strawberry Smoothie
• Emma Stirling - The Scoop on Nutrition Recipe Redux Tangelo-ad

Whole Grain Strawberry Tart

This was a fun recipe to make. It was rewarding to hear and see my children's reactions. They were so excited about it. :) It was nice to incorporate some healthy changes to make it healthy, without sacrificing the flavor. It is fun to be able to use the strawberries while they are still in the store. I love to eat berries!

Ingredients:
Tart crust:
2 C whole grain flour ( I used spelt and kamut )
1/3 C powdered sugar or other dry sweetener
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 C coconut oil or butter

Filling:
6 C fresh cut up strawberries washed and cut into bite size pieces
2 C frozen raspberries
1/4 C honey
1 tsp Ultra gel or 2 tsp cornstarch

Directions:

1. Spray 11 1/4 " tart pan with removable bottom with cooking spray.

2. In bowl pour in flour, salt and sugar. Cut in the oil, until it is all combined.

3. Pour into tart pan. Press with finger tips, making it even on the bottom and going up the sides.
Poke some holes in the bottom with a fork to prevent it from puffing up. Cover with plastic wrap and place pastry in the freezer for 15 min. It helps the pastry from shrinking while cooking.

4. Preheat oven to 425. Bake for 12-15 min. Till light golden.Cool on wire rack. Do not remove from pan till cooled.

5. Thaw out raspberries, and then pour in a mesh strainer that is over a bowl. Smash and stir the berries in the strainer to release the juice. I ended up with 1/2 C of juice. I put the remains of the raspberries in a Zip lock in the freezer to use in my smoothies.

6. Pour the 1/2 C juice into saucepan along with honey. Heat on low heat. Then add the ultra gel or cornstarch until thickened. Let cool a few minutes.

7. Pour the mixture over the strawberries. I just wanted a slight coating if you want more sauce you can double it.

8. Then remove tart from pan. I left the bottom piece of the pan on for extra support, not necessary though. Pour the strawberry mixture into the tart right before serving. (So it doesn't soften the tart too much.)

* You could also sprinkle powdered sugar, or a dollop of whipping cream. You could also spread a small layer of cream cheese mixed together with a little sweetener on the bottom prior to putting in the berries. There are a lot of possibilities.

Strawberry Vinaigrette W/ Candied Nuts

I have been having fun making my own dressing for salads. I like the idea of saving money and also of having something healthy to put on my salad. Like anything when you are experimenting, some work better than others. The ones as of late have worked out well. Last night I tried out this one and it was a success. It is wonderful to put strawberries in the salad too. Not the best season for that, but it will be soon. :) So have fun coming up with your own creative dressings. The cool thing is they are easy to make too. The nice thing is you make a small amount you could even 1/2 this recipe. The other nice thing is you don't have bottles of dressing sitting in your fridge for a long time, that I always wondered if they were still good.

Ingredients:

1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 T xagave or honey etc...
2 T apple cider vinegar
6 to 7 frozen strawberries (You could use jam and cut down on the sugar)
3/4 C olive oil
(I have added herbs too)

Directions:

1. Pour all the ingredients in the blender and let it whirl. I love how the blender puts some air in it and makes it really creamy. Give it a tasted and see if you want to add anything. The dressing is ready to serve.

* The other thing my family likes is to put candied nuts on the salad. You can do this by, chopping up 1 C of nuts, in a blender or food processor. I usually do almonds, other ones would work too. Then pour the nuts into a small frying pan, on the stove. Pour in 2 T of sugar, honey, or agave etc.. Then turn the heat to med. If you are using sugar it will melt. You need to keep and eye on it. Keep stirring it, till the mixture starts to thicken. Let it cook for another couple minutes. Then take off the stove, and let cool before putting on the salad. Yummy!

*If the dressing starts to separate after sitting in the fridge, you can just pour it in the blender and blend it again. The one I made last night is still a good consistency. It has not separated. Have fun with it.

Whole Grain Strawberry Bread

My daughter came over the other day, and made this for us. It would be a fun Valentine treat. It tasted good and was a fun treat. We had fun baking together. :) Cooking is a fun way to spend time together as a family.

3 C Whole grain flour  ( I used 2 C Spelt, 1/2 brown rice, and 1 C Kamut)
2/3 C honey
1 T cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
4 beaten eggs
1 1/4 C olive oil or coconut oil melted
1/4 tsp vanilla
2 C cut up frozen strawberries

Directions: Makes 2 loaves

1. Heat oven to 350.

2. Mix all the dry ingredients together in large bowl. In separate bowl beat all the liquid ingredients together. Combine the two mixtures until completely moistened. Fold in the strawberries.

3. Pour into 2 greased and floured pans. Bake for 45 min to an hour.