Smoothies for Weightloss

I love to make smoothies. There are so many different ways to make smoothies. They can be healthy or not. They are just awesome. A couple of weeks ago I downloaded a book called "31 Perfect Fitness Smoothies" by Arnel Ricafranca. I have tried a few of them and they are awesome. I have had to alter the recipes a little. Mostly because of what I can easily and cheaply find, but a little because of personal taste. So today I thought I would share the ones I tried and altered. If you want the original recipes please check out Amazon. The book was a free download.

Green Tea Heaven
1 scoop EAS vanilla soy protein powder
1 1/2 c cold water
1/2 c frozen blueberries
1 small frozen banana
1 green and white fusion tea bag (contains caffeine)
1 tsp honey
4-5 ice cubes

Brew tea for 3 minutes in 1 c. of water. Add the other 1/2 c. water, ice and honey to cool it down. Combine everything in a blender and blend until smooth. This recipe made 2 servings for me.

One thing I really like about the book is that it gives info on different ingredients.
*Green tea is a great source of polyphenols. It is a chemical that contains powerful antioxidants and fat burning properties.

Strawberry Tea Fusion
1 scoop EAS vanilla soy protein powder
1 1/2 c. skim milk
1 small frozen banana
1/2 c. frozen strawberries
1/2 TBS honey
1 green and white fusion tea bag
4-5 ice cubes

Brew tea for 3 minutes in 1 c. of water. Add the other 1/2 c. water, ice and honey to cook it down. Combine everything in a blender and blend until smooth. This recipe made 2 servings for me.

*Banana's nutrient content increases a little as the fruit ripens. This includes its antioxidant properties.

Peppermint Patty
1 scoop EAS chocolate soy protein powder
1 c. 1% chocolate milk
1/2 c. chobani vanilla chocolate chunk greek yogurt
1/2 tsp. peppermint extract
1/2 TBS unsweetened dark chocolate cocoa powder
1 tsp honey
4-5 ice cubes

Blend everything together until smooth.

*Peppermint extract might help to ease an upset stomach.

Coconut Oil Granola

I found this awesome recipe on Pinterest the other day and I just had to try it out. Check out Take a MegaBite for the original recipe. I forgot to add the fruit at the end, but it is still amazing! I also did not add the pinch of salt since the sunflower seeds I used were already salted.

Here is what I used.
Ingredients:

• 3 cups quick cooking oats
• 2/3 cup slivered almonds
• 2/3 cup sunflower seeds
• 1 cup fresh and frozen flaked coconut
• 1 t cinnamon
• 1/2 t cardamom
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1/4 cup clover honey
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 T maple syrup
• 1 t vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 325°F. Line a large baking sheet with foil.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the oats, nuts, sunflower seeds, coconut, and spices.
3. In a small saucepan melt the coconut oil with the honey, brown sugar, and maple syrup. Add the vanilla extract. Pour over the oats and stir until evenly coated.
4. Pour onto the prepared baking sheets making an even layer. Bake for 15 minutes. Stir and continue to bake at 10 minute intervals until uniformly golden.
5. Allow to cool completely on the baking sheet. Break up and store in an airtight container/Ziploc bag. Eat over yogurt, with milk, or just by the handful.

Some DIY projects for Christmas

I have been busy with end of the semester stuff. I am happy to say I got A's in both my classes. After a seven year break from school I am very pleased with myself. Now that school is out of the way for a month I can focus on other things. I have been doing a few DIY Christmas decorations that I found on Pinterest. I have really liked how they all turned out. So now that I have a little time I get to share them all with you.

But first something of my own creation. My supervisor at work loves white hot chocolate, but has had a difficult time finding it this year. So I thought I would do a little Google search, find an easy recipe and make her some for Christmas. I did my search and I came up rather empty. Most of what I found wanted white chocolate chips for flavoring. I wanted an easy powdered mix. So I took the recipe my mom has been using for a few years now and adapted it to my purposes. So here is my recipe for white hot chocolate. It only makes a pint jar worth of mix, but you will have left over ingredients of everything except the pudding. You'll see what I mean.

White Hot Chocolate
1 1/2 c. powdered milk (I used the generic Wal-Mart brand)
2 small boxes Hershey's White Chocolate Instant Pudding
2 TBS. Coffe-Mate powdered creamer (I used the generic Wal-Mart brand)
3 TBS. powdered sugar (I used the generic Wal-Mart brand)

Mix everything together. Add 3 to 4 spoonfuls to your hot water.

My 3 year-old niece and I had a Grinch night and used this mix with a couple of drops of green food coloring to have Grinch Hot Chocolate. She loved it.

I came across several really cute snow decorations on Pinterest. It just so happened that shortly after finding them Hobby Lobby had their terra cotta pots on sale. So of course I had to make these super cute snowmen.

Terra Cotta Pot Snowmen

These little guys are made from 4 terra cotta pots all hot glued together. 3 pots are painted white and the 4th painted black. Using the end of the paint brush I made the dots for the mouth. I used a light pink for the blush. A little orange paint for a nose.Wiggley eyes, sparkley green/red button, fuzzy green ribbon and a holly button give the final touches. Yes they are different sizes. The larger one had white paint dapped on the hat with some glitter to look like snow. Sadly the link for the original snowman no longer exists.

Here is another snowman I did. He is made with 2 different sized terra cotta pots.Obviously the larger one is painted white and the smaller one is painted black. The blush, nose, eyes and dots are done same as the previous snowmen. I used an ultra fine tipped sharpie for the squiggly mouth. I hot glued the pots together and glued the ribbon on for the hat band. The snow is done same as above. I used glittery blue puff paint to write "Let It Snow". You can find the original snowman here: All Kids Network

My last set of snowmen use just one terra cotta All painted white. I just did dots for the eyes. I did the blush, noses and mouths as decribed previuosly.  Now the ones that look like they have beanies on I used little kid gloves. I hot glued them on, tied a ribbon around the fingers and cut off the tops. The ones with earmuffs are made from large pom-poms and sparkley pipe cleaners. The snowman with the red "scarf" with the snowflakes is painted. the one with the silver "scarf" is painted and then I added scrapbooking ribbon. All the other scarves are scrapbooking ribbon. The backs are sticky. I found them in the dollar bin at JoAnns. You can find the original snowmen here: CraftTown

So I know I found this next project on Pinterest and now it seems to have disappeared. I have some 1"x3" boards lying around the house so I used them for a couple of projects.

Is It Too Late To Be Good?

I cut 2 7" pieces and a 5" piece of wood. The 7" pieces I painted red and the 5" piece I painted white. I used red and white puff paint to write the words. I felt it needed a little something so I hot glued on some glittery snowflakes I found at Wal-Mart. The boards themselves are actually hot glued together as well.

Jingle All the Way

I just randomly cut pieces of wood for this project. There was no measuring. I do know the bottom piece is 12 1/2" long. I think the "J" is 6" tall and the "n" is 3" tall. Everything else is in between those two measurements. Sorry I know it's not very specific. Anyway I modge-podge Christmas scrapbook paper onto the front of the wood. I used white puff paint to write the words. I found a little sprig that looked cute and wasn't attached to anything else, so I hot glued it on. A few days later I also found a set of battery operated lights not attached to anything so with a little help from my mother and an electric staple gun we added the lights all the way around the sign.

My last project was a Christmas present. Since my friend and I already exchanged gifts, I feel it's safe to post it here.

O' Come Let Us Adore Him
I am not a painter...at least not on canvas, but I like the way it turned out. I painted a piece of canvas navy blue, then painted black around the edges. I used foam stickers for the letters, except the word "adore". For that I used a gold paint pen. The star is done with clear glitter glue. The stable is a wooden ornament I bought at JoAnns. I painted the back white and hot glued it to the canvas. You can find the original here: View Along the Way

Pumpkin, Pumpkin and more Pumpkin!!!!

I LOVE Pumpkin!!!  This year I have tried out some new pumpkin recipes and I am flat out addicted. It all started with a magazine talking about Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Creme Frappachino. I was so excited because it doesn't have coffee in it. So I zipped over to the nearest Startbucks and bought a small one for $5. The addiction was immediate and I knew I couldn't afford to buy one every time I wanted one. So I began searching for copy cat recipes. I tried out a recipe I found online (Peanut Butter and Peppers ) and ended up with my own. Part of that is due to my own food allergies and the rest is up to my personal tastes. So here it is my version of Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Creme Frappachino:

Pumpkin Cream Shake: (1 serving)
1 c. 2% milk
2 heaping TBS pumkin puree
2 TBS sugar
2 tsp pumkin pie spice
1 big handful of ice cubes
spray whip cream

Put everything bu the whip cream into a blender. Crush the ice. Pour into a glass and top with whip cream.

I made my own pumpkin pie spice, the stuff in the store is too expensive for so little.

Pumpkin Pie Spice
4 TBS ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground ginger
3 tsp ground nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp ground cloves

Mix everything in a small jar with a tight sealing lid.

I made pumpkin pie pancakes and pumpkin pie french toast. I put these in the freezer in individual servings. I also made cinnamon syrup to go on them.

Cinnamon Syrup (See Jane in the Kitchen)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup water
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 (5 ounce) can evaporated milk

In a saucepan, combine the sugar, corn syrup, water and cinnamon. Bring to a boil over medium heat stir for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool for 5 minutes. Stir in evaporated milk.

Pumpkin Pie French Toast (5 dollar dinners) [I altered the original recipe to suite my tastes. Below is what I did.]

3 eggs

3/4 c. milk

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

3/4 c. canned pumpkin

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

I mixed everything together and lightly coated each slice of bread. Fry over medium heat. Make sure you spray the pan every time you put a new slice of bread on.

Pumpkin Pancakes (twopeasandtheirpod) [I again slightly altered ithe original recipe to suite my tastes]

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
4 tablespoons light brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk
1/2 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 large egg
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix everything together and make pancakes as usual. I also tossed some chocolate ships into a few pancakes. Very yummy.

Breakfast in the Freezer

Because I work graveyard shift and then go to school in the morning I have a difficult time eating properly. Especially in between work and class. Not eating makes class difficult, but who has time to run across town, cook breakfast and then drive all the way back across town in an hour. Or have the funds to eat out all the time. Certainly not me. I also just don't like fast food that much. What to do about this problem, well I found the answer on Pinterest. Make your own pancakes, waffles, french toast Toasters (onegoodthingbyjillee). She has a bunch of other ideas for things you can freeze to make life a little easier. Be sure to check them out.

Well I now have this great idea about freezing left over breakfast items. I had also found some great recipes I wanted to try out for pumpkin french toast and pumpkin pancakes. I promise to do a post with the recipes for these. I have a few pumpkin recipes I want to share.

Now there are several breakfast items in the freezer. Pumpkin french toast and regular french toast. Pumpkin pancakes and breakfast scrambles.

Breakfast Scramble (snackinginthekitchen)
1 lb. cooked breakfast sausage
1 can diced green chile
1 dozen eggs
1 c. shredded cheddar

After cooking the sausage mix everything in a bowl. Pour into greased muffin pan. Top with cheese. Bake at 350 for 10 to 12 minutes. (you can test it with a toothpick to see if the eggs are cooked) You can use bacon or ham if you prefer. Reheat thoroughly in the microwave. About 90 seconds.

Freezer to Crock Pot Meals #2

After telling my sister about my first experience with freezer to crock pot meals she asked me if I would go shopping with her so she could start freezing meals. I gave her a stack of 40 recipes to choose from. She picked 9 meals to freeze. After an hour at Wal-Mart (again on a Friday morning) she spent $111 and got 12 meals for her family. We found that buying fresh chicken was a lot cheaper than buying the 5lb. bag of frozen chicken. I had never noticed the chicken on sale before, I am certainly going to look from now on. We actually split them all in half because it's just her, her husband and 2 little girls. the did not need servings for 6. So she really ended up with 23 meals for $111. Not bad at all. I bought a few things to make up 5 more meals to stick in the freezer. I still have 4 left from my first freezing. This morning I made a quick trip to Wal-Mart and bought some breakfast meat. I spent about $35 between the two trips and I am going to make 6 dinners and a few breakfast items. All the breakfast items can be tossed in the freeze then heated up in the microwave or toaster. Here are the recipes for the meals my sister and I both made. (*there are a couple of recipes I am not sure I got from my books or if I got them off of Pinterest. I will try and find the proper links to the recipes I think I got online)

Johnny Carino's Bread Soup (copy cat recipe)
2 cans Italian style stewed tomatoes
1 can cooked chicken or 2 chicken breasts cubed
1/4c. Italian seasoned bread crumbs
garlic croutons
parmesan cheese

Puree the tomatoes. Freeze tomatoes and chicken. Add bread crumbs when cooking. Cook LOW 5 to 6 hours. Serve with croutons and parmesan cheese. (I used a rotissere chicken and then used the leftovers to make my own chicken broth)

Big Mouth Roast Beef Sliders (Mommy? I'm Hungry)
3 lb. beef roast
1 c. water
1 envelope onion soup mix
1 envelope Italian dressing mix
1 envelope brown gravy mix
1 (8oz.) jar picante sauce
12 dinner rolls

I whicked the dry mixes and the water together before freezing. Cook on LOW 8 hrs. She suggests serving with sliced swiss cheese and horseradish saucy.

Terrific Pork Tenderloins
1 lb. pork tenderloin chops
1 tsp. seasoned salt
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 can diced green chiles
2 cans cream of celery soup

Add the cream of celery soup when you are cooking. Cook on LOW 8 hrs.

Chicken Tostadas
1 TBS. garlic
3 TBS. chili powder
3 TBS. lime juice
2 TBS oil
6 chicken breasts

Cook on LOW 8hrs. Serve in tostada shell with your preferred toppings.

Chicken Alfredo
4 chicken breasts, cubed
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 sm carton of sliced mushrroms
1 jar alfredo sauce (add when cooking)
1 pkg broccoli floretsm thawed ( add last 30 minutes)
Fettuccini noodles

Cook on LOW for 6 hrs, Add broccoli and cook onHIGh for 30 minutes. Serve with cooked noodles.

Chicken Fajitas
2lbs. chicken breast
1 sm onion thinly sliced
1 bell pepper thinly sliced
1 1/2 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1 TBS lime juice
1/2 c. chicken broth

Cook on LOW 6 hrs. Serve with totillas and your favorite toppings

Beef Burritos (Saving You Dinero)
1 roast
1 diced onion
4 tsp minced garlic
2 TBS whole peppercorns
2 TBS apple cider vinegar
2 cans tomato sauce
1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce
1 1/2 tsp. chili powder

Cook on LOW 6 to 7 hrs. Remove meat, strain juice, return meat to juice and shred. Cook 30 more minutes. Make your burritos with your favorite fixings.

Mediterranean Chicken
1 jar spaghetti sauce
2 cloves garlic
1/4 c. chicken broth
1 c. chopped onion
1/2 c. sliced black olives
6 chicken breasts
Pinch of cinnamon

Cook on LOW 8 hrs. Serve with rice.

Roast At Its Best
1 tsp. oregano
1 tsp basil
2 tsp garlic powder
1 pkg Italian dressing mix
1 rump roast

Cook on LOW 10 to 11 hrs

Meatball Subs
1 bag Italian style meatballs
2 jars spaghetti sause

Cook on LOW 6 hrs. Serve on hoggie rolls with mozzarella cheese

Savory Chicken
6 chicken breasts
2 cans stewed tomatoes
1 c. + 4 TBS. chicken broth
1/2 c. onion, chopped
4 tsp. minced garlic
salt and pepper to taste
2 bay leaves
4 c. broccoli (added the last 30 minutes)

Cook on LOW 6 to 7 hrs. Add broccoli last 30 minutes. Remove bay leaves.

Posole
1 lb. pork shoulder, cubed
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 can diced green chile
2 cans chicken broth
1/2 tsp. oregano
1 sm onion chopped
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 can posole (Mexican style hominy), drained
2 TBS chopped fresh cilantro

Cook LOW 9 hrs. Add cilantro 30 minutes before serving. Serve with lime wedges.

Mushroom Beef Stew
1 1/2 lbs. stew meat
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 c. beef broth
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 TBS. minced garlic
1 tsp. paprika
1 c. sliced mushrooms
2 med. carrots, sliced
1/2 c. chopped onion
1 celery stalk, sliced

Cook LOW 10 to 12 hrs. Rmove bay leaf before serving.

To make your own chicken broth just toss all th left over bits of veggies and trimmed off chicken fat, in my case the skin and bones of the rotiserre chicken (which I got from eRecipeCards) in the crock pot for 10 to 12 hours. Strain out all the juice. I froze it by the cup.

Homemade Laundry detergent

For the last few years my whole family has been using a homemade liquid laundry detergent. I have no idea where the recipe came from. If the recipe is yours or you know where it came from please let me know so I can give proper credit. It works pretty good, but is a little messy to make. Plus it takes a while to grated the soap. Here is the recipe we have been using:

1/3 bar of fels-naptha, grated (found in the laundry aisle)
6 c. water in saucepan
Heat water and soap until melted
Add 1 c. Borax (laundry aisle)
Add 1 c. Arm &Hammer Super Washing Soap (laundry aisle)
Stir until dissolved
Pour 4 c. HOT water into a 5 gallon bucket
Add soap mixture amd mix thoroughly
Add 1 gallon plus 6 c. lukewarm water and mix again
Optional: Add 10 drops essential oils

The soap will look lumpy and you will need to stir it before each use. Add 1/2 c. to your machine.

We use it in or HE front loader and it works great. we have however discovered that it isnt the best for getting whites really bright. Part of that I am sure is because we have hard water.

Anyway I came across a powdered laundry detergent on Pinterest last week. I decided I would give it a whirl. I got the recipe from How does she?. Please check out her website. She has the ingredients listed by weight as well.

Here's what I did:
1 box Borax (laundry aisle)
1 box Arm & Hammer Super washing soap
1 (4lb) box Arm & Hammer baking soda
1 box OxyClean
2 bars pink Zote soap, grated
2 lg bottles Purex Crystals Fresh Sprin Waters

i poured everything into a very large bowl and grated the Zote soap over the top. I used a wooden spoon to mix everything together. So much faster than the other laundry detergent recipe. I even spilled some on the carpet. Just vaccumed it up and the living room smelled great.

I kept the scoop out of the OxyClean. The recipe calls for 2 TBS per load. That is equal to half a OxyClean scoop. I have now done 3 loads of laundry. Everything looks and smells great. The true test will be the load of oily, grimy jeans. Comparitively the powdered laundry soap is a little more expensive to make for close to the same amount of soap. However the powdered soap is all cleaning products vs. mostly water. The powder also uses less per load. We were making a triple batch of the liquid soap (cause who wants to only grate a third of the bar when you know you will just have to do the rest later) every four to five months. So we'll see how long this one lasts. My sister just bought a bottle of liquid laundry detergent on the same day I made this. The race is on to see whose soap lasts longer. ;)