Smoothies: the breakfast and dessert King

I adore making smoothies! They are so delicious, nutritious, and one of the first things I ever got really creative with. With lots of fruit, yogurt, and very little sugar, how can you go wrong? If you are a beginner in the kitchen--or even an expert--making smoothies is a very low-risk way of learning how flavors go together. There's no heat or chopping required--just a good blender.

Super Smoothies

2 cups frozen fruit
1 (6 oz) container yogurt (my favorite is Yoplait Key Lime)
1/2-1 cup of milk, depending on preferred thickness (or if you get really excited, coconut milk)
2 tablespoons sugar or honey (depending on sweetness, I usually taste before adding sugar)

Put all ingredients into a high-powered blender and blend! You might have to pulse a few times until the fruit is broken up. Let whir on high for about 30 seconds to make sure the smoothie is really smooth. Sip slowly to prevent a headache.

Okay, you might have noticed the "frozen fruit." This is the exciting part: it can be any kind of fruit you like! Here's my most successful smoothie fruits:

bananas
raspberries
strawberries
blueberries
peaches
pears

The fruit doesn't necessarily need to be frozen. But by freezing the fruit, the smoothie ends up really really thick and cold, without needing any ice. Ice can make your smoothie watery, which I really don't like. If you're freezing fresh fruit for smoothies, peel them, core them, make sure it's washed. Cut into 1" cubes or so, lay out on a tray lined with wax paper, and freeze. When frozen solid, transfer fruit into bags marked with the date and what it is (you can even portion out your 'smoothie mix') and store back in the freezer for the long haul.

Note--you can make the smoothies even healthier by adding a tablespoon or two of ground flax-seed or other types of protein powder. Some people like to put a handful of spinach leaves in theirs. I've made mine with cucumber in it as part of the fruit, with great success (I didn't freeze the cucumber). Really people, the sky is the limit!

Chocolate Covered Strawberries: Tips and Tricks

I once tried dipping some biscotti in chocolate. It was a disaster. After just a few minutes on the double boiler the chocolate seized up, burned, and I had no idea what I did wrong. It was several years before I worked up the courage to try dipping anything in real chocolate again. But recently I did, and had a lot of success. Here are my tips and tricks to making perfect chocolate dipped strawberries--not the cheapest treat in the world, but still not $20/lb, which is a pretty fair price at a chocolate shop. If you follow these instructions well, you should be able to avoid major chocolate disasters, and hopefully end up with something amazing to indulge yourself upon.

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

2 lbs strawberries
1 (12 oz) bag *milk chocolate chips--high quality (I like Ghirardelli)
2 Tbsp shortening

Before you start, please take a moment to read the instructions carefully and prep all your ingredients and tools. You will need 2 bowls, plenty of paper towels, and a tray lined with parchment/wax paper/silicone baking mat for cooling.

1) Boil 2 quarts of water. Meanwhile, wash strawberries and lay out on paper towels to dry thoroughly. Dry very, very well.
2) find 2 bowls, one that is glass or metal and can fit in the other comfortably without much wiggle room around the top, but still some space at the bottom for hot water to fit. I like to use a tall, deep bowl on the botttom and a shallower, wider bowl on the top. It allows plenty of space for lots of hot water without a lot of space for water to splash out.
3) Pour the boiling water into the bottom bowl and place the other inside (the inside bowl should be the glass or metal bowl with little to no wiggle room, but it should make contact with the water.)
4) Please, Please, PLEASE be careful to not allow even the tiniest drop of water into the inside bowl. Water will ruin the chocolate.
5) Add the chocolate chips and the shortening to the inside bowl, again being careful that no water gets in the bowl. Stir well and constantly until the chocolate melts.
6) Just when the chocolate is melted enough to be smooth, take off of the hot water. You don't want it to get too hot--it burns very easily--just hot enough to be liquidy. Keep the water standing by so that you can warm the chocolate a little more if it starts to cool down too much.
7) Hold the dry strawberries by the leaves and dip in the melted chocolate. Place on parchment paper, wax paper, or a silicone baking mat that is on a cookie sheet. Once all the strawberries are dipped, put in the refrigerator to harden for at least fifteen minutes.
7 part 2) If you want a decoration on the strawberries like nuts or drizzled dark/white chocolate, you can sprinkle nuts on to the chocolate before it goes into the fridge, or even do a double dip--dip strawberry first in the chocolate of course, then dip in chopped nuts or sprinkles before setting on the cooling surface. Drizzled chocolate is easy: just put about half a cup of dark or white chocolate chips into a zip-lock bag and place in the hot water, kneading it gently every minute, until it melts. Snip off a corner and squeeze the hot chocolate over the strawberries in a quick zigzag pattern. Then cool in the fridge.
Enjoy!

*If you want dark chocolate or white chocolate dipped strawberries, the method is exactly the same. You simply use dark chocolate chips or white chocolate chips instead of the milk chocolate.

Note: I've tried dipping other fruits in chocolate. Strawberries always work the best because the juice is well contained inside the berry. Other berries like raspberries or blueberries are also very good, but are a little harder to dip because they're small. Wetter fruits, like sliced apples or pineapple, tend to be too wet and the chocolate doesn't adhere well. Strawberries are the classic for a reason! But I'll bet kumquats would be phenomenal...

Lisa's Soap Box: Don't be afraid to get in the kitchen and make yourself something spectacular, like these chocolate dipped strawberries! It really is not that difficult; it simply requires a steady hand and self-confidence. Chocolate strawberries are a delicacy few of us ever purchase, let alone try to make--but we can enjoy delicacies like this a lot more often if we're willing to try making it ourselves. There's no need to pay the exorbitant service fees when you make your own food, and then you get to make it just the way you like. My husband loves the dark chocolate strawberries. I like mine with two kinds of chocolate. Don't even get me started on steak and how I think a restaurant's medium rare is really well done... By cooking the food myself, at home, I get exactly what I want at a phenomenal price. It's definitely worth the time and effort to learn for the great benefits!

Easy Granola Bars

This recipe is quick, easy, and amazingly delicious. I adore cooking foods that are typically store-bought, because I can make them the way I want. I like lots of dried fruit and nuts in my granola bars, but in the store it seems all I can find are chocolate and candy-loaded kind. These bars have lots of whole grains and nutrition packed in every bite.

Granola Bars the Easy Way

6 cups prepared granola
5 cups mini marshmallows
6 tbsp butter
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup peanut butter
1-3 cups *dried fruit, any kind, chopped
1-3 cups *nuts, any kind
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon

1) In a large microwave-safe bowl, put the marshmallows, butter, honey, and peanut butter. Set aside.
2) Mix together the granola, fruit and nuts, and spices in a second even larger bowl.
3) Prepare a large cookie sheet with parchment paper or a non-stick baking mat, or lots of cooking spray.
4) Melt the marshmallow mixture in the microwave for 1 1/2 minutes. Stir. If there is still unmelted butter, give it 30 more seconds. Add to the granola mixture and stir to combine. It will get very sticky and stiff, so make sure you have a good spoon.
5) Spread the granola bars out onto the prepared cookie sheet and chill for at least 15 minutes to set. Cut into pieces and adore. You can individually wrap in parchment or plastic wrap if desired. They will keep for several weeks at room temperature or in the fridge. Makes 20-40 bars, depending on how big you cut them.

*Notes: The nuts and fruit can be modified to anything you like. If you are a chocolate or candy person, feel free to add chocolate chips, coconut, or M&M's. Other variations that would be really good would be to melt a little chocolate and drizzle it over the top when done, or a simple glaze would be good too. If you have a nut allergy, the peanut butter can be completely omitted and the nuts replaced with chocolate, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, more dried fruit, or just left out.

Black Bean Salsa; Cucumber and Melon Salad

This meal was fun to eat, delicious, refreshing, satisfying, and healthy. The Black Bean salsa is also great on scrambled eggs for breakfast, or on grilled meat for dinner.


Black Bean Salsa

1 cup cooked, drained, rinsed black beans
1/2 cup frozen corn
3 roma tomatoes, diced (leave juice in)
1/2 red pepper, seeded and diced
zest and juice of 2 lemons
2 large avocados, diced
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp (or more) hot sauce
1/3 cup olive oil

Mix everything together and serve with tortilla chips.

Cucumber and Melon Salad
1 cucumber, sliced
1/2 honeydew melon, cubed into about 1" cubes
1 cup vanilla yogurt
2 tbsp fresh oregano leaves, chopped

Mix together and serve cold.

Super Smoothies

This recipe requires getting creative. The good news is it's hard to mess up. If you're just starting in the kitchen, this is a good place to start. A smoothie makes a great breakfast, snack, accompaniment to a meal, or even a healthy dessert (oxymoron? not after you try this!).

Super Smoothies

2 cups of fruit
6 oz (single serving cup) yogurt
1/2 to 1 cup milk

Mix in a blender and serve.

Now for the fun part--getting creative. For your fruit, pick two of these:

1 Banana
Frozen berries
Frozen Tropical fruit mix (mango, papaya, pineapple, etc)
Cubed fresh melon (cantaloupe, Watermelon, Honeydew, etc)
canned pineapple or mandarin oranges, drained well
even seedless cucumber

Note: if your fruit is frozen before you blend, your smoothie will be thicker and colder without adding a bunch of ice. If you have less ripe or slightly sour fruit, you may need to add a couple tablespoons of sugar or brown sugar. The recipe above is a general ratio. Please don't measure.

Pick any flavor of yogurt you want. It doesn't have to be plain! Try lime, lemon, strawberry, or vanilla. Also, during the summer months try adding a few leaves of fresh basil or mint. This is also a good place to sneak in fiber or protein substitutes.

Last tip: try substituting 1/2 can light coconut milk for the milk. Tasty!

Overall, if you use skim milk and lowfat yogurt, you'll have a low-fat, very refreshing and satisfying drink high in antioxidants and vitamins.