yogurt

#CranberryWeek: Cranberry Oat Smoothie

~ lk529 ~ 9 Comments

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Happy Thanksgiving!

This Thanksgiving falls during #CranberryWeek. #CranberryWeek is hosted by Caroline’s Cooking and A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures. We’ve been sharing cranberry-inspired creations all week long in celebration of national cranberry day. You can search #CranberryWeek to keep up to date and follow the #CranberryWeek Pinterest board for more cranberry inspiration.

With it being Thanksgiving Day I knew my time was up for sharing specific holiday centered recipes. Hopefully you’re spending your day surrounded by loved ones and don’t have any last minute grocery runs today.

That’s why my cranberry submission involves kitchen staples. Well, fresh cranberries aren’t a year round staple, but for this time of year, I’m going to place my bets. You can put those bags of fresh cranberries in your freezer for year round enjoyment of the tart, red berry. In fact, I’m planning on stocking up on my next grocery trip so I can make this smoothie whenever the mood strikes! I made mine with fresh, not frozen, cranberries. If using frozen cranberries, I’d hold off on adding any ice.

Today’s smoothie is a fantastic way to kick off Turkey Day. It’s a healthy and refreshing beverage that will leave you satisfied yet not worn down.

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This recipe will make one smoothie.

An Original Recipe

Cranberry Oat Smoothie

Ingredients:

  • 1 container (6 oz) French vanilla yogurt
  • 1/2 C fresh cranberries
  • 1/2 C ice
  • 1/4 C old fashioned oats
  • 1/4 – 1/2 C milk

Steps:

  1. Place ingredients in a blender and pulse until smooth.

Cranberry Oat Smoothie for #CranberryWeek from Sew You Think You Can Cook

Be sure to check out all the other cranberry recipes being shared today:

Apple-Ginger Cranberry Sauce from Palatable Pastime

Broccoli Salad with Cranberries from Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks

Cranberry Blondies from Cindy’s Recipes and Writings

Cranberry Caipirinha from Caroline’s Cooking

Cranberry Oat Smoothie from Sew You Think You Can Cook

Graavilõhe from Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Cranberry Walnut Macaron with Orange Buttercream from A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures

Warm Cranberry Spread from Family Around The Table

#ChoctoberFest: Cocoa Butter Granola

~ lk529 ~ 2 Comments

Dislcaimer: I received products as part of #Choctoberfest for review. All opinions and statements are my own.

#Choctoberfest

I’m happy to be back for the final day of #ChoctoberFest to remind you it’s your last chance to enter the amazing giveaway thanks to our fabulous sponsors. One of those sponsors, Caveman Coffee, provided product that is the star of my recipe today.

caveman-coffee-logoCaveman Coffee was founded by three athletes (I can’t wait to share this information with my husband when we reunite this weekend!) who joined forces with a master coffee roaster from Albuquerque to create sustainable and naturally grown coffee. Their coffee beans are hand-picked and wet-processed before roasting.

In addition to coffee they have other paleo-friendly products, including Coconut Oil, Cocoa Butter, and Green Tea.

cc-packageI received a bag of White Gold coffee beans and a bag of cocoa butter as part of #Choctoberfest. I’d never worked with cocoa butter before and was quite excited to explore its possibilities. I honestly didn’t even know what to expect! In my mind I was picturing something along the lines of a nut or seed butter (after all, cocoa is a seed). Contrary to my perception, cocoa butter is better used as an oil or dairy butter substitute, with a slightly chocolaty aura. The best part is that it’s a healthy vegan option that doesn’t involve coconut which I’m allergic to!

I decided to make a granola using the cocoa butter, but my head is already reeling with more ways to use the product. I’m dreaming about some rice krispie treat action… Caveman Coffee suggest stirring it into their hot coffee for a mocha inspired beverage.

This granola is addicting and perfect for topping your morning yogurt with some fresh strawberries. It can be used in any way you’d use a sweet granola – in cookies or pancakes and atop ice cream. I tested it out as my morning cereal and while it does work, the min chocolate chips make it a little “odd,” but the oats were fantastic with the addition of cool milk.

Cocoa Butter Granola featuring Caveman Coffee Cocoa Butter for #Choctoberfest from Sew You Think You Can Cook

My boys quite enjoyed the granola as well. Even my Treat who doesn’t like oatmeal quite enjoyed the sweetened oats when paired with strawberries and vanilla yogurt. However, when given a cup to himself, Firecracker simply picked out the chocolate chips.

Cocoa Butter Granola

Ingredients:

  • 3/4 C cocoa butter
  • 1/2 C brown sugar
  • 2 1/2 C old fashioned oats
  • 1/2 C mini chocolate chips

Steps:

  1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
  2. Place cocoa butter and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat until melted. Remove from heat and stir in the oats, tossing to coat.
  3. Spread oats onto a rimmed baking sheet and bake 20 minutes, tossing halfway through. Allow oats to cool before tossing with the chocolate chips.

cocoa-butter-granola-for-choctboerfest-from-sew-you-think-you-can-cook

Don’t forget to enter our giveaway and be sure to check out the other bloggers who posted more chocolate recipes today:

SRC: Strawberry Vanilla Smoothie

~ lk529 ~ 19 Comments

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It’s Secret Recipe Club Reveal Day! In the Secret Recipe Club, each participating blogger is assigned a blog from another participating blogger and secretly searches their site for something to recreate. The accompanying blog post then goes live on reveal day! So while I was immersed in my assigned blog, someone else was picking through mine! I’m so excited to be part of this group, to see what on my blog peaks other’s interests and to stumble upon new blogs and new recipes.

This month I was in a mad scramble to make something from my assigned blog, The Avid Appetite. While I’ve had my assignment for a month, it’s been one heck of a month between my husband going on his first work trip since the boys have been born, finally getting internet, and traveling for my brother’s wedding it’s been hard to get into a rhythm that supports my hobby!

Rachel is the mastermind behind The Avid Appetite. Rachel has been sharing her culinary adventures for over five years! She’s a wife, mother, and brand licensing professional living in NJ. Sounds busy to me. She shares family stories on Tuesdays (hey, me too, with my Tuesday Tattles series!), consider yourself pre-warned for some adorable Penelope cuteness overload.

Her recipe index left me with 15 items to consider for today’s reveal! From those 15, real consideration was given to a Chicken and Pineapple dish and a Baked Oatmeal. Had I been assigned her blog two months ago when I was in my blood orange obsession there’s no question that I would be sharing this Loaf Cake or these Shortcakes. And I will be revisiting her Caramelized Potato Parsnip Tart next week, too.

Due to my {self imposed} shortened time table I settled on a smoothie. Her sweet daughter sold me on the Strawberry Vanilla Smoothie. Precious. Well, that and the fact that I had some farmers market strawberries in my freezer. It’s as if it were meant to be because the amount called for in her recipe was the exact amount I had saved! I did substitute plain Greek yogurt for the vanilla so I doubled the amount of vanilla extract. I can’t believe I’ve never thought to put extracts in my smoothies. That quality of sweetness can’t come from anywhere else. I felt like I was drinking a smoothie from a smoothie place, not my own kitchen. It reminded me very much of a smoothie I used to get in between classes back at Auburn. Amazing how something so simple can bring back memories over 6 years old.

This smoothie recipe will make two servings. I saved one glass (aka what Firecracker didn’t finish) for the next day and it was still perfect!

Strawberry Vanilla Smoothie for Secret Recipe Club from Sew You Think You Can Cook (kid approved)

Strawberry Vanilla Smoothie

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 C frozen sliced strawberries
  • 1 C milk
  • 1/2 C plain Greek yogurt
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Steps:

  1. Place ingredients in a blender. Pulse until smooth.

*This recipe is modified from Rachel at http://www.theavidappetite.com/home/2016/1/31/strawberry-vanilla-smoothie*

Strawberry Vanilla Smoothie for Secret Recipe Club from Sew You Think You Can Cook

To see the other bloggers who participated in The Secret Recipe Club this month click here:

SRC: Honeyed Lemon Fruit Salad

~ lk529 ~ 24 Comments

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Good morning and welcome to another edition of The Secret Recipe Club. For a little “behind the scenes” information, The Secret Recipe Club (SRC) is divided into three groups. Each group posts on a different Monday of the month. I am in Group C and always post on the 3rd Monday of the month. Which meant that during those special months with five Mondays there’d be two weeks without any fun reveal day! So now, on the 5th Monday of the month there is a themed reveal and it’s a “free for all,” which means that there aren’t any group restrictions. I’m looking forward to getting to know some of the other bloggers in the club.

The end of May unofficially marks the beginning of barbecue season and so today, the Secret Recipe Club is sharing recipes that would be perfect for your upcoming summer picnics and barbecues.

I was assigned the blog An Affair from the Heart written by Michaela. Michaela and I sound like we could be great friends! She describes herself as a “party thrower, gift giver, wish I were craftier, liver & lover of life” kind of gal. It’s that “wish I were craftier” bit that made me smile as I can relate completely. She is a stay-at-home mom to four children and has been married for 25 years this year!

I searched for great side dishes to accompany any summer picnic barbecue or family reunion. I always love a good pasta salad to eat alongside my grilled burger or dog and her Creamy Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad is definitely on my radar. Any family reunion isn’t complete without my Aunt’s 7 Layer Dip and Michaela’s Not Your Average Mexican Layered Bean Dip looks like it could compete (because it’s avocado free, an allergy I developed while pregnant with Firecracker that I won’t try again until I’m done breastfeeding Treat). Ultimately I went with a fruit salad, after being distracted by a Shirley Temple Float, because how could I not be?!

I altered her recipe to use fruits that were available to me and that met my family’s taste preferences. That’s the beauty of fruit salad – make it however you want! Because of my overall volume of fruit, I only ended up using one carton of yogurt instead of two. I didn’t adjust the honey accordingly and my local variety of Eucalyptus honey was quite over powering. I would of course make this fruit salad again (and use a sweeter honey). My husband loved having it as his mid morning snack in his lunches all week. Truth be told, this fruit salad was part of the very first meal we cooked in our new home!

P.S. I know I said in my SRC Reveal Post two weeks ago that I was supposed to get internet that day, well, it didn’t happen and now today’s the day! Theoretically. I’m not holding my breath on it though, that’s for sure. So, once again, I’m sorry to my fellow club members, but I promise I’ll be stopping by all your picnic worthy posts soon!

Honeyed Lemon Fruit Salad

Ingredients:

  • 2 C grapes, halved (I used red)
  • 2 C cubed fresh pineapple
  • 1 ½ C chopped strawberries
  • 2 tangerines, segmented
  • 1 Granny Smith apple, cubed
  • 1 container (6 oz) lemon yogurt
  • ¼ C honey
  • Juice ½ large lemon

Steps:

*This recipe is adapted from Michaela at http://www.anaffairfromtheheart.com/2015/08/honey-lemon-fruit-salad/*

Honeyed Lemon Fruit Salad for Secret Recipe Club from Sew You Think You Can Cook

To see the other bloggers who participated in the themed Secret Recipe Club this month click here:

#10DaysofTailgate: Mason Jar Fruit Salad

~ lk529 ~ 10 Comments

Tailgate LogoWelcome to day two of #10DaysofTailgate hosted by Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla. Today I have a perfect recipe for those early morning tailgating sessions.

While night games have a great atmosphere, my favorite games to tailgate for are the early afternoon ones.

I love having breakfast themed tailgates, going off to the stadium, and then returning to the tailgate site to have dinner. Win or lose, it’s fun to end the evening on campus – enjoying some drinks, more food, and tossing a football.

The breakfast tailgating spread includes coffee, bagels, muffins, and fruit. The only problem with having fresh fruit is that it attracts flies. By putting fruit salad in individual mason jars, the fruit can stay cold in the cooler and the flies will stay away. They can also be prepared in advance.

You can use whatever fruits you like, whatever is in season, or whatever fits with your team’s colors! With a lime dressing, I picked fruits that would be brightened up by the citrus flavor.

Mason Jar Fruit Salad

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 C vanilla yogurt
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • zest and juice of 1 lime
  • 1 C cubed pineapple
  • 1 honey crisp apple, cubed
  • 2 oranges, cubed
  • 1 C seedless red grapes

Steps:

  1. In a small bowl, whisk together yogurt, honey, and lime. Set aside.
  2. In a large bowl, gently toss together fruit. Add dressing and toss until all of the fruit is coated with the dressing.
  3. Spoon into individual mason jars. Keep cold until ready to serve.

*This recipe is adapted from http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Fruit-Salad-with-Honey-Lime-Dressing-106941 *

Mason Jar Fruit Salads

Don’t forget to enter our giveaway and be sure to check out the other bloggers who posted more tailgating recipes today:

Dips
Avocado and Corn Salsa by A Day in the Life on the Farm

Deviled Egg Dip by From Gate to Plate

Sips
 Charred Bloody Mary and Smoky Sliders by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
Mains
Sticky Fingers by Debbi Does Dinner Healthy

Not Ketchup Cherry Chipotle Sloppy Joes and Cheese Fries by Making Miracles


Grilled Pork and Pineapple

~ lk529 ~ Leave a comment

Before the summer disappears and the weather gets too cold for grilling you have to give this recipe a try! This dinner is ready in under 20 minutes and according to Better Homes and Gardens is under 320 Calories with only 7 grams of fat. So before you’re switching your menu to comfort foods, enjoy this summer meal.

Grilled Pork and Pineapple

Ingredients:

  • 4 pork chops
  • 1 pineapple, peeled, cored, and sliced into rings
  • 1/2 C yogurt
  • 3 tbsp orange marmalade
  • 1/4 C cashews

Steps:

  1. Season pork with S+P. Grill pork over medium heat for four minutes on each side, or until cooked through.
  2. Grill pineapple.
  3. In a small bowl, whisk together yogurt and marmalade.

*This recipe is adapted from http://www.bhg.com/recipe/pork/grilled-pork-and-pineapple/*

Grilled Pork and Pineapple

Candy Corn Popsicles

~ lk529 ~ 2 Comments

I saw this one floating around on Pinterest. It’s actually what prompted my candy corn theme for the week. You only need 3 ingredients, yogurt, apple juice, orange juice. Or you can follow the Pinterest version using orange juice and pineapple juice.  Because I have Simply Apple apple juice it’s darker than the from-concentrate counterpart.

You can feel comfortable giving these popsicles to your kids before sending them off Trick or Treating for mountains of candy because there is zero added sugar, and depending on the brand of juice and yogurt you buy, you could be tricking them into a sugar-free dessert!

Candy Corn Popsicles

Here’s the How-To for Candy Corn Popsicles:

Using a tiny spoon put some white yogurt (plain, vanilla, Greek or regular) in the bottom of your popsicle mold. Place the mold in the freezer, covered with plastic wrap, until hardened.

Put apple juice on top of the frozen yogurt. Put in the freezer, covered with plastic wrap, to let solidify just enough so that the third layer won’t mix. If you let it harden completely it’ll be near impossible to put the popsicle stick/handle into the mold.

Top off the popsicle with the orange juice. Put the sticks into the mold and freeze.

When you go to remove the popsicles from the mold run it under cold water first. Doing so will loosen them from the sides of the mold. Or you can set the mold in a bowl of cool water.

Candy Corn Popsicles 2