Here’s a snack that the kids and I can’t say ‘no’ to lately. Even the peanut butter hater in my household is a big fan. It’s the best I’m-craving-chocolate-but-I actually-want-to-put-some-real-food-in-my-body kind of snack there is.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie
2 overripe bananas, peeled
1/4 cup smooth peanut butter
2 tablespoons chocolate syrup
1 cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk
Put it all in a blender and whiz until smooth. Makes 2 cups.
My new favorite web site is bussongs.com because it has given us the lyrics to On Top of Spaghetti. How great is it to finally have a kid old enough to memorize my all-time favorite childhood song? I think I’ve got our summer plans all shored up now. Lots of running around and lots of signing. Loudly.
Agave Limeaide Recipe
Ice cubes
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
1/2 cup water
3 tablespoons agave nectar
Throw four or five ice cubes in an 8-ounce cup. Pour the lime juice and water over the ice cubes and then add the agave nectar. Stir vigorously until the agave nectar is dissolved. Serve.
Yield: 1 cup
Prep-time: 5 minutes
One of my newest measures of snack recipe success is how messed up my four year-old daughter’s face gets when she eats. A good snack should leave behind some tell-tale signs of having been consumed with gusto.
Here we have Exhibit A which was the aftermath of our latest Sunshine Smoothie. Her face isn’t actually that messy. But the sprinkles on her chin make it a winner, non? The sprinkles were entirely her idea, by the way.
Sunshine Smoothie Recipe
1 fresh mango, peeled, pitted, and chopped
1 cup chopped fresh pineapple
1 medium ripe banana, peeled
1 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup orange juice
Place all the ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. Serve.
Yield: 3 cups
Prep-time: 5 minutes
Well, life is back to normal I guess. We’re all done being television stars around here. My seven-year-old is so over it. She watched the video in the previous post at school yesterday and hasn’t asked to see it again. I watched the show a couple times yesterday. I’m at the point where I’m starting to notice everything I did wrong and am obsessing about what I should have said and done to plug the blog more. But hopefully I’ll get over myself very soon. Considering it was my first time on camera, I’m just glad I wasn’t a total train wreck.
With Valentine’s Day right around the corner I’ve got time to squeeze in one more snack. Normally, I try to stay away from smoothie recipes simply because I love the impromptu act of throwing a smoothie together based on whatever you happen to have on hand. But I’m making an exception for this one because it’s so easy and perfect for the holiday.
Chocolate Strawberry Smoothie Recipe
1/2 cup silken tofu or plain yogurt
8-10 frozen strawberries, preferably organic
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 small to medium-sized banana
1/4 cup orange juice
Chocolate syrup, for garnish
Place the tofu, strawberries, vanilla, banana, and orange juice in a blender. Process until smooth. Pour into cups and garnish with a swirl of chocolate syrup. Serve immediately.
Yield: 2 1/2 cups
Prep-time: 5 minutes
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In case you hadn’t noticed already, I’m a great lover of snack recipes that allow me to quickly use up over ripe bananas. These recipes started with one in Feeding the Whole Family.
My husband says Banana Milk tastes like a thin milkshake without the ice creamy goodness. (He’s a master of the backhanded compliment, but I still love him.) The kids’ favorite was the Egg Noggy Banana Milk version (see the last recipe below).
1. Honey Banana Milk Recipe
1 1/2 cups milk
1 ripe or over ripe banana, peeled
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon honey
Pour the milk into a blender along with the banana, vanilla, and honey. Blend until smooth. Serve.
Yield: 2 cups
Prep-time: 5 minutes
2. Malted Banana Milk Recipe
1 ripe or over ripe banana
1 1/2 cup milk
2 1/2 teaspoons malted milk powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Process the banana, milk, malted milk powder, and vanilla in a blender until smooth. Serve.
Yield: 2 cups
Prep-time: 5 minutes
3. Egg Noggy Banana Milk Recipe
1 ripe or over ripe banana, peeled
1 1/2 cups milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
Process the banana, milk, vanilla, and nutmeg in a blender until smooth. Serve.
Yield: 2 cups
Prep-time: 5 minutes
Perhaps I’m not the only one feeling all kinds of self-imposed pressure to live it up before the summer suddenly comes to a close. I’m sure no matter how much we run around livin’ it up before school starts, come September there’ll be about forty things that I’ll wish we had done. But, there’s always next summer… and as long as I’ve got a glass of mint lemonade in my hand, I believe I will be able to chill out and actually enjoy the time we have left.
4-5 fresh mint leaves
5 ice cubes
5 tablespoons (2 1/2-ounces) freshly squeezed lemon juice (about two lemons)
3 tablespoons (1 1/2-ounces) simple syrup
1 cup (8-ounces) cold water
In a large glass, smash up the mint leaves a bit with a muddler or the back of a spoon. Add ice cubes, lemon juice, simple syrup, and water. Shake or stir well and serve immediately.
Yield: 1 1/2 cups
Prep-time: 5 minutes
I think the next series I do will have to be about ways to use up over ripe bananas. It seems to be a question that puzzles me too often. And maybe it would provoke me to make a banana cream pie. I’m up for anything involving pie.
So here’s a lovely way to use up an over ripe banana. It’s creamy without containing any dairy, which is a bonus on these hot summer days. The kids gave this one rave reviews. I’m excited to make them an egg cream someday soon.
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon water
1 large egg white OR 2 tablespoons pasteurized egg white product*
1/2 cup cold water
1 ripe banana, peeled
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
10 ice cubes (about 2 cups)
1 tablespoon honey
Unless you’re using a pasteurized egg product, pasteurize your egg white in a double boiler over gentle heat. In a small bowl, whisk egg white along with the sugar and 1 teaspoon water. Place bowl over a small saucepan containing an inch or two of simmering water.
Whisk constantly until the mixture reaches 160 degrees Fahrenheit. Use an instant read thermometer to take the temperature. Keep the themometer in the egg mixture as much as possible and not touching the bowl. Once the thermometer reads 160, remove the bowl from heat and continue to whisk for another minute to be sure the egg doesn’t coagulate.
Pour egg mixture into a blender along with the 1/2 cup cold water, banana, vanilla extract, ice cubes, and honey. Mix until smooth. Serve immediately.
Yield: 3 1/2 cups
Prep-time: 10 minutes
We had a bit of a situation developing at my house this morning. A ripe avocado was on its way out. I just can’t stand to see an avocado go to waste. In addition, some bananas were looking like no one was going to eat them. All this amounted to the perfect excuse for some experimentation. Thus the Green Monster Smoothie was born.
According to Lori at Fake Food Free, bananas and avocados are a popular snack combination in Brazil. And Dani Spies whips up some mighty fine lookin’ baby food using the same ingredients.
My preschooler happily took a taste, told me it was perfect, and then didn’t touch the rest of it. Is she actually trying to be polite and make me happy???!? This makes no sense at all.
I can see this being more of a hit with the toddler-set. I enjoyed it, but it is super rich and all I could put away was about a cup. So, unless you have a crowd, you might want to halve the recipe.
1 ripe Haas avocado, pitted
1 ripe banana, peeled
1 1/2 cup milk (or more if you’d prefer it thinner)
1 tablespoon sugar
Small pinch salt
Place the avocado, banana, milk, sugar, and salt in a blender and process until smooth. Serve.
Note: Cut up the banana and freeze it beforehand for a snack on a hot day like Lori did.
Yield: 2 1/2 cups
Prep time: 10 minutes
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One sip of this homemade Orange Julius transported me back to The Valley Fair Mall circa 1986. I never thought about it much when I was 13 years old, but the secret to Orange Julius’ frothy goodness is egg whites. Not wanting to forage for powdered egg whites or fork over the money for Eggology, I figured out how to pasteurize them easily at home.*
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon water
1 large egg white or 2 tablespoons pasteurized egg white product
3/4 cup water
1 cup orange juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups ice (about 10 cubes)
3 tablespoons frozen orange juice concentrate
Unless you’re using a pasteurized egg product, pasteurize your egg white in a double boiler over gentle heat. In a small bowl, whisk egg white along with the sugar and 1 teaspoon water. Place bowl over a small saucepan containing an inch or two of simmering water.
Whisk constantly until the mixture reaches 160 degrees Fahrenheit. Use an instant read thermometer to take the temperature. Keep the themometer in the egg mixture as much as possible and not touching the bowl. Once the thermometer reads 160, remove the bowl from heat and continue to whisk for another minute to be sure the egg doesn’t coagulate.
Pour egg white mixture into a blender along with the 3/4 cup water, orange juice, vanilla, ice cubes, and orange juice concentrate. Blend until smooth. Serve immediately.
Yield: 4 cups (or thereabouts)
Prep-time: 10 minutes
*While the odds of bumping into an egg contaminated with salmonella are slim, it’s not worth the risk. The last thing I want to do is pass on any bad information or techniques. My instructions for pasteurizing the egg white come from the FAQ section of the American Egg Board (What is an adequate temperature to cook an egg?) and from Pat Willard’s book A Soothing Broth. If you don’t feel comfortable with home-pasteurization for whatever reason, please go and buy a pasteurized egg white product.
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1/2 cup silken tofu
1 medium ripe banana
1/2 cup frozen strawberries
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
Put the tofu, banana, strawberries, blueberries, and maple syrup in a blender and puree until smooth. Serve.
Yield: 2 cups
Prep-time: 10 minutes
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