Yoplait vs Jamba Juice frozen smoothies

I love to make smoothies, but don't always have the mixture of fruit to make them.  In the past year, different companies have started to put out frozen smoothie mixes you can find with the frozen fruit at your local grocery store.  These mixes include frozen fruit and frozen yogurt in small easily blendable sizes.  All you have to do is add liquid (juice or milk depending on the product).

  The first product we tried was Yoplait strawberry-banana.  We did not like it very much.  There was a distinctly unappetizing taste to the yogurt.  We decided to to try Yoplait again with the strawberry-mango-pineapple flavor.  It still had an odd flavor. 

Then we tried the Jamba Juice frozen smoothie mix.  We bought the Carribean Passion (which I actually didn't like at the local store).  It was a great product.  There was a good mixture of the fruit (strawberry, peach, and mango) and the yogurt didn't have a strange taste to it. 

So here's the comparison (out of 5 stars):

Taste:    Yoplait 2 1/2 stars        Jamba Juice  4 1/2 stars
Consistency:  Yoplait    4 stars           Jamba Juice    5 stars
Overall:   Yoplait 3 1/2 stars       Jamba Juice   4 1/2 stars

Yummy extas!

This is a great way to use a little extra pie dough (if you can resist making elephant ears!)

I made a pie but had a bit extra dough and filling.  I'd seen something similar in a recipe book and so I tried this out!

Lay the rolled dough out in a baking dish, add some pie filling, and fold up the edges around the filling. 

Its a great way to use up the extras and it was delicious (far better than the pie turned out!!) and its a great way to get a little slice of dessert!!

Peaches and Cream Pie (and Blueberries too)

I've used this recipe a few times and love it!  As you can tell by the pic... I had to scrounge up what was left to get a photo! =)

Crust:

1 1/2 c. all purp flour
1/2 t salt
1/2 c. cold butter
Filling:
3 c. fresh peaches, peeled & sliced
1 c. fresh blueberries (or blackberries)
1 c. sugar, divided
2 T all-purp flour
1 egg
1/4 t salt
1/2 t vanilla extract
1 container (8 oz) sour cream

Topping:
2/3 c sugar
2/3 c all purp flour
2 t gr. cinnamon
1/2 c cold butter

Preheat oven to 400 F.

For crust, combine flour and salt. Cut in butter until a crumbly mixture forms. Press into 9" deep pie dish.  Set aside.  Place peaches in a bowl; sprinkle with 1/4 c of the sugar. Combine flour, egg, canilla, salt & remaining sugar. Fold in sour cream. Stir into peaches and then pour into crust. While baking, make topping.  Combine sugar, flour, and cinnamon in a small bowl; cut in butter til it is a crumbly mixture. Set aside.

Bake at 400F for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350F and bake another 20 minutes or til the pie is mostly set.  Remove from oven, sprinkle on topping. Increase heat to 400F again and bake for another 15 minutes.

Optional: Leave out the blueberries, but increase the peaches to 4 c.

Sunshine Salad

I found this cute recipe and had to try it with the girls.  They don't like cottage cheese (it's a texture thing) so I told them that they didn't have to eat it if they didn't want to.  To my surprise, they ate the whole thing!  Even the lettuce.  It made a great snack for them.  Hope you (and your kids too!) like it.

This recipe is for two servings

1 orange (or can of mandarine oranges)
1 8oz can pineapple rings (or tidbits arranged)
4 lettuce leaves
1 cup cottage cheese
2 maraschino cherries (or fresh cherries, pitted)


Peel and section the orange (or drain from can).

Open the can of pineapple and drain the liquid.

Place 2 washed lettuce leaves on each plate. Place 2 pineapple rings on top of the lettuce on each plate.

Place 1 scoop of cottage cheese on top of the pineapple rings (I use my Pampered Chef scooper that is great for cookies).

Place the orange segments around the cottage cheese to look like sunshine. Place a cherry on top of cottage cheese.

Strawberry Shortcake

Well, I tell you this blog is requiring a lot of sacrifice on my part. This morning, I remembered that I had made a strawberry shortcake last night that I should have photographed to put up on the blog, but forgot. So, in my willingness to devote all my energy to this blog I decided I would use the leftover ingredients and have another for breakfast...  Haha! So here it is!! It was just as delicious as it was last night... too bad I didn't forget to take pics again!!

I love this strawberry shortcake, because it is NOT sweet! It is tasty and I love that I can feed it to my family and not have to deal with the 'sugar high'!

2 c. all purpose flour
2 1/2 T granulated sugar
1 T baking powder (yes, that is Tablespoon)
1/2 t. salt
1/2 c. butter
1 egg, beaten
2/3 c. milk
3 c. strawberries, sliced
1 c. whipping cream
1 t. vanilla
1 T. granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 450 F. Mix dry ingredients together. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs (it will look dry).  Add milk to the egg and mix together. Add the egg-milk mixture to the dry ingredients, stirring by hand just until moistened.  Grease a 8 X 8 pan and spread the dough into the pan, making the edges a bit thicker than the center of the shortcake.  Bake for 15 - 18 minutes. Let cool for a couple of minutes, remove from pan, let cool another 5 minutes. Split into 2 layers. While shortcake is cooling, pour cream into a tall bowl or large mixing cup, add sugar and vanilla. Beat until medium peaks form.  Serve with alternating layer--shortcake, cream, strawberries, shortcake, cream, strawberries! Enjoy!

Smiley pudding

My girls love to eat pudding and I was thinking of a way to make it a little more fun and healthy.  This is what I came up with.

We also do this with our yogurt too.

Yummy Yogurt Parfaits with fruit

This is a great and easy breakfast.  I made some cinnamon rasin toast to go with it.


½ c sliced strawberries

handful of blueberries

1 banana sliced

1 c vanilla low-fat yogurt


Alternate layers of fruit and yogurt in 2 bowls or glasses, beginning and ending with fruit. Top with granola or almonds.

Apri-Oaty Bars

1 c dried apricots *or any dried fruit
3 T water
2 c. whole wheat flour
1 1/2 c. oats
1/2 t. salt
1 3/4 sticks unsalted butter
3/4 c. brown sugar
2 T honey

Preheat to 400. Line 9X9 with parchment. Puree the apricots and water. Set aside. Stir the flour, oats, and salt in a mixing bowl.  Melt butter, sugar, and honey in a saucepan over low heat. When completely mixed, pour over dry ingredients and stir until combined.  Press 1/2 of the oaty mixture in the bottom of the pan. Press flat. Spoon the apricot mixture carefully on top of oaty mix and smooth--leaving 1" border around edges. Press remaining oaty mixture on top.  Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and  leave to cool for 5 minutes. Divide bars into squares and let cool completely in pan, before scooping them out.  Yummmy....

Crockpot chunky applesauce

6 med granny Smith apples, peeled and cut into fourths
2/3 c sugar
¾ c apple juice
2 T margarine, melted
1 t ground cinnamon

Mix all ingredients in slow cooker. Cover and cook on high heat setting 2 1/2 to 4 hours or until apples break apart. Stir well to break apart bigger pieces.

The Best Banana Bread

No, I'm not being vain... that is really the name of the recipe! (but it is very yummy!)

Preheat oven to 350 F.

2 1/4 c flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 c. butter
1 1/4 c. sugar
2-4 ripe bananas
2 eggs
3/4 c sour milk (buttermilk, or regular milk with lemon juice added) or sour cream

Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and soda in a large bowl. In a separate large bowl, cream butter and sugar.  Beat eggs and add to butter/sugar mix. Mash bananas; add and mix. Add milk; mix. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix. Bake 45 - 50 minutes in 2 greased loaf pans in the center of the oven.

Storing fruit

Have you ever bought too much fruit at the store?  Do you like to have fruit that tastes good in the fall and winter?  I've got a tip for you.  We love grapes, watermelon, honeydew, peaches, and nectarines a lot.  During the fall and winter though, the fruit is never ripe and doesn't taste as good as it does when you get it in season.  What I do is spray a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan with cooking spray.  Then I slice up my fruit and put it in a single layer on the jelly roll pan.  I put the pan in my freezer.  When the fruit is frozen (in individual pieces) I put it in freezer Ziplock bags or in tupperware type storage boxes.  Then you can take a few pieces out and enjoy when you want them.  Grapes and bananas are really good as a snack.  The fruit is also good to use in smoothies too because it is already frozen and makes it a little thicker than when using fresh fruit.

Smoothie

Emma loves it when I make smoothies for breakfast.  It's a nice way to get fruit in the mornings.  The amounts depend on how big you want the smoothie to be.  My recipe makes about 36 oz (enough for my 4 year old, my husband, and myself).

16 oz orange juice
3 small scoops orange sherbet
8 frozen whole strawberries
handful of frozen peaches
half a sliced banana

Add the ingredients in that order to a blender.  Blend until smooth.  You may have to turn off blender periodically and shake blender to move the frozen items so they don't get stuck in the blender blades.

If you want a thicker smoothie, add a scoop of ice after the last of the fruit.  You can use any juice you would like paired with any fruit you like also.  For a creamier smoothie you may use frozen yogurt or ice cream instead of the sherbet.

Starfruit

I first tried starfruit about 15 years ago.  I liked it then, but forgot about it until lately.  I was at the store with my 4 year old daughter when she saw a starfruit and wanted to try it.  So we got one.  It was a hit with both daughters.  We got another one this week.  I'm always glad when I can add a new fresh fruit to what the girls will eat.

As you can see, it is shaped like a star which you can see better when it is sliced up.  It has the consistency of a firm but ripe pear.  The taste is a mixture of a not-too-sweet pear and a sweeter-than-usual Granny Smith apple.  It is very juicy and refreshing.