Amb's Super Green Spinach Smoothie

I got this recipe from a neighbor of mine and I've been making them and meaning to share but haven't yet so here I go. I love it and they are a perfect breakfast for me. I happened to have all the ingredients in the house when she sent the recipe. Here ya go-

In a blender add water and spinach (the kind that comes out of the big Costco bag - pre-washed). For water put about 3/4 cup, for spinach fill the blender up about 3/4 of the way full. Blend. (It will look very green.)

Then I add:

1 Banana

1 container of peach yogurt, Fat Free (6 or 8 oz)* or any flavor you have in the house.

Orange juice 1 cup or you can do 4-6 oz of the concentrate because there is so much water with the spinach.

About 2 cupfuls of frozen mixed berries. (Costco has a big bag for about $10). I've been using blueberries and it makes it really yummy. I'm sure any type of berries work.

Ice cubes (about 4-5) but use more if you use fresh berries instead of frozen.

I found the trick is to blend everything then add the frozen berries. That way they don't the stick together and make it hard to blend. With blueberries it's really dark so beware of possible stains. LOL

I divide it into 2 1/2 servings, but the whole blender is full and the full amount is about 470 calories. But I only end up drinking 230 calories.

I figure I should be eating lots of both spinach and berries anyway. Also I was having a yogurt for breakfast anyway so it works for me. Enjoy!

Crepes

1 c all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1/2 c milk
1/2 c water
1/4 tsp salt
2 T butter or margerine, melted

Place ingredients in blender in order given. Blend 30 seconds, stop and stir down sides, Blend 30-60 seconds until smooth. Makes about 16 crepes.

I have a crepe maker that I got at Bed Bath and Beyond. It makes great crepes. Otherwise, I have heard you can make them in a pan over the stove.

Fill with whatever you want!

Crispy Kale Snacks

These are a little different but an easy way to get some crispy veggies in!

1 bunch Kale
Cooking spray (I used olive oil Pam)
Lemon Pepper - salt free if you can find it
Salt, preferably kosher

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wash and pat dry kale. Remove leaves from the stems and tear leaves into chip sized pieces. Spray baking sheet with Pam, then place leaves on it and lightly spray the kale. Put baking sheet on the lowest oven rack and immediately turn the temperature down to 300 degrees. Bake for 20 minutes or until all dried/crispy. Be careful not to leave it in too long so the leaves brown on the ends - that is too done.

I only had salt included lemon pepper and so I left off the salt and they were good!

Easy Homemade Granola

Easy Homemade Granola
from "Baked: New Frontiers in Baking" by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito
Ingredients:
2 cups rolled oats
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup whole almonds [Note: I used slivered almonds, and they worked fine.]
1/3 cup whole hazelnuts
1/3 cup golden raisins
1/3 cup dried cherries

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, toss the oats with the cinnamon and salt.
In a medium bowl, stir together the oil, honey, brown sugar, and vanilla. Whisk until completely combined.
Pour the honey mixture over the oats mixture and use your hands to combine them: Gather up some of the mixture in each hand and make a fist. Repeat until all of the oats are coated with the honey mixture.
Pour the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet. Spread it out evenly, but leave a few clumps here and there for texture.
Bake for 10 minutes, then remove from the oven and use a metal spatula to lift and flip the granola. Sprinkle the almonds over the granola and return the baking sheet to the oven.
Bake for 5 minutes, then remove from the oven and use a metal spatula to lift and flip the granola. Sprinkle the hazelnuts over the granola and return the baking sheet to the oven.
Bake for 10 minutes, then remove from the oven. Let cool completely. Sprinkle the raisins and cherries over the granola...

I couldn't find hazelnuts so I just used 1/2 c of sliced almonds. Then I used mixed berry dried fruit. 2/3 of a cup of that. It made 4 cups of granola and is 105 calories in 1/4 c. It is SOOOOO yummy!

Thai Salad

1 pkg. Angel Hair Pasta
1/2 bunch cilantro
1/2 bunch green onions
3/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice vinegar
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup canola oil
2 Tbsp. Chunky peanut butter
2 Tbsp. Sesame Seed Oil
1 Tbsp. red chili flakes

In a medium bowl add chopped cilantro and chopped onions and all other ingredients and mix well. Set aside.

Cook pasta and drain (DO NOT RINSE PASTA)

Pour the mixed ingredients over the hot drained pasta and toss well. It will look like soup at this point, but don't worry. Stir every so often as it is cooling and the noodles will soak up all the liquid!
Let cool then refrigerate, and serve cold!!


Got this recipe from my Dad's cousin in California!! Super Yummy!!

Poppyseed Vinagarette Dressing

Dressing:
1 1/2 Tablespoons Poppy Seed
3/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 1/2 cups oil (want to experiment with less later on)
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 Tablespoon dried minced onion
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3/4 teaspoon dry mustard

Mix together and keep overnight in the fridge.


This is the dressing for the spinach salad (see other post) but I think it would be awesome on any type of salad!

Janet's Spinach Salad

This recipe came to me from a good friend, Janet, who made it for all our work parties. It makes a large bowl so be prepared for it to look huge when you put it all together. Once you add the dressing it compacts down so don't worry! Be sure not to add the dressing until you are ready to serve so it will get soggy.

Dressing:
1 1/2 Tablespoons Poppy Seed
3/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 1/2 cups oil (want to experiment with less later on)
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 Tablespoon dried minced onion
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3/4 teaspoon dry mustard

Mix together and keep overnight in the fridge.


Salad:
3/4 cup grated swiss cheese
2 packages of washed fresh spinach
1 container cottage cheese, drained
1/2 pack of bacon cooked to a crisp and crumbled
1/2 purple onion cut into rings and separated
1 carton fresh sliced mushrooms

Mix the salad portion all together and add dressing just prior to serving.

Cashew Pea Salad

Ok, this sounds odd but really you won't be able to put your spoon down! I love it and it has such a nice flavor :)

1 10oz pkg frozen baby peas (I used a 14oz pack since I had it in the freezer and it was fine!) THAWED
1 cup diced celery
1 cup chopped cauliflower or broken into small bite size pieces
1/4 cup diced green onion
1 cup coarsely chopped cashews
1/2 cup sour cream (I used FF)
1 cup prepared Ranch dressing
Crisp bacon about half a pack

Mix it all up and chill it until ready to serve! Yum yum!

I wanted to try using greek yogurt and mixing up my own ranch to save on cals and fat but ran short on time. I think you could use some fat free product and still have it turn out well :)

Pumpkin Dinner

Ingredients

Small to med sized pumpkins

we used 5

1-2 lbs Hamburger

chopped celery

chopped onion

salt and pepper

mushrooms

1 can cream of chicken soup

2 cups cooked rice

about 1/2 cup brown sugar

2-4 tbsp soy sauce

chopped green peppers ( I left them out)

Cut lid of pumpkin and clean it out.

In a large skillet brown hamburger, onion, salt and pepper

(I also added garlic salt and Mrs. Dash)

drain and add chopped veggies

Mix in cream of chicken soup, cooked rice, brown sugar

and soy sauce (i mixed brown sugar and soy sauce in a

blow and then poured it over the top)

Mix everything together and put them in the pumpkins

Place pumpkins on a foil lined cookie sheet

Bake 350 for 1 1/2 hours.

~Sandy

Chicken Noodle Soup/Chicken Soup with Rice

Chicken Noodle Soup

1 recipe chicken and broth(see other post)
2 medium carrots chopped
2 medium stalks celery chopped
1 small onion chopped
1 tablespoon chicken bouillon granules
chopped fresh parsley
1 cup medium noodles or 1/2 cup uncooked rice

prepare chicken and broth according to previous recipe
heat broth, carrots, celery, onion and bouillon to boiling in large pot. reduce heat and simmer about 15 minutes until carrots are tender. add chicken.
stir in noodles or rice. simmer uncovered 7-10 minutes for noodles or 15 minutes for rice.
sprinkle with parsley.

Chicken and Broth

I find this to be easy to make, and freeze for later. it can be the base for chicken pot pie or chicken soup, I think the chicken also makes a nice chicken salad. I like to make a double batch, then I always have some on hand. I shred the chicken and freeze it separate from the broth. you can freeze the broth in 1 or 2 cup containers for easy use later.

Chicken and Broth

3 to 3 1/2 cut up chicken (I like to use breasts with the bones, or thighs)
4 1/2 cup cold water
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 medium stalk celery, cut into large chunks
1 carrot, cut into chunks
1 small onion, cut up
1 sprig parsley

Place the chicken in a large stockpot, add everything and heat to boiling. skim foam from broth, and reduce the heat to low. cover and simmer about 45 minutes. remove the chicken from the broth and cool on a plate until its cool enough to handle. strain broth and discard vegetables. if you chill the broth in the fridge the fat will form a disk and be easy to discard.
remove skin and bones from chicken and cut into 1/2 inch pieces.

Chicken Pot Pie

1 package frozen peas and carrots
1/3 cup margarine
1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 3/4 cup chicken broth (1 can) (I posted a recipe for your own broth as well)
2 1/2 to 3 cups cooked chicken
pastry for two crust pie

heat oven to 425 degrees.
melt margarine in saucepan over medium heat, stir in flour, onion, salt and pepper. stir constantly until it bubbles then remove from heat. stir in the broth and milk. return to heat and heat to boiling, for 1 minute. stir in the chicken, peas and carrots.
roll out 2/3 of the pastry for the bottom crust. put it in a 9x9 pan, add chicken mixture to the crust. roll out the remaining dough, cut into shapes and put on top of the pie. bake about 35 minutes until golden brown and bubbly.

Pie crust

one crust pie
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon shortening
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 to 3 tablespoons cold water

two crust pie
2/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons shortening
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
4 to 5 tablespoons cold water

use a pastry cutter to cut shortening into flour and salt. until it resembles coarse crumbs. sprinkle with cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until all the flour is moistened. up to 2 tlbl of additional water can be added, depending on humidity. the dough should NOT get sticky.
gather it into a ball, or 2 if 2 crust pie, wrap in plastic wrap and form into a disc. I like to refrigerate the dough for up to a day. its easier to work with it when it has chilled.
roll it out and follow your pie recipe.

Fried Wontons

my kids love hamburger anything, so they loved these! we served them with fried rice.

1 package wontons

1 lb hamburger
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped green onion
1 tsp salt
1 tsp seasoning salt
1 egg

we cooked the veggies, then the hamburger, mixed it with the seasonings, and let it cool a bit and added the egg. then we stuffed the wontons with about a teaspoon filling each, formed them into triangles and fried them. be careful when filling them all to not let them dry out, you can just put a wet paper towel over them as you go. we served them with soy sauce for dipping and fried rice.

I let my kids put the filling in the wontons, they had fun, I did have to seal the edges of all of them when I fried them. they did a good job overall though, a fun way for them to help with dinner.

Lemon sauce

We love this sauce.

1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoon corn starch
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon lemon zest
2 tablespoon stick margarine or butter

mix the sugar and cornstarch, add the water and cook over medium heat. stir constantly, until it thickens and boils. boil 1 min and remove from heat, add remaining ingredients. serve warm over angel food cake.