Peanut Butter Banana Metabolism Boost Smoothie

I got a Magic Bullet for my birthday... so now I am on a smoothie kick!  I have found it to be a great way to start off my day healthy and it feels like a treat!  I shared my Berry Banana Brain Boost smoothie yesterday and today I am sharing my metabolism boosting smoothie.  No better way to start then to get your metabolism up for the day! 

Kale, Greek Yogurt and Peanuts are 3 ingredients that help slim your waistline by boosting you metabolism!  So that is the base of this smoothie with only one more ingredient - Banana which also helps the metabolism but is also a great source of potassium (because I get horrible leg cramps!)  Plus the banana masks the taste of the kale.

You will need:

1 Banana

1 tablespoon Peanut Butter (mine is heaping!)

1 cup Plain Greek Yogurt

1/2 Baby Kale

Put all the ingredients into your smoothie maker or blender and blend until smooth.

Optional: Add ice to make it more of an Icey. 

This also makes a great mid-day snack.

I love sneaking in my veggies into my smoothies. 

 I know I should be better about eating them and this is a great way to do it!  

Crock Pot Strawberry Fruit Spread - 3 Ingredients

My kids love toast. And they love PB&J. But I hate buying jelly and jam at the store because it's either packed full of sugar or super expensive. Besides, I love the satisfaction of making things myself. So when I came across this recipe for Strawberry Honey Jam, I knew I had to try it. But because I can't just follow directions, I had to turn it into a crock pot recipe. Besides, it's impossible for me to monitor something cooking on the stove for an hour. Knowing me, all the moisture would cook out and it would get dried and burnt to the pan. Also, I cut the recipe down to use only 1 pound of strawberries because I wasn't sure how it would turn out, and I didn't have enough jars for 6 pounds. So, here we go:

This will make about 2 cups of jam which fits nicely into a pint-size jar.

Ingredients:
1 lb. frozen or fresh strawberries, hulled
2/3 c honey
1/3 apple (for natural pectin), grated with skin on (I sliced with an apple slicer and grated 3 slices in a food processor.)
1t lemon juice (This is for preserving, so if you're canning you'll need it, but otherwise it's not necessary. In this small of a batch you probably don't need it, but I wanted to include it in case you decide to make and can a large batch.)

Directions:
1. Place strawberries, grated apple, honey, (and lemon juice if using), in a small (1.5 qt) crock pot and stir.
2. Cook on low about 3 hours, until fruit is all mushy.
3. Vent lid with a spoon and continue cooking another 3-4 hours to let some of the moisture out. You may want to monitor it to make sure it doesn't dry out, but after 4 hours mine was still fairly liquidy.
4. Smoosh with potato masher, let cool, then spoon into jar and refrigerate or freeze.

~This has a more liquidy consistency than "regular" jam because it has no pectin added, but after a few hours in the fridge it will become a bit more jellied. It's more of a "fruit spread" than a "jam," and would be fantastic as topping on pancakes, waffles, ice cream, granola etc.
~ This small batch disappeared in about 2 days at my house. So the next time I doubled it, using strawberries and peaches, and a whole apple. YUMMY! I believe this will be a new staple in my house. I'm gonna need a few more crock pots, I think!
{this post originally appeared here}

Chocolate Candy Bites {recipe!}

I {Jeannine} just got a 5-gallon bucket of coconut oil and after reading the book that came with it, I wanted to eat nothing but coconut oil for the rest of my life. I know that's a bit excessive, so I am trying to incorporate it into our life in as many ways as I reasonably can. I was trying to figure out a way to get it into my kids' diet on a regular basis, and this is perfect.

This recipe showed up in my news feed on Facebook recently without a link. So I tried it, and I like it so much I had to share. It's easy, and it really does taste just like chocolate! My kids like it too, so it's a win-win for all of us - I'm sneaking the good stuff into them, and they think they're eating candy which means mom ROCKS because it's not something I normally encourage!

Ingredients:
1/2 c. coconut oil
1/4 c. cocoa powder (or carob or cacao)
2-3 T raw honey (with less honey it will taste more like dark chocolate)
buy ingredients here

Directions:
1. Fill a medium sauce pan about half way with water, heat on medium-high until nice and warm.
2. Put ingredients into a glass measuring cup, mason jar, or something similar, and place into warm water.
3. Turn burner to low and simmer, stirring as the oil liquifies.
4. When everything is thoroughly mixed, remove from pan and pour into candy molds or mini-muffin pan.
5. Put into fridge or freezer to harden for a few hours.
6. Pop out of molds and store in fridge or freezer (coconut oil melts at about 76 degrees, so if your home is cooler than that, you could store them at room temperature).


~This can also be done with butter instead of coconut oil. I have tried it, it's amazing also, and definitely tastes buttery!
{This post originally appeared here}

Jeannine's No Bake Healthy(ish) Cookie Balls

This is our new favorite household snack. My favorite part about it is, when I have an attack of the munchies, just one of these beautiful babies is enough to satisfy my hunger. There is a decent amount of sugar in these (peanut butter, honey, and dried berries), but they are loaded with protein and fiber too. So you be the judge of how healthy they actually are... (recipe here)

Make Your Own Yogurt!

Yes, you can make yogurt! And it's SO MUCH easier than you might expect. And so much healthier because it's free of all the extras and additives that so many packaged foods have these days. There are many make-your-own-yogurt instructions out there, and this is mine, a combination of ideas, and tweaked over the years.

Supplies:
~ Slow cooker (a.k.a. crock pot) - any size
~ Small kitchen thermometer
~ Oven with a working light

Ingredients: 

~ milk (whole milk will make a thicker, creamier yogurt, but you can use any milk)

~ plain yogurt to use as a starter

(I have experimented with different brands and types of yogurt as well as dry "starter packets" and have found that a good organic yogurt makes the best yogurt BY FAR.)

Method:
* Use about 1-2T of yogurt to every quart of milk *

1. Pour milk into slow cooker

2. Put the lid on, but prop open with thermometer (to keep the thermometer where it's supposed to be)

 3. Turn cooker on (either low or high, depending on how fast you want to heat it), and heat to about 110 degrees F (I have accidentally heated it to 130, and it still worked. I have also accidentally heated it to 140 and it did not work.)

4. Add yogurt
5. Lift crock out of the cooker, take the thermometer out but leave the lid on, and place into cold oven.

6. Turn the oven LIGHT on (do NOT turn the oven on!) and leave overnight or 8-12 hours

(the light keeps just enough warmth in the oven to maintain the perfect temperature for yogurt making)

That’s it!  Now you have yogurt. So beautiful.
Top with honey and fresh fruit and/or granola for a delicious parfait!

 {Sometimes liquid will separate out of the yogurt. This is whey. It is high in protein and amazingly good for you. You can give the yogurt a shake and mix the whey back in, or you can siphon it off and use it in baking. Do a search on uses for whey. You will be amazed.}

 

Healthy After School Snack with Nectresse- Peanut Butter Granola Recipe

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Nectresse™ Sweetener for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

NECTRESSE™Sweetener is a new no calorie sweetener that is 150 time sweeter then sugar and can be used in cooking and baking.  It is the only 100% natural sweetener made from fruit (monk fruit).  It is a great way to add some sweetness to a recipe without adding calories!  

I  used it to make Peanut Butter Granola:

Ingredients:

8 NECTRESSE™Sweetener packets,
1/2 cup unsweetened natural peanut butter
1/4 cup margarine
1/4 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups old fashion oats
1 cup dried fruit
1 cup roaster peanuts (optional- I did not add to mine)
Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees
2. Spray cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray (or line with tin foil)
3. Combine: NECTRESSE™Sweetener packets, peanut butter, margarine, honey and cinnamon in a small saucepan.  Bring to a simmer, take off heat and then add the vanilla.
4. Pour peanut butter mixture over the oats in a mixing bowl and stir to coat.
5. Pour granola onto the cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes or until brown, stirring often.  Let cool and then add the dried fruit and peanuts.  Store in an air tight container for up to one week.

This makes a great healthy snack or breakfast!  It is so yummy!  My kids and hubby love it!  

Be sure to get a FREE sample of NECTRESSE™Sweetener!  And check out this Lina Ling testimonial:

How To Make Your Own Buns

I have been making my own bread for quite some time, and have recently started making my own hot dog/brat/hamburger buns as well. And let me say, they are DELICIOUS. I don't know how I ever ate store-bought buns!

I use this bread recipe.  After shaping into a loaf, I sliced it into 10 pieces (kind of how you would slice cinnamon rolls). The first time I made them I made 8 buns, and they were a bit too big, even for large brats. But if you like large buns {I am cracking up right now}, then by all means make them bigger!

After slicing, roll each piece into something like a bread stick:

 Cover and let rise until they're nice and big:

Bake at 350 for 15 minutes {ovens vary}, slice and eat!

 

You can make hamburger buns the same way, only instead of bread stick shapes, you obviously make little round balls. For these I make 8 since I like big buns {sorry, couldn't resist}.

  

Use this great Black Bean Hamburgers recipe for a healthy way to fill the buns! 

 

 

Black Bean Hamburgers (with meat!)

Trying to eat healthy on a budget is HARD. I'm in the process of eliminating processed food from my family's diet, which can make it even harder in some ways.

Last week I wanted to make hamburgers for dinner, but only had one pound of ground beef. Since I'm cooking for 7, plus left overs for the hubs to take to work, we need at least 2 pounds of beef to make burgers. Rather than run to the store for another $4 pound of ground beef, I had an inspiration. Add black beans to stretch the burgers! {Can you tell I'm on a major black bean kick??}

I google searched "black bean hamburgers," and could only find vegetarian burgers made ONLY from beans. So I had to improvise.

I recently cooked dried beans for the first time. I've always used canned black beans, but in the spirit of eliminating processed foods, I decided that dried/cooked is better than canned. And cheaper. I didn't realize that the beans double in size when they're cooked, so the "per oz" price is a little misleading (in a good way). Also, I heard that bean cans have BPA in them, which health foodies say we're supposed to avoid. And I believe them.
 


Ok, on to the recipe.

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
about 2 cups black beans (or 1 can)
1t cumin (if you're a real cumin lover, as I am, go ahead and add an extra teaspoon - it's yummy!)
dash of salt

{If you use canned beans, the mixture gets pretty goopy. You'll want to add about 1/2 cup of bread crumbs. The dried beans that I cooked were much drier than the canned, and I did not need to add bread crumbs. You can sort of decide for yourself, if the patties stick together well, you don't need crumbs. If they're really crumbly and sticky, then add some. Just throw 3 slices of bread into the blender and whipped them into crumbs. Easy peasy.}

Put beans into a bowl and mash with potato masher. Mine weren't terribly mushy, there were definitely still some whole beans, and that's fine. 
Add the rest of the ingredients, and mix well.
Shape into patties, and cook on the grill, a skillet, or however you usually cook hamburgers.


This was a GREAT way to stretch a pound of beef. The burgers were tasty, everyone loved them. I added a couple sprigs of cilantro to mine, because I love cilantro. I was able to make 9 patties, when a pound of beef would normally only make 4 or 5 (some of mine are smallish because I have little ones). Instead of $8 or more (just for the meat), I spent less than $5 on these burgers. This is one way that helps me afford that 100% Grass Fed Organic Beef!!!

****Fawnda here, I just wanted to add that Jeannine told me about this and I also made some meatballs with blackbeans too. And they were so good!  I added black beans, mushroom and onions to a food processor until they were all chopped and combined then added that to my ground turkey (red meat and my tummy do not get along).  Mine were pretty mushy so I added the bread crumbs, but they were so good and both my kids and hubby chowed them down!  It is a great way to "sneak" in some beans and veggies into your meat!  : ) ***

Linking to: Frugally Simple

Sweet Girl's Name Garland with Lifestyle Crafts

Lifestyle Crafts is showing off their new Fall Core Collection at CHA this week!  I have a Discount Code at the bottom of the post so, don't miss out on that!

  Here what I made using some of these new dies they have out now! 

A sweet name garland for my little girls room.

(You may recognize the shabby chic fabric strips behind it from my Favorite Things Party!) 

Remember that Lifestyle Craft Dies work in most Die Cutting machines!  

Here a quick look at the Fall Core Collection:

Here is what you will need:

Lifestyle Crafts Letter Press

Doily Nesting Dies

Paper

Die Cutter 

Baker's Twine/Yarn/String

A quick run through of what you will need to do:

Run your dies through your machine.  

Use your Letter Press to add your letters

Attach the nesting dies using double stick tape or 3D foam stickers

String the Baker's Twine through the doily holes and your done! 

It is the perfect addition to my little girls room! 

Use code: fireflies to get 20% off your total order (including sale prices!)

***disclosure: I am an affiliate of Lifestyle Crafts.  I also did receive free products to make these crafts.  All opinions are 100% mine! ***

Easy, Healthy, Black Bean Dip Recipe

Need a quick and easy Snack for the 4th of July picnic?  I have the perfect thing for you! 

Recently I was at the grocery store looking for a snack to bring to a friend's house for girls night. I was thinking about Hummus and Crackers, and I came across something called "Black Bean Hommus." I bought it because I love black beans, and I figured it would be good. It was amazing. So I set out to recreate it, and this is what I came up with:

Ingredients:
1 can black beans, drained {you can rinse them if you want, I didn't because I'm too lazy}
1 T minced garlic, or 1 large clove
1 T chili powder
1 t cumin
1 t onion powder
1/2 t salt
handful of fresh cilantro  
{real hummus would also have Tahini. If I had some, I would add some, but I've never been able to find it. I should probably order it from Amazon.}

Directions: Put all ingredients into food processor or blender and puree; garnish with sprigs of cilantro if desired. Dip crackers, tortilla chips, bread, or veggies.



 

Black Bean, Rice and Veggie Skillet Recipe

I came up with this recipe when I was trying a different recipe, but didn't have the right ingredients, so I ended up changing and substituting so many things that it turned into something completely different. Have you ever done that? Well, thankfully it turned out pretty good anyway. I loved it. This made A LOT. Even for my big family, there was plenty left over. You could easily cut this in half, or I think it would freeze well if you wanted to freeze half and save it for a day you don't feel like cooking (which for me, is pretty much every day).

Ingredients used (you could, as I did, add and/or substitute to your liking):

1 lb ground sausage (optional - leave this out for a vegetarian meal)
2 cups cooked white rice*
2 cups diced zucchini (about 2?)
1 can black beans, drained*
3 tomatoes, diced (or 1 can diced tomatoes, drained*)
handful of fresh cilantro
1/4 cup shredded cheese** (any cheese is fine, but I like to use something with a bit of a kick to add flavor since there aren't a lot of strong flavors in this dish.)
corn or flour tortillas (optional)

*I happened to have a huge amount of left-over cooked white rice, so that is what I used. Normally I use brown minute-rice. If you prefer, put one cup of minute-rice in the pan uncooked with the other ingredients, and add one cup of water or broth, or use the liquid from the beans and tomatoes to cook the rice in. If you are using regular white or brown rice, I advise cooking the rice first to make sure it's fully cooked without over cooking everything else.

**I used "yogurt cheese" that I bought at the farmers market, and they said it had yogurt cultures in it. I'm not exactly sure what that means, but I'm sure it's super healthy. ;)

Directions:
1. Cook sausage in stir-fry pan (looks like this) or large sauce pan
2. Add all other ingredients and sautee until heated thoroughly
3. Eat as-is, or wrap in a tortilla
4. My husband put ranch on his. He is obsessed with ranch. I'm not. I liked it just fine without ranch.

Healthy Sweet Potato Casserole Recipe

I LOVE sweet potatoes, and they're SO much better for you than regular potatoes. However, if you look up sweet potato casserole recipes on the internet, you'll find that they're packed full of sugar. In my opinion, they don't need all that much sugar, because they're already sweet and delicious. So I came up with this recipe using honey instead of sugar, and only a few other ingredients. It's simple, healthy, and SUPER delicious. My kids always ask for seconds, that's how I know it's really good. There's no topping, so it look a bit plain. If you want, you could probably add some crushed pecans or sprinkle some brown sugar on top.

Keep in mind, I cook for 7 hungry bellies, plus my hubby likes to take left overs to work, so if this is too much for you, you could definitely cut this recipe in half. Also, I apologize, but I'm not a very rigid recipe follower, so some of my measurements aren't exact. It drives my husband crazy, so I understand if it does you too. I can't help it, it's who I am. ;)

Ingredients:
3 lb sweet potatoes (about 8-ish)
1/4 - 1/2 cup honey (to taste)
4T butter
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
dash of salt






Directions:
1. peel potatoes, and cut into 1" (ish) chunks
2. put potatoes in a large pot and fill with water to just cover potatoes
3. heat on high, boil potatoes until tender (20 minutes?), drain and put potatoes back in pot
(veggie water is great for watering plants!)
4. add all other ingredients and mix together thoroughly
5. transfer to greased 9x13 baking pan
6. bake at 325 (F) for 30 minutes

  

 

Featured Friday: A BIG Announement!!

For today's Feature Friday and I so excited to introduce you to a new blog that I have been working on with 5 other FABULOUS bloggers:
Jill from Women Who Do It All
Holly from 504 Main
Lindsey from Fitness For the Rest of Us
Maria from Huff and Buff
Summer from Sumo's Sweet Stuff

What a great team to work with right!?! And we are all SUPER excited about it

Introducing:
Win, Lose, or Blog!
A blog to help us all stay healthy!

What does Win, Lose, or Blog have to offer you?

Want to be a contestant?
Each season of the challenge (lasting 8 weeks) we will choose eight contestants. This is your chance to win some MAJOR prizes! The "big loser" (based on percentage of body weight lost) will win one big whopper of a prize. Second and third place contestants will also win some great prizes. And everyone else will get something just for participating.

Just want to follow?
We have multiple health and fitness experts on our team who are going to be posting information, recipes, tips, inspiration and more. So come follow and get a little help living a healthier lifestyle.
Also, at the end of each season two followers will win a prize (worth at least $40) just for leaving comments throughout the season. And you know it will be fun to watch the competition play out and cheer on the contestants :) Go check it out!!! And spread the word!

Each comment you leave all season long counts as an entry for two great prizes!

Want to get a head start on those? Head on over to Win, Lose, or Blog and you'll notice that you can leave three comments for displaying our button on your blog and five comments for writing an exciting post announcing us to your friends. We want you to invite others to join the the fun and gain some motivation to live a healthier lifestyle. I hope to see you there! We've been working hard on this baby.

Go now, and check out Win, Lose, or Blog and let's all get healthy!!