Smoothies Smoothies and MORE Smoothies

I have a few smoothies to share! Just a few notes before I post recipes. To make things easier on me and to keep things as "fresh" as possible I have everything frozen. I even froze the juices I use in ice cube trays. So if a recipe calls for orange or apple juice I use 1 ice cube per 1/8 of a cup. I do add some water if the juice is the only liquid in the recipe because it helps the blender work better. I usually start with 1/2 a cup of water and add it as needed. 

I'll start with my FAVORITE breakfast smoothie. I really didn't think I would care for it much but it is SO good and fills me up and keeps me full for some time! I have also done this as an Almond Butter Banana Smoothie and it was just as good. In place of the peanut butter I used almond butter and in place of the milk I used vanilla almond milk. I will get just plain almond milk next time as I think the vanilla is too sweet. I do think I like the peanut butter one just a little better though.   

 Another breakfast smoothie. I enjoy the oatmeal in them a lot more then I thought I would. This is a great way for me to get in some grains as I know I don't eat enough. 

These next three are really good! Very refreshing and pretty filling. I will use these as late night snacks as we have a really bad habit of having a bowl of ice cream every night before bed. It used to be chocolate or mint chocolate chip ice cream but these smoothies will do just as well and are SO much better for me!

 Randall enjoys an Orange Julius sometimes in place of his bowl of ice cream and really likes this one. 

My first smoothie with spinach was WAY better then I thought it would be. I'm a pretty good veggie eater but don't care much for green leafy things except for ice burg lettuce. I was very please with this smoothie!

 I was very undecided about avocados in my smoothies as I'm not a fan of them much at all. I don't even really like guacamole all that much. I know I'm strange! But these two have proved me wrong and are very good. The avocado makes them smooth and creamy. The avocado kiwi one is almost too smooth for me but is very good!

For a very refreshing treat try this one. 

I used 1 cup of frozen watermelon and 1 cup fresh watermelon and a 6 ounce container of strawberry yogurt and 2 ounces of Greek yogurt just for fun. If you use all fresh watermelon I wouldn't put the water in unless you need it when you start blending. The girls I watch that are almost 2 and 4 LOVED this! It made these two 8 ounce cups, my 12 ounce wine glass and there was probably 2 or so ounces left. It was so refreshing.

Waiting on my blender part. :( Should be here sometime this week. I also just ordered "Green Smoothies Diet: The Natural Program for Extraordinary Health" by Robyn Openshaw. Looks like a good book! Lots of info and recipes! I'll probably get it before I get the part to the blender. I love Amazon!!!

Just thought I would end this on a SUPER CUTE note! 

Man I love this kid!

Until next time..........happy blending!!!

2013 Garden

 Both beets and carrots are in the same kind of raised grow bed. (Mom, I will never be able to have a garden down on the ground, but that is OK by me!) 

This is the one plant that looked the worst when they were sick! It is now the biggest and best looking one! Thanks for all you help mom!!! I wouldn't be this far without you and all your help in the years growing up! I may not have been listening then but I guess some of it did sink in! Thanks a bunch for all your help this year though Facebook and a few phone calls! 

We went outside last night to look at a storm that was rolling in so I took a new picture of my tomato! I sure can't wait to eat home grown tomatoes!! YUMMY!!

The up close picture in the corner is what every group of blackberries looks like! I'm going to have at least a million this year and I am still eating bags upon bags of last years! Not sure what I'm going to do with all these berries and to think they all get to be the size of someones thumb!!

Some new smoothies are coming up next!! Now that I have a hang of this blogging thing it sure is getting easier and easier! 

Until next time.................

Boise Farmers' Market

We went to the Boise Farmers' Market today just to check it out. It it HUGE! Too big for me in fact. I did how ever pick up a few things for my smoothies and am pretty excited about using them! I got a half flat of beautiful YUMMY raspberries as our plants aren't doing that well and I REALLY want to make some smoothies with raspberries in them. I also picked up a bag of spinach and 2 pints of juicy sweet black cherries! 

I invented my own cherry pitter! :) Yes that is a beater to a hand held mixer! It worked REALLY well!

ALL READY FOR THE FREEZER!! 

Can't wait to put these in my smoothies!!! 

These raspberries are so good I had a hard time not eating them all before they made it to the freezer! I love fresh fruit! I will be going to the Farmers' Market a lot this summer. I will however stick to my small town Nampa one as the Boise one is WAY too big for me. I'm just like my mom when it comes to big crowds! I just don't like them!

Ever tried something and just COULD NOT drink or eat it. Well I tried! This smoothie had beets and beet greens in it and I just couldn't do it! I sure hope the spinach is easier to drink than this!! This has a banana, beets, beet greens, milk, milled flax seed, almond butter, and a little cinnamon in it. Need less to say its pretty but it sure was yucky!!! Oh well live and learn!

Still working on the garden blog post! Mom, I can't wait to show you how well it is coming along! So proud of myself! 

Fun times trying new smoothies and my FIRST garden

I should get my Slim-Fast 3-2-1 stuff today so my smoothies will become mostly my night time snack. Although the last two nights I have enjoyed a bowl of Vanilla Frozen Yogurt with blackberry puree on top. Using last years blackberries finally! I don't know what I'm going to do with this years but we will have a TON as I'm sure there are a million flowers on them right now!

Yesterday for lunch I had a Pineapple Carrot Smoothie! Pretty good but this recipe I posted is what I will do next time as I didn't think my first try had enough carrot flavor. I can't wait until I can use my own home grown carrots! 

Today for breakfast I made a Berry Nutty Smoothie. My first one with peanut butter! YUM!! I will for sure drink this one more often! It is VERY filling too! 

I must say I am proud of myself for the garden that I have planted. This is my very first garden.....all by myself! (Sure thankful for Facebook and all my mom's cyber help!) I'm working on getting all my garden pictures together to do a 2013 garden post but it seems to be taking FOREVER today!  

Just thought I would sneak a super cute picture or two into this post! I sure could just squeeze the cuteness right out of him sometimes!

 Pretty sure he is the cutest thing ever!!!

I made homemade almond butter today to make adding almonds to my smoothies easier and cheaper.

 Plain Raw Almonds

I have a Costco sized bag of almonds and didn't measure I just poured probably 1/2 the bag into the food processor and started grinding...............

 10 minutes.....
A nice fine almond powder.....

 20 minutes.....

I was starting to wonder and then.......... 

 30 minutes.....

It started to look right..........

 Took almost 40 minutes!

The End......................for now!

I'll say it again....I'm not very good at keeping up with this! :) 

I'm going to really really try to do better at keeping this up!

I became a stay at home mom right before Thanksgiving 2012 which was the best decision for not only myself but my family. I now watch 3 little girls during the week. It's what I love to do! There is a HUGE problem with it..........I've become a lot less active then when I was a front end supervisor at Wal-Mart. Needless to say it has resulted in me being heavier then when I was 9 months pregnant. It it just too easy to eat junk food all day! Not that I feed the kids junk food. I'm sorry to post these pictures but this is my turning point. I'm DONE looking like this. I am SO tired all the time and I've GOT to change not only for myself but for Randall and Nicholas, too.

I weighed myself yesterday for the first time in a LONG time and I shouldn't have. YUCK!!! I refuse to say just how much yuck there is here but that will change. This won't be a crash diet but a change in eating habits and for now nightly walks (weather permitting.....it's been raining the last 2 days.)
I started actually eating/drinking breakfast yesterday. This week I'm starting pretty slow and have just had a few home-made smoothies and had lots of fresh fruit instead of doughnuts and cookies. Yesterday I had an Avocado Smoothie for breakfast that was actually VERY VERY good. I don't care for Avocados much but I know they are super good for me so I thought I would give this a try. I found the recipe at http://www.bhg.com/recipe/avocado-smoothie/

Today for breakfast I had a Blueberry Swirl Smoothie and I also found at   http://www.bhg.com/recipe/blueberry-swirly-smoothies/

These smoothies and others that I will post become my night time snack (we might have a bad habit of eating a bowl of ice cream every night) as I am starting the Slim Fast 3-2-1 diet, well as soon as I get it! I was checking prices and found that http://www.walmart.com/ has a special one month package of just about everything you need. You get to pick our own flavors and everything! Besides my fresh fruits and veggies and dinners I won't have to do much thinking about breakfast, lunch and snacks.

On a much cuter note....

I LOVE THIS KID.......

Ok....Ok...I'll stop! But I can guarantee there WILL be more!! 

We went to Iowa during the time of Nicholas' first birthday to meet Great Grandpa Gary for the first time! It was so wonderful to meet everyone and see so much family! I loved being able to take these pictures!