Healthy Shakes

I love milkshakes--always have. They are my favorite way to eat ice cream. As a teenager I'd love to take vanilla ice cream and blend it with canned peaches for a super easy treat.

So how do you make a milkshake healthy? This is even dairy free, if you want--yes, that sounds like a contradiction. You use frozen bananas. Anytime your bananas are too ripe for eating (unless you're making banana bread), peel them, break them into about 3 chunks, and put them in a freezer baggie. To make your shake, fill your blender with frozen banana chunks--the bulk of your shake. Then let them thaw on your counter for 10 minutes or so. Add a little liquid (almond milk or whole milk is what I always have on hand) and whatever mix-ins you want, and blend it. It's ice cream consistency so much healthier.

I often do this chocolate one:
frozen bananas, almond milk, unsweetened cocoa powder and peanut butter or pb powder
OR
flavor your frozen bananas with whatever fruit you have available. If using a tart berry, add a little honey ;)

Come to think of it, I haven't tried it with peaches yet. I need to get on that.

Apple Muffins

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Makes 12 muffins.

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter (or half butter, half oil)
¾ cup white sugar
2 eggs

1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla
2  cups chopped apples

Bake 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Let sit 5 min. before removing from pan. Cool on a wire rack.

Roasted Roots

I've made this enough that I need to put it on the blog. I love this way of getting my vegetables in the winter. You can do any combination of veggies. I've done regular potatoes for my kids who don't like sweet potatoes, I've done Brussels sprouts (they might not need to cook as long as other things), and Karin has done kale. Karin says to add summer sausage to make it a meal.

½ lb. sweet potatoes
5 carrots/parsnips (a combination) scrubbed and cubed
1 red onion peeled and cut into wedges (I've done sweet regular onion too)
1-2 turnips peeled and cut into cubes or wedges
2 beets peeled and cut into cubes or wedges
5+ cloves of garlic (up to a whole head) peeled, and halved
2 Tablespoons fresh thyme, minced
2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, minced
3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Place potatoes, carrots, parsnips, turnips, and red onions in a large bowl and toss together.
3. With the side of a knife, gently smash each clove of garlic and add it to the bowl of vegetables.
4. Add the herbs and olive oil to the vegetables and generously season with salt and pepper.
5. Pour the seasoned vegetables onto a large roasting pan and spread in a single layer.
6. Roast vegetables in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes or until golden brown. (Gently stirring the vegetables halfway through the cooking time) Serve.

Six Small Loaves French Bread

4 1/2 cups warm water
4 1/2 TB sugar
3 TB yeast

3 tsp salt
1/2 cup olive oil (plus 1 TB more?)
2 eggs
12-15 cups flour

Let bread rise.

Form 6 loaves (about 1 lb. 1-2 oz each) on 2 cookie sheets. Cover with sprayed plastic wrap and let rise again. I like to bake both cookie sheets at the same time with my speed bake (like convection) setting at 380 degrees.

The first time I made them this way and took them for an extended family dinner, they all thought that I'd bought the bread. I had brushed the loaves with olive oil mixed with a homemade garlic bread sprinkle after forming the loaves.

Hummus

Garbanzo beans in the crockpot:

7 cups water
1 pound dried chickpeas, sorted and rinsed
1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Place the water, chickpeas, and baking soda in a 2 1/2-quart slow cooker. Cover and cook on high heat for 4 hours, or low heat for 8 to 9 hours, or until tender. Drain and serve immediately, or use in desired dish. Makes enough for over 2x the hummus below.

Hummus:

3 cups cooked and drained well garbanzo beans (you can used canned)

1/4 c. lemon juice

3/4 c tahini, creamy (1/2 c is also ok, since it's expensive)

2 TB soy sauce

1 TB olive oil

2 tsp cumin powder

1 1/2 tsp minced garlic

3/4 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Blend in food processor. Add water in small amounts until smooth.

Also, if you want it really yummy, roast 2 red bell peppers and add that to the food processor (cut them in half and roast in 400 degree oven until soft and a little black on outside). When my kids first tried this they said it tasted like C*fe Rio's queso.

I divide it in 3 portions and freeze 2 of them in freezer jam containers for later.

Chocolate Snowball Candy Cane Kiss Cookies

These are an excellent chocolate cookie--scroll down to the bottom of the page at the link--even without the peppermint kisses. You could add any kind of kiss you wanted to mix it up--almond or caramel kiss would be yummy! Also, when I put the kisses on after only 3 minutes of the cookies cooling down they melted to a peppermint puddle. It was better for me to wait 6 min.

An added bonus to these are that they are so pretty!

Coconut Chicken Curry

We have this recipe often when the kids are gone. It involves no funny fishy ingredients and yet is more exotic than the kid-friendly fare we have every other night. I like to buy a small case of lite coconut milk whenever I see it on sale.

Saute:
2 TB olive oil
1 white onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed

Add and cook up:
1 pound chicken, chopped

Add these and simmer, stirring occasionally, 30 min or until cauliflower is tender:
1 small head cauliflower, chopped
2 TB curry powder
1 tsp garlic salt
1 (14 oz) can unsweetened coconut milk (I use lite)
1/3 cup chicken stock/broth (or more, whatever)
salt and pepper to taste

Awesome optionals:
baked potato, cubed (or do half cauliflower pieces and half potato pieces)
cashews
golden raisins
brown sugar, lime juice, cayenne (some reviewers add but I usually don't)



*To duplicate the yellow curry from the Thai restaurants, I do potatoes and carrots and big chunks of onions instead of the cauliflower. Then add some cream at the end. I want to try lemongrass (maybe ginger too?) in it. Hans is against fish sauce, and we have a lot of regular curry powder to use up, so excuse our un-authentic-ness (that's a word, right?).