Blueberry Coconut Oatmeal Smoothie

I don't know about you, but I'm happy it's Saturday. 

I love my Saturday mornings and although part of it will be spent at Auditions this morning, I'm ready for a full afternoon to do as I please. I hope to bake something from my chocolate board, figure out physics (ugg, I've read the chapter a dozen times and have gone nowhere) catch up with some friends and get in a run. I do enjoy the weekends. Anything I do on the weekend seems extra, you know?  Bonus points ... I'm all about bonus points. You know what else I'm all about? ( I seriously need new transitions) Smoothies.  (P.S.  there are a lot of pictures in this post. Consider yourself warned.) 

Guys, I tried oats in my smoothie for the first time ever ... where has this been all my life?  It added so much "fill me up" and held me for hours longer than normal. That was something I had missed from my other smoothies.  

 

I know, I know, I could add flax and spinach and chia seed, but lets face it; I'm self conscious about oats in my smoothie, let alone kale and protein powder. My family isn't quite ready for all that other healthy power foods. I don't think they'll ever care and that's a-ok. It's nice not to have the pressure of eating right all the time.
 

 

In addition to oats, I also added coconut and coconut oil for some healthy fats. Works like a charm. And this smoothie tastes amazing, sweet, thick, creamy, coconut-y and fruity.  I was surprised by how much I liked the added texture in my smoothie. Smoothies are supposed to be smooth (hence the name ... I know, I'm smart that way;) but the heartiness of the oats blended with the yogurt was delicious.  As with all smoothies, feel free to adjust any measurements. Only use 1/4 cup oats got less texture, add more blueberries and yogurt for more body and stronger flavor, add
more milk to thin it out - its completely customizable!

 

 

I really appreciated how long this kept me full and fueled. For some of you, this may be old hat, but if its not, try it!  

 

Blueberry Coconut Oatmeal Smoothie 

Recipe Source: The Sweet {Tooth} Life 

Yield: 1 serving

1/3 cup quick oats 

3/4 cup vanilla yogurt (Greek or regular)

3 tablespoons milk

1 tablespoon coconut oil

1 cup frozen blueberries 

2-3 tablespoons coconut shreds 

In a food processor or blender, pulse oats a few times. Add milk, coconut oil, and yogurt and pulse again.  Finally, add blueberries and coconut shreds and blend until all the ingredients are blended well together. Serve immediately.

Related Recipes:

Skinny White Chocolate and Blueberry Milkshake

Blueberry Lemon Cottage Cheese Muffins

Homemade Blueberry Larabars 

Salad Saturdays: Crunchy Blueberry Orange Salad

How are you all?!  Did you have a good 4th of July?

Our family's celebration began when dad let us all have some money to go but fireworks. Some of us (aka Nathan, Stephen, and I) pooled to get two big ones, while Luke and the girls got lots of tanks, fountains, and little artillery shells or whatever they are called. We shot them off on the 3rd because not al of us would be there on the 4th.  Stephen and I spent the fourth at the lake and Nathan and Luke spent the fifth at the lake. It worked great!

 

I've told you all about my love for tubing with Gracie. This year was no exception. Aunt Maury whipped us, tossed us, and drive us through BIG waves to our hearts content. My parents and uncle are convinced we over tubed, but I don't think there is such a thing. May they fit the idea from our finger cramps. Or our raw elbows. Or our incredibly sore and stiff arms. Or maybe our legs. Oh yes, our legs. We rubbed them raw the first day. I mean, raw. Our thighs were bright red and looked like we had chicken pox. It wasn't pretty but I didn't care. :)

We both realized, but weren't willing to admit, that our legs would be on fire the next day when we tubed. While getting bags of ice  at the little lake store that morning with my aunt, Gracie saw some long socks for sale. She immediately said, "We can cut the toes off and pull them around our legs so it won't rub."  I was a little skeptical, my uncle told us we we were rocking the oh so versatile socking look, but man oh man did they work incredibly well. They were light weight, very soft, and skin tight, like spandex. Saved our legs for sure. Because it didn't rub, it didn't hurt. That day, it was really bumpy and the whole ride, we were bumping and flying. So much fun and so much hard work!  Hanging on for dear life would be an accurate statement, but giggles/squeals (depends on who you ask) would bely any unenjoyment. You must try it at least a dozen times in your life. Gracie wished it was an Olympic sport. I agree.

And we aren't done yet!  After I hit publish, we are headed back for the last day of our 4th of July celebration!

Crunchy Blueberry Orange Salad

Recipe Source: The Sweet {Tooth} Life

Yield: 1 serving

3/4 cup chopped lettuce

1/4 cup mandarin oranges

1/4 cup blueberries

1 tablespoon slivered almonds

2-3 tablespoons chow mien noodles

Creamy balsamic vinaigrette dressing 

Toss first five ingredients together. Drizzle with dressing and serve immediately. 

Red, White, and Blue Lemon Cream Tart

The Fourth of July makes me giddy.

{OH MY GOODNESS I CANNOT WAIT!}

Yeah, overly excited might be another word. 

For our family, we always go down to my grandparent's lake house and over several days, swim, splash, jet ski, tube, and eat more than should be legal.  It is too much fun and one of the highlights  of my year.  My cousins from Texas come up (GRACIE!!!) and we have traditions we always keep.  Like, we always have a play.  It used to be huge, that was all we thought about.  We even had scripts and tickets and signs.  Ironically, an on-the-fly rendition of the chicken dance has been the requested re-run from plays past. Although the last couple plays have been a lot less involved (we discovered the joy of tubing and well, that became our new favorite) we've always had some sort of play and a chicken dance.

And tubing . . . OH MY GOODNESS IT IS MY FAVORITE PART.  Gracie and me are the oldest cousins and thus, the first tubers.  We've gone through three tubes over the years.  We used to both sit in a tube and then we grew out of that one . . . and then another one . . . and now we actually ride a tube like you are supposed to.  Every year we scream and squeal and laugh until we can't breathe (which is really dumb, since we are in the middle of a lake) and recount feats from last year's tubing.  I remember conversations consistening of nothing but "We are going to die!" "I can't hold on!" "Oh no, oh no, oh no!" and so on, and then others about movies and career choices and whether root beer or coke is better.  My arms are usually sore, as are my hands from gripping the handles, but it is so much fun, we both could care less.  I love tubing.

And then the food!  We can put away food really well. Grilled foods are always on the table and fruit is everywhere, from strawberries to apples to the traditional watermelon. Last year, I brought a pound cake slathered in lemon whipped cream and fresh berries. It's been a family favorite since then. But this has joined ranks with the lemon/berry/summer desserts. This tart was picked by Abigail when I asked her and Elizabeth to look through my cookbooks in an effort to keep them quiet while I worked on a project. Abigail immediately found a peach and raspberry tart recipe. I altered it based on what we had and I loved how it turned out.

 

When I was photographing this yesterday, Nathan said,"You should bring this to the lake, Sis. It looks great for the 4th."  He's right!   It is so pretty and with the strawberries and blueberries, perfect for the Fourth of July. Feel free to use whatever berries you have on hand. Peaches, raspberries, maybe even fresh cherries?  The possibilities are only limited to your tastes and imaginations.  

The filling is slightly tangy, fresh and complimenting the buttery, crunchy crust and juicy berries. Seriously, me and my siblings kept slicing little slices off this tart until 3/4 of it was gone. It is so light and refreshing, it's so hard to stop eating. (OH MY GOODNESS GOOD)

Red, White, and Blue Lemon Cream Tart

Recipe Source:The Sweet {Tooth} Life. Adapted from Better Homes and Garden Cookbook

Yield: 12 servings

Crust:

1/2 cup finely ground pecans

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1 inch cubes

1/4 cup granulated sugar

Filling:

1/2 whipping cream

8 oz. low fat cream cheese, softened

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

1 and 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon lemon zest

Topping:

2 cups strawberries, sliced or chopped

1 cup blueberries

Preheat oven to 350.

In food processor, grind pecans until fine. (Not a paste though)  Add flour and sugar and pulse until combined. Add butter and process until mixture pulls into a ball.  Press mixture into bottom and up sides of a 10 or 11 inch tart pan. Freeze for 10 minutes. Bake for 15-18 minutes. Let cool on wire rack. (I letind cool for about 20 minutes.)

While the crust is baking, whip whipping cream until soft peaks form, usually 3-5 minutes.  Set aside. 

In another bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until fluffy. Add lemon juice, zest, and vanilla and beat again. Gently fold in whipped cream and if crust is not cooled yet, set in refrigerator until crust is cool. 

Once crust is cool, spread filling evenly on crust. Arrange strawberries and blueberries over filling. Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving. Refrigerate leftovers. 

Skinny White Chocolate and Blueberry Milkshake

Milkshakes are one of my favorite parts of summer.  Something about the cold and smooth drink makes me want more and more.  Their easiness to make doesn't favor moderaton at all.

But now easy is a good thing!  Becuase this milkshake is actually good for you!  And isn't pretty?

I wasn't feeling as gorgeous as this milkshake a couple days ago.  I wear contacts and for the first time ever, my eyes had been really bothering me. Since our trip, my right contact was constantly dry and sitting funny in my eye. Then, my left eye becomes red and bloodshot. So I had one eye that looked infected but didn't hurt and then another that looked fine, but hurt like crazy!  

My eye doctor gave me this new, involved cleaning system thingie and told me to limit my contact use. So for the past coupe days, I've been wearing my glasses. The thing about my glasses is that I bought them almost six years ago. They don't fit the way now that they did then!  Glasses are already more limited in vision than contacts, but mines are especially limited and I'm constantly cocking my head to weird angles to see things. 

So, I often take them off while listening to music or school readings. Now you have to understand, I have horrible vision. I mean, horrible. I NEED something to correct my eyes at all times I order to see. 

You know what realized when I wasn't wearing my glasses?  My vision was limited to a couple feet in front if me and  I was only concerned with what I could see.  It almost became like my own little world. 

The problem with that is, if I couldn't tell what someone's facial expression was while talking, why listen and try to discern if they were hurt or unhappy. I couldn't tell, so why bother. Or if my siblings were arguing about toys across the room, there was no need to offer to mediate, because I couldn't see what was going on, thus it didn't affect me.

Sometimes I wonder if I have another pair of glasses I can choose to put on. Ones that let me see the insecurity behind someone's actions. Ones that open my eyes to problems and hurt. Those aren't fun to wear, but I can't bless others when all I'm willing to see is what I want to. God calls us to share His love! I realized He has "glasses" He wants me to put on each day, ones of honesty, compassion, and humility.  

I was definitely challenged to expand my own little world. You may not guess it, but this milkshake was actually one of the ways I did that. You know how?

I don't like white chocolate.

I think it was because I first had it expecting it to live up to its name: chocolate. It didn't!  (It really isn't chocolate because there is no cocoa in it.  I guess the name "butter n' sugar wouldn't have flown as well.)  Also, I find it too sweet at times. 

However! This milkshake is amazing.  I actually liked the white chocolate flavor because it wasn't overpowering. Subtle, but in every slurp sip. 

And it is pretty darn healthy!  It's base is frozen bananas which in case you were wondering, doesn't taste like bananas. When foods are cold, our taste buds have a harder time tasting them. Between the milk and the vanilla AND the fact that frozen bananas seriously taste like ice cream, you don't have to worry about banana flavor. And since this has blueberries and bananas, you can treat yourself to a little "butter n' sugar."  It really  makes this special. Simple, healthy and no bake (duh, I know, but in this weather, a total plus!) makea this a wonderful summer treat!

 

Skinny White Chocolate and Blueberry Milkshake  

Recipe Source: The Sweet Tooth Life. Adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction

Yield: 2 servings 

 2 small bananas, mashed slightly and frozen 

1 tablespoon white chocolate chips

1 teaspoon vanilla 

1/3 cup milk 

1/2 cup blueberries 

Optional: blueberries and white chocolate chips for garnish. 

Melt white chocolate chips and set aside.    In a blender, blend bananas, vanilla, and milk until smooth. Add white chocolate and blend again. 

Divide between two parfait glasses. 

Purée blueberries until smooth and swirl through banana mixture. Sprinkle with white chocolate chips and blueberries , if desired. 

More cold drinks for hot weather?  Check out my creamy strawberry lemonade smoothie!  

Blueberry Banana Ice Cream

 . . . for breakfast.

Not kidding, you can have "ice cream" for breakfast. 

In truth, this isn't "ice cream" per se, but wow, is it an awesome runner up.  It is incredible what you can do with frozen fruit.  I have found this trick of this recipe is to use frozen bananas and frozen blueberries.  The bananas add creaminess strawberries can't and the blueberries are tart even when frozen, whereas most other fruits lose a lot of flavor when frozen. 

I used to think smoothies needed a lot of ingredients for depth of flavor and texture.  Uhhhh, no way, I was very wrong.   This smoothie/ice cream recipe uses three ingredients.  And two of them are fruit. 

Depending on how thick you want the end result (or how powerful your blender is) use anywhere from 1/4 cup to more than a cup of milk.  I don't measure, I just pour until I get the right consistency, but I'd say I use about 3/4 cup milk.  I've tried this with strawberries, peaches, and milk, and although it was good, it wasn't as sweet or creamy as I wanted.  So I have stuck with my blueberries and bananas.  I go through bananas even faster than I do cocoa powder.  Banana bread, smoothies, no bakes, agg!  They are waayyy too versatile for their own good sometimes.

Look how thick that is?  So delicious and refreshing.  I was actually hot outside!  Please warm weather, stay! 

We spent all afternoon hitting tennis balls against the garage, playing basketball, and drawing with chalk.  This is why we take our "summer break" in the spring - the weather is supposed to be perfect!  No matter how perfect the weather is, my tennis skills are horrible.  The ball has seen places it never thought it would - like the gutter for the 27th time and the trees by the fence, and the ground underneath the bush.  I quit before it became aquainted with the window and returned to the volleyball instead.  I am trying really hard this year to not hit anymore garage lights.  I have my half of the driveway where I've already broken two.  I felt really bad for doing it, mind you, and so I really have been careful!

Blueberry Banana Ice Cream

Embarrassingly simple, ridiculously delicious.

Yield: 1 big serving

1 banana, sliced and frozen

3/4 cup to 1 cup frozen blueberries

1/4 cup + milk

Add bananas and blueberries to Vita Mix and pour milk over.  Blend until smooth, adding more milk until desires consistency.

Notes: I wouldn't recommend refreezing, but if you do, thaw a little before eating.

Recipe source: The Sweet {Tooth} Life

Inspired by the One Ingredient Ice Cream.



Homemade Blueberry Larabars

I fell in love with Clif Bars, Larabars, and Power Bars last summer.  We were out of any kind of bars the other day and since we weren't going to the store, I rolled up my sleeves and plugged in the food processor and five minutes later, I got this.

 
Not the prettiest thing in the world, but don't judge a book by it's cover!   Hidden behind its seemingly unattractive appearance is a dense, sweet, blueberry packed homemade Larabar that is waaayyy cheaper than the ones at the store.

My goal was a homemade Clif Bar. Particularly the blueberry crisp ones. Mmmm, I love those. But as you can tell, I ended up with Larabars. (Can I just say, the ingredients list uses the smallest font and adds in all these little things that make it impossible to decipher? However I persevered and squinted my way through the back of the Clif bar wrapper.) Since it has been several weeks since I had a blueberry crisp Clif bar, I don't remember what it tasted like, but this Larabar is uh-mazing. Perfect for snacking. Oh, and even though I don't do gluten free or sugar free or something-free, these have no added sugar, for those who like that stuff. Nada, zilch, noodle.  And even though Larabars are for athletic moments, baking is hard . . . Have you ever had to climb the countertops before?Deserves a Larabar every now and then;) 

 

It's sweet and a little tart from the blueberries and has that thick chewy texture I love in date/nut bars.

You all shouldn't be surprised that I turned to my hard working food processor again! It grinds your dry ingredients and then blends in your wet ingredients. A plus to this already super duper recipe? Oh yeah, there are only four ingredients.

 

Blueberry Larabars
Yield: 4 generous sized bars

1/4 cup old fashioned oats
3 oz. almonds
6 oz. pitted dates (I like SunMaid)
1/2 cup blueberries

Cover dates with water and soak for 30 minutes. Grind oats and almonds until fine. Drain dates. Add dates and blueberries and process until it pulls into a ball. Remove and spread onto saran wrap. Cut into bars and serve or freeze until later.

Seriously, this is a dangerous recipe.  Done in less than five minutes and they are so addictive.  It is a good thing it doesn't make very many!  Store in refrigerator or freezer.

Recipe Source: The Sweet {Tooth} Life

My Crispy Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars are also quick, healthy snack bars!

 

And the Secret "Fudge Brownie" Bars also use dates!

It is important to feed our bodies nutritional things.  Blueberries, oats, almonds, and dates are nutritional, healthy things.  But at the same time, if you ate this entire recipe of healthy ingredients, it would be just as unhealthy compared to eating a brownie.  Anything out of moderation is unhealthy and I think a mindset can become skewed without that principle.  Branding a food as "bad" will only lead to guilt.  Balance and moderation are the keys.   Yes, I eat homemade Larabars and such, but I also love butter filled cookies and carb loaded rolls.  Is that bad?  Is it "unhealthy?"  It would be if I ate five rolls and nothing else . . . but I don't.  You don't have to only eat fruits and vegetables and low calorie foods to be healthy.  I think God gave is food because He wants us to enjoy it and be creative in ways of preparing it.  But He does want us to be good stewards of our bodies and make wise choices in what we choose to feed our bodies.

So once you've made it through my thoughts on that (right, wrong or otherwise) I guess the bottom line I was trying to say was healthy isn't a one fits all thing.  And healthy shouldn't be depriving oneself of something.  Healthy is taking care of the body God has given you so you can be physically equipped for what He wants you to do.  That is my opinion - It is such a broad and confusing subject to be honest - and I want to hear your opinions!

Blueberry Lemon Cottage Cheese Muffins

Hello March Madness!  I usually love this time of year.  Don't get me wrong, I am still cheering on my teams, but my teams left . . . are few.  What is up with all these double digit seeds beating the #3 and #4 seeds?  And my Jayhawks?  What a miserable game.  Letting a #16 seed play even with us was plain embarrassing.  But KU won and thats what counts.  They are about the only hope left in my busted bracket.  In case you were wondering, I did actually choose K-State to win their game.  And imagine that, in this rare moment of me wishing them success, they lose. Don't they understand the sacrifice it took for me to pick them?

But I did choose KU to win it all. :)

In our family, whoever wins the brackets gets to pick a meal.  We do the same for football bowl games.  And bragging rights are highly coveted here at our house.  (Can you tell we are sports people?)  Not to brag, but yours truly has gotten to choose many meals in years past.  And if I win again (even with my losing record, I am in second, but my chances of earning more wine are not likely!) these muffins will be on the table.

You know those crazy recipes that yield 8 muffins?  Or 13 servings?  I despise those.  What recipe makes 8 muffins?  People, we operate in dozens.  Oh and then there is 13 . . . I just don't bake with prime numbers!

Today is a recipe that has eight servings.  I know, I am sorry.  It wasn't supposed to be that way, but somehow I ended up with more batter than could fit into 6 muffin cups even after I sampled it a half dozen 13 times to make sure it tasted right.

I had never used cottage cheese in baked goods before.  But I've tried Greek yogurt and sour cream, girl, I use avocado with chocolate, so cottage cheese isn't that much of a stretch.  The light, fresh flavor of lemon is one of my favorites and I've been on a blueberry kick lately, so I decided to combine the two.

The cottage cheese makes these so tender so that the whole wheat's density isn't noticable.  And those blueberries bursting into lemony bread - the perfect balance of tart and sweet. As the girl's were sampling them, all I heard were "Yummm," "That's my crumb!" and "Let's pretend there were only seven, then we can split another."  Devious child  . . . takes after her older sister.

The food processor made this a breeze. Let me restate how much I love that kitchen appliance.  It took my clumpy cottage cheese and whoosh! blended it nice and smooth.  Then I just added my wet ingredients and pressed on!  Done.

Dry ingredients are easy peasy too.  Whisk those flours, salt, soda, and powder together and that bowl's done too.  Really simple, right?

Blueberry Lemon Cottage Cheese Muffins
Recipe Source: Loosely adapted from A Southern Fairy Tale
Yield: 8 muffins

1/2 cup whole wheat flour *
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup cottage cheese (I used low-fat)
2 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. applesauce
1 egg white
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup white sugar
zest from 1 lemon
3/4 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen (more to press on top of muffins if desired)

Preheat oven to 350.

Stir together flours, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon.  In a food processor, cream cottage cheese until smooth.  Add butter, applesauce, egg white, lemon, juice and vanilla.  Mix sugar and zest together and add to cottage cheese mixture.  Cream until smooth.  Pour cottage cheese mixture into dry ingredients and stir until combined.  Add blueberries.  Drop into 8 muffin cups and bake for 20 minutes.

*You can use 1 cup all purpose flour in place of the 1/2 cup whole wheat and 1/2 cup all purpose.

The zest is the key to that wonderful tart lemon flavor. Mixing it with the sugar gives it the balance of sweet and sour and complements the blueberries beautifully. If you happen to be blessed with leftovers, store in closed container so they stay moist. These are delicious in the morning . . . I'm already looking forward to tomorrows breakfast!

Okay, so you may be thinking, "Those cupcake liners look just like the one's in Chloe's post!"  Ding, ding, ding, you're right!  They are the same liners and my pics from that day of baking and photo shooting are  below.  I really enjoyed the darker wood at their house and how it contrasted with the cream icing.  Oh, and those pearls?  Aren't they UH-DORABLE?  Credit goes to Chloe!  And yes, I am a barabaric toothpick stabber.  I prefer toothpick terror, personally, but all I know is waitresses beware!