Tropical Smoothie

I frequently just toss things in the blender to make smoothies, but I don't usually post them on the blog. My one year old is currently obsessed with just about any fruit concoction that I put in the blender, so I've been making more of them lately. I *really* liked this one and decided that I wanted to share it.

The first thing I want to mention is to never, ever throw away bananas that are getting brown. If you think that they are too mushy and are considering tossing them, don't! Unpeel them and put them in a ziplock bag and stick them in the freezer! They are absolutely perfect to use in a smoothie.

Tropical Smoothie
(makes 2 large smoothies)

• 1 frozen banana (or fresh)
• 3 cups watermelon, cubed
• 1/2 cup strawberries, quartered
• 1/2 cup blueberries
• 8 ice cubes
• 3 scoops Edy's Limited Edition Coconut & Pineapple ice cream

Place ice on the bottom and then cover with the fruit. Top with the ice cream and pulse until combined.

(this stuff is amazing!)

I drank mine out on the deck while I watched Isabella play golf. She wanted to show off her newly acquired skills.

Enjoy!!!!

Tropical Green Monster and Watermelon Goat Cheese Salad

Today was definitely a day of experimenting. I am a pretty avid food blog reader. I just love seeing the creativity in exciting dishes I've never tried and even in the most simple things I've had a million times that have been recreated. First we'll talk about the "green monster". I've tried to make a green drink before and I was so totally grossed out by it that I hadn't mustered up the strength to do it again until now. I know EXACTLY why I hated the first one I made. There was a lot of parsley in it. That's right, I said PARSLEY. This was a Dr. Oz green drink and it was not very good. Parsley is supposed to be an anti-inflammatory and inflammation is not a good thing in our bodies. I use parsley all the time in my cooking and love it! When you take parsley in bulk and blend it into a fruity drink it was not a marriage made in heaven. *gag* I decided to give it another shot after a little reading on "GreenMonsterMovement.com", which you can visit by clicking HERE. You can imagine my excitement when I realized that the website was actually run by Angela from "Oh She Glows", a blog that I have been reading for quite a while and absolutely adore!! Please check out Angela's blog by clicking HERE sometime, she is fantastic. I browsed through so many different variations of the "green monster" and decided that I NEEDED to try it again. There was no method to my madness. I simply grabbed every fruit I loved in my house and tossed it in with some baby spinach, crushed ice and a lemon Chobani yogurt (my current favorite).

Tropical Green Monster
(serves 2)

• 2 handfuls baby spinach
• 3/4 cups crushed ice
• 1 lemon Chobani yogurt
• 1/2 a banana
• 1/3 cup fresh blueberries
• 1/2 cup crushed pineapple with the juice
• 1 cup cubed watermelon

I put the spinach on the bottom and then piled everything else on top of it to give the blender a little extra help. Just a quick run on the smoothie cycle of my blender and my "green monster" was complete. I was terrified at the look of this drink, but it was so.stinkin.good! I am definitely a fan and I can't wait to make some more variations! Thanks, Angela!

Next I moved on to this lovely little watermelon goat cheese salad. I know what you must be thinking....why in the world would you put watermelon and goat cheese together in a salad?!? Let me just tell you that this was OUT OF THIS WORLD amazing! I guess I should preface this by saying that I am a huge fan of goat cheese...well, any cheese really, but goat cheese in particular is one of my favorites! Imagine a salad made with peppery arugula, sweet watermelon and then crumbles of smooth and tangy goat cheese. All I can say is O-M-G was it good. I topped it off with a simple balsamic dressing, but next time I think I will use this citrus vinaigrette that I saw a recipe for earlier today. If you want to check it out, you can find it HERE.

Watermelon Goat Cheese Salad

• 2.5oz baby arugula
• 1 cup cubed watermelon
• 1oz (or more if you love it as much as I do) goat cheese
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• kosher salt & pepper to taste

Layer the arugula with the watermelon and goat cheese on a nice big plate. Whisk together the balsamic, olive oil, rice vinegar and garlic. This recipe makes quite a bit of dressing, so you can save the rest for another day :)

Enjoy!!

Crescent Roll Ups and a Skinny Sharkarita

There are a million things you can do with crescent rolls. Savory and sweet treats work wonderfully with them. Tonight I just threw these together on the fly and we loved them! Super easy and yummy!

I'll bet you are wondering what in the world a Skinny Sharkarita is. Skinny Girl Margarita's are pretty much one of my favorite things right now. An all natural, low calorie margarita?!?!? Yes, please! As for the "shark" portion of this drink, I was watching a mixology show on tv and heard about something called "Sharkwater". It is a tropical liqueur and once I heard about it I had to buy it and give it a try. Although I must warn you, I got quite a few weird faces when I asked multiple liquor stores if they sold "Sharkwater". They literally looked at me like I was crazy. I eventually had to go online to their website HERE and put my zipcode in to find out who sold it near me. I am always looking for another variation with my Skinny Girl Margarita, so I had to make a little combo with it tonight and see what I could come up with. First I tried the Sharkwater on its own. I have to tell you that I was not overly impressed, it is SUPER sweet! I didn't really get the tropical flavor that I was expecting, but I figured I could work with it. In the end the drink turned out really good and I was happy with it. I think next time I will bump up with number of strawberries that I used and increase the pineapple juice a little to give it more of a tropical kick. Have fun with it and see what you can come up with!

Crescent Roll Ups

• 1 package of refrigerated crescent roll dough (I used the reduced fat variety)
• 1 jar roasted red peppers (you will not need the whole thing, maybe 1 1/2 roasted peppers)
• 8-15 teaspoons mozzarella cheese (depending on how much cheese you like)
• 1 tablespoon melted butter
• garlic salt
• pepper
• parsley

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Unroll the dough and separate into the pre-cut sections. Cut the roasted red pepper into slices and dab with a paper towel to remove any excess liquid. Place a piece of pepper on each crescent roll and then sprinkle with 1-2 teaspoons of mozzarella cheese. You don't want too much cheese so it oozes out everywhere; use more or less cheese depending on the piece of dough you are working with.

Roll the crescent rolls starting at the widest end and press the edges together to keep the cheese and pepper from poking out.

Brush each of the rolls with the melted butter and then sprinkle with a generous amount of garlic salt, pepper and parsley.

Bake for 10 minutes, or until lightly golden brown.

Skinny Sharkarita

• 6oz Skinny Girl Margarita
  
• 3oz Sharkwater
  
• 2 cups ice
• 6 strawberries (stems removed)
• 2 tablespoons crushed pineapple + 2 tablespoons pineapple juice

Place everything in the blender and use the ice or smoothie setting. I usually use pre-crushed ice from the freezer to help it along a little so the blender doesn't have so much work to do. Serve with a fresh strawberry. This should make 2 (maybe 3) nice size drinks.

Enjoy!!!

Witches Brew

I have been the worst blogger EVER in the last two days. From the moment I opened my eyes today I was running around like a crazy person! I didn't even remember to take a picture of my baked ziti with eyeballs!??!?? I do have a far away shot of this witches brew that was a big hit with all the kids. Make sure to serve it up in a punch bowl or a decorative halloween bucket!

Witches Brew

• 1 gallon orange juice
• 1 2 liter bottle 7 Up
• 1 half gallon sherbert (I decided to use one that had lemon, orange and lime sherbert)
• ice block worms *click link to see how to make these. (optional)
  

You really don't need to measure this out. It is basically around 70% orange juice and the rest 7 Up and then just scoop the sherbert into the punch bowl and float the ice block worms in the middle.

Frozen Hot Chocolate

Just hearing the words "Frozen Hot Chocolate" reminds me of one of my favorite movies of all time, Serendipity. Besides being an incredible movie, it introduced millions to the infamous cafe in New York City "Serendipity". They are best known for their frozen hot chocolate that was featured in the movie. I must warn you that eating this could very likely turn you into an addict, which might lead to a few extra inches on the thighs. It really is like heaven in a cup.

Frozen Hot Chocolate

• 6 half-ounce pieces of your favorite chocolate (I went with a Ghirardelli chocolate bar)
• 2 teaspoons store bought hot chocolate mix
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 3 cups crushed ice
• whipped cream (optional)
• shaved chocolate (optional)
• chocolate syrup (optional)

Chop the chocolate into small pieces to expedite the cooking process.

Place the chocolate in the top of a double boiler over simmering water and stir until melted.

Add the sugar and cocoa mix and stir until completely incorporated.

Remove from the heat and mix in 1/2 cup of the milk. Set aside and allow to come to room temperature (this shouldn't take long if the milk is cold).

In a blender, add the rest of the milk (1 cup), ice and the chocolate mixture. Blend until no large chucks of ice remain. If you have an ice maker on your refrigerator, I suggest using crushed ice in the blender. It works much faster and doesn't bog down the blender.

Drizzle some chocolate syrup around the inside of your glass.

Pour the frozen hot chocolate in the cup and top with whipped cream and chocolate shavings.

Enjoy!!!!!

Adapted from: Frozen Hot Chocolate