Month: March 2016

A Smoothie Green St. Patrick’s Day to You

~ agustinaskitchen ~ Leave a comment

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day!! On St. Patrick’s Day everyone is Irish!  Except, I didn’t wear green.  Nope.  Every year I “forget” to wear green.  Mostly I’m too lazy.  You see, I don’t have a lot of green in my wardrobe.  I just don’t.  Don’t judge.  Maybe next year, alright?

That said, I always love to consume something green or “Irish” on this fun day!  Today it was so incredibly hot out, that by the time we got home this afternoon, all I wanted was a smoothie.  Do you remember making smoothies on hot summer days when you were a kid?  I would make my smoothies with strawberries, milk, and ICE CREAM! And I called it a smoothie!? More like a milkshake!  So, I made myself a smoothie sans all the dairy…

I pulled these ingredients right out of my fridge, and within minutes voila!  What I most like about this smoothie, is that the banana really masks the spinach, yet you still get all the great health benefits of the spinach.

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INGREDIENTS:

1 1/4 c. ice

1 large banana

2 large handfuls of fresh spinach

3/4 c. almond milk

INSTRUCTIONS:

I always put all the ingredients in the blender in that order. And give it a good long blast until it’s smoothie delicious! Pour it into a fancy schmancy glass. Add a straw and enjoy!

*Makes about 2 cups

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Pecan Chocolate Chip Banana – nana Bread

~ agustinaskitchen ~ Leave a comment

 

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Here’s the deal: I thought I had a great “banana bread” recipe.  I thought I had that one figured out.  But no.  No, I didn’t.  Until tonight that is.  Tonight, my husband devoured this within minutes of its debut.  Thereby demolishing any need to cook dinner.  So, I popped open a bottle of this William Hill Chardonnay and drank it with banana bread.  Banana bread and Chardonnay? Strange.  Very strange.  But so good.

I took this recipe from Home Baked Comfort by Kim Laidlaw for Williams Sonoma and made my own pecan and chocolate chip additions… check it out.

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups of all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp grated nutmeg

3 ripe, large bananas, smashed

2 large eggs (room temperature)

1 cup of firmly packed dark brown sugar

1/4 cup sour cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

4 tbsp of unsalted, melted butter

1/2 cup of chopped pecans

1/4 cup of milk chocolate chips

INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. Heat oven to 350. Butter and very  lightly flour two 9×5 loaf pans.
  2. In a large-ish bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon,  and nutmeg.
  3. In a mixer (or large bowl) mix together the bananas, eggs, brown sugar, sour cream, vanilla and melted butter.
  4. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the mixer or bowl with the wet ingredients.
  5. Stir in the chopped pecans and chocolate chips.
  6. Divide the batter between the two buttered and floured loaf pans.
  7. Bake about 35 minutes, give our take a few minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the loaf comes out clean.
  8. Let cool, then proceed to devour.

 

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