The Perfect Strawberry Smoothie

I know, I know.  The title seems pretty dramatic: The Perfect Strawberry Smoothie.  You may ask yourself, how could she possibly know how to make the perfect strawberry smoothie?  Well, let me tell you.  I've been making smoothies on a regular basis for around 3 years now.  Of all the smoothies I've made (apple cinnamon, blueberry, pumpkin pie, etc.) strawberry is by far my favorite.  I've looked at many recipes on Pinterest with varying ingredient amounts and I've been playing around with the ratios of different ingredients ever since.  I usually just eyeball the amount I put in the smoothie, but today I measured it out so that everyone can enjoy the perfect fluffy strawberry smoothie that I've discovered.

The Perfect Strawberry Smoothie

makes ~3 servings

You'll need:
2 cups frozen strawberries
1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 Tbsp. plain yogurt
1 Tbsp. huckleberry honey

These are the ingredients I use.

The Perfect Strawberry Smoothie.

Get out a food processor or high power blender.  Put all of the ingredients in, in the order they are listed.  (It's important to put the honey in last, if you don't it will stick to the bottom of the processor and not mix in.)  Cover the processor (if your lid doesn't seal tightly I highly suggest covering it with a small towel as the milk is sure to spray everywhere).  Blend on high for 1 minute.  You'll want to do the full minute so that it blends some air in and gives it that extra fluffiness.  Pour into a glass and enjoy immediately.

I usually make too much of this recipe, since only Ethan and I are around to have some, that leaves 1 extra serving.  I store mine in a jar in the fridge; it'll be good for 2-3 days.  Make sure you shake it up before you drink it though because the fruit juices tend to separate out into a bottom layer.

Note: If you like denser smoothies then use less milk; if you like liquid-ier smoothies then use more milk.  Just figure out what ratio is your favorite.

Who can guess what this is?

Vanilla Coffee Creamer

In my post yesterday I mentioned a new recipe I tried for coffee creamer.  I found it in Pure Vanilla by: Shauna Sever.  This book is so amazing, I read it like a novel from cover to cover.  I highly recommend checking it out.  If you don't want to go out and buy it, you could probably borrow it from your local library.  That's where I found the copy that I read.  Now this book focuses on vanilla as the central flavor to each recipe.  But, the coffee creamer recipe is very versatile.  If you want a different flavor, just add any extracts or spices your heart desires from cinnamon to almond extract.  You only need 3 ingredients to make this: 1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk, 1 1/2 cups milk, half-and-half, or heavy cream (I used 2% organic milk), and 1 whole vanilla bean, spit lengthwise.  You need to combine all of these simple ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat.  Take the pan off the burner when it starts steaming (don't let it start to simmer!) and then cover and let sit for 15 minutes.  Make sure you strain it, so you don't get vanilla bean chunks, when you put it in your storage container.  I put mine in an old honey jar!  It keeps for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator and the recipe makes about 2 cups of creamer.

Vanilla coffee creamer.

Now I don't drink coffee, but my husband has at least one cup every day.  I don't think I ever want to go back to buying coffee creamer.  Have you ever read the ingredient labels on one of those fancy flavored creamers?  There are WAYYY too many obscure things in there.  This recipe is short and sweet; it gets right to the point.  Who doesn't love that?

Interested in learning more about vanilla and all of the different varieties produced in the world?  Check out Pure Vanilla by: Shauna Sever.  It's part recipes, part personal experience, and part vanilla history.  It's a great read!

Vanilla biscotti recipe from the same cookbook.

Kale Krazy

So, one of the things I enjoy doing is cooking.  I like to try new recipes and see if I can make something tasty from a pile of assorted ingredients.  I love Pinterest because of this.  I have found probably 80% of the recipes I use on a regular basis on Pinterest.  Don't get me wrong, I have a whole shelf of cookbooks that I flip through and use occasionally as well.  But, Pinterest has my heart when I comes to finding just the perfect recipe.  So, this cooking extravaganza involved kale.  I recently bought a share in a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) and I've been getting kale for weeks.  I know this is horrible to say, but I threw out almost all of the kale the past two weeks.  What can I say?  I tried it once and thought it was too horrendous a vegetable to ever subject myself to that bitterness again.  But, I was determined not to waste any more of my locally grown produce.  Thus began yesterday with a search on Pinterest.  I found 4 recipes and things went haywire from there.  When I cook, I tend to not stop.  For hours.  Until I can't stand any longer.  Yesterday, I cooked for around 5 and a half hours nonstop.  So....this is how I came to make everything pictured as well as a couple of dishes not pictured.  Here is a list of everything I made with my kale and with ingredients I had left over from the kale recipe: sweet potato kale and quinoa fritters, kale and quinoa patties, quinoa and tofu stir fry, quinoa and cucumber salad (with grapes), kale and potato hash, kale one pot pasta, vanilla coffee creamer, and white chocolate chip cookies.  Okay, so the last two had nothing to do with kale.  But, I can only go so many days without cookies and I had to try the coffee creamer recipe (which I actually found in a cookbook!), tutorial to come at a later date if anyone is interested.

Sweet potato kale and quinoa fritters.

Vanilla coffee creamer.

Potato and kale hash.

Sweet potato kale and quinoa fritter mixture.

Kale and quinoa patty mixture.

Cucumber and quinoa salad (with grapes).

Verdict?

All of the dishes turned out as good as I could have hoped for.  I wasn't a huge fan of the hash (it had a lot of horseradish in it), it was a bit too strong for me.  The fritters and patties are my favorites.  The stir fry and salad are good too.  The stir fry is a bit better than the salad, just because I think the salad needed some salt or soy sauce to add a little flavor. The pasta dish is okay, but the kale is a bit too obvious when I eat it, so it's not my favorite.  My husband loves the coffee creamer and according to him this batch of cookies was "the best you've ever made."  So those both turned out great.  If anyone is interested in a link to any of these recipes that I got from Pinterest just leave a comment and I'll make sure to send you the link.  Happy kale cooking everyone!