Triple Berry Kale Salad

This salad found at How Sweet is filling, crispy, savory and a perfect way to start a new year!  It made enough for 4 adults with two smaller lunch portions the next day.

Ingredients

• • 2 heads of curly kale, leaves removed from stem and torn
  • 1 cup fresh tart cherries, pitted and sliced
  • 1 cup fresh blueberries
  • 1 cup fresh blackberries
  • 1 cup sliced fresh strawberries
  • 2 avocados, chopped
  • 2/3 cup chopped toasted almonds
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Fresh Strawberry Vinaigrette

• 3/4 cup sliced fresh strawberries
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 pinch pepper
• 1 pinch cinnamon

Combine all ingredients together in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.

Directions for Salad

1. Place kale in a large bowl, and add about 1/4 cup of the strawberry vinaigrette. Massage and rub dressing into kale with your hands, then let the kale sit for 5-10 minutes.
2. Add in salt, pepper, cherries, berries & almonds.  Mix until kale is coated with the dressing then add avocado and gently toss.

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Fresh Strawberry Watermelon And Red Grape Fruit Salad With Honey Lime Dressing

I made this ridiculously-named salad several months ago and just never took the time to post it.  It’ll be nice to have on hand next for Valentines day or a warm spring day!  The description of the recipe on Group Recipes literally made me laugh out loud when it suggested that it be served at your next yacht party!  If you have a yacht then, by all means, this would be the salad to serve.  It only makes sense.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds strawberries, hulled and sliced in half
• 1 bag seedless red grapes
• 1 small seedless watermelon, cut into bite sized pieces or use a melon baller

For Honey Lime Dressing

• 1/2 cup honey
• Fresh lime juice, enough to thin out honey to proper consistency to dress fruit
• about 10 fresh mint leaves, finely julienned

Directions

1. Combine all the chopped fruit in large bowl.
2. Pour honey into medium mixing bowl. Add lime juice, whisking into honey, until the honey loosens up enough. Toss in the mint.
3. Pour dressing over the fruit and lightly toss. Garnish with a few mint sprigs.

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Breakfast Quinoa with Strawberries and Bananas

The Parsley Thief offered up this tasty twist on quinoa and I l.o.v.e.d it!  Not only does it offer a carb-loaded breakfast, perfect before a long run, but it’s a welcome change from the usual granola.  It’s chewy and tender with a hint of sweet from the honey, has a light crunch from the berries and the smooth texture from the bananas is such a tempting combination for an early morning feast of champions!

Any kind of fruit would be tasty in this, depending on your mood (I’m a huge mood-eater!); blackberries, blueberries, apricots, apples etc.  Obviously you can substitute regular milk for any other variety that you prefer and if you want some extra protein, add some chopped almonds or pecans.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup quinoa (rinsed & drained)
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 tablespoon honey (or to taste)
• pinch of ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup mixed fresh berries
• 1/2 banana, sliced

Directions

1. Bring the milk and quinoa to a simmer in a saucepan over medium-high heat.
2. Reduce the heat to maintain a simmer, cover the pot, and cook until the quinoa is tender, and most of the milk has been absorbed {about 15 minutes}.
3. Remove from heat, and stir in the honey and cinnamon. Serve topped with fruit.

Serves 1-2 {depending on your appetite}

Adapted from Whole Living Magazine, September 2011

Raw Oatmeal Snacks

My middle child is the adventurous one.  The one with the messiest room, the sense of style that always surprises me and the one who loves to experiment in the kitchen.  Recipe cards?  Not on her watch!  Last night she wanted a snack so she set out to make granola bars and came up with this super healthy, very satisfying snack instead.

Her measurements did not include any cups or spoons, relying on her “sense of feel”, instead.  After eyeballing the bowl of goods, I estimated what was in there.  In the end you’ll want the balls to stick together as much as possible, though hers didn’t stick well – she grumbled through it though and after they were frozen they were the perfect texture,  chewy and sweet.

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup raw almonds
• 1 cup uncooked oats
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3 Tablespoons honey
• 8-10 dried apricots, finely chopped

Directions

1. In a food processor, process the almonds, oats and cinnamon until it’s very fine.
2. Pour into a bowl and mix honey and chopped apricots in.
3. Roll the mixture into balls teaspoon sized balls and carefully place in a freezer bag.  Freeze for 30 minutes or so until they’re firm.

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Fish Tacos with Grapefruit and Avocado Salsa

Foodie Bride offered these up and they’re just good, simple food; easy to throw together and the best part for me was the fact that I could wrap the leftovers, individually, in tin foil to heat in the oven the next day for lunch.   

Ingredients

• 1 large grapefruit, segmented and chopped
• 1 small avocado, diced
• 1/4 cup chopped red onion
• 1 Tablespoons lime juice
• 2 Tablespoons chopped cilantro
• 2 Tablespoons chopped jalapeno
• 1/2 large red bell pepper, chopped
• Salt and Pepper
• 1 lb. halibut filet (or your favorite white fish)
• small flour tortillas
• 5 Tablespoons Greek yogurt

Instructions

1. For the salsa, toss the grapefruit, avocado, red onion, lime juice, cilantro, jalapeno, red bell pepper, and a pinch of salt in a small bowl.
2. Heat the olive oil in a skillet pan and heat over medium-high.
3. Season filets with salt and pepper and cook 4 minutes each side, until the fish flakes easily and is cooked through.
4. Remove from the pan and flake with a fork.
5. Divide fish between the tortillas and top with salsa and a dollop of yogurt.

Berry Spinach Smoothie

I’d heard before that putting spinach in a smoothie is a great way to incorporate more of it into the diet.  I was skeptical because although I like spinach for a lot of things, the idea of putting it in my fruit-sweet smoothie didn’t appeal to me.  After being sick all week, any little bit of extra help getting better is worth the try!

Originally I left out the strawberries and I could taste enough of the spinach to know I wouldn’t finish the smoothie that way.  So I tossed a few in the blender and voila!  No more spinach flavor.  Yay, me!

I say a small handful of spinach because that’s just what I did.  Then I got worried that there may be some of you out there panicking right now at the idea of having to guess at the measurement.  It’s ok, I do it too.  So I went back to the bag of spinach, pulled out the same amount and counted the leaves.  Just for you.  Because I’m cool like that.  I counted 18 leaves.  So give or take, it’s a small handful.

Ingredients

• 1 medium orange, peeled
• 8-10 red seedless grapes
• 5 strawberries, hulled
• 4 heaping spoons full plain unsweetened yogurt
• 1/4 cup raw almonds
• 1/4 cup milk
• small handful baby spinach
• ice, as much or as little to get the texture you like

Directions (in case you’re uncertain how to make a smoothie)

1.  Pour everything into the blender and blend.

Banana Pudding Milkshake

I won’t name names, but someone just had to go and mention the fact that they had bought and fallen in love with, the new banana pudding milkshake Chic-Fil-A just came out with for spring.  If you know me at all you know I’m extremely susceptible to the suggestion of food and I’ve been craving that shake since!  I looked it up on their restaurant site and the list of ingredients is a mile long – some I couldn’t pronounce and others I’d have to look up in a dictionary to figure out what, exactly, it is.

I knew that I could come up with my own version and make it, while not healthy, definitely healthier.  You could also use the fat-free, sugar-free Jell-O but honestly, I don’t want to ingest aspartame any more than I want to ingest some of the restaurant ingredients.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups cold milk
• 1 small package (3.4 oz.) Jell-O instant banana cream pudding, divided in half
• 8 vanilla wafer cookies
• 1 ripe banana
• 1 cup ice

Directions

1. Put milk, half the package of pudding mix, banana and vanilla wafers in a blender and blend until smooth.
2. Add ice and blend until smooth.

This will make two smaller servings or if you’re like me, one large serving!

Broiled Grapefruit

If you haven’t noticed, Maynard is on Facebook with the rest of the human race!  Take a minute to Like Maynard and get updates right on your wall!

When I saw this recipe at Fitter than Choc, I knew I had to try it.  We all love grapefruit in my house and this is a tasty new way to enjoy it.  Try it for breakfast with some granola, for dessert with some good vanilla ice cream or a late night snack when you’re craving something sweet.

Ingredients

• 1 large grapefruit
• 2 teaspoons brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  

Directions

Pre-heat the broiler

1. Cut the grapefruit around the edge, just inside the peel, then trace each individual membrane of the grapefruit into segments.
2. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of brown sugar on each half, then sprinkle ground cinnamon and nutmeg on each half.
3. Broil the grapefruit, face up for 10-15 minutes, or until caramelized. 

Strawberry Mango & Avocado Salad

 

Recipe adapted from Pink Parsley

It’s definitely spring here in Texas and the thermostat hitting 80 degrees in my house today proves it!  No, I’m not ready yet to turn on the air conditioner so I threw together this spring salad instead of heating up the kitchen by cooking!  I paired it with grilled chipotle pork chops and dinner was done in less than 30 minutes.  Even my nine year old middle-child, who insists she hates mango, gobbled this up, admitting that this mango tasted better than her school’s.  I’ll take that as a compliment!

In case you’re not in the know, this is what I used to cut the mango, then I just scored both halves with a knife, both length and cross wise and scooped squares away from the skin and set the skin aside.

Ingredients

• 1 Tablespoon honey
• 1/2 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 2 Tablespoons orange juice
• juice of 1/2 lime
• pinch cayenne
• 4 mangos, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1 cup chopped strawberries
• 5 avocados, pitted and cut into 1-inch cubes

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the honey, vinegar, orange juice, lime juice and cayenne.
2. Toss with the avocado, strawberries, and mango, then allow to sit for at least 15 minutes.
3. Serve in the mango or avocado shells to be just a little less boring.  Top with a sprig of mint if you want to get real fancy!

Baked Pears

I wanted to start the 12 days of Christmas off with something fun for the kids, especially since “the gig” is up for my twelve-year-old daughter.  She’s had a hard time getting into the spirit this year and I knew this would set her in the mood for the holiday.

I wrapped each pear with gold ribbon and a Christmas tag, then set them inside a ramekin and put them at the kids’ places to be found this morning.  The tag read, “On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me a partridge in a pear tree.  Since we don’t have a partridge OR a pear tree, how about baked pears for breakfast instead?”.  Then “baked” the pears up quickly in the microwave.
You could easily place several in a baking dish and cook in the oven for 25-30 minutes, more if you want the pears even softer.  I used a melon baller to get the core out without massacring the pear.
Ingredients

• 1 pear, halved & cored
• 1/2 a lime
• 1 teaspoon unsalted butter, cut in half
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 teaspoon orange marmalade
• handful of blueberries
• handful of granola

Directions
1.  Place pears in ramekins and squeeze a little lime juice on each half.
2.  Put half the teaspoon of butter in each half of pear, then top with brown sugar, cinnamon, marmalade and blueberries.
3.  Cook on high between 2-4 minutes depending on how soft you want your pears.  Check after each minute, and drizzle the juices from the bottom of the dish over the pears to keep them from drying out.
4.  Remove from microwave (careful they’re HOT!) and drizzle juices again, the sprinkle granola over top and enjoy.