Peanut-Banana Espresso Smoothie

This week I'm back with another recipe I discovered via Pinterest. This is a smoothie from Martha Stewart that had somehow escaped my notice until we crossed paths on Pinterest. I gave it a shot one weekend morning when Josh was out of town. I didn't want to make coffee for one, but I definitely still needed to get a caffeine wake-up call. I thought this might be just the time to try this espresso laced sip. I whipped up a half-batch in my blender, as this recipe serves 2 and as I mentioned I was sipping solo that morning. This is certainly not low on calories, what with the peanut butter, but with the addition of the banana and milk it's full of protein that kept me full and gave me plenty of energy. I used soy milk for my version, since that's what we keep around the house. I figure after that substitution that this hits the mark around 280 calories, which is just under my typical breakfast count so not too shabby on the whole. The espresso definitely provided the perk I was looking for. And on top of everything I've gone on and on about- it tastes great! The combined smooth and creamy flavors of banana, peanut butter, and the rich, almost chocolatey espresso are delicious together. This is a great alternative to the typical fruity-sweet smoothies, and can step in for your coffee and your cereal all in one!

Peanut-Banana Espresso Smoothie
Adapted from Martha Stewart; Recipe serves 2

1 cup plain soy milk
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
1/4 cup natural creamy peanut butter
1 ripe banana, cut into thirds
1 cup ice

• Blend soy milk, espresso powder, peanut butter, banana, and ice. Enjoy!
  

Strawberry Shortstack

We had a pretty lazy day for July 4th. We slept in late, and lounged around a little bit before we made a quick trip to the store for cat food. While there I grabbed some pretty strawberries that were on sale, along with some heavy cream and a pint of vanilla ice cream. I wasn't 100% sure what I was going to do with them, I figured some kind of dessert. But then when we got home and I spied the 4 leftover pancakes from Monday night's dinner sitting in the fridge. And that's when I decided to create the Strawberry Shortstack. I made some whipped cream- 1 cup heavy cream, 1 tablespoon white sugar, 1/2 tablespoon powdered sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon Mexican vanilla. I popped that in the fridge and tossed my pancakes into a 350 degree oven to warm, only takes a few minutes. I cleaned and sliced my strawberries, and the blueberries I had leftover from the blueberry muffins while I was at it. Once all my ingredients were prepped I spread whipped cream on one pancakes, layered it with strawberries and then repeated with the second pancake. And of course I had to give it a little Independence Day flair! And to go with our Strawberry Shortstack I blended up some blueberry smoothies- 1 cup vanilla yogurt, 1 banana, and 1 cup blueberries. Mmmmm!

Berry, Berry Good

Saturday morning I got up bright and early to tidy up the kitchen and get to work on some breakfast. I found a nice new blog this week, Checkered Napkins, and discovered a nice new muffin recipe through it. I was pretty excited to try this muffin recipe out because it made good use of the white whole wheat flour I have had since my unsuccessful attempt at baking bread. I've also never done anything with fresh blueberries, but they are one of Josh's favorite things. It was really nice to be able to tell him when he got up that there were blueberry muffins in the oven.

100% Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins
Recipe from Checkered Napkins; Makes 1 dozen
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups white whole-wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon zest
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup fresh blueberries (frozen will work too)

• Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners. Mix together dry ingredients and lemon zest. In another small bowl, whisk together wet ingredients. Make a well in the dry and add the wet. Stir until just combined. The batter should be thick but still wet. Add a little more milk if it seems too dry. Stir in blueberries, and divide among muffin cups.
• Bake at 425 degrees for about 15 minutes.

My notes: These muffins aren't overly sweet, allowing you to taste more of the lemon and blueberry. White whole wheat is a fabulous flour because you are getting all the nutritional value, without the often overpowering flavor of whole grains. I think I'll be making some more of these very soon.

Sunday morning I wanted to have a nice smoothie. I hadn't made smoothies before, but had been thinking about them for quite awhile, ever since I saw them showing different smoothie ideas on Real Simple. I went with the basic smoothie recipe, adjusting for what I had on hand. And I enjoyed it with the muffins I made the morning before.

Raspberry Banana Smoothie

1/2 cup orange juice
1 banana
1 cup frozen raspberries

Put all ingredients in blender, juice first. Blend for 1 minute and serve. Makes 2 small or 1 large smoothie.