Smoothie Fun

Tags

breakfast, comfort food, cooking, easy, food, fruit, fun, green, health, healthy, smoothie, snack, snacks, wellness, yummy

I have recently been trying to focus my energy on planning meals, and eating out less to save some money. Quitting my job to teach yoga full time has been quite the challenge on my budget, so being more frugal with groceries is a huge help. I have started to drink more smoothies for snacks in between meals or including one with breakfast or lunch. I have even had success making some in advance and keeping them stored in mason jars (my new favorite thing!) and they actually taste great the next day and super cold!

Berry Smoothie

• 2 cups of spinach (fresh and washed)
• 2 cups of Almond Milk (unsweetened)
• 1 cup of strawberries (fresh or frozen)
• 1 cup of blueberries (fresh or frozen)
• 1 banana

Mix altogether in blender and enjoy. Tip: blend liquid and greens first, then add in fruit. Also having one frozen item will make the smoothie nice and chill to drink right away!

Orange Ya Glad Smoothie

• 2 cups of spinach (fresh and washed)
• 1 cup Almond Milk (unsweetened)
• 3-4 oranges peeled
• 1 Banana

Blend all together and enjoy!

Peachberry Smoothie

• 2 cups spinach (fresh and washed)
• 2 cups of water
• 1 cup strawberries (fresh or frozen)
• 1 banana
• 1 orange
• 2 cups of peaches (fresh or frozen)

Blend everything together and enjoy over ice, or add frozen fruit as ice cubes!

Green Machine Peach Smoothie

• 2 cups spinach (fresh and washed)
• 2 cups of water (or coconut water)
• 2 cups of peaches (fresh or frozen)
• 1 banana

Blend all ingredients together.

 

Let me know what your favorite is ❤

Love and Light

Veggie Ash

Easy Chia Breakfast Cup

Tags

breakfast, chia seeds, comfort food, easy, food, fruit, fun, health, healthy, snack, sweets, vegetarian, wellness, yummy

I am horrible when it comes to eating breakfast, I either don’t have anything, or just inhale any leftovers in my fridge. A friend of mine told me about these chia breakfast cups that she made, and they sounded so easy and delicious I had to try them. The journey then began to find mason jars to put my overnight chia seeds in, let me tell you the journey is still going for them. I eventually found some singles at Michael’s, they have been doing the trick until Canadian Tire gets restocked on the 12 pack of ones I want!

Here’s what you need to get started:

• Mason Jar (or something to let the mix sit overnight in)
• 3 tablespoons of chia seeds
• 1 cup of non dairy milk (I use vanilla coconut milk)
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 – 3 teaspoons of honey, maple syrup or agave nectar (I used honey)
• Your choice of fresh fruit, granola and or brown sugar for topping it off

Directions

• Mix the chia seeds, non dairy milk, vanilla extract and your choice of sweetener in the mason jar, stir until you get a good consistency (no clumps of the chia seeds)
• Put in fridge overnight or for at least 2-3 hours, during this time the chia seeds will expand and you will get a thicker consistency
• Open, stir and top with your favorite fruit, granola and brown sugar!
• Enjoy

Note: My favorite combination so far has been chia seeds, vanilla coconut milk, vanilla extract, honey, strawberries, blueberries, black berries, vanilla granola and a sprinkle of brown sugar! I have also gotten in the habit of making three or four at once to make life a little easier if I need an extra one for a snack 🙂

Veggie Ash

Oreo Cheesecake Cookies

Tags

baking, cookies, cooking, food, oreo, oreo cheesecake cookies, sweets

Whenever I am going to a party or heading away for a weekend, I am always asked to bring my Oreo Cheesecake Cookies! They are becoming quite the hit. I stumbled upon them on Pinterest one day and have played around with the recipe a little bit.

Try them out and see how many you eat, and how many friends and family are begging for the recipe.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup of unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1/3 cup of cream cheese at room temperature
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1 cup of flour
• 1/2 cup of mini semi sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup of Oreo cookie crumbs

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees, line cookie trays with parchment paper

2. Cream together butter and cream cheese on a medium speed until smooth

3. Then you add in sugar and vanilla extract to the mix until everything is combined, then add in flour and mix on low until you have everything mixed together. Stir in the chocolate chips with a spatula.

4. Place Oreo crumbs in a small bowl, roll dough into 2″ balls then roll them in the cookie crumbs, then place on baking tray. Bake 12-14 minutes (usually 12 minutes is enough depending on the size) remove from oven when golden brown, let the cookies sit a few minutes before taking them off the baking sheet. (Makes roughly 2 dozen cookies)

5. ENJOY!!!!!!

Coconut Fruit Dip

Tags

dessert, dips, food, healthy, snacks, yummy

 

Happy Friday everyone. I’m sure there has been a time where you are casually making plans with friends or family for the weekend, and then you forgot about them until the day of and think what the heck am I going to make, or bring. I have the easiest fruit dip recipe that goes great with all types of fruit, and takes less then 10 minutes to make. Simple and quick, what’s not to love right?! Oh and did I mention it tastes phenomenal. 

Coconut Fruit Dip

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup softened cream cheese (half a block)
• 1/2 cup of sour cream
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 1/2 cup of sweetened shredded coconut

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl, use a hand mixer and beat for two minutes or until all the ingredients are blended well. Serve with fruits of your choice: pineapple, berries, apples or grapes. Keep chilled if not serving right away.

 

Quick Breakfast Sandwich

Tags

breakfast, food, healthy, vegetarian

Breakfast. The most painful meal for me to make each day. I much rather sleep an extra 10 minutes then wake up to make myself something to eat. A few posts ago I shared some of my favorite smoothie recipes with you which are a classic go to for me, but there are a few mornings when i’m craving something more. I got this breakfast sandwich idea off of Pinterest and added my own twist to it. What’s great about this is that you can make a week’s worth and keep them in the fridge and they are ready to go super quick.

 

Ingredients:

• eggs or egg whites
• spinach (a handful washed)
• half a pepper diced (i used yellow)
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

• spray muffin or cup cake tins with pam
• pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
• fill with either a whole egg or egg whites (I prefer the egg whites)
• put in a piece of spinach and 3 to 4 small pieces of pepper, top with salt and pepper
• make sure the spinach is under the egg and does not float to top (I use a spoon to assist this process)
• bake in ovel 15 minutes
• Let cool and refrigerate
• in the morning toast an English muffin, warm the egg up for 1 min in the microwave, you can also add a slice of cheese to the egg as well

This is the perfect on the go breakfast and I hope you enjoy making this as much as I do!

Happy cooking 

Veggie Ash ❤

Smoothie Time

Tags

food, healthy, smoothie, snack

Everyone who knows me, knows about my love for having smoothies, I always have one in my hand! They are so quick and easy to make, I like to experiment with flavors and they are perfect for my on the go lifestyle. Usually I like to make them juice based, but I’ve been trying to increase my calories so I have been using almond milk as a yummy alternative. Below are two of my favorite recipes, I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

This has to be my number one smoothie pick, it makes a great meal replacement for lunch or an after the gym snack. It’s filling and tastes amazing.

Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of vanilla almond milk
• 1 banana
• 2 spoonfuls of organic peanut butter
• 1 spoonful of vanilla yogurt
• 6-8 ice cubes
• 1 tsp of unsweetened coconut 

Directions:

Add all ingredients except the coconut into the blender and blend on a medium speed for 1-2 minutes, top with unsweetened coconut. You can also omit the yogurt to lower the calorie count. 

 

 

For this smoothie I played around with coconut water and fruits, I have found myself making this the last few days and I just feel so refreshed and renewed after drinking this.

Renew Smoothie

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of coconut water
• 1 banana
• 5-6 pieces of pineapple
• 5-6 black berries
• 6-8 ice cubes

Directions:

Place all ingredients into blend and mix on a medium speed for 1 to 2 minutes and then enjoy!

Cheers.

Ash ❤

 

Easy Banana Oatmeal Muffins

Tags

breakfast, food, healthy, vegetarian

I don’t know about you, but breakfast is such a hard meal for me to take time for. I always seem to be rushing out of the house in the morning and either forget to eat, or i’m not hungry at the time. I decided to make muffins at the beginning of the week so I would have a pre made meal for the mornings. I searched a few recipes and decided to try a combination of ingredients and make my own mix. Not only were these quick and easy to make, they tasted awesome and I’m still having them in the mornings for an on the go meal!

Ingredients:

• 2.5 cups of oats
• 1 cup of plain low fat greek yogurt
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup of sugar, or sweetener of your choice
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 ripe bananas

Directions:

– Pre heat oven to 400 degrees, spray tin with a non stick cooking spray or put down 12 liners.

-Place all ingredients in a food processor or blender (I used my blender, and it worked like a charm) and then blend until oats are smooth. I added the oats last, and blended in 1 cup at a time.

-Divide batter evenly between all of the liners, put in oven and cook 15-20 minutes or until tooth pick comes out clean. (Mine took the full 20 minutes)

*Option – next time I am going to add in half a bag of semi sweet chocolate chips just for a sweeter option!

Happy Eating

Ash ❤