15 Smoothies in 15 Days, Day 15: Green Sunrise Smoothie (and a bonus!)

Well, folks, our 15-day smoothie journey has come to an end. I have to say, this was tedious at times because I don’t really do daily projects very well. I can’t keep to that kind if a schedule. BUT, I’m happy I did, because I discovered a lot of new smoothie recipes that taste great, are packed with nutrients and foods I don’t eat enough of, and satisfy my pregnant sweet tooth. I call that a win.

To conclude our journey, I have a pretty ugly (but tasty! and easy!) smoothie for you. The Green Sunrise smoothie. It a variation on the Sunrise Smoothie from yesterday, but with spinach. You can use whatever berries you have on hand. I happened to have raspberries.

Green Sunrise Smoothie
Makes two 16-oz smoothies

Ingredients:
-2 cups orange juice
-1 cup frozen raspberries
-2 bananas
-2 generous handfuls of spinach

Directions:
Blend and enjoy!

And, as a bonus, I hid some spinach in another favorite smoothie, the Banana Bread Smoothie! This one is much prettier. If you like green.

Green Banana Bread Smoothie
Makes two 16-oz smoothies

Ingredients:
-2 cups coconunt milk
-1/2 cup chopped walnuts
-2 ripe bananas
-1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
-1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
-1/2 teaspoon ginger
-2 generous handfuls spinach

Directions:
Blend and enjoy!

15 Smoothies in 15 Days, Day 14: Sunrise Smoothie

Well, it was my first day back at school today with an institute day, so I needed a quick smoothie to give me some energy. I wanted some bright flavors to kickstart the day. I feel like I’ve done a variation of this in the past, but it’s so good, it’s worth making a million times. Plus, it’s EASY!

Sunrise Smoothie
Makes two 16-oz smoothies

Ingredients:
-2 cups orange juice
-2 bananas
-1 cup frozen strawberries
-1/2 cup frozen raspberries

Directions:
Blend and enjoy!

15 Smoothies in 15 Days, Day 13: Berry Refreshing Smoothie

I’ve ha a hankering for blueberries and cucumbers lately, and we finally got to the grocery store yesterday, so I grabbed some. I’ve had my eye on a cucumber blueberry smoothie for some time now, but haven’t had the ingredients to make it. Since I finally had them, I figured today’s the day.

I decided to make this one with coconut milk, blueberries, cucumbers, and lemon juice because it looked easy and creamy.

It. Was. Disgusting.

Seriously. So gross. It wasn’t sweet at all and I could hardly taste the blueberries because the cucumber taste was overpowering. So was the taste of coconut and lemon, but not in a good way. Maybe I did something wrong? I don’t know. But I left it sit for a minute and came back and it looked like there were chunks on the top so I’m thinking the coconut milk curdled.

But, I can’t just post a smoothie fail, right? So I used the ingredients I had left to make this one.

It’s still not my favorite, but it was much better. Plus, it was refreshing and different from the desserty ones I’ve been making. Tim liked this one a lot because he’s not a huge fan of creamy smoothies, so I’ll call it a success.

Berry Refreshing Smoothie
Pretty much copied from Green Plate Rule
Makes 2 small smoothies

Ingredients:
-1/2 cup water
-1/2 large cucumber, slices
-1 green apple, cored and sliced
-1 cup frozen blueberries
-juice of 1/2 lemon
-ice cubes

Directions:
Blend and enjoy!

15 Smoothies in 15 Days, Day 12: Banana Pumpkin Bread Smoothie

As I mentioned, I had a pretty major checkup yesterday. Glucose/iron screening for gestational diabetes and anemia (for which I was supposed to fast for 2 hours, but ended up fasting for closer to 4.5 because apparently I can’t read), TDAP vaccine (so I was pretty much pricked with needles for an hour… and I hate needles), and a kind of intense ultrasound to see if my placenta moved up to where it was supposed to be (it was low; it is no longer low… yay!). Like I told Tim yesterday, it’s not that this stuff made me nervous or anything; it’s just that I had to be emotionally, physically, and mentally present through it all. Plus, I didn’t eat much, which really threw me off.

I’m really hoping everything turns out well with the blood test, and I’m so happy my placenta is behaving the way it should. But, I’m pretty exhausted today. And I’m running out of creativity. And it’s cloudy. And school starts in two days.

Top all that off with the fact that we haven’t been grocery shopping in well over a week. I sent Tim a list this morning of stuff we need, and that list was long. LONG long. This also means we are pretty much out of whatever I need to make cool and creative smoothies.

I really want to try a blueberry cucumber lemon smoothie, but we have no cucumbers. So, that will have to wait until tomorrow, because, hopefully, someone gets to the store today.

So, I woke up and opened the fridge and pantry to see what we had. Leftover pumpkin from my pumpkin peanut butter smoothie (YUM), some bananas, some coconut milk, and spices in the cabinet. Seriously, that’s about it.

Considering my pumpkin smoothie and my banana bread smoothie were so delicious, I figured, why not combine the two and take the sweetness down a notch to make a hybrid, banana pumpkin bread recipe.

I have to say, I was not disappointed. This one pretty much tasted like the banana bread one, but with a hint of pumpkin (and some more nutrients!).

If I were to do this again, I might try adding a green apple, just to get the trifecta of fall flavors and add some brightness to an otherwise thick and creamy smoothie. Maybe I’ll add that to my list of smoothies to try in the next few days as this project comes to a close.

Banana Pumpkin Bread Smoothie
Makes two 16-oz smoothies

Ingredients:
-2 cups coconut milk
-2 ripe bananas
-1/2-3/4 cup chopped walnuts (however much you want)
-1/2 cup canned pumpkin
-2 tablespoons coconut oil
-1 tablespoon brown sugar
-1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
-1/2 teaspoon ginger
-1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
-ice cubes

Directions:
Blend until everything is pureed, including walnuts. Enjoy!

15 Smoothies in 15 Days, Day 11: Green Spinach Smoothie

I have my blood glucose test and another ultrasound today, and I didn’t sleep very well last night (surprise, surprise), so I’m feeling particularly lazy and not creative. Therefore, here is a quick oldie, but a goodie. The Green Smoothie.

This one is just a base recipe, and I often add other things to it just for some fun and different flavor. Sometimes it’s berries, other times it’s pumpkin or carrots. I’ve substituted peanut butter for almond butter, or almonds for the almond butter. I’ve also substituted kale for the spinach. Regardless of what you do to this thing, it packs a serious, nutritional punch and is, actually, very delicious. Truthfully, I’ve made this without the cinnamon in it, but the cinnamon totally makes the smoothie. With the cinnamon, it just tastes like creamy goodness instead of, well, spinach and bananas.

(I put these in the freezer to eat in a pinch in case I’m too lazy to make an actual smoothie.)

Green Spinach Smoothie
Makes two 16-oz smoothies

Ingredients:

-2 cups coconut milk
-2 bananas
-2 heaping spoonfuls of almond butter
-2 large handfuls (about 1/2 pre-washed package) baby spinach
-cinnamon to taste (I use LOTS of cinnamon!)
-ice cubes (unless you’re freezing it)

Directions:

Put all of the ingredients in the blender and blend for a full minute or until spinach is fully blended. You may need to add some spinach then blend it down a bit, then add the rest before fully blending it.

15 Smoothies in 15 Days, Day 10: Paleo Banana Bread Smoothie

I’m really into the dessert smoothies lately, probably because all I really want is ice cream, but I’m trying to eat things that aren’t, like, totally terrible for you. With my blood glucose test (screening for gestational diabetes) tomorrow, I’m trying to load up on good stuff and hope for the best. For that test, you have to fast for 3 hours prior to it, then drink some nasty, sugary stuff and get your blood drawn an hour later. I’m really not looking forward to it. But, if I fail, I have to go back for another, similar test that takes 3 hours, so I REALLY don’t want to do that. I’ve heard that if you don’t eat a ton of dessert-y foods the day before, it can help reduce your chances of a false positive (which is, incidentally, really common).

So, I’m trying not to have dessert-y foods today. Of course, what does that mean I am dying to have? You guessed it: dessert.

I turned to none other than Pinterest to get me through this day, and found this banana bread smoothie which looked promising because it’s dairy free. But then I saw that it required tofu and gagged a little bit. I really, really hate tofu. This is probably a remnant of my vegetarian days, but I think it’s truly disgusting. Unless it’s fried, and then it loses all healthy properties.

So, I modified the recipe. I not only modified it for preferences, but also for what I had in my pantry. We were out of honey AND maple syrup, so I went with brown sugar. (Yes, I just said I was avoiding sugar. One tablespoon in a smoothie before a yoga class is not going to do me in tomorrow. I hope.) This would definitely be healthier and a tad less sweet (which would maybe be a good thing) if I had gone with maple syrup, so I’d recommend that. You could also add a dash of vanilla if you like that sort of thing. I also went with only a little almond butter because that was all we had left (Clearly, we need to go grocery shopping.) and then supplemented walnuts, but had I thought about it, I might have gone with walnuts from the beginning because what is banana bread without walnuts?

Let me just say: This. Smoothie. Was. Amazing. Maybe even better than my previous favorite, the Peanut Butter Perfection Smoothie. It is sweet. It is creamy. It is delicious. It tastes exactly like banana bread. It is packed with calcium, potassium, and protein (plus some good fats with the coconut oil), which will get me through my yoga class that starts in 45 minutes. I am totally sold.

It doesn’t hurt that this smoothie kind of tastes like ice cream, either. Because I really want some ice cream.

Paleo Banana Bread Smoothie
Makes two 16-oz smoothies

Ingredients:
-2 cups coconut milk
-2 ripe bananas
-1/2 cup chopped walnuts
-2 tablespoons almond butter
-2 tablespoons coconut oil
-2 tablespoons brown sugar (You can substitute honey or maple syrup, or cut this down by half. It was almost too sweet.)
-1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
-1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
-1/2 teaspoon ginger
-Ice cubes

Directions:
Add all ingredients. Blend and enjoy!

15 Smoothies in 15 Days, Day 9: Berry Brain Blast Smoothie

This is an old favorite, and a lighter option for those days when you just want something refreshing, but don’t necessarily want all of the add-ins and calories of some of the heavier, creamier smoothies.

It’s called a “Brain Blast” smoothie because avocados (and berries!) are really great brain foods. All of those good fats in the avocados work to help your brain function at tip-top shape.

Berry Brain Blast Smoothie
Makes 1 smoothie

Ingredients:
-1 cup orange juice
-1 avocado
-1 cup frozen strawberries
-1/2 cup frozen raspberries
-optional: coconut oil, apple cider vinegar, nut butter

Directions:
Blend and enjoy!

Bonus Pumpkin Recipe: Paleo Pumpkin Bread

Y’all know by now that I love pumpkin. (Need proof? Here’s some. And another. And another. And one more.)

Here’s the thing about pumpkin, though, especially in smoothies and lattes, which are my favorite places to put it: Usually, those recipes only call for 1/4 of a cup, maybe 1/2 of a cup at most. So, what do you do with the rest of that precious pumpkin? Usually, I put it in a container and stuff it in the fridge, only to forget about it later.

But today, I felt a little adventurous and decided to make some easy Paleo pumpkin bread with the leftover pumpkin from my earlier pumpkin peanut butter smoothie.

This bread is pretty good. And, by “pretty good,” I mean I just ate two slices of it as soon as it had cooled enough out of the oven. It definitely hits the spot if you’re looking for a moist bread for breakfast or a snack. It’s only a little sweet, which I think could be remedied if I used the full 1/2 cup of honey or if I used maple syrup. I only had about 1/3 of a cup of honey left, though, so I went with it.

If I make it again, which I will, I will probably include pecans and dark chocolate chips to make it a little sweeter and more filling and to give it some chunky texture. Plus, the chocolate would add a little bit more sweetness. I’d also definitely double the spices. I always put in heaping amounts of the spices anyway, but I’d be sure to double them next time for a little more flavor. The cool thing about this bread recipe is that you can modify it quite a bit and still retain the integrity of the bread.

Easy Paleo Pumpkin Bread
Makes 1 loaf or 2 mini loaves
Recipe adapted from Spinach for Breakfast

Ingredients:
-2 cups almond meal
-3/4 teaspoon baking soda
-1 teaspoon cinnamon
-1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
-1/4 teaspoon ginger
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-1/2 cup pumpkin puree
-1/3-1/2 cup honey or maple syrup
-2 eggs
-optional: 1 cup dark chocolate chips + 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease your pan with coconut oil.
2. Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. This includes almond meal, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and salt.
3. Combine the wet ingredients in a smaller bowl. This includes pumpkin, honey or maple syrup, and eggs.
4. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Mix until combined.
5. If using chocolate chips and pecans, fold those into the batter.
6. Pour batter into the loaf pan. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

15 Smoothies in 15 Days, Day 8: Pumpkin Peanut Butter Perfection Smoothie

Pumpkin is my favorite thing of all time. All. Time. Pumpkin pie is my absolute favorite food ever. This is probably a huge reason why I love fall, because I know that pumpkins are on their way. It’s also a huge reason why I’m excited for a fall baby, because, hopefully, she will also love fall and we will have many fall birthdays to enjoy pumpkins and changing leaves and cooler temperatures together.

It makes sense, then, that I horde cans of pureed pumpkin. There was one year I remember that there was a shortage of pumpkins in the Midwest and it was almost impossible to get cans of pumpkin for Thanksgiving. I will not let that happen again.

(Incidentally, this year, I am also going to horde pumpkin beer, but that’s because I don’t want to miss the brief pumpkin beer season and won’t be able to drink any until the baby is born.)

So, because of our intense nesting this summer which included cleaning out our pantry, we found four cans of pumpkin plus a jar of pumpkin butter. Hello, early fall!

I got the idea to combine pumpkin and peanut butter from Pinterest (How’s that for some alliteration?), but was wary of it at first. Peanut butter and I have had a love-hate relationship this pregnancy. A smear of peanut butter on toast was one of the only things I could eat in early pregnancy. Now, just the smell of it usually reminds me of how sick I was and I tend to avoid it. Plus, peanut butter isn’t Paleo. But, I use the all-natural kind from Trader Joe’s, so I feel like there are probably worse things I could be eating.

So, despite my reservations about peanut butter, I realized this morning that I needed a smoothie that didn’t involve berries, just for something different. I figured, what do I have to lose? Pumpkin, spices, and coconut milk? Yum.

Holy cow, am I glad I made this smoothie. It is my absolute favorite so far. Its creamy goodness has subtle hints of pumpkin pie and just a touch of peanut butter. It is amazing. Seriously, you won’t regret making this one, even if you are Paleo.

This recipe is a combination of several I read this morning, but the end result is entirely my own.

Pumpkin Peanut Butter Perfection Smoothie
Makes two 16-oz smoothies

Ingredients:
-2 cups coconut milk
-2 bananas
-1/2 cup pumpkin puree
-4 tablespoons peanut butter
-2 tablespoons coconut oil
-1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
-1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
-1/2 teaspoon ginger
-Ice cubes

Directions:
Blend and enjoy!

Easy Paleo(ish) Weeknight Dinner: Sweet Slow Cooker Pork Roast with Apples and Onions

It’s about time for a real recipe, don’t you think?

We’re back to planning meals in our household. Sort of. Here’s a window into our meal-planning process:

Tim: We have to make that pork roast I bought last week or it’ll go bad.
Me: Ugh. Okay. I don’t even know what to put with it. How many pounds?
Tim: 4 or 5.
Me: So… slow cooker…
Tim: Yea. What do we have?
Me: I dunno. Apples, onions, garlic…
Tim: Sounds good.

So, then, I hit up Pinterest, find some ideas, adjust them for what we have already because, as I’ve stated before, I do not want to take my pregnant self to the store, and make something that I hope will be edible. 75% of the time, it turns out OK. The other 25% of the time, we grab a burger or pizza. Super healthy, I know. Whatever – that’s close enough to the Paleo 80/20 rule that I’m comfortable with it.

Anyway, that’s exactly what happened yesterday. And, believe it or not, our pork roast turned out so deliciously awesome that I didn’t even get a picture of it until after we packed away the leftovers because we were so into eating it that I forgot to take a picture.

Seriously. Yum.

You could probably use this dry rub on any kind of meat, and it’s Paleo as long as you’re comfortable with eating brown sugar. If not, try a honey or maple syrup glaze with these spices instead. But, if you’re OK eating honey or maple syrup, I’m not really sure what’s keeping you from a few tablespoons of brown sugar… to each his or her own, I guess.

We discarded the apple and onion pieces and just ate the meat. You can eat them if you want, I guess, but they’ll be pretty mushy. They just add liquid and awesome flavor.

Sweet Slow Cooker Pork Roast with Apples and Onions
Serves 4-6

Ingredients for dry rub:
-5 tbs brown sugar
-1 tbs paprika
-1 tsp chili powder
-1 tsp cumin
-1 tsp cinnamon
-Dash of nutmeg 

Ingredients for meal:
-dry rub (ingredients listed above)
-4-5 pound pork shoulder or tenderloin roast
-1 tart, green apple, sliced into thin wedges
-1/2 onion, sliced into half circles
-3-4 cloves of garlic, minced

Directions:
1. Mix all the ingredients for the dry rub together in a small bowl. Set aside.
2. Place roast in slow cooker. Rub dry rub all over the meat, making sure to get all sides covered.
3. Sprinkle minced garlic over the meat.
4. Place apple and onion pieces around and on top of the meat.
5. Cook on high for 4-5 hours, or low for 8-10 hours (or until meat reaches an appropriate internal temperature).
6. Serve warm and enjoy!