From the Kitchen: Homemade Acai Smoothie Bowl Recipe

I am super late to the acai bowl game - having had my first one at a local restaurant this weekend - but now they're all I can think about!  B had never even heard of acai bowls, which are basically a thick smoothie in a bowl, with toppings, eaten with a spoon.  Even though they're a glorified smoothie, something about eating it with a spoon instead of drinking it through a straw (as well as the fact that the toppings require chewing) makes it much more satisfying and filling.  I love that they're full of healthy ingredients, too!  I made my own homemade version for breakfast on Sunday, and they were just as good as the restaurant version - even my 3-year-old happily devoured 3 servings of "purple ice cream!"

You will need a strong blender for this recipe - I have a Vitamix, which is totally worth the hefty price tag for the use we get out of it making margaritas, homemade baby food purees, hummus, soups, and now, acai bowls :)  Look for a certified refurbished or open box Vitamix on Amazon to save some money!

Homemade Acai Smoothie Bowls

Serves: 1

Ingredients:

1 3.5-oz packet frozen unsweetened acai puree (this comes in a 4-pack for $4.49 at Trader Joe's in the frozen fruit section.  You can also find it at Whole Foods or online from Amazon, shipped in dry ice)
1 banana, cut into chunks and frozen (can also use a non-frozen banana, but the end result won't be quite as thick)
5-6 frozen strawberries 
1/2 cup milk of your choice (you can use cashew or almond milk for a vegan alternative; I used regular milk because that's what we had)
1-2 tablespoons peanut butter (I use Laura Scudder's peanut butter, which has no added sugar)

Toppings:
Granola (I used Trader Joe's Pecan Praline Granola)
Shredded coconut (I used Trader Joe's sweetened shredded coconut)
Chopped fruit (strawberries, bananas, mango, blueberries, etc.)
Chia seeds (I was out but these would be good sprinkled on top!)

Run the frozen acai puree packet under hot water for 15-30 seconds to thaw it enough to break into large chunks.  Put the first 5 ingredients (acai puree, banana, strawberries, milk, and peanut butter) in a strong blender and blend on high until smooth.  The texture should be thicker than a smoothie, but thinner than ice cream - add more milk if necessary to achieve the appropriate texture.  Pour into a bowl and add your choice of toppings.

Interested in more breakfast recipes? Check them out here!

Friday Favorites - Trader Joe's Edition (Part 2)

I previously posted on some of my favorite party snacks/appetizers from Trader Joe's - as parties used to be my primary reason for shopping there.  Since being on maternity leave (read: eating more meals/snacks at home), I've started shopping at TJ's more frequently.  Here are some of my more recent favorites!

Pre-sliced Mango

Confession: I don't know how to cut an actual mango (or pick a ripe one at the grocery store), so I buy the pre-sliced variety.  TJ's is one of the more reasonably priced places to get pre-sliced mango.  This was a major pregnancy craving of mine!

Teeny Tiny Avocados

These small avocados come 6 to a bag and are the perfect size to consume in 1 meal!  With larger avocados, my husband, son, and I usually only eat half, which means the other half of the avocado ends up in the fridge getting brown.  With these tiny avocados, we eat the whole avocado in one meal - fresh avocado every time!

Broccoli Kale Salad

This is delicious and makes a great easy side dish!  Everything you need is in the bag - shredded broccoli stalks, shredded kale, and shredded radicchio, along with dried cherries, dried blueberries, roasted sunflower seeds, slivered almonds, and dressing.  We love this!

Lemon Chicken & Arugula Salad

If I'm at TJ's near lunchtime, I almost always pick up one of these for a quick and easy lunch.  It looks small in the package but is really packed in there - it's a sizable salad once you dress and toss it!  It come with arugula, Moroccan couscous, chicken, and a pimiento dressing - different and delicious!

Reduced Guilt Chunky Guacamole

I'm usually wary of pre-packaged guacamole, and especially any guacamole that contains ingredients other than avocados and seasonings...but this is good!  It has Greek yogurt in it so it's less fattening than straight guacamole, but still delicious and has a good kick.

Fully Cooked Gyro Meat

These are sold in the refrigerated section and so good! I tried making gyro meat from scratch one time and it was a time-consuming and disappointing effort.  This tastes just like gyro meat from a Mediterranean restaurant!  It makes a quick and easy dinner - just cook in a skillet for a couple minutes on each side, then pop it into a pita and add some cucumbers, tomatoes, and tzatziki sauce (TJ's makes a good pre-made one!)  There isn't a ton in the box - my husband, 3 year old, and I ate the entire box for dinner one night.

Frozen Brown Rice

I keep a couple of boxes of this on hand in my freezer at all times.  A box contains 3 pouches that microwave in 3 minutes to make perfect brown rice!  One pouch is more than enough for my husband, 3 year old, and I for dinner - we usually have some leftover.

BBQ Chicken Teriyaki

This makes a super quick and easy dinner - it goes from the freezer to the table in less than 10 minutes.  Great to have on hand when plans fall through or I'm running late!  Heat up the chicken, heat up the sauce, mix together, and serve over rice (we use the TJ's frozen brown rice above).  One bag makes enough for my husband, 3 year old, and I for 2 meals.

Jalapeno Limeade

Another pregnancy craving of mine!  This is an acquired taste - it was too spicy for my husband, but I love it!  It has a definite kick - it's not just a hint of jalapeno!  I bet this would be delicious with vodka or tequila (jalapeno margarita?!) too.

Just a Handful of Simply Almonds, Cashews & Chocolate Trek Mix

I love these pre-packaged trail mixes! They are good for portion control (especially since this contains chocolate) and are a filling snack that is slightly indulgent but also contains protein.

Chocolatey Coated Chocolate Chip Dunkers

These are dangerous.  They come one million to a package and are addictively good.  It's basically a Famous Amos-like chocolate chip cookie, coated in chocolate on one side.  I discovered these at a neighbor's house for bunco one night and never looked back.

Roasted Plantain Chips

These are my 3-year-old's favorite snack!  I love that they don't have any sugar (they're salted, not sweet)!

Inner Peas (Pea Crisps) and Inner Bean (Black Bean Crisps)

These are another snack favorite for my son!  It's as close as he gets to chips ;) They're crunchy and lightly salted and less than $2 per bag.  I buy several every time I'm at TJ's!

What else is good at TJ's?  There is so much to choose from and it is easy to overlook things I haven't tried before!

From the Kitchen: Homemade Salsa (Vitamix!)

I am embarrassed to admit how many "meals" Blair and I have made out of tortilla chips and homemade salsa in the last week.  Fresh salsa is just SO good, and screams summer time to me!  The recipe below makes a ton, so you can share it with neighbors and take it to pool parties to become the most popular person around :)  

Homemade Salsa

Yield: a LOT....approximately 8 cups

Ingredients:

1 white onion, quartered
2 red bell peppers, stem and seeds removed
2 jalapeno peppers, stem removed (for medium spicy; less if you want a milder salsa)
6 cloves garlic, peeled
1/2 bunch cilantro
8 large tomatoes, quartered (I think the on-the-vine variety give the best flavor)
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon kosher salt
4 tablespoons fresh lime juice

Note: I used my Vitamix blender to make this salsa, which powerful enough to blend the ingredients without me chopping them first, and large enough to blend the salsa in one batch.  If you use a regular blender, or a food processor, you may have to pre-chop and/or process in batches and mix together at the end in a large mixing bowl.  The directions below are for the Vitamix.

Directions:

Place, in this order, the quartered onion, 2 bell peppers, 2 jalapenos, 6 cloves garlic, 1/2 bunch cilantro, and 4 quartered tomatoes, into the blender.  Add the spices and lime juice. Blend at a speed of variable 5, using the tamper to press down on the ingredients, until everything is well blended.  

Add the remaining 4 quartered tomatoes and blend at a speed of variable 3 until the salsa is blended but still chunky (don't go overboard or your salsa will be totally liquid).  

Store refrigerated in mason jars or other airtight containers.  Eat within a week or 2 - unless you properly can it, it won't last as long as store bought salsas due to the lack of preservatives!

From the Kitchen: Coconut Oil Popcorn

My friend Leslie introduced me to this recipe (if you can call it that) for making popcorn.  I LOVE popcorn but I'm not a big fan of the microwaved-bag variety...and previously the air-popped popcorn that I had made was dry and flavorless.  This coconut oil popcorn is delicious, easy, and health(ish)...coconut oil is better than using butter, right??  Don't worry, it does NOT taste like coconut (my husband is addicted to this popcorn and he despises coconut).  It tastes buttery, salty, and delicious!  We may or may not eat this popcorn, along with apples and cheese, for dinner....like once a week.

First of all, you need to introduce these things to your life:

Coconut Oil Popcorn

Ingredients:

1/3 cup popcorn kernels
1 tablespoon coconut oil (I use Trader Joe's)
Coconut oil cooking spray (I use Trader Joe's. Most grocery stores also carry the PAM brand)
Popcorn salt (I use Morton's.  You can also use regular salt - I like the ultrafine popcorn salt because it sticks well!)

Directions:

Put 1 tablespoon of coconut oil in a large glass bowl (mine is a Pyrex bowl).  Heat it in the microwave until the oil is melted, 30-60 seconds.  Add 1/3 cup of popcorn kernels to the coconut oil and swirl to coat the kernels.  Place in the microwave and cover with a vented lid or plate (This is important! You will have a giant mess in your microwave if you don't cover the bowl!)  Cook for approximately 3 minutes and 15 seconds (your microwave may require more or less time than mine....listen for the popping to slow down considerably).

Remove from the microwave using oven mitts (the bowl will be crazy hot).  Spray the popcorn with the coconut oil spray and immediately sprinkle with (a lot of) popcorn salt.  Cover the bowl and toss to coat, repeating as necessary for the desired amount of salt.

From the Kitchen: 2-Ingredient Creamy Salsa Verde Dip

I love dips that you can make on 5 minutes' notice with things that are easy to keep on hand, and everyone wants the recipe after.  I made this and spicy black bean dip when I was co-hosting the neighborhood moms' bunco group this month and they were both a hit - and SO easy (this one is only 2 ingredients!!)  This dip resembles a queso (if you're from Texas, that will mean something to you) that is slightly sweet with a small kick from the salsa verde.

2-Ingredient Creamy Salsa Verde Dip

Ingredients:

1 8-ounce block cream cheese (I use the "1/3 less fat" neufchatel cheese so I can pretend this is healthy)
1 cup jarred salsa verde (I used the La Costena brand - found in the "international" aisle at the grocery store with the Mexican ingredients)

Directions:

Put the cream cheese and salsa verde in a microwave-safe bowl.  Cover and microwave in 1-minute increments, stirring after each minute until well blended and the cream cheese is fully melted (this usually takes 3 minutes in my microwave).  Yep.....that's it.  

Serve with tortilla chips and act like it was a lot more effort than it was.  This is good both warm or at room temperature.  If you're feeling fancy, add a can of corn :)

From the Kitchen: Spicy Black Bean Dip

This spicy black bean dip is great with tortilla chips for an appetizer at a party....we are addicted!  And it is SO EASY.  Like, embarrassingly easy when people ask you how to make it (which they often do)!  And, I almost always have the ingredients on hand, so it's simple to whip it up on short notice!

Spicy Black Bean Dip

Ingredients:

1 can black beans
1/4 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons lemon juice (lime juice works too)
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
2 teaspoons cumin
1 jalapeno, including seeds (you can remove them if you want a milder dip)
1/4 bunch cilantro

Directions:

Throw everything in a blender and blend away.  That's pretty much it :)  I don't even chop the jalapeno or remove the cilantro leaves from the stems...I just throw it all in and blend it up.  I use my Vitamix which is super powerful and blends it easily; if you're using a normal blender, you may have to blend it for a while to get the super-smooth texture (which is key - the dip is much less appetizing when it's chunky from the bean skins not being fully blended).  The color of the dip is not that exciting, so I normally garnish it with some cilantro leaves or some piped sour cream drizzled on top.

From the Kitchen: Quick Amish Friendship Bread

Growing up, there was a family that lived on our block that always brought over loaves of Amish friendship bread.  It didn't last long in our house!  They made it the legit way too, using the "starter", which I don't fully understand but I think it's similar to making sourdough bread.  

I don't have the patience for that, so I was excited to try out a cheater recipe that doesn't involve use of the starter!  Even better, this can be made with ingredients most people always keep on hand, which means you can whip up some delicious quick bread whenever you want!  I love how the top gets a crunchy cinnamon-sugar topping!  This bread is great for breakfast or just for a snack!

Quick Amish Friendship Bread

Adapted from The Semisweet Sisters
Yield: 1 large loaf, or 3 mini loaves

Ingredients:

Bread:
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup milk + 1 tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice (or 1 cup buttermilk if you happen to have that on hand...but who does?)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda

Cinnamon/sugar swirl and topping:
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

Grease 1 - 9"x5" loaf pan or 3 - 5.75"x3" mini loaf pans.

Using an electric mixer, cream together the butter, sugar, vanilla extract, and egg until light and fluffy.  Add the milk, flour, and baking soda, and mix until combined.  

In a separate bowl, stir together the sugar and cinnamon for the swirl/topping.

Pour half of the batter into the greased loaf pan(s) and use a rubber spatula to smooth the top (the batter will be thick).   Sprinkle half of the cinnamon sugar mixture on top of the batter.  Top with the remaining half of the bread batter.  

Use a butter knife to swirl the batter around in the pan to swirl the middle cinnamon-sugar layer.  Smooth the top of the batter with a rubber spatula, and top with the remaining cinnamon sugar.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 40-45 minutes (mini loaf pans) or 50-60 minutes (9"x5" loaf pan), or until a toothpick comes out clean.

From the Kitchen: No-Bake Energy Bites (lactation boosting!)

Nursing or not, these energy bites are an easy and delicious filling snack to have on hand!  They are super quick to make, since they don't involve baking, and taste ALMOST as good as cookie dough!  As a bonus, they contain several lactation-boosting ingredients (galactogogues), including oatmeal, brewer's yeast, and flaxseed, as well as a dose of protein from the coconut and peanut butter!  If you're not nursing, you can easily omit the brewer's yeast if you'd like.  

No-Bake Energy Bites

Adapted from I Can Teach My Child

Yield: ~30 bites (depending on size)

Ingredients:

1 cup old-fashioned oatmeal (rolled oats)

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup ground flaxseed (sometimes called flaxseed meal; you can find it in the bulk section, if your grocery store has one, or in the baking aisle)

1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

1/3 cup agave or honey

1/2 tablespoon brewer's yeast (nutrition/health stores sell it, or you can order it on Amazon)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions:

Put all the ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer and mix until well combined.  (You could also use a hand mixer or even stir by hand). Refrigerate for 30 minutes, then form by hand into balls.  I made mine tablespoon-sized and ended up with about 30 balls.  Enjoy!

*note: these also freeze well! Make a double batch and keep the extras in the freezer!

From the Kitchen: Coconut and Dried Fruit Granola

My mother-in-law made us a batch of this coconut granola, and we loved it!  I've made it several times since then - it is perfect for a quick and filling breakfast when paired with some low-fat, plain Greek yogurt and fruit (I love it with strawberries, blueberries, or raspberries on top!)  The recipe is pretty forgiving -- if you don't have (or like) the nuts or dried fruits that the recipe calls for, feel free to substitute your favorite (such as whole almonds, pecans, hazelnuts, diced dried pineapple, dried cherries, etc.)

Coconut and Dried Fruit Granola

Yield: approximately 10 cups
Cook time: 35 minutes

Ingredients:

2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup honey
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons kosher or sea salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup slivered almonds
1 cup walnut pieces
1/2 cup ground flax seed*
2 cups large-flake unsweetened coconut**
2 cups dried fruit (I used chopped dried apricots, raisins, and dried cranberries)

*found in the baking aisle near the flour or in the bulk section at stores like Sprouts
**my mother-in-law had trouble finding this at her store; I found it in the baking aisle at Kroger, near the chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 325.  In a medium bowl, stir together the brown sugar, vegetable oil, honey, vanilla extract, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  It will form a brown paste.  Add the oats to the bowl and stir until the oats are coated in the paste. 

Spread the mixture onto 2 large, rimmed baking sheets or jelly roll pans lined with parchment paper or silpat mats.  Spread the oats evenly on the baking sheets with a spoon or rubber spatula.  Bake for 15 minutes.

Remove the baking sheets from the oven and add 1/2 cup of slivered almonds to each pan.  Stir the mixture, spread out on the pan, and return to the oven, switching the pans between the racks.  Bake for 5 minutes.

Remove the baking sheets from the oven and add 1/2 cup of walnut pieces and 1/4 cup of ground flaxseed to each pan.  Stir the mixture, spread out on the pan, and return to the oven, switching the pans between the racks.  Bake for 10 minutes.

Remove the baking sheets from the oven and add 1 cup of coconut to each pan.  Stir the mixture, spread out on the pan, and return to the oven, switching the pans between the racks.  Bake for an additional 5 minutes, or until the coconut is light brown.

Remove the granola from the oven and allow to cool in the pans.  It will continue to crisp and dry out as it cools, so don't worry if it seems too soft when it comes out of the oven.  When completely cooled, mix the granola with the dried fruit.  Store in a tightly sealed container; it should keep for up to a month, if it lasts that long in your house (it doesn't in ours!)