Smoothie Surprise!
February 23, 2008
I love to make this snack for my 14 month old son in the afternoons! It is full of fiber and veggies, not just fruit. Now that he has figured out how to drink from a straw, he is more eager than ever to have one of mommy’s smoothies! Enjoy…
Smoothie Surprise
5-6 frozen, unsweetened organic strawberries
½ c. frozen, unsweetened blueberries
¾ c. 100% apple juice, chilled
½ c. water
½ medium zucchini, chopped
5-6 baby carrots
fistful of cabbage
1 small banana
¼ c. plain yogurt
1 T. wheat germ
1 T. oat bran
1 T. flaxseed meal
Pour the apple juice and water into the blender. Add the strawberries and blueberries and pulse until combined. Add the zucchini, carrots and cabbage, and pulse again adding more water if needed. Then toss in the banana, yogurt, wheat germ, oat bran, and flaxseed meal. Mix until you reach the desired consistency, adding more water or juice as needed. Serve immediately. Serves 4-6.
A few suggestions:
• Buy frozen strawberries and blueberries as well as bananas & baby carrots at your local warehouse club (Sam’s, Costco, BJ’s). If our bananas ripen before we can eat them, I peel and freeze them, which works out perfectly for smoothies. I puree my baby carrots and freeze them in ice cube trays if we can’t eat them fast enough.
• Instead of plain water, try seltzer water or club soda for a little extra zing!
• If the smoothie is for adults, consider using Dannon’s All Natural Plain yogurt which has 2 ingredients – milk and active yogurt cultures. If the smoothie is for children consider using Stonyfield Farm’s Organic Whole Milk Plain yogurt, which has a few more ingredients – milk, inulin, pectin, and 6 active cultures.
• Keep your flaxseed meal in the freezer and your wheat germ in the fridge.
• If you have some leftover, pour it into a pitcher and save it for dessert after dinner. It will keep for about a day in the fridge.
• Have fun experimenting with your own creations. I love to add pureed mango from our freezer if I have it on hand. Sometimes I don’t have a few of my favorite ingredients as listed above, but the smoothie still turns out great. (The photo above is minus blueberries. Normally, the drink is a lot darker.)
Oh, and why do I call it such a generic name — smoothie surprise? Well, because everyone I serve it to is shocked that’s there’s cabbage and zucchini in it!
Crunchy Granola Bars
February 23, 2008
Several years ago my mother-in-law gave me a granola bar recipe that I love! I have played with it a lot in order to make it healthier. Here it is…
Granola Bars
½ c. unsalted butter, melted
¼ c. brown sugar
1/3 c. honey
1 t. vanilla
2 t. cinnamon
1 t. salt
½ c. flaxseed meal
4 c. quick rolling oats, uncooked
1 c. walnuts, chopped*
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Melt the butter and then add the sugar. Add all other ingredients. Mix very well (make sure all of the ingredients are “wet” otherwise you will have loose granola rather than bars). Press firmly into a well greased 15”x10” jelly roll pan (Pampered Chef stone works best). Bake for 10 minutes or until slightly browned and bubbling. Remove from oven, press bars down again and return to oven for another two to three minutes. Remove bars and cut immediately. Let cool and then store in an airtight container or ziploc.
*Another variation is to skip the walnuts but add wheat germ. It gives the bars a nutty taste. I’ve found that if you do so, it’s best to add 2 more T. of melted butter to hold the bars together. If you want both walnuts and wheat germ, that works too. Just remember to add that extra butter.
Substituting Flaxseed meal for fat & eggs
February 17, 2008
My sister-in-law and I were discussing flaxseed meal two years ago (I know…weird) when she passed along the following substitutions:
2 T. flaxseed meal = 1 T. margarine, butter, or cooking oil
* When baking with flaxseed meal as a fat substitute, baked goods will brown more quickly.
1 T. flaxseed meal + 3 T. water (let stand for a few min.) = 1 egg
* This mixture works well in recipes such as pancakes, muffins, and cookies. It will result in a chewier version of the recipe.
Flaxseed can be substituted for fat because of it’s composition:
21% protein
42% fat (omega 3’s 24%, omega 6’s 6%, monounsat 8%, sat 4%)
28% fiber
6% carb
3% other
Oh and why would you go to the trouble of such substitutions? Flaxseed meal…
- Contains healthy monounsaturated and polyunsaturated oils—no trans fat or partially hydrogenated fat.
- An excellent source of alpha linolenic acid (ALA), a powerful compound that is converted by the body to healthy omega-3 fats.
- Contains more dietary fiber—about 28% of flax seed is dietary fiber—than other whole-grain ingredients.
- Highly soluble fiber lowers the glycemic index by slowing the absorption of sugars from the intestinal tract.
- Significant source of high-quality protein—protein ratio equivalent to that of beef, chicken, pork, or fish—makes flax seed ideal for vegans and vegetarians.
- The richest source of lignans—a phytoestrogen that affects the metabolism of estrogen—providing 75-800 times higher levels than other plant sources.
- Full of complex carbohydrates with little to no net carbohydrates.
- Packed with vitamins and minerals such as B-6 and magnesium.
Mmmm, bring on the flaxseed meal!!
