Peanut Butter Banana Shake

More like peanut butter yum. I've been really into smoothies lately. I make some variation of a green smoothie every morning before work. I've been diggin' the blueberries and I've also started using almond milk instead of regular milk. You get a few more vitamins with almond milk, but not as much protein.

My latest recipe goes something like:
1/2 frozen banana
1/2-3/4 c almond milk (or regular milk)
1/4-1/2 c fage 0%
1 tbsp peanut butter/almond butter (if I'm feeling nutty)
2 tbsp ground flax seed
4 handfuls of baby spinach
1 c blueberries/frozen fruit

Last night I used all of my spinach for the avocado breakfast pita, so this morning I tried this pb & banana recipe. I think it's near impossible to not love this smoothie. Try it out and let me know what you think!

Ingredients (makes 8-12 oz)

1 frozen banana, sliced*

6-8 oz almond milk

2 tbsp creamy peanut butter

1 tbsp flax seed

Combine all ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth.
*It's easiest if you slice the banana first, then freeze it. 

Recipe slightly adapted from Prevention.

Avocado Breakfast Pita

I've been having a major love affair with avocado for the past 2 weeks. Like hardcore. I started putting avocado slices on my lunch sandwiches, on pita chips, on toast (which you should try!), on cheddar cheese, ...basically on anything I could think of. Then I saw this recipe and died. Last weekend I went out and bought more avocados and have been waiting for them to ripen ever since. One of them finally gave in today and I couldn't be happier!

This breakfast pita is awesome. And super simple. I love the mix of the creamy avocado with the spicy sriracha.

Ingredients (1 serving)

1/2 whole wheat pita pocket
1 large egg
1 handful of spinach
1/4 of an avocado, sliced
sriracha hot sauce, to taste

Cook the egg in a skillet over medium heat. While the egg cooks, slice the avocado. Lightly toast the pita pocket. Place slices on one side of the pocket. Add spinach.

When the egg is done, top it with sriracha and place the egg in the pita.

Recipe from Budget Bytes.

Panko Breaded Chicken

I randomly bought panko bread crumbs last week. This is what happens when I shop when I'm hungry. I end up with random stuff like panko crumbs. I've never cooked with them before but breaded chicken sounded really good and I wanted to spice up my chicken. I found a recipe that had cayenne pepper in it and I was sold. The seasoning was so good, subtle but flavorful.

My friend Bevin is serving in the Peace Corps in Benin, West Africa right now. In the few pictures we see of her life in West Africa, she's in all these beautiful patterned fabrics. When she came back to America for the holidays, she brought back aprons in all sorts of cool patterns. She sold them to raise money for a project she's leading to build classrooms in Benin (details below recipe). You know I had to get my hands on one!

Ingredients  

1 chicken breast

1/3 c flour, divided

1/3 c plain Panko bread crumbs

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp garlic powder

cayenne pepper, to taste (I used 8-10 shakes)

onion powder, to taste

1 egg, beaten

1/2 tbsp milk

a pinch of salt & pepper

Place chicken breast in a plastic bag and flatten with a rolling pin/metal hammer until 1/2-3/4 inch thick. Cut into 2-3 pieces.

 

Mix together 1/6 cup flour, panko, salt, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, and onion powder. Set aside. In a second bowl, mix together the egg and milk. In a third bowl, combine the remaining flour and a pinch of salt and pepper.

Using a fork, dunk each chicken piece in the flour, in the egg wash, and then into the panko mixture. Make sure the chicken is completely coated. 

Fry chicken in a skillet over medium to medium-high heat in oil until golden brown on each side, approximately 6-7 minutes (3 minutes/side). Remove from skillet and let rest for 4-5 minutes before serving.

Adapted from Or Whatever You Do.

For details on how you can help Bevin's project:

Blueberry Smoothie

I'm in total smoothie mode right now. This morning I decided to mix it up by adding blueberries and using peanut butter instead of almond butter (see Green Monster Smoothie). It was berry-tastic. I didn't add too much peanut butter because I didn't want the nutty flavor to overpower everything else. I ended up with subtle hints of peanut butter, which was just right. 

Ingredients (serves 2, makes ~20 oz)

3/4 c skim milk
1/2 c fage 0%

1 tbsp flax seed
1 frozen banana, sliced*
1/2 c blueberries
1/2 tbsp peanut butter
3 handfuls of baby spinach

*Tip: Slice the banana in pieces before freezing. 

In a blender, combine all ingredients. Blend until smooth.

Soo good!

You get the idea, right? Some combo of:
milk
greek yogurt
flax seed
frozen fruit
nut butter (optional)
spinach

Green Monster Smoothie

I read a lot of healthy/health-oriented blogs and they always post recipes that frankly don't sound like they'd taste good. Awhile ago, kale chips were making a splash on the food blog scene. I was skeptical, but after months of reading rave reviews, I finally caved and made kale chips. Turns out all those people were right! Kale chips rock.

Recipes for green monster smoothies have been making the rounds for awhile now, probably pre-kale chips. I'm sure I'm not alone when I question how good a smoothie can be with spinach in it. I mean, spinach? In my smoothie? I'm all for eating spinach salads but the thought of drinking it just doesn't seem right. But if all these bloggers were right about the kale chips, maybe they're right about these green monster smoothies.

Every Sunday morning, I go to yoga. That one hour of yoga helps me realign/recenter myself each week. It'd been two weeks since the last yoga class so I was really looking forward to this morning. Post-yoga, I was feeling great (it's hard not to!) and decided today was the day to get my monster on. 

Ingredients (serves 2, makes ~20 oz)

1 c skim milk

1/2 c fage 0% (greek yogurt)

2 tbsp ground flax seed

1 tbsp almond butter (optional)

1 frozen banana, sliced*

4 handfuls of spinach

*Tip: Your life will be easier if you slice the banana first and then freeze.

In a blender, add milk, greek yogurt, flax seed, almond butter, banana and spinach.
Blend until smooth. 

Gasp. It's actually good and chock-full of nutrients. The almond butter and ground flax seeds give the smoothie a nice nutty flavor. My recipe made about 20 ounces, so I split it in half and am saving the rest for later. There are a million variations of this to try. Check out my blueberry smoothie recipe - I mixed it up a little. 

Recipe inspired by Iowa Girl Eats.