Spinach Smoothie Sunday

I'm kind of burnt out on the sweets, as in baked good sweets, so today I thought I would try something new and healthy - a spinach smoothie.

I'm sure you can find gobs of recipes on the internet, but I just kind of made mine up as I went along.

I used about 3 cups (loose, not packed) spinach, almond milk, French vanilla yogurt, flax seed, and frozen strawberries and blended it all up into one big glass of green and healthy deliciousness! It didn't at all taste like spincah and totally tasted like strawberry yogurt yumminess. Hooray! I discovered yet another way to incorporate greens into my eating habits!

P.S. A banana is shown in the photos of ingredients I used, however I didn't use a banana because I froze it and gee, what do you know? Frozen bananas can't be peeled. Well, I'm sure they can, but I didn't feel like wasting my time trying to peel it. Anyhow, I don't even like bananas, so no big whoop.

Squid Ink Linguine

Sometimes you just want to have a simple meal, but with a smidgey of pizzazz-a-matazz.

What's easier than a pasta dish? Spaghetti itself is easy enough, but for an ultra simple, ultra yummy dish, nothing is easier than linguine aglio e olio (with garlic and oil.) As yummy as it is, I wanted to oomph up the pizzazz factor by using squid ink pasta, as opposed to a standard spaghetti or linguine. Since I am totally obsessed with all things delicious at Ohio City Pasta (http://www.ohiocitypasta.com/), I traipsed to the always wonderful West Side Market (http://www.westsidemarket.org/) and among other things, picked up some squid ink pasta. Oh how pretty it was! (And you know how much pretty counts!) Being someone who does not like the taste of fish or seafood at all, I asked the dude at Ohio City Pasta what it tasted like and he assured me it tasted a little salty and not fish-like at all. SOLD! I bought some and brought it home to my already Ohio City Pasta stocked refrigerator. Hmmmm, what should I do with it? A typical red sauce wouldn't do the pretty black color of the pasta justice. A cream sauce of some sort would look nice with the color of the pasta, but ultimately, I wanted the pasta itself to be the visual centerpiece of the dish, so I decided on a simple aglio e olio preparation.Linguine with aglio e olio is simple enough to prepare from a recipe in your head, but if you need help, there are gobs of recipes out there. I found a fairly highly rated and simple recipe on the Food Network site (www.foodnetwork.com/recipes-food-network-kitchens/spaghetti-with-oil-and-garlic-aglio-et-olio-recipe/index.html)

I had a friend over and he loved the taste of the dish and the novelty of the squid ink pasta.

Mangiamo!

Beet It!

Oh, lucky readers! A double post this fine day! Aren't I ambitious? (Actually, since I haven't really posted anything for a week-ish, that would be a negative on the ambition, Ghostrider.)
So, somewhere I read or heard about beet brownies and I was all "Barf!" because beets? Barf. (Not that I have ever tasted a beet but still, barf. They are a super pretty shade of red, though, so they have that going for them.) But, since I'm all about trying to incorporate the healthy into my snackedy snacks and baked goods, I thought, "Why not?" If I don't like them, I can always toss them in the trash or feign being a good neighbor and give them to the neighbor whose dog leaves its own treats of the butt chocolate variety in my yard.
So off I went in search of a beet brownie recipe. Wow, why do so many of these recipes call for a gazillion eggs? Search, search, searchedy search. And then I digressed, because that is what I do. I happened upon some nutriotional facts about beets. You can read up on them here: http/www.hubpages.com/hub/Health_Benfits_of_Red_Beets
Holy Healthy, Batman! Beets are a healthy powerhouse!
Anyhow, I digressed and then got back on track and found a recipe for Beet Brownies. As I do with almost everything, I altered the recipe I found. I added extra vanilla (I add extra vanilla to evvvverything), cinnamon, cayenne pepper, extra cocoa powder and did not use quite as much pudding mix (I didn't have the larger size on hand, so I just used the smaller box that was in my pantry and crossed my fingers it wouldn't mess up the recipe.) This is the recipe I used/altered: www.food.com/recipe/beet-brownies-151739
These smelled super scrumptious as they were baking and when I took them out of the oven, they were not brownie-like at all, but definitely cake-like, but who cares, because they are total Nomsville, like a super moist cake. I can't wait to share them with family, friends and neighbors.
They only thing I do not like about this recipe is the crazy amount of vegetable oil it calls for. 1 cup? Geez. So, next time, I will tinker even more with the recipe and reduce the oil and maybe add some applesauce in lieu of it.
BTW, I don't know what a beet tastes like, but I am pretty certain these haven't a trace of beet flavor to them, as they are a yummy chocolatey-spicy-cinnamon flavor.

Banana Nut Bread Saturday

Nothing excting or unusual on the baking front today, just a classic banana nut bread. I veered away from the usual recipe I use, and I'm experimenting with the recipe I found on the Food Network site. I followed the recipe, making only a few slight alterations: I added walnuts, vanilla and an extra smooshed up banana. I also sprinkled a cinnamon sugar mixture atop the bread before making it. YUM!
Recipe can be found at : www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/banana-bread-recipe/index.html

Hooray for Hats!

I won the Hats in the Belfry contest I mentioned in an earlier post. Hooray! Thanks to everyone who voted for me.

I won the Keira hat that I used in the outfit, as well as $50 gift card to the most excellent hat site, http://www.hatsinthebelfry.com/. Check them out for all your noggin warmer and hat needs. Also, for a short while, they are running a promotion where you get 20% off your entire purchase if you use the coupon code LOVE20 at checkout. (I believe it expires at the very super beginning of February.)

Anyhow, with my $50 gift card and 20% discount, (and my free Keira hat), here is what I got, grand total, with shipping and handling, after discount and gift card? $3.60. SCORE!!

Food and Fashion

So, you know, as much as I LOVE to bake and cook, I also LOVE fashion. Hats in the Belfry is having a contest, where you create a look around one of their hats. You can find the details at:

http://blog.hatsinthebelfry.com/fashion-style/looks-you-love-january-contest.html

I put together the above look and that'll be my entry!

Putting together an outfit is always fun and this is a great way to have fun without doing damage to your bank account!

UPDATE:
Sweeeeeeeeeeeet! I won! I won the hat I incorporated in the above outfit AND a $50 gift card to Hats in the Belfry! Thanks to veryone who voted for me and Hats in the Belfry!!

Pineapple Blueberry Muffins

So, another cold, snowy dreary day from the shores of Lake Erie. As always, there's nothing better than smelling something baking in the oven on a cold winter's day so, of course, I baked today. I bought a fresh pineapple and cut it up a few days ago, but whoa, there is A LOT of pineapple in a fresh pineapple!L ike a super sized mondo bowl of pineapple chunks are to be had. I ate gobs, brought some to a friend, ate gobs more and still had a ton leftover. What to do? What to do? I also went to Cleveland's West Side Market yesterday (http://www.westsidemarket.org/) which, by the way, is SO a destination place if you are a foodie and in he Cleveland area. Anyhow, at the market I bought several large containers of plump, juicy blueberries. At 2 for $2, I couldn't resist. So now, I am left with tons of fresh pineapple and blueberries, so I decided, YUM! Pineapple and blueberry sounds like a scrumptious flavor combo, and you can never go wrong with muffins, so off to Internet World I went for a Pineapple Blueberry muffin recipe and came upon this oneat http://www.grouprecipes.com/, which I altered because it is for a cream cheese filled muffin and I didn't have any cream cheese on hand and HELLO! it is like 4 degrees and windy out there and there's no way I'm in the mood to leave my cozy abode to get some cream cheese!
So the muffins are baking away in my oven as I type and they smell divine. I will report back and update later as to how they came out, and hopefully, photos,too, but my dang camera is still acting up.
Edited for results: Wow. These SO did not turn out. At all. I have no idea what went wrong, because muffins are super ultra easy to make. Anyhow, since the Spicy Mexican Brownies I made the other day were such a colossal hit, I decided to make them again today. However, instead of using cayenne pepper, I decided to use some red bell pepper that I smooshed up in the food processor. I also added some orange peel. They are cooling off right this very moment and I will report back how they taste. *FINGERS CROSSED!!!*