Avocado & banana fruit smoothie

Today, I’d like to introduce you to my newest favorite smoothie.

I’m sorry to admit that I just now tried the addition of avocados in smoothies. I’m now convinced it’s the secret to the perfect creamy consistency!

Avocado & banana fruit smoothie

Ingredients:

• 1 ripe banana (good frozen or not)
• 1/2 avocado, peeled and pitted
• 1 cup fresh or frozen fruit (strawberries just may be my favorite!)
• 1 tablespoon sweetener (honey, agave, dates, coconut sugar, etc)
• 3/4 cup water or almond milk

Instructions:

• Throw it all in a blender, blend until smooth, and enjoy!

What are your favorite must-have smoothie mix-ins??

Quick & easy mini cinnamon rolls

Hello, everyone! Let’s get down to business. It’s cinnamon roll time!

These are great, especially if you’re in a hurry, because there is no yeast required, thus no time needed for dough to rise. Just throw the ingredients together, roll your dough flat, add cinnamon, sugar and coconut oil, roll up, slice and bake. The directions may or may not look intimidating but, I promise, it’s easier than it looks!

These cinnamon rolls are absolutely delicious and with the use of whole wheat flours, sucanat as sweetener, almond milk as liquid, and coconut oil instead of butter, they are a much healthier cinnamon roll alternative.

Quick & Easy Mini Cinnamon Rolls
Adapted from Vegan Pandamonium
Makes about two dozen rolls

Ingredients:

• 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup melted coconut oil, divided
• 2 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 cups almond milk (or other milk)
• 1 cup sucanat (or other sugar)
• 2 tablespoon cinnamon

Instructions:

• Preheat oven at 450 degrees.
• Combine flour, salt and baking powder.
• Add 1/2 cup (rest is used later) coconut oil and all the milk, stir until stiff and then work dough with hands until soft.
• Form dough into a ball and place on slightly floured surface.
• Roll out into rectangle, brush on the rest of the coconut oil and then sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.
• From the long side, tightly roll up your dough. Cut into 1/2 to 1 inch rolls.
• Place rolls in greased baking dish. I used a 9 x 13 glass dish, and it seemed to be a good size.
• Bake for about 13 minutes. Spread on icing, and enjoy!

Notes: Makes about 24 small to medium sized cinnamon rolls. Half recipe and bake in a pie dish if you want a smaller batch.

Icing:

• Mix together about a cup of powdered sugar (I used homemade sucanat powdered sugar) and 2-6 tablespoons almond milk (or milk of choice).
• Pour in about a tablespoon almond milk at a time and stir. Keep adding a little more milk until you reach desired consistency. I like ours fairly thick so I don’t use much, but it’s completely whatever you prefer!
• If you want it to have a little more flavor, feel free to add about a half teaspoon vanilla extract.

Here they are pre and post oven:

I think this might just make a perfect Thanksgiving breakfast treat!

Easter brunch, Icee Izze

Hey, all! Hope everyone had a great Easter full of celebration!

We started our Easter at church, followed by a brunch full of delicious food! Erik and I, of course, contributed to that food.  But first …

Ice Cream Maker, Meet Izze As I was reading through the ice cream maker recipes the other night, I saw icee recipes! Basically, you can use any drink that contains sugar (they suggested Kool-Aide and Pepsi, ha, and I think we all know I’m not going to use that). 

Enter: Izze! Sweetened with fruit, and no added sugar, and considering how much I love Izze, it was the perfect choice.
  Simply put the drink into the ice cream maker, turn it on, and let it spin for about 15 minutes.

It was so good!! I’m a kid at heart, and I’ve always been about the icy drinks, always.  Easter Brunch

Now back to Easter.  We had a brunch at church after service, and here’s what Erik and I contributed:

Thumbprint Cookies
  I used a recipe from 101 Cookbooks.  They ended up tasting really good, but the batter was too wet, and the cookies spread more than they should have while in the oven.  Oh well!

I love the simplicity of ingredients in this recipe.  I topped mine with no sugar added strawberry preserves. Cold Pasta Salad It contained basically onions, carrots, celery, grape tomatoes, local pepper jack cheese, olive oil, and red wine vinegar. Blueberry Lime Muffins 
I didn’t know what to think of these at first but they’ve since grown on me.  I think next time, I would add a little more lime juice, and use fresh blueberries instead of frozen (I only had frozen).

Ingredients:
-- 1 3/4 cup white whole wheat flour
-- 1 cup raw cane sugar
-- 2 teaspoons baking powder
-- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
-- 1/2 cup low fat sour cream
-- 1/3 cup coconut oil
-- 1 teaspoon lime zest
-- 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
-- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-- 2 large egg whites
-- 1 large egg
-- 6 ounces plain Greek yogurt
-- 1 cup blueberries

Directions:
-- Preheat oven at 350 degrees.
-- Mix together dry ingredients in large bowl, and the wet ingredients into a medium bowl.  Add the wet mixture to the dry, and stir together.
-- Pour mixture into muffin pan, sprinkle blueberries evenly overtop, and bake for 25 minutes. I decided I really like lime/lemon flavors in baked goods.  It always reminds me of my mom’s lemon poppy seed bread which I loved when I was little. What’s your favorite flavor or ingredient in baked goods??

Let the resurrection joy lift us from loneliness and weakness and despair to strength and beauty and happiness.  ~Floyd W. Tomkins

Ceramic knives, Chobani breakfast & Nature’s Pride

Hiiii, hope your week has been great!

My condolences to those of you who may currently be experiencing springtime snow.  I’m hoping the lovely white stuff decides to skip Kansas City until next year! We’ve had enough, I promise.

Chobani BreakfastIt had been awhile since I’d had a nice big bowl of Greek yogurt, and as of late I’m addicted to bananas … thus a perfect breakfast combination was formed.

In the mix: Chobani vanilla Greek yogurt, 1 sliced banana, a spoonful of chocolate peanut butter, granola, and a little agave. Delicious!Nature’s Pride

As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker’s Program, I received this loaf of bread in the mail to try out:I hadn’t ever tried Nature’s Pride bread, though I always see it in groceries stores and people seem to like it.  I’m bad at branching out … you know me, I’m still stuck on Rudi’s spelt bread.

While my heart is staying with Rudi, I was very happy with this bread. It’s softer and more bendable than what I’m used to so it’s nice to mix it up a little bit.Because of it’s softness, it went really well as a tuna sandwich.  I always toast my bread too, just makes it that much better! 

Conclusion: this bread would make a good addition to any healthy lunch!  
Ceramic Knives

For whatever reason, I never got around to blogging about this, but we love these so better late than never. 

We had been eying Kyocera’s ceramic knives for awhile, and for Christmas my parents got us a set of two.  The blades come in white and black.  We opted for black.Facts about ceramic knives:

-- They’re ideal for straight cuts of fruits, vegetables, and boneless meats
-- Ceramic knives retain their original sharpness more than 10 times longer than steel knives
-- The only thing harder than the ceramic material used to make these is diamond (they’re really sharp!)
-- They are very lightweight, so cutting is made easier
-- Ceramic knives are chemically inert.  This means they won’t give food a metallic smell/taste or brown your food as some steel knives will.  The surface will also resist germs, making for a very easy clean
 
We really love our ceramic knives, and they come highly recommended from the Lesley Lifting Life kitchen!

What kind of knives do you use?

Laughing Cow two ways.

Hello!

So I keep forgetting to mention this, but in case you hadn’t noticed already (see this pizza), Erik and I have been eating meat since we moved to KC.  If you will remember, we had been eating a vegetarian diet since September ‘10.  It started out mostly for fun, and didn’t think it would last forever, and sure enough … it hasn’t!

We do eat a lot less meat now, and have learned there are many ways to enjoy meat free meals.  And now that we’re in Kansas City, it’s much easier to get ahold of grass fed/organic meats. 
Just wanted to clear any confusion in future carnivorous pictures found on Lesley Lifting Life

Breakfast

Yesterday, the theme of the day seemed to be Laughing Cow cheese.  First off, in breakfast.I decided on an egg sandwich + Laughing Cow cheese wedge combo.  This has longtime been a favorite of mine.  Here was the mix:

-- 2 eggs, beaten and cooked on a skillet with coconut oil, seasoned with pepper
-- 2 toasted pieces of bread (I used Rudy’s Spelt bread, my current all-time favorite)
-- 1 Light Original laughing cow cheese wedge, spread onto toasted bread
-- Ketchup, as needed

Eaten alongside a grapefruit with some hot chai tea = breakfast perfection!Afternoon Lull

I accidentally slept in yesterday (forgetting to turn your phone off silent will cause that to happen from time to time), which threw me off a bit.  By last morning/afternoon, I was suffering from a tired lull, ha.

Izze came to my rescue.  It always does. 

Clementine is one of my favorite flavors, and what I love about Izze is that there are not added sugars, it’s simply sweetened with fruit.Note to self: Pay attention to where you’re pouring when you’re trying to take a picture and pour at the same time.  As you can see below, I failed.Lunch

Apparently, I didn’t get enough Laughing Cow, or Rudy’s bread at breakfast because come lunch time, I had some more! This time … with tuna.My tuna sandwich mix:

-- 2 pieces toasted bread (we like our bread toasted around here, ha)
-- 1 can tuna, rinsed and seasoned with lots of pepper
-- 1 Laughing Cow cheese wedge mixed in with tuna
-- Chopped baby tomatoes mixed in with tuna/Laughing Cow mixture (this is unpictured … I didn’t have any, but for optimal tuna sandwich experience, they are needed, trust me)
-- 1 slice pepper jack cheese for kick (optional)

I found my sandwich was a little dry, so I added some ketchup.  I blame this on the lack of cherry tomatoes.And that’s a wrap!

If you like them, what’s your favorite way to eat Laughing Cow cheese wedges??