St Patricks day 2011... Edmonton edition

Hello Everyone,

Today is one of the greatest days of the year St Patricks day. Now here in Alberta it is way less cool than the good old days at Western so I decided to compensate with some breakfast treats.

First up is the mint chocolate smoothie

Mint Chocolate Smoothie

Ingredients:

- 1 cup of spinach

- 1 banana

- water (or milk)

- mint extract

- Chocolate chips

- ice cubes

Directions:

- add, spinach, and banana and liquid until about half of the high of the contents into blender... blend until smooth

- add a few drops of mint extract and fill up with ice... blend until smooth

- add chocolate chips and enjoy.

Yes, one of the main ingredients is spinach... it is wonderful.. trust me.

Also there were no fresh banana's so I used one from the freezer. I "defrosted" it in the microwave and ended up squeezing it out of the peel much like Andre does in his method two of how to eat a banana.

I think peppermint extract is my new fave. Do not fret, if you don't have any the spinach banana combo is delicious on its own... sounds a bit crazy... but it is good. Sometimes I add chia or flax for a bit more of a nutritional kick.

Beer? Spinach? Why not both?

(On a side note this awesome shirt was gifted to me by Sara. It is epic!)

Next up, green pancakes, and you may or may not have guessed that there is no food colouring involved. I used Bisquick mix and (extremely) loosely followed the pancake directions... replacing the water it called for with 1 cup of pureed spinach and 1 cup of Guinness.

Who doesn't like beer in their pancakes?

A work in progress.. for some reason I like small pancakes better than big ones... maybe its because I can eat more of them that way.

Devin showing off his master flipping skills.

A modification on Irish Car Bombs...we didn't have any whiskey so we used Irish cream. I dub it the Irish Pipe Bomb!

Happy St Patricks Day Everyone!

Cheers,

-Kirsten

Morning food

Hello,

I revamped the recipe page this week so that it is easier to navigate and find your favs. I also added a breakfast section so I better get going on that...

Oatmeal= awesome breakfast, but sometimes it is hard to have time for the good stuff.

Lazy Oats

Ingredients:

- 1/3 cup oats

- 2/3 cup water

- 1 Tbsp Chia seeds

- 1 banana, mashed

- 1 tsp vanilla

- 1 small handful of Crasins (or other dried fruit)

Directions:

- Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl and let sit in the fridge overnight

- Heat up in microwave the next morning.

I am mostly too lazy/don't have the time to make fresh oatmeal in the morning, I am NOT a morning person. Soaking the oats over night makes the non-instant oatmeal a bit easier on the morning schedule.

Now we just need some dessert recipes...

Happy Early St. Patricks Day!

-Kirsten

Citrus Yum

Hello,

So I was just writing up this recipe to post at a later date and it was accidentally posted. OOPS? I made this last night when I got home from work, the original plan was something along the same line but with some grapefruit in it. After having this tasty treat I would pass on the grapefruit next time and add some apple.

Ingredients:

- 1 banana

- 1 kiwi

- 1 cup of pineapple (frozen)

- 1 cup of ice-cubes

Directions:

- Blend the fruit

- Add ice and blend

- Eat

This was an awesome, easy, and fast treat. I somehow even snapped a picture before devouring half of it, which is something I haven't been very good at recently.

Enjoy,

-Kirsten

Chocolate Banana Frapachino

Hello Again!

This is also a recipe from my week of sick, even though that was forever ago. I have this weird thing against milk products when I am sick--someone fed me the idea that milk makes you produce more flem and promotes infection. I am no doctor, but I definitely have negative thoughts towards milk products when sick. I think that knowing I shouldn't have it makes me want it more, so I always crave creamy things when sick. To over

come this obstacle I made almond milk in-situ for this recipe! This also helps out all of those lactose intolerant peeps out there.

Chocolate Banana Frapachino

Ingredients:

- 1/2 cup of milk (I added 1/8 cup of almonds and 1/2 cup of water)

- 1 cup ice cubes

- 1 banana

- 1 tsp cocoa powder

- 1 Tbsp chocolate chips

Directions:

- add 1/8 cup of almonds and 1/2 cup of water and blend until no large chunks of almond remain

- blend banana, ice cubes and milk until no big ice chunks remain (this should have a snow cone consistency)

- add chocolate chips and cocoa powder and blend until mixed (I like the chocolate chunks even though they sink to the bottom... spoons help!)

Can you tell I was parked on the couch in front of the TV for an extended period of time?

YUMMMM!

Lent is upon us. I am not a religious person, however I do like to give things up for lent. It starts tomorrow (March 9th) and goes until April 28th. This year I am going to give up MEAT! Yikes! I have always wanted to try but have never been able to commit to it. So from lunch tomorrow (I am going to have steak) until April 28th NO MEAT!

Is anyone else giving things up for lent?

-Kirsten