Category: culinary fun

This post is sponsored by Foodie.com
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Check out Fresh summer veggies

by Emily at Foodie.com

I love, love, love shopping at our local farmer’s market! When we come home and cook the produce we buy there, Andy and I often say to each other, “this is how potatoes {insert any other fruit or vegetable} are supposed to taste!” There’s really nothing better.

I’ve compiled some ways I plan to use this year’s purchases in a collection on Foodie.com. It’s convenient to have all my recipes in one place! I find I use my iPad in the kitchen more than anywhere else… anyone with me on that? Having recipes at my fingertips makes life much easier.

I hope you’ll check out my collection above. Here are a few of my favorites:

– Grilled Smashed Potatoes. These are also sometimes called crash potatoes. Whatever they’re called, they are delicious! Basically you boil (or microwave) red or new potatoes until they’re soft, then you put them on a baking sheet, smash them down a little, and season with olive oil and salt/pepper/whatever else, and bake them. This is my absolute favorite way to prepare potatoes.

– BBQ Sweet Corn. Sweet corn isn’t quite ready yet this year, but when it is, I’m going to try this method on the grill.

– Grilled zucchini. Zucchini, squash, peppers… I love to throw all that stuff in a grill basket and have a side dish ready to go in a few minutes!

What’s your favorite way to use fresh produce in the summer?

This shop is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group® and Nestle, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia  #BreakfastEssentials http://my-disclosur.es/OBsstV

In my quest to help Jonah get past his language delay, and also to keep him alive, I give the poor child 3 different supplements every day: a liquid multi-vitamin, because he won’t eat a chewable or gummy vitamin even if I tell him it’s candy – he won’t even touch them, a probiotic to keep him pooping and keep his gut healthy, and a fish oil supplement which is great for kids with any kind of delays, ADHD, etc. We saw a great boost in his language after he started taking it. These are all great for him to have, but getting him to TAKE them is the problem! And three a day? I sweat it, often. The fish oil is like an orange paste, sometimes I mix it in yogurt and sometimes on his (gluten free) toast, but if he decides not to eat either that day, I get stressed and panicked. Because this stuff is expensive! His probiotic and liquid multi I can mix into juice (the multi is grape-flavored) but I HATE giving him SO much juice – I’d rather just stick to (coconut) milk and water. And I can’t ALWAYS count on him to drink all his juice, either. SIGH. Getting all three of these things into his body every day STRESSES ME OUT.

So I had a little epiphany the other day about how I might get him to take all this stuff every day without a problem – and in a way that is healthier, too. I ran to Kroger in search of THIS:

Carnation Breakfast Essentials! I don’t know why this didn’t occur to me before, I LOVE this stuff and always have. I decided to try to make a breakfast smoothie for Jonah that would include all three of his supplements plus the great nutrition that comes with Carnation Breakfast Essentials – 21 vitamins & minerals, as much calcium as a 6 oz. cup of yogurt, and 13 grams of protein. Plus, the wonderful chocolatey taste that Jonah would not be able to resist!

Carnation Breakfast Essentials has a TON of great smoothie recipes on their website, so I looked at all those while I was planning my smoothie sneak attack for Jonah. I got a lot of great ideas about ingredients and quantities, and in the end I went with my own concoction:

Jonah has been off dairy for a few months, and I am slowly adding it back into his diet here and there to see how he does – so far so good! Carnation Breakfast Essentials does have milk in it, so as not to overload him with dairy I made his smoothie with coconut milk and coconut yogurt – which is delicious anyway! Here’s the recipe I came up with:

Kid-Friendly Coco-Loco Banana Smoothie:

1 envelope Carnation Breakfast Essentials

3/4 cup coconut milk

3 oz vanilla coconut milk yogurt

handful of spinach

1/2 banana

handful of ice cubes (Jonah doesn’t like things real thick or crunhy, use more or less to your child’s preference)

optional:

probiotic, liquid multivitamin, fish oil supplement (appropriate dosages for your child!)

Blend in a blender or smoothie maker until well mixed, pour and enjoy!

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Here’s how Jonah’s turned out:

I then transferred it into his fave LEGO cup and presented it to my little taste tester:

And the verdict:

A happy boy! He loved it! This mama is so relieved to have a sure-fire, healthy way to get all his supplements in him!

Since Jonah’s smoothie looked so tasty, I decided maybe I would make myself a grown-up version – after all, as I mentioned, I have long been a fan of the taste of Carnation Breakfast Essentials! I am especially partial to the Rich Milk Chocolate, but they also have Classic French Vanilla, Classic Chocolate Malt, Dark Chocolate, Strawberry Sensation, and even a Variety Pack if you feel like mixing it up! Here’s what I cooked up for myself!

Since I am a coffee hound, I decided to have a little coffee kick in mine!

Mocha-Pomegranate Smoothie:

1/4 cup strong-brewed coffee (I used leftovers from earlier in the morning so mine was already cool)

1/2 cup milk of your choice

handful of spinach

6 oz pomegranate-flavor greek yogurt

1/2 cup ice cubes (more or less to your liking)

Blend until smooth, pour, and enjoy!

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You guys, this was SUPER-DELICIOUS! I loved it! I am definitely going to make it again, and with different flavors depending on what I am feeling like (or more likely what I have on hand!) And I have to say, I have previously mocked people for making “green” smoothies – but I did put spinach in this and it was great! Couldn’t taste it at all!

If you want to try some of these recipes (or the great ones you can get at their website), you can head on over to Kroger to find Carnation Breakfast Essentials AND you can do so my favorite way ever – with a digital coupon! Just look for Carnation Breakfast Essentials offers Here and you can load a digital coupon right to your Kroger plus card. HOLLA!

I am feeling super-pleased with myself after this smoothie experiment! The chocolate + banana masked all the other crazy flavors of Jonah’s supplements and made for a healthy treat that he loved. Smoothie for the win!

Do you like smoothies? What are your favorite ingredients in a healthy smoothie treat?

This post is sponsored by Foodie.com
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Few things say “It’s spring!” to me like the smell of food on the grill. We love to eat on the deck throughout the spring and summer, and I love to grill (or have my husband do it!). Take a look at the collection I made on Foodie.com – I can’t wait to try them!

I am super obsessed with asparagus right now. I loooove it. I usually roast it, but this recipe for grilled asparagus is one I am going to have to try out. Same with sweet potatoes – I roast them all the time, but hadn’t thought to cook them on the grill. Here’s a recipe for grilled chipotle lime sweet potato fries – yum! While we’re on the topic of vegetables, here’s how to get perfectly grilled corn on the cob.

Of course, the main point of grilling out is the meat! I can’t wait to try this recipe for Grilled Tri-Tip with Tequila Marinade and this one for Grilled Mongolian Pork Chops.

Dessert is important too, and can also be done on the grill. I love grilled peaches – here’s a recipe for fruit kabobs, and here’s one for grilled pineapple.

Head over to Foodie.com to make your own collection! Happy grilling!