My Green Smoothie

I've loved drinking smoothies forever. My first taste was Juice it Up's Strawberry Wave when I was young. Since then my taste has changed and I think most smoothie place's ingredients have gone downhill in quality...so I don't mind making them on my own now :) 

My palette has become more 'sophisicated' with varying ingredients. I have a general recipe that changes based on what I am in the mood for and what's in my fridge. Here's one I had a month or so ago. 

This is the breakdown:

Fruit, at least 3 kinds

Juice, just a splash and I only use not from concentrate juices

Milk or water, just a splash (regular, almond or coconut)

The green: a big handful of kale, spinach, or chard

A large scoop of ice

This particular smoothie included half an apple, a scoop of cut up melon, a kiwi, a scoop of berries, a splash of simply orange, a splash of coconut milk, a big handful of kale and lots of ice. I think the trick is making sure you add in season fruit so the flavor is good. You'd be surprised how much green you can add without even tasting it. The ice makes a huge difference, too. These smoothies get me full, give me energy and make me feel good about my day since I usually drink them for breakfast. What do you put in your green smoothie?

Kristine's Menu

I thought I would report back on a few recipes that I tried last week so everyone would know how they turned out. I updated the post with my reviews, so feel free to revisit this post if you were thinking about making something, but wanted to hear more first.

Sunday: Italian Lemon Butter Chicken - I used white cooking wine instead of champagne and also omitted the mushrooms. I liked it enough to make again. I used the juice of two lemons for the sauce and when I tasted it, I thought WOW, that is way too much lemon. I ended up adding a little more cream and milk to the sauce, but once it was on the chicken and pasta, I couldn't taste the lemon strong at all. So next time, I will leave as is!

Monday: Chicken Pillows - Jordan's favorite thing I make. And maybe the most ghetto :)

Tuesday: Waffles & Eggs

Wednesday: Creamy Chicken Pesto Pasta

Thursday: Chicken Cordon Bleu

Friday: Crispy Baked Chicken Fingers - never got to them last week because my mom came into town!

Saturday: Hamburgers

Dresden's Menu

Happy Monday evening everyone! I've heard from a few of you that you've been using our recipes. I am so glad! We'd love to see some of your yummy recipes, feel free to email us or leave a link in a comment.

Last week I posted a recipe for crock pot ranch potatoes, I highly recommend them if you're looking for a good side dish. I used cream of chicken instead of cream of mushroom only because I am not a fan of cream of mushroom. I also added a decent amount of salt & pepper, season to taste.

Here's my menu for the week:

Monday: Leftover French Dip Sandwiches

Tuesday: Enchiladas (didn't get to this last week) with salad

Wednesday: Crock Pot Lasagna (thank you for the recipe Lani!)

Thursday: BBQ Chicken Salad (using Natalie's idea from here)

using this salad dressing recipe

Friday: Hamburgers with corn on the cob

Dresden's Menu

Another week is already here, I seriously feel like August flew by faster than any month this year. Which is weird cause my birthday is this month and it usually goes by really slow. We've been super busy every week this month so that's probably why it's has gone by so quickly. I have a few new recipes I'm trying this week, click on the green ones new recipes to try.

Monday: Hamburgers with fruit

Tuesday: Crock Pot Orange Chicken & rice

Wednesday: My birthday!

Thursday: Enchiladas with salad

(I can never have too many of my mom's enchiladas:))

Friday: Chicken Alfredo with broccoli

(this is my favorite alfredo sauce recipe)

Saturday: Steak with Crock Pot Ranch Potatoes

I was looking for a healthy granola recipe for awhile when I came upon this. My old roommate is a super incredibly healthy strong girl. She has lots of great workout and healthy eating tips over at her blog here. These little babies are peanut butter oatmeal banana granola bars, a recipe from her blog. I made a batch of them, wrapped each one in freezer paper + tape and grab one on my way out the door from the freezer every morning. I highly recommend them as a snack at work, they are yummy!

Kristine's Menu

Image credit

I didn't post a menu last week because I only cooked twice as we were out of town. It is tough getting back into the swing of things, but I know with a menu, I am MUCH more organized!  Here's my menu for the week!

Sunday: Had dinner at my parent's house. Why does food taste much better when you are not cooking and it is cooked by your mom? :)

Monday: Neighborhood BBQ

Tuesday: Alfredo Pizza - I have some frozen leftover alfredo sauce from a few weeks ago and I am pretty sure this is the only thing I have the ingredients for. I need to go grocery shopping!

Wednesday: Breakfast burritos - tortillas, eggs, bacon, cheese and salsa verde. So easy and so delicious!

Thursday: Baked Ziti and Garlic Pull Apart Bread - both new recipes that I am excited to try out. - UPDATE: loved this.  It reminded me of a dish that my mom used to make when we were kids. It was super easy and super fast. And really only required one dish! I didn't have any ziti, so I used macaroni noodles. I would DEFINITELY recommend using a pasta with a little more stability because mine was a little too soggy. I also didn't have any fresh basil on hand, so I just threw in a few dollops of Costco's prepared Pesto.  I didn't want to make a whole recipe of the pull apart bread since there are just two of us, so I halved it and put three little balls into a cup of a muffin tin. They turned out really cute, but I think they needed a little more garlic. Also, beware of overcooking! I was waiting for mine to turn golden brown, but they really never did and turned out on the slightly overcooked side.

Friday: Ground Beef Tacos - I never use ground beef besides hamburgers, so I am branching out and making some good old fashioned tacos
UPDATE: also, loved these. The fried shells made all of the difference. Maybe not the most healthy thing, so I am going to try a baked version very soon (especially since I have a big ol' bag of corn tortillas sitting in my fridge waiting to be used.)

Saturday: Crispy Baked Chicken Fingers and Skillet Potatoes - recipe coming next week!

I am also trying to eat lots of fresh fruit and vegetables this week. I have recently started making Green Monster Smoothies and it is such an easy way to get both of those in. I make a few batches at a time and freeze them so Jordan and I can both have a good breakfast!

Natalie's Menu

David started school today so we are back into the normal swing of things. However, we are probably moving into our own place this weekend so that will probably stir things up, right when I thought they were going to slow down :) Here's what we're having this week:

Sunday: Sonoran hot dogs, grilled corn (recipe coming this week!)
Monday: Crock pot chicken tacos + easy mexican rice
Tuesday: Teriyaki salmon, rice, roasted veggies from the garden
Wednesday: Creamy chicken taquitos + raw veggies
Thursday: Stuffed zucchini (filled with sausage, tomato sauce + mozzarella. Probably a variation of this recipe.) + green salad
Friday + Saturday we will be out of town because Davids family will be visiting for our nieces 1st birthday and our other nieces baby blessing.

Photo is of the pretty cupcakes my mom made for a bridal shower she threw. They were DELICIOUS! Now I want to make a chocolate mayonnaise cake tonight. Have you ever had a cake made with mayonnaise in the batter. THE BEST!

Natalie's Menu

It's been a busy week! I barely made dinner last week, we had so much going on. Shame, shame. David started school this week, so I should have plenty of time to plan and work on some yummy meals! I'm only planning thru Thursday because it's our anniversary on Friday! David will be at school all day, but we'll grab dinner and spend the rest of the day together-- and then this weekend we're going to celebrate for reals at Disneyland because our passes will finally be unblocked! Can't wait to grab a Gibson Girl ice cream.


Monday: Chicken Pot Pie // I'm going to do a simpler version of Ina Garten's Pot Pie
Tuesday: Roasted pork tenderloin, mashed potatoes, roasted broccoli + asparagus
Wednesday: Kristine's California club pizza // cut up watermelon, pineapple, melon + grapes
Thursday: Bacon basil chicken // roasted potatotes, green salad
The rest of the week we'll be super busy and celebrating!