Fun arrangements with food

Banana Pineapple Tomato Orange Kale Smoothie

Yes, all of those ingredients together.

Ingredients:

• 1 banana
• 1 cup pineapple
• 2 small tomatoes
• 1 orange
• 4 cups baby kale
• 8 ounces of filtered water

Anyone willing to try this? The creator of this smoothie said the pineapple and orange help mask the flavor of the tomatoes. It also works as a meal replacement.

(via Incredible Smoothies Facebook fan page)

justeatyourveggies:

Slimtastic Smoothies: 20 nutritious and delicious smoothie recipes

1. Banana: Blend 2 bananas with 1/2 cup fat-free Greek yogurt, 1/2 cup skim milk, 2 teaspoons honey, 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon, and 1 cup ice.
2. Strawberry Shortcake: blend cups strawberries, 1 cup crumbled pound cake, 1-1/2 cups skim milk, 1-1/2 cups ice, and splenda or stevia no calorie sweetener to taste.
3. Raspberry Orange:Blend 1 cup orange juice, 1 cup raspberries, 1/2 cup plain yogurt, 1 cup of ice and splenda or stevia no calorie sweetener to taste.
4. Honeydew-Almond: Blend 2 cups chopped honeydew melon, 1 cup almond milk, 1 cup ice, and honey to taste.
5. Strawberry-Kiwi: Blend 1 cup strawberries, 2 peeled kiwis, 2 tablespoons sugar and 2 cups ice.
6. Cherry-Vanilla: Blend 1 1/2 cups frozen pitted cherries, 1 1/4 cups milk, 3 tablespoons sugar, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1/4 teaspoon almond extract, a pinch of salt and 1 cup ice.
7. Grape: Blend 2 cups seedless red grapes with 1 cup concord grape juice and 1 1/2 cups ice.
8. Blueberry-Banana: Blend 1 banana, 1 cup blueberries, 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut milk, 1 tablespoon each honey and lime juice, 1/4 teaspoon almond extract and 1 cup ice.
9. Creamsicle: Blend 3/4 cup frozen orange or orange-tangerine concentrate with 1/2 cup cold water and 1 cup each vanilla ice cream and ice.
10. Spiced Pumpkin: Blend 1/2 cup each pumpkin puree and silken tofu, 3 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar, 1 cup milk, 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice, a pinch of salt and 1 cup ice.
11. Black Raspberry–Vanilla: Blend 1 pint blackberries, 1/2 cup raspberries, 1 cup vanilla yogurt and 1 tablespoon honey.
12. Banana PB&J: Blend 1 frozen banana with 1 cup soy milk, 1/4 cup each creamy peanut butter and wheat germ, and 2 tablespoons seedless strawberry or raspberry jelly.
13. Vietnamese Coffee: Blend 1/2 cup chilled espresso or strong coffee, 1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk and 1 1/2 cups ice. Top with chocolate shavings and/or chocolate syrup.
14. Pineapple-Mango: Blend 1 cup each chopped pineapple and mango, 1 cup coconut water, a dash of ground allspice and 1 cup ice. Sprinkle with toasted coconut.
15. Chocolate-Banana: Blend 1 banana, 1 cup chocolate ice cream, 1/2 cup milk, a pinch of salt and 1/2 cup ice.
16. Peanut Butter–Apple: Blend 1 chopped peeled apple, 3 tablespoons creamy peanut butter, 2 tablespoons flax seeds, 1 1/2 cups each soy milk and ice, and honey to taste.
17. Veggie: Blend 1 1/4 cups tomato juice, 1/4 cup carrot juice, 1/2 peeled cucumber, 1/2 celery stalk, 1/4 cup each parsley and spinach, and 1/2 cup ice.
18. Lemon–Poppy Seed: Blend 2 teaspoons poppy seeds, the zest and juice of 1/2 lemon, 1 cup plain yogurt, 1/3 cup sugar and 1/2 cup each milk and ice.
19. Strawberry-Maple: Blend 2 cups strawberries, 1 1/2 cups milk, 1/4 cup each maple syrup and wheat germ, a dash of ground cinnamon and 1 1/2 cups ice.
20. Apple-Spinach: Blend 2 cups spinach, 1 chopped peeled apple, 1/2 cup silken tofu, 1/4 cup each soy milk and orange juice, 1 tablespoon each wheat germ, honey and lemon juice, and 1 cup ice.

Find more here…

How to Juice a Lime

(via reddit)

Veggie Apple Smoothie Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 large apple
• 1 large celery stalk
• 1/2 cup kale
• 1/2 cup cilantro
• 1 cup filtered water
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 tablespoon chopped ginger

(via Incredible Smoothies)

Each one of these ingredients has a chock full of health benefits (too many to list here) and is a great way to get your daily dose of fruit and vegetable intake. I imagine it tastes quite green, so play around with the quantities of the ingredients to find your taste preference.

Mango Orange Yogurt Popsicles Recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 mangoes, peeled and diced
• Freshly squeezed juice from 1 large orange
• 200 ml water [3/4 cup PLUS 2 Tbsp]
• 150 g sugar [rounded 3/4 cup]
• Yogurt

Instructions:

Fill the bottom of your popsicle mold with the yogurt, then freeze it until the mango puree is ready, but for at least 30 minutes.

Stir sugar and water in a saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat and cool. Process mango and orange juice in a food processor until smooth, add syrup and process to combine. Let it cool in the refrigerator.

Fill popsicle molds and freeze until firm. Insert wooden popsicle sticks and return to freezer until frozen. Dip molds in hot water to unmold before consuming.

(recipe via 6bittersweets.com)

And if you want to be fancy, you could always use the Zoku Quick Pop Maker!

Chef’n StemGem Strawberry Stem Remover

I had no idea people removed the hulls of strawberries to eat them. Usually I would just hold on to the leaves and bite off as much berry as I could. There are however 33 5-star reviews out of 37 total on Amazon, so this must be a useful item!

A tool like this certainly would have come in handy while I was preparing a batch of strawberry margarita Jell-O shots for tomorrow (which by the way did not work out too well). Definitely be ware if you happen to open up a hole at the bottom of the strawberry. It will leak out all the good stuff before the Jell-O has a chance to settle.

$7.95 @ Amazon.com

Strawberry Cheesecake Smoothie Recipe
Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

• 2 cups fresh strawberries
• 1 cup ice cubes (crushed)
• 3 tablespoons simple syrup (dissolve equal parts of sugar and hot water)
• 3 tablespoons cream cheese
• 1/4 cup coconut or soy milk
• crushed graham crackers (for topping)

(via sunnyvegan)

Instructions:

Blend the berries and ice together until smooth, then throw in the rest of the ingredients except for the graham crackers and blend again until smooth. Pour into serving glasses and top with crushed graham crackers. 

I modified this recipe slightly for clarity and also cut out the vegan part since I don’t play that game. Enjoy!

Vibrant Orange Juice Frosty Recipe

serves two – or one extra tall glass

The secret to this smoothie/frosty is really the fresh squeezed OJ. Yes, you could make this smoothie with regular orange juice, but it won’t have that vibrant bite of citrus that comes with fresh squeezed.

• 4 Valencia oranges, squeezed
• 1 small banana, ripe
• 1/3 cup frozen peaches
• 1/2 cup frozen pineapple
• 1/3 cup ice

Blend. Pour. Garnish with a citrus twist and serve!

(via blogs.babble.com)