Sunshine Shakes and other Breakfast Smoothies

When I was a teenager my family went through a phase where we would make fruit and yogurt smoothies for breakfast four days out of seven. Recently I stumbled upon the recipe we used most frequently. I don't have a photograph, but thought I'd share it here along with two others I have also enjoyed:

Sunshine Shake
Amount: 1-2 servings

Blend in blender until smooth:
1- medium orange, peeled and cut into chunks
1- medium banana, peeled
1/2 cup low fat vanilla or nonfat or low fat plain yogurt (Add honey, to taste, with plain yogurt)
1/16 tsp. cinnamon
1/16 tsp. nutmeg


Banana Raspberry Smoothie
Amount: 3 servings

1 1/2 cups Pineapple juice
1 cup vanilla yogurt (or plain sweetened with honey)
1 cup raspberries
2 ripe, medium bananas, peeled
1/2 cup of ice cubes (omit if you use frozen raspberries)

Combine pineapple juice, yogurt, raspberries, bananas and ice cubes in blender. Blend until smooth.

Berry Bonanza Smoothie
Amount: 2 servings

1 ripe banana, peeled and sliced
1 cup frozen berries (any mix of strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries)
5 ice cubes (or omit and use a frozen banana instead of fresh)
* Can be sweetened with a touch of honey if too tart

Blend ingredients at high speed till smooth. Thin with a little nonfat milk if needed.

Homemade Sweet Ice Tea

This recipe comes courtesy of my mother-in-law, Jane M. For some time I've been trying to find the perfect ratio of tea to water to sugar, this is exactly what I was looking for.

Sweet Ice Tea

4 Tea bags (The key is to buy a box of your store brand generic tea. Lipton I find too bitter. The tea I bought was America's Choice brand and just a generic black tea.)

1/2 gallon of hot water

Steep the tea bags in the hot water, the longer the stronger.

1/4 cup of sugar (add more if you like it sweeter)

1/2 gallon of cold water

Refrigerate until chilled to taste - or for quicker refreshment serve over ice cubes.

It's simple, it's sweet, it's delicious!

This will make you GLAD for a rainy day ...

Alright, people, if you like hot chocolate you have to try this one! It's been rainy and cold here in Sacramento lately and I've actually been glad because it's given me a good excuse to make this recipe. Sometimes I like to add more espresso to make a truly amazing mocha. You can also play with it by adding peppermit or other extracts in lieu of the vanilla.

Barefoot Contessa’s Hot Chocolate

2 1/2 cups whole milk
2 cups half-and-half
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
4 ounces milk chocolate, chopped
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon instant espresso or coffee powder

Heat the milk and half-and-half in a saucepan on medium heat to just below the simmering point. Remove the pan from the heat and add both chocolates. When the chocolates are melted, add the sugar, vanilla extract, and espresso and whisk vigorously. Reheat gently and serve immediately. Use a vanilla bean or cinnamon stick to garnish each serving.

WDIDWT? Leftover Ice Cream

I know, I know, that's such an oxymoron - who on earth heard of such a thing? But the situation can arise if, say, you have someone over who wants to bring something, so you tell them to bring ice cream to go along with your dessert, and you use it just as a topping to your brownie, so you have almost a whole carton left in the freezer, and then you get hit with the early-pregnancy blahs and don't want sweets for a few weeks, and by the time you're back in the market for ice cream, it's turned all icy and freezer-burnt....well, anyway, the scenario is possible. I expect it would also be an excellent way to use up leftover cheap store-brand vanilla ice cream that you wouldn't really want to eat straight but which would lend itself beautifully to a little clever disguise.

This is the second time in a week that I've pulled this off, so I think it's an official recipe by now:

Chocolate Peanut Butter Milkshakes

(The proportions are a little shaky - I just tossed the ingredients in without measuring until it looked right)

1/4 cup milk (or less - the more milk, the runnier the shake)
A few Tbl. cocoa
An equal amount of powdered sugar (maybe less - Michael thought it a bit rich the 2nd time)
1-2 Tbl. creamy peanut butter
1 Tbl. butter
1 tsp. vanilla
Several scoops of vanilla ice cream

Melt peanut butter and butter in microwave. Stir until smooth and add a dollop of ice cream to cool it. (The first time I did this, I didn't add this step, and the shake was very runny.) Set aside.

Put milk, cocoa, and sugar in blender. Blend until smooth. Add vanilla and ice cream; blend until thoroughly mixed. Add peanut butter mixture and blend very briefly. Serves 2, with small second helpings all around.

Very quick, rich, smooth, creamy, and delicious.