Green Goodness!

I had heard of green smoothies before but was a little reluctant to give it a try. Maybe it was the idea that spinach or swiss chard would ruin the sweetness that I love about smoothies. I like spinach, I like smoothies, but I didn't like the idea of them together. Now that I have made them I can sum up my thoughts with one word...YUM! They are every bit as good as "normal" smoothies only these are packed with the punch of more vitamins and nutrients from the greens. I made a basic strawberry and banana with spinach, and a little sugar. I can't wait to experiment with other fruits and greens. Another plus is that Nathan liked it as much as I did.

A few recipes to get you started:
Green Slushy
Green Smoothie

White Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I love to cook, but I'm not that fond of baking. However, I love to eat baked goods :0 It may be the size of my kitchen, my clumsiness, my impatience but I always make a mess. I'm getting better though at being better organized and making counter space before I begin the baking. All that to say, I baked cookies today. Now cookies are usually pretty easy to whip up, so it was a pleasant baking experience. I tried a recipe that I think I had jotted down several years ago while rummaging through my grandma's larger than life recipe box. They are a white chocolate peanut butter cookie. It's got a light peanut butter flavor, but just enough. I used whole wheat flour so I was a little worried that they may not "set up" as well. On the contrary they formed and set perfectly. Add a cold glass of milk and you're in cookie bliss.

1 cup Peanut Butter
1/4 C. milk
1/2 C. vegetable shortening (I used butter flavored)
1 1/2 C. light brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
2 C. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 C. white Choc. morsels

Mix with a mixer the first 6 ingredients and set aside
sift flour, salt, and baking soda
Mix dry ingredients with moist
Stir in chocolate
place on ungreased sheet
bake 6-8 min. at 375 degrees
Makes about 3 dozen

Fruits of my labor

I was super excited to have found a berry farm nearby. This morning I headed out early to embark on this new adventure (I had never been to a berry farm). I gathered and ate a few, gathered and ate a few until I had 3 lbs. of blackberries and 3lbs of blueberries. I'm going to freeze some of the blueberries and on Monday I'm making jam (another first) with the blackberries. I wanted to share a great blueberry coblerry pie. It tastes amazing! I made my own press in crust that you can find the recipe for here. I then used this recipe on Alicia's Homemaking for the pie. Mmm good! Okay....I'm going to go have a piece now.

Tasty Tuesday

Recently I've been feeling as though I've been in a cooking rut. My meals the past month have been coming together haphazardly with not a lot of thought. So, each Tuesday this month I'm going to try out a new recipe and post the good and the bad. Up first for review is a summer harvest soup.

I liked the soup because it was cooked in a crockpot. I chopped and prepped this morning, went for a massage, and came back to a pleasant aroma of simmering soup. It was hearty with the fresh veggies, but needed a little kick. I think my mistake was in adding too many noodles. I chose to use dry noodles because I already had them on hand and added them 30 min. before serving. I however just eyeballed it and after they swelled from cooking, I think they took away from the veggies. I would also recommend adding a little salt. I shredded some fresh parmesan and added some croutons to top it off. Another plus was that Nathan really enjoyed it!