Works for Me Wednesday: Smoothie Cubes

A couple of months ago, I attended a wellness seminar. I have always considered myself someone who really cares about eating properly, but this seminar was an excellent reminder of the importance of raw fruits and vegetables in our diet. I determined to find ways to integrate those phytonutrient-rich foods into my diet. One of my favorite ways is the smoothie. No matter how you make it, they almost always turn out yummy! (except for the time I decided to throw in some bell pepper that I had lying around. That smoothie went down the drain! Yuck! What was I thinking.)

Smoothies are better than juicing because juicing does not include the fiber from the fruit or vegetable. Therefore, you are missing out on the fiber and having a higher concentration of sugar.

Typically, I just put in the blender whatever fruit I have around at the time. Basically, anything goes. Sometimes, I put in some vegetables, like carrots. (but beware the bell pepper!) Usually I can't taste the vegetables at all. I put the fruit, some milk (soy milk would be great too) sometimes some juice, sometimes some honey if I have put in cranberries or lemon, and sometimes some cinnamon or something like that. Mmm!

However, keeping a ton of fresh fruit around is not always very convenient. So, what works for me is to make Smoothie Cubes. When I have a really good smoothie being made with a lot of different ingredients, I make it as highly-concentrated as possible (just enough liquid to make the blender work) and pour it into the ice cube trays. When it is frozen, I put the new smoothie cubes into a Ziploc bag. Then, when I want a smoothie but do not have a large variety of fruit in the fruit basket, I pop as many of these into the smoothie instead.

When I want to make more smoothie cubes, I put some of the previously-made cubes into the mix again. That way, when I have a smoothie, I am getting a large variety of stuff in there.

There are many other possible uses for these cubes, too. Just now, I had a bowl of yogurt with some thawed smoothie cubes mixed in. I also love putting them in when I am making hot oatmeal. It makes the oatmeal a pretty color and gives it a delicious richness of flavor, not to mention added nutrition and sweetness without sugar. It works for me!

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Wonderful Blueberries

Recently, we went blueberry picking at a farm nearby. We like to do this at least once every summer. I think that this was the best crop we have seen yet! The blueberries were just enormous, about the size of grapes, and they are absolutely delicious. In just a little over an hour, Mom and I picked over 12 pounds! The neat part is that the people who own the farm only charge fifty cents per pound, and they don't mind if you eat as you pick. (which I do, of course. Who could resist?)

We would have picked more, but it was pouring rain for most of the time we were there. Considering how hot it is outside right now, this is hard to believe, but we were freezing! Finally I found a plastic bag in the trunk to use as an interesting-looking poncho, :) but by that time I was just soaked. But it was worth it!

We already froze the smaller and medium-sized ones, and we have been eating the rest. But we also wanted to give some of our treasure away, which means that we must go and get more! :) So we went out again a couple of days later and picked about 10 1/2 pounds.

I tried making this pie, and it turned out really well. It is a combination of two recipes. It has a really delicious nut crust (you can use a regular pre-made crust if you don't have time, but this crust is really good!), a cream cheese mixture, blueberry filling, and Cool Whip on top.

My favorite part is that there is always extra of the cream cheese mixture, and I could eat just that and be happy!

Note: Next time, I think I would like to cut back a little bit on the amount of sugar in the blueberry portion.

Blueberry Cream Cheese Pie

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter
½ cup nuts, chopped fine
1 cup flour
1 8-ounce package cream cheese
2 1/2 cups sugar, divided
1 small carton Cool Whip (I never actually use up the whole carton.)
3 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
2 tablespoons quick cooking tapioca
1/4 cup water


Instructions:

To make the crust, mix butter, nuts, and flour together and press into pie plate. Bake 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool. (Sometimes, I add a little sugar into the crust mixture, too.)

Blend cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, and a little less than ½ carton Cool Whip. Spread on bottom of cool pie shell. (Keep in mind that you still have 2 layers to put on -- don't make this too thick, or you won't have enough room in the crust. However, it is the best part; so don't make it too thin either!) :)

Mix blueberries, 1 1/4 cups sugar, tapioca, and water in saucepan. Cook until thickened. Cool. Spread on top of the cream cheese mixture.

Spread remaining Cool Whip on top, and sprinkle with extra blueberries for garnish. Enjoy!

Here's an idea: I adapted this recipe to use the blueberries, but I usually make it with pudding instead. Instead of the blueberry layer, put a layer of any pudding you like. My favorite is butterscotch. The flavor of the butterscotch goes really well with the creaminess of the cream cheese and Cool Whip. I also like it with chocolate pudding.

Super Bowl Sunday (and dip)

Some of our friends are coming over to see the game, and it should be a fun time. We got a football cake, and I also thought I would share the recipe for my favorite dip that I made for our game-watching enjoyment. It is so incredibly easy:

Ingredients:

~1 jar salsa con queso (we use Tostitos brand)
~1 can chili (we prefer the mild kind, because the dip ends up spicy anyway)
~If you prefer it less spicy and more cheesy, you can also mix in some Velveeta or some Cheez Whiz.

(Whenever guys are around, they tend to like the heat kicked way up. I don't mind if they add a bunch of jalapeno sauce to their own individual bowls, but keep it out of mine! I am not in a macho contest! Personally, I like it best just with the chili and the salsa con queso.)

Mix it all up and heat. Serve with chips. We like Tostitos Scoops.

The dip ends up kind of funny looking, but believe me you won't care because it is really good! I have made this super-simple dip for years, (basically any time we have a large group of people over) and we always run out. It just couldn't be better or easier, in my opinion. It is hard to stop eating it!

Oreo truffles

A few weeks ago, Mom went to a cookie exchange and came back with some delicious goodies. We really wanted to find out how to make the little Oreo cookie balls, and I was excited to find the recipe on A Home Away From Home just a few days later.

I made a big batch and included them in the plates that we gave to our neighbors. A side note: we love where we live! Each family on our little cul-de-sac shared something with the others this Christmas. We love the Mayberry-ish spirit that we have on our street!

Anyway, they are really good and not hard to make. Here is how I made them:

1 package Oreos
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1 package almond bark

1. Grind Oreo cookies in a food processor until fine.

2. Mix Oreo crumbs with cream cheese.

3. Roll the cream cheese and Oreo crumbs into 1.5 in. balls. (Place in the fridge until they are firm. I don't know if it matters whether you do this before or after you form them into balls. Personally, I chilled the whole bowl and formed them into balls right before I rolled them in the almond bark.)

4. Melt some of the almond bark in the microwave on a low heat. Remember to stir often, and do NOT let it caramelize. I made this mistake on the first batch. They still tasted okay, but they were not pretty! Another tip that I discovered by trial and error: a little Crisco (use solid shortening, not milk, butter, oil, etc.) in the almond bark made it much smoother and easier to use.

5. Roll the hardened Oreo-cream cheese balls in the melted almond bark and place on a wax paper lined cookie sheet. If you want to sprinkle something on top, now is the time to do it.

6. Chill in refrigerator. However, I think these are most tasty if you eat them at room temperature. That way, the almond bark is soft and the truffles are nice and creamy.

I had considered making these look like Christmas ornaments. However, I quickly realized that I am just not that artistic and talented. :) But you can see from the picture that I tinted the almond bark with food coloring and also sprinkled some colored sugar on top of some of them. I think that they looked very pretty and festive.

The recipe that I read also suggested using chocolate chips instead of almond bark or another kind of sandwich cookie instead of Oreos. It would be fun to get creative with these.

I realize that most of you probably aren't in the mood to make any Christmas goodies right now, but you could always file this away to use next year. Maybe I'll post this recipe again next year, too.

But these would be great for any occasion. How about red ones with red-hot topping for Valentine's Day? Or green with shamrocks for St. Patrick's Day? Red, white, and blue for the 4th of July? Or just plain white for when you have a sweet tooth. :) These are really good and they taste like they're way harder than they are. Plus, they freeze really well. I hope you like them!

Punch-bowl cake

This simple recipe was in my local newspaper some time ago. It comes from the cookbook Down-Home Southern Girl by Queenie Payne. It's really good, and it's easy! Be sure to use butter cake. It's good! :)

(It is, of course, supposed to be made in a punch bowl. I made it for an outdoor party and didn't want it to be in anything that could tip over; so I just used a regular bowl.)

Note: Because my bowl wasn't quite large enough to hold all of the ingredients, I also made a smaller one. I didn't have enough cherries, however. Instead, I put sliced bananas for that layer. It was different, but also good. There are tons of variations that you could think of.

Ingredients:
1 box butter cake mix
1 15-ounce can crushed pineapple
1 15-ounce can cherry pie filling
1 large box instant vanilla pudding
1 16-ounce container whipped topping, thawed
Pecans, optional

Instructions:
Bake cake according to instructions on box. Divide into three parts. Crumble first part in bottom of punch bowl. Pour prepared vanilla pudding over it. Crumble second part of cake on top of pudding, and then add pineapple over it. Crumble third part of cake, and then pour pie filling over that. Then spread topping on top. You may shake nuts on top if you like. Chill until ready to serve.

Turtle Brownies

I made these brownies for some people the other day, and they are so good that I'm putting the recipe here so that you can try them too. I've made these brownies many times, and they are very easy and delicious. They are fun to make, too. I think the recipe came from an employee cookbook at the company where Mom used to work. Let me know if you like them!

Turtle Brownies
Ingredients:
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1 14-ounce package caramels, unwrapped
1 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped
1 package German chocolate cake mix
¾ cup butter, melted
6-ounce package (1 cup) semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 9” x 13” baking pan.
Melt caramels and 1/3 cup evaporated milk; set aside.
Mix together cake mix, melted butter, 1/3 cup evaporated milk, and nuts. Press ½ of the dough mixture into bottom of prepared pan. Bake 6 to 7 minutes and remove from oven.
Immediately sprinkle chocolate chips on baked layer. Drizzle melted caramel over chocolate chips, and drop remaining dough by small spoonfuls over caramel. Return pan to oven and bake for an additional 16 to 18 minutes. Cool. Cut into squares.