Blend It Up- Homemade Tomato-Vegetable Juice

The tomatoes and veggies that went into this drink all came from my garden! All except the celery. Yay for garden produce!

This homemade tomato vegetable juice has the consistency of a smoothie, and tastes great. I think next time I would use tomato juice instead of water for the thinning agent. And instead of blending the mixture with ice I would leave the ice in the glass. It is my hope that the yummy tomato vegetable flavors would be enhanced, rather than diluted.

Steel-Cut Oats

This morning my dad made me a new version of oatmeal. My family is visiting with him for a few days, and he is always wanting to make us some yummy food. I am pretty new to eating oatmeal, but over the course of two months I learned to eat it and not dread every second of it. My dad is aware that I am trying to eat a low-fat diet and he wanted to introduce me to steel cut oats. Unlike the regular rolled oats that I am used to eating, these oats take the grain and cut them in half. It is very similar to oatmeal, however the look and texture is a little different. My impression after eating a bowlful is... it's good. With a little milk and honey, it is creamy and slightly sweet. My dad added raisins and a dash of cinnamon to the entire pot as it was cooking. Eat it like I did, with a dot of butter and a drizzle of honey and milk.

Summertime Smoothie Pops

Fruit and yogurt smoothies make a delicious and healthy breakfast, but they also make a fantastic, healthy, summertime treat!  Just pour any left over smoothie into inexpensive popsicle molds, I found mine at the dollar store, and freeze them!  Voila!  Summertime smoothie pops!

This morning's breakfast smoothie had Nonfat Greek yogurt, low-fat vanilla yogurt, frozen cherries and berries, one super ripe banana, some leftover cantaloupe, old-fashioned oats, and water.  We're talking fiber, protein, vitamins and minerals galore!  Don't you love it when healthy tastes good?

Asian Salad Bar & Potstickers

Homegrown lettuce and cilantro freshly picked from my grandparents garden was the star of tonight's summer meal.

In addition to the garden-fresh lettuce, our Asian salad bar featured Mandarin oranges, sliced tomatoes, thinly sliced carrots, sliced baby yellow peppers, fresh garden cilantro, sunflower seeds, roasted salted almonds, and chow mein noodles, with savory potstickers on the side. Everyone in our family got to assemble their own salads with the amount of toppings they desired. The salad dressing is a low-fat version of our favorite Brianna's poppyseed salad dressing. Her salad dressing is 14 g of fat per serving! We cut that in half by mixing it with nonfat Greek yogurt, a dash of salt and onion powder. It was sweet and tangy and delicious!  

What are your favorite healthy summer meals?

California Sushi Roll Salad

I've got to thank my Uncle Kirk for his latest salad of the week creation. I love salad. I love sushi. I want to try this recipe!

He started with a bed of baby kale and spinach then topped it with chunks of avocado crab and cucumber. Then the genius took it up a notch with the crunch factor using crumbles of sea salt-and-pepper rice cakes. He also made a wasabi-ginger dressing that sounds absolutely killer-good!  How do you make it???  

I inquired for you. You're welcome. His reply is as follows: 

"Super easy.  I bought some wasabi sauce, heavy cream, milk and fresh ginger and just mixed it to taste in my magic bullet blender.  I only made a personal portion for my lunch today so in total I made around a 1/4 to a 1/3 cup of dressing.  Sorry that I don't have specific measurements b/c it all comes down to taste. I personally love wasabi sauce so adding some cream makes it smooth and the ginger adds the perfect sushi touch."  

Are you salivating yet?  

If you are not into making your own salad dressing, I bet a splash of rice wine vinegar would be another tasty dressing option, or perhaps a soy ginger dressing.

Completos and Fresh Sliced Pineapple

Completos are popular street food in Chile. Essentially, they're hotdogs with guacamole and sliced tomato.  There are many variations of the completo, just like the American hotdog.  My healthy version featured a grilled whole wheat bun, grilled turkey hot dogs, organic guacamole, and sliced tomatoes. Simple, but oh so good! If you have a hankering for hot dogs, or need something new to serve at your next BBQ, try these!  Turkey hotdogs are much lower in fat than other hotdogs, and guacamole gives you a good dose of the healthy fat we all need.  

A really refreshing side dish to go along with these is sliced fresh pineapple. If you've never tried it with a squeeze of fresh lime juice, you haven't lived. It also makes a light, yet sweet dessert.

Lemon-Thyme Salmon with Roasted Red Potatoes, and Fresh Apple-WalnutSalad

Need a healthy dinner idea? Let this one that my sister made inspire you.