Watermelon Slushie

I don't have a talent for picking out good melons.  If fact, I'm pretty bad at it as shown in the picture below.  The frozen square in the picture is watermelon though it's almost orange.  

I bought many not so good melons last summer and I hated throwing them away so I cut them up, bagged them and placed them in the freezer.  They have sat in my freezer taking up space until I discovered Pinterest.  Watermelon recipes were often pinned and gave me ideas on how I could use my massive amount of frozen not so good melons.  This is the recipe I came up with.  It was a hit with my family.

Ingredients:
4 cups cubed watermelon, seeds and rind removed
1 cup raspberry sherbet
Juice of one lemon
1 1/2 cups cold ginger ale

In a blender, blend watermelon, sherbet, and lemon until smooth. Stir in 1 1/2 cups ginger ale. Enjoy!

Savory Veggie Smoothie

A spicy savory smoothie is a nice addition to a healthy diet. As with most smoothies you can adapt with what you have and change things up to fit your taste.

Savory Veggie Smoothie

2 cups baby spinach

1/2 cup cabbage

1 cup water

1 cup chopped carrot (about 1 carrot)
1 avocado
1 Tbs of lime juice
2 garlic cloves
½ tsp coarse sea or real salt
pinch of cayenne pepper
some ice cubes
Place all of the ingredients in your blender and puree until smooth and creamy. 

Adapted from

http://healthyblenderrecipes.com/recipes/raw_vegan_spicy_vegetable_green_smoothie/

Fixer Elixer

This is great stuff and addicting. It's great for when you have a cold or you are cold. It's great to use as a snack when you are trying to loose weight. It's great just as a refreshing healthy drink. You can add a little cilantro too if you want to include greens. Adjust the ingredients to your taste. This is pretty potent.  Enjoy!

Fixer Elixer

Add the following to a blender

• 2 cups fresh squeezed Lemon Juice
• 5-10 cloves of Garlic
• 1-2 inches of Ginger
• 1/16 tsp. Cayenne Pepper
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup Raw Honey (see note)
• 1/4 tsp. Raw Salt

Blend until smooth and add 5 cups of very warm water. Blend again and enjoy!

Note: my raw honey is thick and hard so you may need to adjust depending on the consistancy of your honey

Favorite Hot Cocoa

I love to make my own hot chocolate.  If you look on the ingredients of a store bought mix, you will find that there are some not so natural ingredients.  I also don't like the taste of most of them.  This is a great recipe and you can save the leftovers in the fridge for chocolate milk.  

Favorite Hot Cocoa

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
Dash Salt
1/3 cup hot water
4 cups milk
dash salt
3/4 tsp. vanilla extract

Mix sugar, cocoa and salt in saucepan.  Stir water.  Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture boils.  Boil and stir for 2 minutes.  Stirl in milk and heat.  DO NOT Boil.  Remove from  constantly until mixture boils over medium heat; cook and stir 2 minutes. Stir in milk and heat, do not boil. Remove heat; add vanilla.   

Source: Hershey's Cocoa

Move Over Starbucks!

I had this major addiction to Starbucks Double Chocolaty Chip Frappuccinos (DCCF) but as I would drink them I couldn't understand why they would cost so much. There didn't seem to be $5 plus worth of ingredients in them.  So I did a little search on the Internet for a copycat version and I struck gold.  I could make one for a fraction of the cost!  Without further ado I give you the homemade DCCF recipe


Double Chocolaty Chip Frappuccinos (DCCF)

• 1 cup of milk (whole, reduced fat, or skim. For a special treat, add coconut milk)
• 2 tablespoons of sugar
• 1/3 cup chocolate chips (mmm... chocolate!)
• 3 tablespoons chocolate syrup (Hershey's will do)
• 2 cups of ice
• 1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Whipped Cream 

Blend it all up, top with whipped cream and Enjoy!  


NOTES:  Sometimes I add a pinch of two of salt. I will also be posting an amazing chocolate syrup recipe that you can use with this recipe.  If you are like me and run out of syrup but really need a DCCF you can use 2 TBS of sugar and 2 TBS Cocoa instead (vary the amounts to your taste).  AND if you are like me you might add a little spinach or spouted sunflower seeds and turn this into a semi healthy kinda green smoothie.  


Recipe Source: http://my.opera.com/IceArdor/blog/2007/09/13/how-to-make-starbucks-double-chocolate-chip-frapuccinos