Recipe Club

What You'll Need:

1 banana

6 frozen strawberries

1/2 cup vanilla almond milk

1/4 cup yogurt

1 tbsp peanut butter

6 broccoli florets

1/2 cup water

(Yields 4 smoothies)

What You'll Do:

Simply put all of the ingredients in a blender and blend until desired consistency!

Simple and healthy!

Hope you all have a wonderful day!

Linking up with Andrea for Recipe Club & Kathy for Titus 2 Tuesdays!

See you all back here tomorrow for What's Up Wednesday!

-A

Recipe Club: Strawberry Banana Smoothie

What You'll Need:

1 banana

6 frozen strawberries

4 ice cubes

1/2 cup vanilla almond milk

(Yields 1 smoothie)

What You'll Do:

Simply put all of the ingredients in a blender and blend until desired consistency!

Simple and healthy!

Hope you all have a wonderful day!

Linking up with Andrea for Recipe Club & Kathy for Titus 2 Tuesdays!

See you all back here tomorrow for What's Up Wednesday!

-A

Recipe Club: Bruschetta

This is one of my favorite things to make for a party, a cook out, or just for my family. It is light and fresh and tastes so darn good!

What You'll Need:

3-4 regular tomatoes

1 clove of garlic (minced)

1/3 cup fresh basil

2 tbs olive oil

1 tbs red wine vinegar

1/2 tsp of each salt & pepper

1 baguette

A bit more olive oil & garlic to rub on the baguette for toasting

What You'll Do:

1. Dice tomatoes into small bite size pieces.

2. Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl (minus the extra olive oil & garlic for the baguette) & let it sit at room temperature for 2 hours (sometime I don't follow this and just make it and serve).

3. Just before serving, slice the baguette in single serving size & brush each piece with olive oil and top with a small pinch of garlic place in the oven and toast for about 10 minutes.

4. Pour bruschetta into a serving container (I like to use a mason jar for fun).

Ready to serve immediately.

Linking up with Andrea for Recipe Club & Golden Reflections Blog for Good Tip Tuesday!

I hope you all enjoy this recipe as much as my family does.

Have a wonderful day!

Recipe Club: Green Bean Bundles

For today's Recipe Club link-up with Andrea, I figured it was the perfect time to share a great Easter recipe with ya'll. It involves bacon, so it's perfect! 

Serves 8-10 people.

Here's what you need:

-8 thick bacon slices

- 6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

-1 1/2 tsp salt

-3/4 tsp roasted garlic powder

-1 1/2 lbs green beans, trimmed & blanched

-1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

Here's what you'll do:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment (I used tinfoil).

2. In a large nonstick frying pan (on medium heat), cook the bacon in batches until they are just starting to brown around the edges (you want them to be under cooked & easily pliable). I'd say about 4-5 minutes. Transfer to a towel-lined plate & let cool. Cut in half lengthwise.

3. In a small bowl, whisk together the butter, garlic powder & salt.

4. Divide green beans into 16 equal portions (about 6 green beans each). Gather each bundle & wrap 1 half slice of bacon around the center to hold beans together. Place bundles on baking sheet with the loose ends of the bacon underneath. Sprinkle the butter mixture & then the brown sugar evenly over the bundles. **One disclaimer, I used all of the brown sugar called for & all of the butter mixture and they were a little too intense for me. If you don't like a strong butter/sugar taste just don't use all of the mixture & sugar. You'll be able to tell when you think there is enough.

5. Roast in the oven until the bacon is cooked through and brown, 20-25 minutes. Let stand for 3-5 minutes. Transfer the green bean bundles to a serving plate & serve immediately.

 I hope you & your loved ones enjoy this fun Easter, side recipe! It also makes a great BBQ side dish!

Hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday!

Recipe Club: Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes

For Riley's first birthday, I wanted to make something extra special for her party. I love to bake and thought I could really put my heart into a special 1st birthday cake/cupcake for her. Then I saw this recipe on Sally's Baking Addiction and I just knew it was meant for her party. Riley's birthday is right around Valentine's Day and the recipe doesn't call for milk (we haven't tried milk with her yet) so I decided this would be the "something" I made with love for my daughter for her special 1st birthday.

Strawberry Shortcake

Cupcakes

Ingredients:

*makes 12 cupcakes

Cupcakes

• 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tspn baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 tspn salt
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 2 egg whites
• 1/4 cup yogurt (Greek or regular yogurt, vanilla or plain)
• 3/4 cup milk (or almond milk or skim milk)
• 2 tspn vanilla extract

Strawberry Filling

• 2 cups diced strawberries
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tbspn cornstarch mixed with 2 tspn warm water (to get rid of clumps)

**Make sure to save about 1/2 cup of strawberry filling for the frosting

Strawberry Whipped Cream Frosting

• 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 3 tbspn granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 tspn vanilla extract
• saved strawberry filling

**I made sure to get some extra strawberries to make strawberry hearts on the top.

Directions

Make strawberry filling first.

Mixed strawberries in a saucepan on medium heat, stirring constantly for about 4 minutes (or until strawberry juices have released and it becomes more of a liquid). Add sugar and cornstarch/water mixture and continue to stir for about another 2 minutes (The cornstarch mixture will really help the filling become less lumpy and it will get thicker). Remove from hear and let it sit and cool.

Make the cupcakes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin pan with 12 cupcake holders.

In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set it aside. Then in a large bowl (microwave-safe), melt the butter, then add sugar. Stir in egg whites, yogurt, milk and vanilla extract until well mixed.

Slowly mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until there are no more clumps. 

Pour mixture into cupcake holders evenly. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick, inserted in the center, comes out clean. Set aside to completely cool.

**When I did this recipe, this is where I stopped for the day. I let the cupcakes and filling cool overnight in the fridge. Make sure to cover the cupcakes so they don't harden.

Next day..

Fill the cupcakes.

Cut a hole into the center of each cupcake making sure only to go about half way through the cupcake to create a pocket for the filling. Add strawberry filling to each pocket being careful not to let the filling overflow too much. There will be leftover filling for frosting.

Make strawberry whipped cream frosting.

In a large bowl, whip the cream, sugar, and vanilla extract on high speed until it thickens considerably (about 4-5 minutes). Add the remaining strawberry filling and continue to beat for another 30 seconds. Frost cupcakes.

Make strawberry hearts.

Cut the strawberry in half from the leaves at the top to the bottom. Then use your knife to cut the leaves off of each half so that it makes the top of the heart.

Here's a visual.

This is the final product for Ry's party and they were delicious!

Riley definitely thought so!

Hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday!