Tubby Tuesday: Breakfast Smoothie

I've been on the on-again off-again "diet" thing for a long time.  A really, really long time.  Thus far, two things I've stuck with.  No more cokes (going on three years!) and getting my fruits through smoothies each morning (going on three months!).  So far, I'm fitting into a pair of jeans that I haven't managed to squeeze into in over two years. 

I'm happy.  I'm feeling better.

I've eliminated morning breakfast sandwiches and stopping at Panera or Starbucks for a scone and a coffee.  Well, let's be honest.  It was never just "coffee," but almost always some form of chocolate/peppermint/pumpkin spice/blah blah blah.  So much useless sugar.  So likely to lead to a crash later in the day.  I'm not starving at my desk at 10:30.

Of course, my decision to try going to smoothies came from seeing so many recipes on Pinterest!  Specifically a pin that took me to this page:  How To Make a Smoothie on superskinnyme.com 

Totally easy, right?  All you need is a blender and stuff.  Most stuff you probably buy at the grocery store anyway.  Or, if you aren't buying it, you should be!

Each morning, I load up my blender and make my own smoothie, which goes in my Super Special Smoothie Cup, and I drink it on my drive to work.  This is one of my go to simple smoothies.

Bling, bling!

 Simple Smoothie

 Ingredients:
1/4 Cup Old Fashioned Rolled Oats
8 oz. 100% apple juice
1 banana
1/2 cup HEB frozen Papaya, Mango, and Strawberries
1/4 cup Bulgarian or Greek Yogurt
ground flax seed
sprinkle of cinnamon or a smidgen of local honey

You can also add in some spinach, but I found that I'm not going through spinach fast enough and it goes bad before I can eat it.

Here's the trick.  Blend in sections unless you have a Nutribullet or something similar.  I have a pretty basic Oster blender.

1.  Combine raw rolled oats, apple juice, and flax seed.  Liquify it!
2.  Add banana, frozen fruits, yogurt, and cinnamon/honey.  Grind it until smooth.  I normally pulse a little bit on liquify as well. 

What I learned very quickly is that throwing everything in the blender at once doesn't get your oatmeal broken down and leaves you with a really lumpy smoothie.  The whole point of a smoothie is that it's smooth, amirite? 

There is a lot you can do with a smoothie.  With frozen fruits and berries readily available at your grocery store, it's super easy.  And it can be cheap.  The bags of papaya, mango, and strawberries I bought at my local HEB (a Texas grocery store) were $1.38/each.  A buck and change!  Bonus is that you can also thaw it and mix it with yogurt for a nice treat.  Make sure that you are buying JUST the frozen fruit, not fruit in sugar or syrup. 

Have a great one!

Tubby Tuesday: Pumpkin Curry Soup

I've decided to combine some of my hobbies with my blog for a couple of reasons.  

1. It will encourage me to post more.  And I know you want that.
2. My family has been relatively normal lately.  I'm not really sure what's going on.  It's strange and awkward and new and I'm not sure that I like it. 

I decided to start posting a few of my favorite recipes.  Why?  Because recipes and food makes sense.  You see, I love to eat.  And that necessitated a love of cooking.  

So with that, let's have a grand flourish and unveil..... Tubby Tuesday.  Let's get started, shall we?

  

Maybe it's because it's finally feeling like fall here on the Texas Gulf Coast.... Maybe it's because pumpkin is absolutely everywhere this fall... Maybe it's because I recently watched The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.  It's a great film.  You should watch it if you haven't already.

Anyway, I've been craving a pumpkin soup.  There are a lot of them out there, but I wanted something simple, and fairly quick to make.  I wanted something creamy.  I wanted something with a flavor that didn't say "Hey, you're eating a squash."

I happened upon a recipe for curry soup on the best ever online store for spices.  I think I'm in love.  Really.  Not only do they have great mixes of spices, and practically every spice under the sun, they also have recipes posted on their page.  I highly recommend this site:  Spices by Spice Barn.  That's where I came across an intriguingly simple recipe for Pumpkin Spice Curry.  Which I have amped up a bit with a few additions for a really simple, fairly quick to make, creamy, non-squashy soup that's perfect for fall.  I also had to make a few changes simply because tomatoes make me sick.  Really.

Pumpkin Spice Curry

Check out that totally awesome cell phone pic.  I know what you're thinking "This girl is a real are-teest!"

(adapted from www.spicebarn.com's Pumpkin Curry Soup)

Ingredients:
1 tbs Vegetable oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Granny Smith apple (peeled, cored, and finely chopped)
1 1/2 tbs curry powder
3 tbs white flour
1 15 oz. can of pumpkin puree
2 14 oz. cans of clear, low-sodium chicken broth (if you want a thinner soup, use more broth!)
1 cup half-and-half
1/2 tsp sugar
salt and pepper to taste
sour cream for serving

Directions:
1.  Heat oil over medium heat.  Saute onions until clear.
2.  Add garlic and heat for two minutes.
3.  Stir in curry powder and white flour.  Heat for two minutes, stirring constantly.
4.  Add pumpkin, broth, sugar, and apple.  Bring to a rolling boil.
5.  If you have an immersion blender, then you are just doing all right.  Blend your soup smooth.  If you don't have an immersion blender (like me) then use a regular ol' machine and blend in batches until smooth.
6.  Return to pot and add half-and-half.
7.  Simmer over medium heat for 15 minutes.  Salt and pepper to taste
8.  Serve in bowls (duh) with a dollop of sour cream.

Enjoy it.  I did.