Smoothies

Sunrise Zinger
1 small banana
1/2+ plain yogurt
whole cranberries (big handful) or 1/2 cup unsweetened cranberry juice blend
baby carrots (big handful)
2 stalks celery
2-3 mandarines (Cuties, etc.) or 1 orange
ice cubes

Blueberry Delight
1 small banana
1/2+ plain yogurt
1/2 cup orange juice
3/4 cup whole blueberries
raw almonds (handful)
ice cubes

Green Machine
2 large kale leaves
1 banana
honey
1/3 cup unsweetened cranberry juice blend
ice cubes

Pear Bliss
1 small banana
1/2 cup+ plain yogurt
1 pear
1/2 apple
1/3 cup unsweetened cranberry juice blend
ice cubes

Strawberry Dreams
1 small banana
1/2 cup+ plain yogurt
2 big handfuls strawberries
1/3 cup orange juice
ice cubes

Vita-Meta-Vega-Mine
2 kale leaf
1 large carrot
1/2 apple
1 big handful of red grapes
1/2 cup unsweetened cranberry juice blend or orange juice
couple of big lime squeezes
ice cubes

These are so yummy!  I have been on a sincere smoothie kick for two months now.  And by jumpstarting my day with fruits and veggies, I seem to make better food choices all day long.  And, have I mentioned how tasty these are?!  YUM. 

On a side note, the yogurt is not a necessary ingredient for any of these smoothies.  I prefer a creamier smoothie, so the smoothies without yogurt will just be a bit more "juice like".. and if you keep the banana, it still has a nice consistency.  But of course, have fun and mix up your style!

Apple Cake

Cake :
-2 eggs
-2/3 cup oil 
-2 cup sugar
-1 t. vanilla
Mix all. Then add:
-2 cups flour 
-1/4 t. salt
-1 t. soda 
-2 t. cinnamon
Mix. Gently stir apples & nuts til well coated:
-4 large (or 6 small) apples peeled & sliced thin
-1 cup pecans (chop) 
Place in a greased, floured 9x13 pan.
Bake at 375 for 15 minutes, then at 325 for 30 minutes

Icing:  (the best part) **
-8 oz. cream cheese softened
-1/4 cup cutter softened
-1 cup powdered sugar
-1 t. vanilla
Stir. Then frost your cooled apple cake. Enjoy.
**The icing is the same for these Jenny B's Pumpkin Cookies. The cookie icing will frost both recipes.  Why not bake both?

Recipe courtesy of Mrs. Kemp

Caramel Apples

I was a little adventurous the evening before last, and decided to take on making Caramel Apples.  I have never done this before.. and decided that I was going to even be so grand as to MAKE my OWN caramel...  ha.  Let me also state I had approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes before I was to arrived at Friend Gathering with Special Out of State Guests with the dessert.  And, this is not the first time that I have thrown myself into a panic by baking something NEW and, generally out of my league, in the midst of crunch time. Sigh.  One day I will learn.  
My Caramel Apples were definitely an A for taste, but a B- for presentation and definitely a C- for wreck caused in kitchen during baking process.
The actual process of making caramel was fairly easy (I did plan ahead and buy a candy thermometer).. it was the process of dipping the apples that turned things quite messy.  I got this great recipe from 101 Cookbooks.  By the way, she's not joking about about getting the ice water into the pan of caramel.. ahem, my fiasco.

I suppose I was shooting for this sort of look {see below}.. This was the surprise my husband brought home from Whole Foods for me on our anniversary.  I can dream big, right?

Caramel Apple Recipe

Please be careful when making caramel apples, you will be working with dangerously hot, sticky, ingredients - I always put on an apron and make sure I have a closed-toed pair of shoes on when making candy. Be extra, extra careful if you have kids around. On the ingredient front, I typically go for a mild clover honey when making caramels.

6 - 8 small apples, unwaxed, cold
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup honey

Special equipment: candy thermometer, and lollipop sticks

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Push a lollipop or popsicle stick deep into each apple - in through the stem.
Fill a large bowl 1/2 full with ice water and set aside.

In a medium, thick-bottomed saucepan heat the cream and salt until tiny bubbles start forming where the milk touches the pan - just before a simmer. Stir in the honey. Bring the mixture to a boil. Now reduce the heat to an active simmer and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, for about 15-20 minutes minutes or until the mixture reaches about 255-260F degrees. To stop the caramel from cooking, very, very carefully set the bottom of the saucepan in the bowl of cold water you prepared earlier - taking special care not to get any of the water in the caramel mixture. Stir until caramel begins to thicken up - you want the caramel to be thin enough that it will easily coat your apples, but not so thin that it will run right off. If the caramel thickens too much simply put the pot back over the burner for 10 seconds or so to heat it up a bit.

I tilt my sauce pan so all the caramel forms a pool on one side, and use my other hand to dunk and twirl each apple until it is thoroughly coated with caramel. Place each apple on the parchment lined baking sheets and allow the caramel to cool and set.

Makes 6 - 8 caramel apples.

Apple Strudel Muffins

I baked Apple Strudel Muffins this morning. They turned out SO yummy, that I had to share them. They're pretty quick, especially if you have the butter set out ahead of time, so it's soft. I added more cinnamon than recommended. I also cooked them about 5 min longer because I used a large muffin pan. Jarod and I had these with a cup of vanilla nut coffee this morning by the pool. So fun :)

Ingredients:

• 2 cps flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cp butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/4 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cps chopped apples
• 1 tbs cinnamon
• 1/3 cp packed brown sugar
• 1 tbs all-purpose flour
• 1 tbs ground cinnamon
• 1 tbs butter

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease 12 cup muffin pan.
2. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
3. In a large bowl, beat together butter, sugar and eggs until smooth. Mix in vanilla. Stir in apples, and gradually blend in the flour mixture. Spoon the mixture into the prepared muffin pan.
4. In a small bowl, mix brown sugar, flour and cinnamon. Cut in butter until mixture is like coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over tops of mixture in muffin pan.
5. Bake 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Allow to sit 5 minutes before removing muffins from pan. Cool on a wire rack.