Terre Pruitt's Blog

In the realm of health, wellness, fitness, and the like, or whatever inspires me.

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Archive for October, 2012

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Fruits and Greens and Rainbow Things Smooth As Can Be

Posted by terrepruitt on October 6, 2012

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, ZumbaOk, I really am not going to turn this blog into a Green Smoothie blog, but . . . I have been making them almost every day and I really would like to share so we will see where it goes.  And, as I have told you in the past, food posts are VERY popular.  So my third ever green smoothie was Pear, Cucumber, Baby Bok Choy, and Rainbow Chard.  It was pretty good.  I don’t usually eat pears.  There is a salad that I make in which I include pears, but beyond that, I don’t eat them.  Cucumber I have almost every night in my salad.  If you have read my blog for a bit you know I am in LOVE with baby bok choy.  And this is my introduction to chard.  I think that cucumber is a great equalizer.  It really helps mellow out flavors.  The pear worked well to sweeten the smoothie.  I am thinking that chard is not that bitter because this was not a bitter smoothie.  It was nice.  It was smooth.  This one goes on my list of likes.  Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, ZumbaBut right now I am just experimenting and putting whatever I have in the smoothies.  I am not doing it to lose weight, or detox, or cleanse, or any other reason but to get more fruits and vegetables in my diet.  So for now anything goes.  And let me say, that everything does not really go!

Third Green Smoothie
1 C water
1 pear
2 inches of large cucumber
1 SMALL bunch of baby bok choy
2 leaves rainbow chard

 

 

 

 

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Zumba

 

 

 

With my fourth smoothie I was using watermelon and I thought I had read that if you use a really watery fruit such as watermelon you can skip the water.  Since I was using such a large amount of watermelon I didn’t use any water.  Worked out fine.  It was not a pretty green so I used a dark blue glass, which made it even less pretty.  But it was tasty.  I really like watermelon in the smoothie.

 

 

 

 

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Zumba

 

 

 

 

 

Fourth Green Smoothie
1 1/2 C Watermelon
1/2 apple
1 small bunch baby bok choy
2 leaves rainbow chard

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Zumba

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My fifth smoothie I wanted to make very green so I used a HUGE amount of kale.  Four kale leaves equates to a lot of kale.  This was the most bitter of the smoothies that I had at this point.  That was a lot of kale.  You may notice in the recipe I ended up with a lot of fruit.  That is because I ended up adding the banana after I tasted it because it was really bitter.  Since my point of doing this is to get more fruits and veggies and not anything else (as I’ve stated above), I don’t feel I have to suffer through my smoothies.  This is not a torture, it is

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Zumba

supposed to be an enjoyable way to get some veggies and provide my body with additional nutrition, not make me suffer.  So I added the banana.  I will just use less kale next time.  Because I really do want to be drinking more of a veggie smoothie than a fruit smoothie.

 

 

Fifth Green Smoothie
1.5 C Watermelon
1 apple
3 pieces baby bok choy
4 kale leaves
1 banana

It is really funny because cooking kale in foods and putting it in salad does not taste as bitter to me.  But for some reason, whirred up in a smoothie . . . whew.  Could be I don’t usually have THAT much kale.  That was a lot of kale.

I actually have made more smoothies than I am putting in this post.  So . . . I have learned a lot of things so far.  That will probably be my next post.  “Things I have learned on my smoothie journey so far . . . ”  🙂

Maybe there is a recipe here you might enjoy.  Let me know if you try one.  Or share what you are putting in your blender.

Posted in "Recipes", Food, Smoothies | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 5 Comments »

Blender Banana Bread

Posted by terrepruitt on October 4, 2012

I don’t like to waste my bananas.  My husband won’t eat them if they have one little tiny spot of brown.  And I don’t usually eat that many bananas.  So you might have learned from some of my posts that I usually use the over ripe bananas in banana bread or Banana Oatmeal Walnut Cookies.  Both of these items are not low calorie nor low fat, they are just a way for me to use up my bananas and put a treat in my hubby’s lunch.  I have a great recipe I found on the internet for banana bread.  I think it was called the World’s Best Banana Bread and I actually think it is.  I have issues cooking it though, it never seems cooked all the way through, but that could because it is hand mixed and the bananas kind of chunk up in the batter.  Well, since I got a fancy new blender I have been trying to find things to use it for.  In the recipe book there is a recipe for banana bread so I thought I would give it a try.  Even though the ingredients get mixed in the blender the recipe calls for the bananas to be mashed.  Before I stared I grabbed my camera fully intending on taking pictures along the way.  The next thing I knew I was putting the pan in the oven.  DRAT!  I forgot to take pictures as I was making it. But I took some of the finished product.  Can you see how smooth it is?  Blender bread is really like “commercially made” bread.

I liked the taste ok.  It was actually good.  I think the vanilla yogurt added the extra sweet, yumminess.  Since it has no butter it has to be less calories and grams of fat then my other recipe.  And it really was good, but it was so . . . “commercial”.  It was like a loaf of bread from the store.  There was no texture, no chunks, no . . . personality.

In addition to using my blender the other reason I wanted to try this recipe is because it called for two bananas and that is what I had.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, ZumbaI can’t find the recipe on the Blendtec website and, of course, I did some modifying anyway, so here is what I did:

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Blender Banana Bread

Using the WildSide Jar

2 ripe bananas, mashed
2 large eggs
1/2 C low-fat vanilla yogurt
3/4 C sugar
1/4 C olive oil
1 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 C wheat flour
3/4 C white flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Add first six ingredients to the container and secure lid.  Select “Batters.”  After that has blended, add the remaining four ingredients to the container and secure the lid.  Press “Pulse” 3-5 times until dry ingredients are incorporated.  (Do not over blend.)  Pour batter into greased 9″X5″ loan pan.  Bake for 50 to 60 minutes.

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I guess the WildSide Jar and the FourSide Jar for this blender are very different because there are additional/different instructions if you are using the FourSide Jar.

Well, I know that I have been posting a lot about my blender, but . . . I am trying to get a fraction of the money’s worth out of it!  I will not turn this blog into a blender blog, I will post about Nia, exercises, other health stuff, and even Zumba, but I am getting some post out of my first uses of the blender.

Do you like your banana bread smooth?  Or do you like it more rustic and chunky?

Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

So Fast It’s Hot

Posted by terrepruitt on October 2, 2012

When you do something, like Nia or use a blender every day, it gives you a lot of material to post on a blog!  I’ve been using my birthday present almost every day.  When I first heard of “super” blenders that made soup I thought that was crazy.Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Zumba  I thought that the blender had a heating element to heat up the soup.  And there are some like that.  But with the high-speed blenders, I didn’t realize the blades go fast enough to cause heat and heat up the soup.  They go so fast it is hot!  I didn’t think it would be something I would like.  As you may know I love to make soup and one of the things I love about the soup I make is the fact that I do it all in one pot and then I use my immersion blender.  I really like that.  I don’t like having to pour cooked soup into a blender then blend it then pour it back into the pot to re-warm it.  The soup recipes that I have seen for blender soup either have you doing that or have you cooking some if not the majority of ingredients before putting them in the blender.  At this point, for some of my soups I will stick to my one pot and stick blender recipes.  Another reason I like to make the soup in a pot is because I believe that cooking some of the ingredients as you go allows you to layer the flavors.  Now, I know that phrase from cooking shows and I could be off base with what it means and what I am doing, but that is what I consider myself doing when I sauté onions and then garlic and then add the butternut squash and sauté it.  Then add other spices, etc.  It layers the flavors.  But in a lot of the blender soup recipes you just dump it all in.  Well, since I got the dang thing I decided to at least try one of the recipes for soup.  I picked a recipe that does not require any other cooking.  Just dump all the ingredients in the blender container and press soup.  Now with that kind of ease I could maybe live without the layer of flavor if I liked the soup.

I like it ok.  I think that if I followed the recipe exactly it would have more flavor, but I also think that if I follow the recipe exactly it would be too hot for me.

The recipe that came with the Blendtec Blender and is on their website is for Tortilla Soup.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, ZumbaTortilla Soup

2 cups warm water
2 Roma tomatoes
1/2 large carrot
1 1 inch strip of red pepper
1/4 avocado
an onion wedge
1 1 inch X 1/2 inch chunk of pepper jack cheese Monterey jack
2 sprigs fresh cilantro
1 teaspoon no-salt herb seasoning Italian seasoning
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder

The ingredients go into the blender in the order that they are listed then you press “Soups” on the blender and let it do its thing.   It does really go so fast that it actually does get hot!  Some people might like their soup piping hot so this MIGHT not be hot enough for them.  But this type of soup is perfect at the temperature that the blender makes it.

It was not spicy because I didn’t use the pepper jack.  I bet if you like that hot (spicy) cheese the soup is good with it.  I will make it one day with the pepper jack because even if it ends up being too spicy hot for me, my hubby will eat it.  For now, I am just using the Monterey jack.

The first time I made this it took me 30 minutes because I was going slow.  The second time I made it, it was ready to eat in 20 minutes.  So my title, So Fast It’s Hot, applies to the blades of the blender AND to the fact that this can be made and in a bowl in 20 minutes.  Now that is HOT!

Before I got the blender I had an opinion about blender soup, what about you?  What do you think about blender soup? 

Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments »

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