Healthy Berry Banana Smoothie

Ok, so this smoothie is so good, even my cat is addicted!  Lol.  I should inform you that Lolo loves yogurt.  Every time I eat it, she needs some.  So, when I make this smoothie, she really needs it.  (Please excuse my "unedited" morning face and pj's!)

The great thing about smoothies is that you can easily alter them to match your tastes.  Here are the ingredients that I used, but keep in mind that you can very easily change things out.  One suggestion I would make is to choose a yogurt that you like the flavor of.  Yogurt is a big part of the smoothie, so a flavored yogurt can go a long way in changing the taste.  I really love Publix Wild Berry Crumb Cake yogurt because it has a bit of berry flavor and some spice to it.  Yum!

Healthy Berry Banana Smoothie
Makes: one 16ish ounce smoothie

Ingredients:
1 cup frozen berries (I used unsweetened strawberries)
1/2 - 1 frozen banana (depending on how strong of a banana flavor you like)
6 ounces yogurt (I love Publix Fat Free Light Wild Berry Crumb Cake)
1/2 cup your choice of milk (more if it's too thick)
1 tablespoon honey
Small handful of almonds

Directions:
Add the ingredients to the blender in the order listed.  Then blend well until smooth.  Enjoy!

Copycat Five Cheese Ziti from Olive Garden

Today's recipe could not be more of a win if it tried!  I found this recipe via Pinterest several months ago, and since then it has become a favorite staple in our house.

I love it for so many reasons!

1. It really does taste almost exactly like Olive Garden's Five Cheese Ziti (my favorite)!
2. It is so incredibly easy to make.
3. It's almost better as leftovers (which I hardly ever say about ANYTHING).
4. It's amazing.
5. It's delicious.
6. It's super easy.
7. Did I mention it was easy to make?!

Seriously, if your family likes pasta, this is a MUST-TRY!

The mixture of sauces is incredibly creamy and the blend of cheeses make this dish rich and flavorful!  Oh so yum!  One of my main suggestions is to buy a sauce that you know has good flavor.  The sauce is one of the main ingredients in this meal, so if you buy tasteless sauce, it will definitely affect the pasta.  I absolutely love Prego Mushroom for the red sauce and Classico Light Asiago Romano for the alfredo.

Five Cheese Ziti
An Olive Garden Copycat Recipe
Adapted from: Pearls, Handcuffs, and Happy Hour
Servings: 6-8
*Optional:  I like to throw all the ingredients together in the morning and leave it in the fridge all day so that all of the flavors start to meld together.  This is not required, but a very delicious option.  Then, I just have to pop it in the oven when dinnertime rolls around.

Ingredients:
1/2 pound penne pasta
1 1/2 cups marinara sauce (I like Prego Mushroom.)
1 cup alfredo sauce (Our fave is Classico Light Asiago Romano.  It's got a lot less fat than the originals and it has a really nice flavor.)
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup parmesan cheese


Directions:

1. Boil the pasta noodles as per the instructions on the box.
2. Meanwhile, mix the sauces and cheeses in a large bowl.
3. Once the pasta is cooked, rinse and drain it a few times to cool it off a little.
4. When it has been drained well, pour the pasta into the sauce/cheese mixture and stir until everything is mixed together.
5. Pour into a glass pie dish or an oven-safe bowl (like a Pyrex).  
6. *Optional: Cover and place in the fridge until ready to bake.
7. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
8. Cover pan with aluminum foil.  Bake for about 30 minutes, stirring once or twice during the baking process.
9. Let cool for a few minutes before serving.

Enjoy!!!  We absolutely love this meal, especially because Five Cheese Ziti is one of our favorite meals at Olive Garden.  I hope your family likes it too!

Blackberry Streusel Bars

These absolutely delicious treats are perfect for days when you want something sweet and tart but not too heavy.  They're a cute and yummy treat for any occasion!  And... you can make them any flavor you want just by using a different jam.  Strawberry, raspberry, apricot... I'm even dying to try apple butter and see how they turn out.  You could make several different flavors and take them all to a party to share!  The possibilities are only as limited as the jam selection at your local store!

Blackberry Streusel Bars
Adapted from: Pampered Chef
Makes: 16 squares

Ingredients:
Crust
6 tablespoons butter, melted
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
2 tablespoons almonds, finely chopped
Filling
1/2 cup blackberry jam (or your favorite flavor)
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Topping
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. To make crust: Combine all four ingredients for the crust in a bowl and mix well.  It will be very crumbly.  Separate 1/4 cup of mixture to use on top.  
3. Pour the rest of the mixture into a 9x9 baking pan.  I have used a stoneware pan and a regular metal pan, and both worked fine.  Using a sheet of waxed paper, press the mixture firmly into the bottom of the pan until flat.
4. To make filling: Stir together the jam and 2 tablespoons flour.  Spread evenly over the crust mixture.
5. To make topping:  Stir together the cream cheese and powdered sugar until it is no longer lumpy.  Pipe into the pan.  I piped diagonal stripes about one inch apart, but you can choose your own design if you like.
6. Sprinkle the 1/4 cup of crumb mixture on top.
7. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the edges are just slightly golden brown.
8. Cool completely before cutting into 16 squares.

I had been craving this delicious treat for a while, so I even made a little extra personal serving for me!  I ate it warmed up with a scoop of melting vanilla ice cream on top, and it was amazing!  Enjoy!

Meatball Sliders {Wednesday Wins}

We recently had these meatball sliders for dinner, and o my goodness, they were delicious!  These are perfect for dinner with a fresh salad.  The meatballs are stuffed with Italian seasoning goodness.  And the Italian bread rolls go perfectly.  Top them off with a little mozzarella and Parmesan and you've got a great Italian dinner!

They'd also be just as perfect for a potluck party!  You can make the meatballs and rolls smaller if you'd like to feed more people.  To keep the meatballs and sauce warm, just pop them in a crock pot after they've been cooked.  They'll be welcome at any occasion!

I just used my mom's recipes for both the meatballs and the Italian bread and tweaked them both a bit to work for this meal!

Italian Rolls
Adapted from: My Mom's "Mess Up" bread 
Makes: 12 rolls
 
Ingredients:
3/4 cup warm water
1/2 tablespoon margarine, softened
1/2 tablespoon oil
2 cups + 2 tablespoons bread flour
2 1/4 teaspoons sugar 
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon yeast
butter, for greasing
 
Directions: *If you have a bread maker, just put all the ingredients in your bread maker and set for dough.  This should take care of all of the kneading and the first rise, so you can start at step 7. For those of you that don't have a bread machine:

1. Add yeast to warm water and stir.
2. Put 1 cup flour, the salt, and the sugar in a large bowl, add water and yeast; mix thoroughly for 2 minutes.
3. Add oil and margarine; mix thoroughly for 2 minutes.
4. Add remaining flour until dough is firm, but still elastic.
5. Knead on a floured surface for 5 minutes.
6. Place into a well-greased bowl.  Cover and let rise for 1 hour.
7. Grease a 7x11 pan with butter.
8. Divide dough into twelve rolls and shape into balls as best as possible.  Place the rolls into the pan.
9. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour.  (While the rolls are rising and baking, you can prepare the meatballs.)
10. Bake at 375 degrees for 25-40 minutes until nice and golden brown.

Meatballs
Adapted from: My mom
Makes: 12
Ingredients: 
1/2 pound ground beef
1/2 pound Italian sausage
1/4 cup milk
1 beaten egg
3/4 cup Italian bread crumbs
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon salt 
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
1-2 cups marinara sauce
 
Directions:

1. Combine eggs, milk, Italian seasoning, salt, and Parmesan in a large bowl.
2. Add enough breadcrumbs to make a ball.
3. Add meat and mix well.  Beware, the best way to do this is with your hands, but they will get really, really cold!
4. Roll into 2 inch balls.  Adjust the sizes so that you end up with 12 large meatballs.
5. Place in a skillet and brown slowly on a low heat, stirring often.
6. Drain on a paper towel.
7. Cover with your favorite marinara sauce. 

Once the rolls are out of the oven and the meatballs and sauce are warm, split a roll, place a meatball covered in sauce in the middle and cover with some mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses.  Chow down!

I hope you enjoy this delicious dinner!

A Lovely Weekend {Lundi Little Lovelies}

Well, frankly, I don't have much good to say about today.  So it's a good thing that I already had some collected little lovelies from my weekend!

I picked up this adorable notebook set at Target on Friday, and I just love them.  Aren't they so cute!  (FYI, I'm basically a notebook collector; when I see a cute notebook, I just can't resist it!)

Lolo with the photobomb!

I am making progress on the scarf.  It will definitely be finished this week!  Which is saying quite a lot considering that I completely un-wove everything I had already done (even the progress I'd made last week), and started over with a different weft color.  And that was about as tedious as ripping stitches out of an almost finished garment.  But, I'm so much happier with it now.  I just hate making a project when I know I'm not going to like the finished project.  At least now that's not going to happen!

I went on a run on Saturday morning on the beach.  It was glorious!  Seriously.  I've never run on the beach before, and now I'm wondering why!  I had my swimsuit on so I could get a little tan at the same time, barefoot, no headphones, just running right at the edge of the water listening to the waves.  It was amazing!  And it turns out that I ran three miles (with a little water break at the halfway point).  And I wasn't even feeling it.  I felt like I could have kept running forever.  I loved it!  I can't wait to go again tomorrow!

I made some streusel bars for Bible study yesterday, and since I had a little extra, I made a little personal dessert just for me.  I had it today: warm blackberry streusel with a scoop of melting vanilla ice cream on top.  Oh yum!  I will definitely post the recipe soon, so watch out for that!

Lastly, I mentioned that last week we had an impromptu no evening snack week.  And I am proud to say that I made it a whole seven days without having dessert after dinner.  Haha!  So I can do it, I just don't like to.  I really don't think the benefits outweighed the annoyance.  So, that probably won't be happening again.  Lol.

I've got some great recipes to share for several upcoming posts!  Stay tuned for deliciousness!

A Few E-Cards to Make You LOL {Sunday Funday}

Today I would really just like to make somebody laugh.  So, rather than try to come up with some mildly funny story, I'm just going to steal a few e-cards from one of my Pinterest boards.  I hope a few of them make you laugh out loud and maybe that you relate to a few too!

Enjoy!

 (Click on the photo to be taken to the source.)

 

Am I the only person who experiences this quite often?!

(Could not find the source on this one)

It's not exactly nice, but I'm still willing to bet you've done this at least once in your life.  I'm pretty sure I have.

 

So. True.

Oh yeah.  All the time.

 

This happens to me ALL THE TIME when I'm cooking!

 Then I have a comprehensive list of the things I accomplished that day.  So it's totally rational, right?!

I hope you laughed at least once!  If not, then you probably think I'm a weirdo, because I love all of these!

Loaded Baked Mashed Potatoes

This side dish comes straight from my mom.  And before that, I'm pretty sure she got it from heaven!  These potatoes are absolutely perfect!  Combining the best of both loaded baked potatoes and mashed potatoes, you can not go wrong with these!

Of course, it takes some old-fashioned elbow grease to get the perfect lump-free mashed potatoes.  My dad usually mashes the potatoes at my parents house.  And he is a boss at it.  By the time he's done mashing, those potatoes couldn't form a lump if they wanted to.  They're perfectly creamy.  It's delightful.

So, before I drool all over my computer, I'm going to type out the recipe and finish this post!

Loaded Baked Mashed Potatoes
From: My Mom
Serves: 4-6
**Note: All of the amounts in this recipe are estimated.  Start with the smaller amount and keep adding and tasting until you create the perfect flavor for your family.

Ingredients:
4-6 medium baking potatoes
4-6 ounces cream cheese
1/3 - 1/2 cup sour cream
4-6 tablespoons butter
salt and pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
1/3 cup cheese
1/4 cup bacon bits

Directions:

1. Peel the potatoes and cut into small chunks.  Boil in a large pot until potatoes are soft and break apart when stuck with a fork.  Drain water.
2.  Starting with the smaller amounts add cream cheese, sour cream, and butter.  Mash really, really well.
3. Add garlic salt and salt and pepper to taste.  Continue stirring/mashing.  Taste and add more of anything as desired.
4. Add cheese and bacon bits; stir.  The potatoes can now be served, however if you want to prepare them early, or if they need heating up again, continue to step 5.
5. Place in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes.

You can enjoy these delicious potatoes as a side dish to just about anything.  These are a holiday staple at my parents' house, and we wouldn't have it any other way!