Thirsty Thursday: Watermelon Margaritas (Virgin or Non)

When my mom was pregnant with me, all she ever wanted were cherry shakes from our local Dari-Kup.  Lo and behold, I too have an addiction to cherry shakes.  So I feel relatively certain that our future baby is going to LOVE watermelon, because I have been eating it non-stop all summer.  No lie--I finished off a 5 cup container of it today over the course of about 4 hours.  I can't necessarily call this an irrational "craving", as watermelon has been my favorite fruit my entire life...but I'm definitely eating more of it this summer than usual.

Question:  Do you sprinkle salt or sugar on your watermelon?  My grandma always did salt, but the Hubs tells me he's only seen people sprinkle sugar.  That just seems silly--watermelon is usually plenty sweet, and the salt makes that sweetness really pop.

I guess I should be glad--there are FAR WORSE things I could be craving (and have...I made a batch of no-bake cookies two nights ago just to fend off a craving...and we won't even talk about how many Sonic Slushes or Kum & Go Coolee's I've had in the last few months).  After all, watermelon is 92% water and contains a goodly amount of Vitamins A, B6 & C, along with lycopene...and there's only about 200 calories in that 5-cup container I just downed.

Sadly, no matter how fast I seem to eat watermelon, since my Hubs is not a huge watermelon fan, that means if I buy a full size melon, I have to eat it all myself...before it goes bad.  That MAY not be an issue this year, but any other year we almost always end up having some that goes bad or we have to freeze it for smoothies.  
  
If you've got a watermelon addiction like me, or need to use up a bunch of melon before it starts to go south--here's an awesome option to help beat the summertime heat!  These watermelon margaritas are perfect for sipping on the porch while your husband grills...or while a tiny alien kicks the crap out of you from the inside. :)

INGREDIENTS: (makes 2-4 margaritas, depending on your glass size)

• 4 cups fresh (or frozen) watermelon
• Juice of 4 limes (or about 4 Tbsp)
• 2 Tbsp sugar (or Splenda/Stevia to taste--DON'T use the full 2 Tbsp if you replace the sugar, both are WAY sweeter than sugar & don't require as much)
• 4 cups ice (if you start with frozen watermelon, you can skip this)
• 1/2-1 tsp salt (to taste--I like a little more because it makes the flavors pop)
• salt & lime wedge for garnish (optional)
• BOOZY VERSION: Add 1-2 oz of good tequila to each boozy-rita

DIRECTIONS:

Combine the first 5 ingredients in a blender & pulse until smooth, then pour into glasses (or hey, mason jars) & garnish (if you do the salt on the rim thing, you'll have to do that in advance--just wet the rim with lime juice & then dip the glass in a shallow tray of salt---or hey, sugar if you'd rather. I won't judge.)  For the boozy ones, stir in the tequila post-blending (or if you're making a full batch of boozy-ritas, add it during the blending process).

Add a straw and ENJOY!

Thirsty Thursday: Pina Colada Smoothie or Daiquiri

With the weather warming up, I feel like I should be at the beach.  But alas, I am 12-14 hours from anything even slightly beachy (assuming rocky shores along lakes don't count, and they DON'T).  When temps creep above 70, all I really want is to be by the water with my toes in the sand, a cold drink in my hand, and to hear the lapping of waves in the distance.

Thankfully, this recipe takes care of one of those things.  We developed this smoothie in our second year of The Scoop, and it was a huge hit.  It has a very tropical feel to it, and can very easily convert into a tasty adult beverage with the addition of just a bit of coconut rum.

INGREDIENTS:
8 oz frozen pineapple chunks
2 tbsp shredded coconut
1/2 cup Vanilla Greek yogurt
1/2 cup orange juice
1 tbsp coconut syrup
1 tsp toasted coconut to top

To Make Daquiri:
Add your preferred coconut rum (Malibu, Cruzan, Parrot Bay, etc) to desired strength--you can replace part of the orange juice or yogurt if you want to maintain a nice semi-thick texture. A friend gifted me with some pineapple honey vodka that is also great in this.

DIRECTIONS:
Blend the first 5 ingredients (plus booze, if you're making the daiquiri version) on High until well combined and no large chunks remain.  Then top with the toasted coconut*.

* to make toasted coconut, spread sweetened or unsweetened coconut flakes on a cookie pan, then place in a 350F oven for 5-10 minutes until golden brown.

Thirsty Thursday: Strawberry Lemonade, Smoothie or Daiquiri

So, you may have noticed that I haven't posted many alcoholic drinks lately...

And that's because I'm in the process of waiting for a very special delivery:

(Yes, this was our official announcement. Just a little PhotoShop fun.  Please feel free to steal/share the idea--I found a screen shot online, a font that was similar, and then revised the text to suit and added the "Facility Scan" section by cloning parts of the "Shipped By" section.  I will likely revamp in a few weeks when we have an updated ultrasound and find out gender.) 

So, while I've been OK'd by my doc to have "a sip" of anything my husband is drinking, hard liquor and cocktails are generally out of bounds for me for the next 6 months or so.  

Fortunately, cocktails are the easiest beverages to make "mocktails" out of, so I'm planning to share recipes that could easily be made in either adult or kid-friendly versions.

Today's recipe is actually a smoothie we served at The Inside Scoop last summer, but with the weather warming up, this would be SO completely perfect for adding a little booze into for a backyard cocktail.

INGREDIENTS:
4 oz frozen sliced strawberries, unsweetened
4 oz lemon sorbet
6 oz lemonade (I've tried it with both regular and pink lemonade, and I liked the regular better--it has a more sweet-tart result) 
Boozification Option:  I think straight or flavored rum would work best in this, like Bacardi Limon, but a flavored vodka or white tequila would also work well with the acidity of the lemon.  If you go this route, replace a portion of the lemonade with the booze, to your preferred strength.
LIGHTER OPTION:  Use Crystal Light Lemonade instead--it'll be 140 calories instead of 267.

DIRECTIONS:
Blend all ingredients on high until well combined.  Some sorbets can be a bit sticky & not want to blend--just add a touch more booze or lemonade and you should be golden.

NUTRIFACTS: (without booze)

Calories		267.4
Total Fat		0.2 g
	Saturated Fat	0.0 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	0.1 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	0.0 g
Cholesterol		0.0 mg
Sodium		33.9 mg
Potassium		159.9 mg
Total Carbohydrate		68.9 g
	Dietary Fiber	1.8 g
	Sugars	65.0 g
Protein		0.6 g

Chocolate Raspberry Smoothie (From The Inside Scoop)

So... it occurred to me.  Granted...occurred very slllloooowwwllllyyy (because I'm a little short on both sleep and coffee at the moment), but now that our precious baby The Inside Scoop is closed... I have a crap-load of recipes from our restaurant that I could share with the world.  We've shared a few previously, but this seems like a good venue to share them with (plus I already have pretty promo shots that I took of them for our menus and social media, so DOUBLE easy!)

If you're new to reading this blog--a few years ago my husband & I decided to buy a little seasonal ice cream shop in our city, to run as a "side business" in addition to our full time jobs.  We naively had no idea how much time, effort, and work would be needed to undertake such a task, and the first season was full of learning experiences, tears, and eating our emotions.  But after that we finally got a handle on things.  It still ended up being too much for us as a "side business" and since we couldn't give it the attention it really needed in order to thrive without one of us quitting our jobs, we decided to sell it in October 2014.  It was a wonderful experience and we learned a lot those years (examples include "Breaking into the breakfast market is next to impossible with an ice cream cone on your sign").  

We primarily served ice cream & shakes, but also made custom smoothies, a variety of sandwiches, and some delicious Nathan's Famous hot dogs with a diverse array of toppings.

This smoothie was probably one of my favorites...which is surprising, since I usually hate anything raspberry.  This was one of the last Specials of the Month that we ran (September 2014, I believe).  In the restaurant biz, you run specials on whatever you have too much of or need to get rid of, and we had a surplus of raspberries at the time.  And of course, customer service is all about what the CUSTOMER likes, not what I like, and I know there are some weirdos people out there who think raspberries are delightful.  So, we concocted this.  And...in this case, those weirdos were right.

This smoothie can either be a great breakfast (about 280 calories, 17g of protein, 9g of fiber) or a delicious low-guilt dessert replacement.  If the calories feel like too much for a snack, split it in half & save 8oz or share with a friend!

INGREDIENTS: (Makes 1 16-oz smoothie)
1 cup frozen raspberries
4 oz vanilla greek yogurt
4 oz skim milk (soy or almond milk also work well)
2 Tbsp hot cocoa mix (we used milk chocolate, but I think dark chocolate mix would also go great in this)

DIRECTIONS:
Combine all ingredients in blender--mix on High or Ice Crush until well combined and fruit is thoroughly integrated.

NUTRIFACTS:

Calories		276.5
Total Fat		3.1 g
	Saturated Fat	2.1 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	0.0 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	0.1 g
Cholesterol		2.5 mg
Sodium		271.5 mg
Potassium		401.0 mg
Total Carbohydrate		47.1 g
	Dietary Fiber	9.0 g
	Sugars	32.7 g
Protein		17.2 g

The Galloway Greenway: aka Spinach-Green Apple Smoothie

Today, I took a health assessment on my insurance company’s website.  Not necessarily for “fun”…more for the $25 gift card that was promised to each employee that did so before July.  I’m glad they gave us that incentive, truly I am.  Because I hadn’t done a real “wellness exam” since I moved away from Louisiana (where my employer brought in a mobile clinic once each year to give us all fitness tests and do a blood panel because we can’t be trusted to make it to the doc’s office of our own free will).

So last week I got a well-woman exam, a tetanus booster, a blood panel, and a bone density scan.  And then today I entered all my data into the fancy-schmancy website feeling pretty good about myself, since my numbers were all good… no more high cholesterol (probably because I’m not eating delicious fatty Louisiana fried food anymore), normal glucose numbers…

But then, the health assessment gave me a whole different number of its own:  46.  FOURTY-SIX out of ONE HUNDRED.  That’s my health score.  Typical for my age is 58.

My over-achieving self looks like this on the inside.

Why the low score?  Well, even though I have good blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol numbers, I apparently also have poor eating habits and don’t go to the gym enough.  Shocker, right?  And eating all that ice cream has made me a little soft around the middle…to the point that a stinkin’ computer had to tell me “You have a calculated BMI of 25.4.  Unfortunately, this means you are overweight.”  Thanks, Computer.  Thanks a LOT.  Also, my stress levels are too high, based on “job stress” from buying the business and dealing with the death of a loved one last year (I’m one of the executors of the estate).

Thankfully, Mr. Computer also had lots of suggestions for how to correct my issues and raise my overall health score.  And I’m all about increasing that score, because frankly, 46 is failing.  Ask any teacher.

So I took stock of my situation.  And one of the big issues with my personal diet right now is breakfast.  I’m a total zombie in the mornings, so breakfast has to be easy. Which means I’m notorious for NOT having a protein for breakfast (unless I get fast food, which really shouldn’t count).  I’m a cereal/cinnamon roll/yogurt kind of gal.  Sometimes I have the forethought to cook up 5 hard-boiled eggs over the weekend to tide me through the work week…but most of the time, no.

So when the Health Assessment asks me how many fruit/veggie servings I eat per day, I find myself wondering if the bits of onion & pepper in this morning’s Sonic breakfast burrito count as a “serving”… yeah.  I’m in trouble.  Wait---what category do the tater tots fall into???

Umm…is there a veggie in there somewhere?

But hey…I own an ice cream shoppe…that makes smoothies.  And part of my JOB is to create a new delicious smoothie every month. 

So I’d like to share with you my solution to the Breakfast Protein fiasco: The Galloway Greenway.

This was our Smoothie of the Month for May.  And it’s AWESOME.  I was skeptical of the green smoothie craze, but not anymore.  This thing is loaded with goodness.  Without protein powder, this smoothie packs 11g of protein, and only 188 calories, in a 16 oz serving.  WITH protein powder, it adds an extra 20g of protein and only 100 more calories.

We named it the “Galloway Greenway” because, well, it’s GREEN, and the series of trails that traverse across our city are called the Greenways.  And the one that starts right across from our shoppe is the Galloway Creek section.  You follow, right?

 

INGREDIENTS:

1 handful fresh spinach

4 oz fat free vanilla Greek yogurt

4 oz apple juice

6 oz frozen green apples, peeled & sliced

Protein Powder (optional) – I’d recommend unflavored if you go this route.

 

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a blender and pulse until smooth.

“Hi.  I’m famous on Instagram.”

You won’t taste the spinach.  I promise.  It’s all about the apple.  The tartness of the apples and the Greek yogurt go SO well together.  And it’s really light & refreshing.

Another delicious option?  Swap the apples for pineapple and the apple juice for OJ.  Freakin’ HEAVEN in a glass.  And it counts as 1 protein serving + 2 fruit/veggie servings!  SOOO much better for you than a greasy fast food burrito!

And when it comes to making smoothies, there’s no end to the great things you can add in. Buy some flaxseed at your local health food store (about a buck a pound), grind it up in a coffee grinder, and you’ve got a nutty add-in with tons of Omega-3s!

 

NutriFacts: (without protein powder)
Calories: 188

Fat: 0.3 g

Potassium: 475 mg

Carbs: 35 g

Fiber: 3 g

Protein: 11 g

Vitamin A: 28%

Vitamin C: 11%

Calcium: 16%