justdonttellonme:

Recipes for smoothies that actually aid in weight loss

There are 23 total in the link below, so if the ones I’ve posted here don’t interest you, check out the others to find something you might like~

PEANUT BUTTER AND BANANA

• Half of one banana
• 1/2 cup smooth or crunchy low-fat peanut butter
• 1/2 cup of non-fat milk
• 6 ice cubes
• 1 tablespoon of chocolate whey protein powder
• Place all of the ingredients into the blender and blend until smooth.

WATERMELON

• 6 cups of seedless watermelon, chopped
• 1 cup of lemon sherbet, non-fat milk, or low-fat vanilla yogurt
• 12 ice cubes
• Put half the watermelon in the blender and blend until smooth, then add half of the ice and sherbet; blend until smooth. Repeat the process with the rest of the ingredients.

KIWI AND HONEYDEW

• 2 cups of honeydew, cubed
• 1 Granny Smith apple, chopped
• 1 kiwi fruit, peeled and chopped
• 2 tablespoons of sugar
• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
• 1 cup of ice cubes
• Place the honeydew, kiwi, apple, sugar, and lemon juice into the blender and blend until it’s smooth, then add the ice cubes and blend until the mixture is slushy.

MANGO SURPRISE

• 1/4 cup of cubed mangoes
• 1/4 cup of ripe avocado, mashed
• 1/2 cup of mango juice
• 1/4 cup of fat-free vanilla yogurt
• 1 tablespoon of juice
• 1 tablespoon of sugar
• 6 ice cubes
• Add all the ingredients into the blender and blend until smooth.

APPLE 

• 1/2 cup of skim milk or soy milk
• 6 ounces of vanilla yogurt
• 1 teaspoon of apple pie spice
• 1 medium-sized, chopped apple
• 2 tablespoons of cashew butter
• 6 ice cubes
• Place all the ingredients in the blender and then blend until smooth; best eaten with a spoon!

These all look so yummy! I think I’ll try the apple one first… or maybe the kiwi? but the mango peach looks so delicious!! oh no, can’t decide!

FULL SOURCE AND RECIPES HERE

beautifulpicturesofhealthyfood:

Peaches and Blueberry Crumble…RECIPE

bellyofecuador:

STRAWBERRY SUMMER CAKE
Slightly adjusted from Smitten Kitchen

In the United States, berries are the kind of thing I’m too afraid to bake with since they’re always expensive and I worry I’ll mess up the recipe and the fruit will be wasted. But here in Ecuador, blackberries and strawberries are $1 a pound. Even on my barely existent teaching salary, I can afford that. So I’m trying out every recipe I can get my hands on that includes berries, and tonight, it’s strawberry summer cake. I adapted this recipe very slightly from Smitten Kitchen, not because of some brilliant cooking instinct, but because I didn’t have the milk or barley that her recipe calls for. But it didn’t matter, because this cake was delicious. I might have just eaten half of the cake in one sitting. By myself. 

Ingredients:

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for pie plate
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 cup granulated sugar (if you like things extra sweet, add a little more)
1 large egg
1/2 cup yogurt (original recipe calls for milk, but I didn’t have any around, so yogurt it was, and quite delicious)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pound strawberries, hulled and halved

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). 
2. Butter a 10-inch pie pan or 9-inch deep-dish pie pan. Smitten Kitchen says: “This cake does not work in a standard 9-inch pie pan; it will overflow. This cake would work, however, in a 9- or 10-inch springform or cake pan. The 10-inch would make a thinner cake than pictured.”
3. Whisk flour or flours, baking powder and salt together in a small bowl.
4. In a larger bowl, beat butter and 1 cup sugar until pale and fluffy with an electric mixer, about 3 minutes. 
5. Mix in egg, milk and vanilla until just combined. Add dry mixture gradually, mixing until just smooth.
6. Pour into prepared pie plate. Arrange strawberries, cut side down, on top of batter, as closely as possible in a single layer (I had extra so I overlapped some). 
7. Sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons sugar over berries (this helps the berries turn into jam).
8. Bake cake for 10 minutes then reduce oven temperature to 325°F and bake cake until golden brown and a tester comes out free of wet batter, about 50 minutes to 60 minutes. (Gooey strawberries on the tester are a given.) Let cool in pan on a rack. Cut into wedges. Serve with lightly whipped cream.

bellyofecuador:

BLACKBERRY CRUMB BARS
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen 

Yet again, today I embarked on a blackberry culinary adventure. The original recipe calls for blueberries instead of blackberries, and lemons instead of limes, but since I can find neither in Ecuador, I thought I’d try to make magic with what I had. And magic it was. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get them to look that attractive, but don’t let the look fool you. They were very yummy. 

Ingredients:

1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cold unsalted butter (2 sticks or 8 ounces)
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon salt
Zest and juice of one lime
4 cups fresh blackberries
1/2 cup white sugar
4 teaspoons cornstarch

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 9×13 inch pan.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup sugar, 3 cups flour, and baking powder. Mix in salt and lemon zest. Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the butter and egg. Dough will be crumbly. Pat half of dough into the prepared pan.
3. In another bowl, stir together the sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Gently mix in the blueberries. Sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble remaining dough over the berry layer.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until top is slightly brown. (Your oven may take longer, so just keep on eye on it.) Cool completely before cutting into squares.