My Green Monster Smoothie

I love making smoothies.

I really like this green smoothie recipe I found online.

It is SO SO SO delicious and super healthy!

I always substitute the flavored yogurt for non-flavored Greek yogurt and add honey.

Today, I decided to change it up a little bit.

I added frozen peaches, whole flax seeds, and kale!

I also didn't have any bananas in the freezer so I just used a handful of ice cubes.

Yuri's Green Monster Smoothie

5-6 ice cubes

1 1/2 cup non-fat milk (I had to use more because my blender kept getting stuck)

1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt1-2 tablespoons honey

6 oz frozen peaches (1/2 bag from Trader Joes)

1 banana

1 to 2 tablespoons peanut butter

1/4 to 1/2 cup whole flax seeds

1 cup kale

Baby spinach - fill the blender to the top

Put everything into blender and blend!

It's seriously SO delicious. You can't even tell you're drinking spinach!

My little Y LOVES this drink.

You can add whatever you want. I've added blueberries, strawberries, oranges, apples, etc, etc... (but if you add things like blueberries and strawberries, your smoothie will come out looking a little darker and not as bright green).

Let me know if you try it!

Also... let me know about your blender. I need some recommendations!

Homemade Vanilla Extract

I love to bake. I use a lot of vanilla extract. Vanilla extract is EXPENSIVE. They come in tiny bottles and I use them up really fast. Which means... I buy lots of little tiny bottles of expensive vanilla extract.

I know that people make their own vanilla extract so I looked it up. It's SO easy. Why didn't I do this before!?!?

I decided to make my own vanilla extract. I mostly went off of this recipe.

All you need are some vanilla beans and vodka. This recipe calls for 1 cup vodka.

I decided to get Madagascar Vanilla Beans. There are lots of different kinds, so you can choose whatever one you want!

I cut my vanilla beans in half width wise and length wise.

I also read on various other recipes that you should scrape out the vanilla beans, so I did that with just 2 of the cut pieces.

Then, I put everything in a small mason jar (should've used a bigger one, but that's all I had).

It looks like there's no liquid in there, but I promise, it's filled to the top with vodka. :)

And that's it!!

I'm supposed to shake it every day and let the vanilla infuse into the vodka for at least a month. It's best after 2-3 months. I can't wait!!

As you use up this vanilla extract, you can just keep adding more vodka so you never run out! YES!!!! If the flavor seems to be not as strong, you add another cut vanilla bean. Easy peasy.

I've read several other recipes where you just use a bunch more vanilla beans and put them directly into the vodka bottle. So, you don't even need an extra container!

Homemade Vanilla Extract Recipe (adapted from Simply Notable)

Ingredients

3 whole vanilla beans

1 cup vodka

1. Cut the vanilla beans in half width wise. Then, cut them length wise.

2. Optional - Scrape out a few of the cut vanilla beans (I did 2 of them).

3. Put 1 cup of vodka and cut vanilla beans (and scraped out parts if you did) into a jar. The beans should be completely submerged.

4. Shake daily for at least 4 weeks. Vanilla extract will become better with time (2-3 months).

* Add more vodka and/or vanilla beans as you use it up.

I'll report back in a few weeks to let you know how it turned out! I'm so excited!!

Let me know if you decide to make your own vanilla extract, too!

Also... I'd love to know who's visiting here so come say 'hi' in the comments and follow me through Google Friend Connect! I would love to hear some ideas of green (frugal and eco-friendly) things I can do!

Quick Update!!

It's only been a little over 6 hours and here's what it looks like!

Frozen Yogurt Covered Fruits - Simple Healthy Snack!

I was browsing through the internet and came across this super easy super healthy fun snack idea! I have LOTS of blueberries that I got for cheap and this is a perfect way to consume them! I've also been obsessed with Greek yogurt, so I had plenty of that in my fridge.

First, I washed the blueberries.

Since we use plain Greek yogurt, I dumped some out into a bowl and mixed in some honey. Mmm honey... Then, I used a long skewer (I didn't have any toothpicks) to dunk the blueberries into the bowl of yogurt and used another skewer to push it off onto a cookie sheet.

I also had a bunch of strawberries and bananas, so I cut those up into bite-size pieces and covered them up with yogurt, too.

I put the cookie sheet into the freezer and left it in there while Y. and I ran some errands and played at the park. I would say they were in there for about 2 hours, but I think they would be fine after 1 hour.

I took some fruits off the cookie sheet and put them in a little bowl for Y. The rest went back into the freezer for a later time.

Y. LOVED them. They're super delicious and it was a perfect cold snack after running around at the park!

Healthy, cold, super easy frozen yogurt covered fruit snacks! Yum!!!