Green Smoothies!

I know this may come as a shock to some people, but despite all the sweets I enjoy, I actually enjoying being healthy and eating things that are good for me:) Now that I am pregnant I am especially trying to eat healthy, however, I haven't been doing so hot for the past couple weeks. For some reason healthy food doesn't sound good to me, it's all the junk that I can eat without feeling sick. So I decided I needed to make a very conscious effort and get more nutrients into my diet. That's where these green smoothies come in. I used to make green smoothies all the time before I started invitro. It's the best way to get a bunch of kale and spinach into your diet without having to sit down and chomp it forever. Yes, they do taste different than your regular jamba, but some of them aren't that bad.

This one was actually a bit refreshing and I felt like my body was craving it. So, if you are feeling daring try this smoothie with some kale or spinach, if not, just try it without adding any greens. I made it this morning without any kale and it truly taste like a pina colada. I have a blendtec blender, in my opinion the best blender in the world. My mom has a vita mix and mine is a lot more powerful than hers and with a blendtec there is no need to use a plunger. So it blends it up nice and smooth so you would have no idea that by the texture there was kale in the smoothie. Now as for the taste...it was pretty...earthy. The kale taste was definitely prominent but the fruit helped sweeten it up. Even though it tasted very green, it was still yummy.

I thought the color of this was gorgeous, it made it a lot
easier drinking it when it was this amazing green color
as opposed to a murky green.

I was very nervous to dive right in and start drinking it. My husband is
a lot more mature than me, he can just drink it no problem,
sometimes I need him to count to three for me to be able
to drink it!

Pina Colada Smoothie
1/2 c. ice
1/2 c. frozen pineapple
1 c. frozen mango
1 1/2 c. light coconut milk
couple tablespoons of agave/honey to sweeten it up a bit
a cup or two of greens (kale, spinach ect.) if you feel like it,

Put all in your blender. I put the ice last-enjoy!
*you may need to thin it out a little with some water if it's too thick

Ahhh the cravings....

Ok-so I always get cravings and I knew when I got pregnant it would be even worse. A couple days ago I went to my Dr's appointment to make sure everything was looking ok. Good news, looks like my subchorionic hemorage has healed and the baby has a strong heart beat. The Dr said that it's almost the size of a gummy bear. Gummy bear-that did it. I knew I had to have some! First of all, I don't like gummy bears, I can't remember the last time I had some, but they have been on my mind ever since my Dr said the word. So my sweet husband last night stopped to get me some. Boy did they hit the spot! My husband said he was ok stopping to get them because he was having a craving for some pickles. I think he is feeling some of my pregnancy symptoms as well. And my husband knows me very well, not only did he get me regular gummy bears, he got me some sour ones too! I am all about sour candy and they too hit the spot. Last night I was talking to my mom and she said she was eating those candy pumpkins. Looks like those are next on my list...

Basil Chicken Hash

I recently was organizing my recipes when I came acrossed this basil chicken hash recipe by Ina Garten. I had never made it but apparently I wanted to because I printed it out and put it in my book. I decided to give it a try. It sounded delicious, but I was a little nervous for the chicken part. For some reason, I dont know why but I always get intimidated when a recipe calls for chicken breast with skin on and bone in. I had never cooked with it before but I decided to give it a try. I was so surprised at how easy it was to make. It comes out incredibly juicy and moist and the flavor is unbelievable. For this recipe you tuck fresh basil leaves under the skin, the flavor of the basil just seemed to infuse the whole piece of chicken. It was so good! And another plus to chicken breast with bone in is that they are a lot cheaper than boneless chicken breast. This is such a yummy recipe. I have made it twice in two weeks. It is such a comforting meal while at the same time not leaving you feeling stuffed. You could make this dish for any meal, breakfast, lunch or dinner. I have some extra that I can wait to eat for breakfast! O-and my husband looooves this! Hope you have time to give it a try!

Ingredients

• 2 whole (4 split) chicken breasts, bone-in, skin-on
• 16 basil leaves
• Olive Oil
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
• 2 pounds boiling potatoes, peeled and large diced
• 2 red onions, chopped
• 2 red bell peppers, large diced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 4 minced scallions, white and green parts
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh leaf parsley
• Sour cream, Cheddar and sliced lemons, for serving

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the chicken breasts on a baking sheet. Loosen the skin from the meat with your fingers, leaving one side attached. Place 4 basil leaves under the skin of each chicken breast. Pull the skin over as much of the meat as possible so the chicken won't dry out. With your hands, rub each piece with olive oil and sprinkle very generously with salt and pepper. Bake the chicken for 35 to 40 minutes, until the skin is lightly browned and the chicken is just cooked through. Set aside until cool enough to handle, then remove the meat from the bones. Cut the chicken in large dice pieces and set aside.

Melt 4 tablespoons of the butter in a large saute pan. Add the potatoes and onions, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and saute over medium heat for about 10 minutes, until evenly browned and cooked through.

In a separate saute pan, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter. Add the red peppers, garlic, thyme, paprika, tomato paste, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and saute over medium heat for about 5 minutes, until the edges of the peppers are seared.

Add the chicken and the pepper mixture to the potatoes and heat through. Add the scallions and parsley, toss together and place on a serving platter.

The Ultimate Garlic Bread!

So because I have not been able to do alot I have been watching alot of food network. I recently watched an episodes of Tylers Ultimate. He made this garlic bread that looked absolutely amazing and I knew I had to make it. I was extra excited to make it because I have tons of basil that I need to start using up. This garlic bread is so simple but so delicious. People will be so impressed. The garlic flavor is amazing! And you know how much I like garlic....I may have added a little extra garlic:) Enjoy!

Ingredients

1 stick of butter at room temp
2 garlic cloves, mashed to a paste with a pinch of salt and olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped parsley leaves
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves
kosher salt and pepper to tatse
1 loaf crusty baguette
olive oil

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

For the bread, stir together the butter, mashed garlic, and herbs in a small

bowl and season with salt and pepper. Tear open the loaf of bread

lengthwise, spread the herb-garlic mixture over both halves and sprinkle with a little olive oil. Bake for 15 minutes.

Best ever Coconut Oatmeal Cookies

Last week I finally broke my no baking streak! I was finally feeling good enough to get up and bake something. My mom recently came over to help me organize my kitchen. I think we are in a bit of a nesting mode. My kitchen was so unorganized!! We found over 5 bags of chocolate chips, lots of coconut, and plenty of flavored extracts I had no idea I had. My kitchen now looks amazing and I love cooking and baking in it. So I decided to utilize some of the coconut and chocolate chips I had recently discovered I had. I came across this coconut oatmeal cookie in my recipe book. I had never made them before but had always wanted to. Coconut is one of my favorite things in the whole world so I knew these would be amazing. I changed the recipe up a bit by adding some white chocolate chips along with the milk chocolate. This is an amazing recipe, I got rave reviews about these cookies. I can't wait to make them again. However, it looks like I am going to have to take a break from baking yet again. A few days ago I had some bleeding due to my pregnacy. Needless to say I think I have never been more scared in my life. I went to the emergency room and the found that I had a small subchorionic hemorage. I have had no bleeding for one day now and am super happy! Another exciting thing I found out is that my blood type is o-, now what this means is if my blood in any way comes in contact with the babies my body will reject the pregnancy. I honestly kind of wanted to laugh when I found this out because I couldn't believe my luck! So with any bleeding in pregnancy with this blood type you need to get a rhogam shot. So I got my shot yesterday and things should be fine if the babies blood came in contact with mine. Crazy hu! I really hope I have gotten all of the exciting things out of the way so I can stop stressing and start enjoying my pregnancy. I will keep you posted, in the meantime enjoy these wonderful cookies!

Also, thanks to everyone who left such sweet comments on my pregnancy post:)


Coconut Oatmeal Cookies
1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. butter flavor crisco
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 c. oatmeal
1 c. coconut
1 1/2 c. chocolate chips (I did half white chocolate chips and half milk chocolate chunks)

Cream butter and add sugars gradually until fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs; beat well. In separate bowl combine all dry ingredients. Mix into creamed mixture just until blended. Stir in oats, coconut and chocolate chips. Bake @ 350 degrees for 8-10 min.