Coconut Water Smoothies

I have normally made my smoothies with almond milk, but I recently started substituting the almond milk for coconut water. I think the coconut water really enhances the taste of the smoothies and makes the smoothies taste so much more refreshing. Along with the great taste, coconut water has great health benefits including being low in carbohydrates and sodium and rich in potassium, it's also a great way to hydrate by adding it to your smoothies. So I have been concocting a few different smoothies and thought I would share my coconut water based smoothie recipes with you!

Mango, Banana Apple Smoothie Recipe:

Ingredients (1 serving):

• 1/2 cup coconut water
• 1 frozen banana (sliced)
• 1 mango (cut up and skin removed)
• 1 green apple (sliced & core removed)

Instructions:

• Add the coconut water to your blender first, then add your frozen bananas, add the mango and banana. Blend until it is a liquid consistency, pour into a glass and enjoy! 

This smoothie is fruity but a little tart from the green apple, it is filled with nutrients and these fruits have lots of health benefits! 

Strawberry Banana Smoothie Recipe: 

Ingredients (2 servings):

• 1 cup coconut water
• 2 bananas
• 1 cup frozen strawberries (Trader Joe's sells bags of frozen strawberries for cheap that I love to use!)

Instructions:

• Add the coconut water to your blender first, then add your frozen strawberries, add your two bananas and blend until it is a liquid consistency. Pour into a glass and enjoy! 

This smoothie is nice and fruity, full of energy & the coconut water helps with hydrating. I like to make it after a night of drinking or if I didn't get a lot of sleep the night before. 

Mango Spinach Smoothie Recipe: 

Ingredients (1 serving):

• 1 cup coconut water
• 1 cup frozen mango (Trader Joe's sells bags of sliced frozen mango for cheap that I love to use! They also sell organic frozen mango too!)
• 1 cup fresh spinach leaves
• A few drops of honey

Instructions:

• Add the coconut water to your blender first, then add your frozen mango, add the spinach leaves and drops of honey. Blend until it is a liquid consistency and your spinach leaves are all minced up. Pour into a glass and enjoy!

This smoothie is great tasting and a beautiful color, it is extremely refreshing! It seems really thick when pouring it but it is easy to drink. The mango helps conceal the bitter taste of the spinach and the honey helps sweeten the smoothie a little bit. Perfect for a hot day :) 

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Easy Gluten Free Pasta Skilet

My roommate and I were craving pasta for dinner one night but wanted something that didn't involve to much work, after skimming through some recipes we found this one from McCormick but changed a few ingredients to make it a little healthier & gluten free! It ended up being super delicious and super easy! We even had a large amount left over to heat up & enjoy the next day :) Let me know what you think!

Warning: this does contain cheese, so for those of you who have lactose problems like me, you better have your lactaid pills handy!


Easy Gluten Free Pasta Skillet Recipe:
Ingredients: (Makes 8, one cup servings) 

• 1 pound ground turkey
• 1 jar of Roasted Garlic spaghetti sauce from Trader Joe's
• 2 cups water
• 1 tablespoon McCormick Perfect Pinch Italian Seasoning (or plain italian seasoning)
• 3 cups uncooked gluten free Rotelle pasta (I used Ancient Harvest Organic Quinoa pasta)
• 1 package (8 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese (2 cups), divided
• 2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

• Brown the ground turkey in large skillet on medium-high heat. Drain water.
• Add spaghetti sauce, water and italian seasoning to the skillet, stirring ingredients altogether. Bring to boil. Add pasta; mix well. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 20 minutes or until pasta is tender, stirring occasionally. 
• Stir in 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese and the parmesan cheese. Sprinkle top with remaining 1 cup of mozzarella cheese and cover. Let stand for 5 minutes; serve & enjoy! 

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Gluten Free + Dairy free Chocolate chip, Toffee Cookies

 I wanted to make some super yummy cookies for my co-workers but was tired of the basic chocolate chip cookie. So I pulled out my recipe binder and I found this recipe in my binder that my Dad put together for me full of a compilation of old recipes. The recipe I have is not gluten free or dairy free but I substituted a few items and changed up a few measurements and produced some amazing chewy+salty+sweet cookies! Hope you enjoy! PS- I bought the chevron paper treat sacks at Typo!

Gluten free chocolate chip, toffee cookie recipe:

Original recipe from martha stewart (Although, I did change a few things about this recipe to make it gluten free) 

Ingredients: 

• 1 & 1/3 cup Earth Balance Vegan buttery sticks at Room temperature 
• 1 & 1/2 cups light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon real vanilla
• 1 egg
• 2 cups all purpose gluten free flour- Trader Joe's brand 
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 12 ounces or 1 bag of Trader Joe's dairy free semi sweet chocolate chips 
• 3/4 bag of Heath toffee bits 

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit 

Step 1: In a large bowl, combine your room temperature butter with brown sugar and regular sugar and beat until mixture is fluffy.

Step 2: Add vanilla and egg to the butter and sugar mixture, beating until well combined.
In a separate bowl mix together GF flour, baking soda and salt.

Step 3: Slowly add your flour mixture to your butter mixture, mixing well until both mixtures are completely combined.

Step 4: Stir in chocolate chips and heath toffee bits.

Step 5: Scoop out large table spoons of dough onto parchment paper or foil lined baking sheets. Be sure to place heaps of cookie dough at least 2 &1/2 inches apart. Bake until they just begin to brown. (16-20 minutes) They may not look or feel finished but I promise once you take them out and let them cool, they will slightly harden into a gooey & chewy, delicious cookie!

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