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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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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Chicken, avocado & lactose free cheese dish

This dish only uses 3 main ingredients! It is super easy and very tasty, a perfect dish to serve to the whole family or you can make it a single serving too!

Chicken, avocado & lactose free cheese dish recipe:
Ingredients (serves 4)

• 4 thawed out boneless chicken breasts
• Mrs.Dash Chicken Salt-Free Grilling Blend 
• Little bit of Salt (optional)
• 1 large avocado
• 3/4-1 cup of lactose free cheddar flavored shreds (I used Go Veggie! brand)

Instructions:

1. Season both sides of your raw chicken breasts with the Mrs.Dash Grilling blend, a pinch of salt & place on hot grill. Leave chicken breasts on grill, keeping your eye on them and turning occasionally until they are fully cooked (about 15-20 minutes) Set your chicken aside to cool for a little bit. 
2. While your chicken is cooling, cut your avocado in half, remove its pit and then cut the 2 halves in half, you will now have 4 pieces of avocado. Remove the skin from these 4 pieces and slice each of the sections up into even pieces. 
3. Slice one of your chicken breast into 3/4 inch sections, now place your avocado slices between each slice of chicken. Keep the avocado slices and chicken slices close together so it still resembles its chicken breast shape. Repeat with the remaining chicken breast. 
4. Top each layered chicken and avocado plate with about a 1/4 cup of cheddar flavor shreds and place in microwave for 20 seconds just to melt the cheddar shreds a little bit.
5. Serve & Enjoy!

This dish can be made into a single serving by grilling only one chicken breast and using 1/4 of the avocado and 1/4 cup of cheddar shreds. I sometimes grill 4 chicken breasts at one time and place them in my fridge after I grill them to eat later on in the week; doing this and heating up my previously grilled chicken works out perfect for this dish! 

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Green Kale Smoothie Recipe

I'm fairly new to eating gluten free and have realized eating gluten free isn't cheap! Therefore I choose to eat more natural foods instead of finding foods with gluten substitutes, it seems to be less expensive and healthier! I have recently been making kale smoothies for breakfast and have finally came up with a recipe I love, there are so many advantages to eating kale, and drinking it for breakfast is a great way to start the day!

Green Kale Smoothie Recipe: 

Ingredients (serves 1):

• 3/4 cup Almond Milk
• 1 or 1 & 1/2 cup fresh kale leaves (remove from stem)
• 1 frozen sliced banana (I peel the banana and wrap it in saran wrap, when I'm ready to make my smoothie I remove it from saran wrap, chop & place in blender)
• One spoon full of natural peanut butter
• A few drops of natural honey

Blend all of these ingredients together, pour into a glass and enjoy! 

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