Recipes

Okay, for those of you who requested recipes, here they are:

Pop Tarts (this is for Brown Sugar Cinnamon but with extra pastry dough, we added plum jelly to some and Tigerfan and Dancer loved it...we are going to play around with fillings next time).

This recipe is from Sticky Cook. She has a lot of great preservative free recipes so you should check her out if interested.

For the pastry:

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, cubed

2 Tablespoons white sugar

1 teaspoon salt

½ cup really cold water

1 egg, beaten, for brushing on the dough

For the filling:

½ cup brown sugar

1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

4 teaspoons all-purpose flour

For the icing:

¾ cup powdered sugar

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 Tablespoon milk

In a large mixing bowl, cut the flour and butter together with a pastry cutter or two knives. Add the sugar and salt and mix well. Add the cold water and mix until just combined (if needed, add extra water, 1 teaspoon at a time). Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least half an hour.

In a small mixing bowl, combine the filling ingredients. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Roll out the pastry dough, as thin as possible, then cut with a sharp knife into rectangles (you will probably have to do this in batches). Brush half of the rectangle with the beaten egg, then top the center of the brushed rectangles with a generous amount of the filling mixture (don’t spread all the way to the edges). Top with the un-brushed rectangles. Using a fork, press all the sides of the tarts, sealing the edges. Prick the top of the tarts a few times with a fork, to allow venting. Brush with the egg. Bake on a greased baking sheet (I use cooking spray) for about 15 minutes, or until lightly golden. Combine the icing ingredients, adding a little more milk if necessary. Spread on cooled tarts.

Okay, now for the Green Smoothie:

For a single portion size, I use:

1/2 cup cold water

1 large handful (about half of a bag) of spinach

Blend these together until well blended and smooth.

Add 1 frozen banana. My sister sometimes uses an avocado but I haven't tried this yet (I think I am going to today). This is for the creaminess. The banana will give it a banana flavor which I don't mind. My sister says that the avocado gives it the texture without adding any flavor so if you don't like banana, give this a try.

Then I just throw in whatever fruit I happen to have on hand. My favorites are apples, strawberries, blueberries and kiwi. I usually add a couple of different kinds and a little flax seed.

When I first started making these, I added a little sugar or honey for sweetness, but I don't do that anymore...I think they are perfect without it, but a lot of people do add a little sweetener.

Blend all together and enjoy!

I know for you non spinach people, this sounds disgusting but the fruit masks the spinach...I promise. If you add blueberries, it will take on kind of a brownish color rather than the bright green. If you can get past the look, it is really good and a nice healthy snack!