Strawberry Chia Coconut Smoothie

I've been looking for a strawberry coconut smoothie for a while and have tried a lot of different recipes this summer. And, oh sure, they've all been good. But none has been quite good enough to really knock my socks off so I post it on this blog. Until now. I took my kids (all my kids) shopping on my last shopping trip. Which means we usually wind up with some impulse food buys. I can't even say I discourage this; when picky kids pick up a new food and say that want to try it; nay, beg you to buy it so they can try it, sometimes you just give in. So I wound up with half a gallon of almond milk and half a gallon of coconut milk. The almond milk was a huge hit (too huge--I don't want to buy almond milk for the rest of my life). But the coconut milk was met with less love. Even I didn't love it. Since coconut is used so often in perfumes and tanning oils, the pungent smell was just too perfumed for me, though I liked the taste. But in a smoothie, oh man, in a smoothie.

I found the basis for this recipe at the blog Oh She Glows. It's delicious. I mean, truly, it's perfect. I worried about the sugar content of coconut milk, though in reality the sugars are less than in cows milk (yes, they're added sugars in coconut milk as opposed to the natural sugars in milk, but only 9-ish grams in coconut milk compared to 13-ish grams of sugars in cow's milk).

I also wondered if it would be super banana-y. Sometimes banana just takes over and there's a lot of it in this. But it's very subtle and nice in this so fear not if you don't love banana.

Also, I love chia seeds, but if you don't or can't find them or the thought of them (or finding them) seems scary to you, you can totally make this without them. However, if you want to give them a try, they're loaded with omega-3's, fiber, calcium, phosphorus, and other good things. And this is a really easy, safe way to try them.

Strawberry Chia Coconut Smoothie
adapted from Oh She Glows
Makes 2-4 servings
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cost: $1.90 (or just under .50/serving)
bananas: .25, strawberries: .75, coconut milk: .75, chia seeds: .15

Note: This is not the canned coconut milk. It's the kind you'd find in 1/2 gallons of quart containers in the refrigerator section. However, you could probably use the canned stuff thinned just a wee bit if that's what you've got and you want to avoid those added sweeteners. Also, you could totally use a different type of milk (almond, rice, even dairy), but the coconut is pure bliss and a super good pairing with strawberries.

2 frozen bananas
3/4 C frozen strawberries
2 C coconut milk (or any other milk; I bet even cows milk would work)
1 Tbsp chia seeds

Put in blender and blend.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Lime Salmon

Another quick, non-heat-your-kitchen-unbearably-up, 30 minute meal (this can be a 15 minute meal if you've got instant rice). This salmon was really simple, but very flavorful and we loved it. 

I realize that fish isn't the cheapest food on the planet, but one thing I love about it is that it pairs well with very cheap foods (like rice). So even though the salmon is going to cost $6.20 to make (that's with Walmart wild caught salmon), the rice will only be about $.50 and if you add a vegetable like broccoli, there's another $1.00 (to feed about four). 

Lime Salmon

adapted from greenlitebites

Serves 4

prep time: 5 minutes

cook time: 10 minutes

Cost: $6.20

salmon: 6.00, lime: .15 (Asian store price), other stuff: .05

4 salmon fillets

2-3 Tbsp lime juice, plus a few scrapes of zest (this is about 1 lime)

1 tsp dried cilantro (or 1 Tbsp fresh; or if you don't have either of those, use 1/2 tsp ground coriander--that's what I used)

1 Tbsp honey

olive oil

pat butter

Combine  lime juice, zest, and honey. Let salmon marinate in this while you get your rice (or potatoes or whatever) cooking. 

When you're ready to cook your fish (it takes about 10 minutes), heat some olive oil in a pan. Add the salmon fillets. Cook on one side for 3-4 minutes. Flip. When you flip, pour the remaining marinade over everything. Cook another 3-4 minutes or until the salmon is flaky and has some color from the cooking and the marinade. During the last minutes of cooking, add a tiny bit of butter to each filet.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

5-Minute Meal: Beans, Salsa, Chips (with optional really quick homemade salsa)

You guys know I occasionally rant about the idea of "fast" food, especially if it is considered "cheap" food. So, lucky you, I'm not going to rant today. But I will tell you this: This meal is every every bit as fast as any line or drive through I've ever waited in. And it's way better. And it's way cheaper. And it fills that need for fresh, yummy, quick, cool foods that I have in the summer. Because, let me tell you, in the summer I definitely get all food lazy. I won't say I don't want to cook because I still do sometimes. But I don't want to cook as often or as hot or as long. And when I eat I don't crave heavy foods (well, not too often).

 This meal is not, admittedly, entirely whole--at least not in its 5-minute form. I bought tortilla chips from the grocery store. Certainly if you wanted to you could whip up some homemade tortillas and go from there. But I didn't (see above about quick and cool). You can use salsa and re-fried beans from a can if you wish as well. They're still quite healthy. However. If you want, you can still make beans and homemade salsa very very quickly (well, with the beans--they're quick, but have to be done that morning). The beans are done in the crock pot, the salsa in the blender. Badabing, badabam.

And it gets even better (by which I mean, more adaptable).

The salsa can be made from fresh ingredients if you've got them lying about Or if you fail to think about dinner until 1/2 hour before and have no fresh veggies lying about, you can still make a very respectable (and better than store-bought) salsa using canned tomatoes.

And as one final smiley (personal) note about this meal. You guys know that my kids (mostly my oldest son) are super picky. So for this I got some ranch chips, which he loves, but I got a generic variety. And I made salsa (which he also loves if it's not chunky--smooth tomatoes are on his very short list of edibles). Only when I opened those generic chips, I'll be darned if they didn't taste EXACTLY like plain tortilla chips. And then I accidentally put in Hot Rotel instead of mild, and--oh boy--it was hot. And then I was sad. I thought that dinner was doomed to inconsolable bouts of whining and belly-aching. And then from the miraculous wells of miracle miracle-y-ness, my child absolutely loved that hot salsa, and liked the chips too. His sisters followed suite and soon everyone was porking out on hot salsa with swigs of milk in between. And then for the next week when we had friends over, my son would say, "You just have to try the salsa. It's awesome." Which I'm not sure has ever happened over a non-sweet item that I have made. And then he asked if we could buy a hot pepper plant for the garden. Moral of the story: We should go to the wells of miracle miracle-y-ness more often. And it was nice.

You'll need:
1 bag tortilla chips of some sort ($2.00)
1 can re-fried beans (or some homemade) ($.50--generic)
cheddar cheese ($.50)--we put this on the beans and then warm them
1 jar salsa (or homemade; see below) $2.00
we also had mangoes, which were cooling and delicious, but hardly essential $1.00 each

Which makes this a $6 meal. Except that we had tons of leftovers and ate them for at least 3 more lunches that week. And we still have some salsa left which I plan to use in some crock pot chicken. So it's probably closer to a $3 or 4 meal. To feed 6 people. Not bad. 

Potentially Pantry Salsa
makes about 26 oz.
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cost: $2.65
tomatoes: 1.00, Rotel: 1.00, cilantro: .50, lime: .15

Note: We made this again tonight. My son helped me. Which made me realize how versatile this is--his system of measurement is a little, um, free form. So it got extra vinegar and less garlic and coriander instead of cilantro. And it was just awesome. So experiment away. Or feel free to mess it up a little. It'll be fine.

This can be made with fresh ingredients. I usually use what I have fresh and then hit the pantry for what I don't.

Note: I used Rotel, but if you'd like you can use two cans of diced tomatoes and then add 1-4 jalepenos.

1 14- oz can diced tomatoes
1 can Rotel
1 1/2 tsp vinegar
1/2- 1 1/2 tsp garlic salt or 1 clove garlic (wide range here; depends on how garlicky you like it)
1/2 tsp cumin
2 handfuls cilantro (yes, this is best fresh, but if you really really don't have it, try a few dashes of dried coriander--I used about 1/4 tsp)
juice of 1 lime (or a few squirts of the non-fresh stuff)
1/2 tsp salt (optional and you probably want to taste before you add)

Throw all in blender except cilantro. Blend. Add cilantro. Blend. (Note: The reason I don't like to blend the cilantro at first is that if it gets too blended, the salsa can get a brownish hue--tastes fine; looks weird.)

PRINTABLE RECIPE