Mar 20 2013

Mango Guacamole

HAPPY FIRST DAY OF SPRING!!!!!!!

I’m pretty much just excited to get free Rita’s Water Ice and see the sunshine. Where did they ever get the idea “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia”?!?! I feel like it’s quite the opposite, but then again maybe that’s the point.

Feeling very Spring-gy today, I wanted to share this great Guac recipe for you that I tried out… it has MANGO in it!!!!! The mango is awesome in Guac since it gives it a great color and the sweetness and the spicy work so well together.

Sweet & Spicy are my all-time fav combination. For sure.

Mango Guacamole

Ingredients:

3 Ripe Avocadoes (How to Cut an Avocado), cut into cubes

¼ Cup finely diced Onion

1 Mango, peeled & diced

1 Jalapeno, seeded & finely diced

1 teaspoon minced Garlic

1 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper

1 teaspoon Salt

1 Tablespoon Cilantro

½ teaspoon Lime Juice

½ teaspoon Lemon Juice

Directions:

You don’t even need to measure anything in this recipe… just stir it all together and make changes when you taste it. The avocado will mush more when you add the citrus juice, but try not to mash it since it’s good to keep some of the pieces in there.

YUMMY! I haven’t been very adventurous when making Guac since my normal stuff is just so darn good! I’m glad I got to try this version… it was especially delicious along with this breakfast I made with Eggs, Corn Tortillas, Beans, & Tomatoes. Try it with tortilla chips or I imagine it would be super perfect on fish tacos!

To make your first day of Spring even BRIGHTER, check out some pictures of these adorable BABY ZOO ANIMALS! I love them!!

… and check out these other fruity recipes

Blueberry Oatmeal in a Mug

Kiwi-Strawberry-Mango Smoothie

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake (Eva Longoria’s Recipe!)

Oct 24 2012

Greek Yogurt Breakfast

I am soooo stuck right now. I need to lose 5 more pounds to be at my goal weight. UGHHH! I was supposed to be at my goal for Halloween. Okay, that’s so not happening.

Re-joining Weight Watchers might be in my near future… but before I go back to keeping track and obsessive counting, I wanted to give myself one last try at doing this on my own.

Last Thursday, I went to see “John the Dietitian” for some advice. The first thing he suggested to me was to change up my breakfast. I got super comfortable ditching my old Fiber One Oats & Chocolate (ugh but they’re soooooooooo good) bars for Kashi Go Lean Cereal… also suggested by John at the beginning of the summer. Well, that’s the problem… I’ve been eating Kashi cereal every single day during the week since JUNE! It’s time for a change.

John suggested this recipe to me using Greek Yogurt and i am LOVING it. I have eaten this for breakfast three times now, and every single time I am left feeling completely satisfied, stuffed, and even better, I don’t get hungry for HOURS.

Greek Yogurt Breakfast

Ingredients:

3/4 cup Fat Free Plain Greek Yogurt

1 Banana, cut into slices

2 Tablespoons Frozen Berries

1 Tablespoon Ground Flax

1 Tablespoon Fig Butter (Trader Joe’s)

1 heaping Tablespoon Chopped Walnuts

Directions:

Put it all together in a tupperware container and bring to work. Enjoy.

A few side notes about this one:

1. It’s absolutely delicious despite being ugly

2. If you’re going to make this the night before, frozen fruit works great. It will thaw out overnight and also as it melts, it will make it a little extra juicy! If you’re going to eat it right away, use normal fresh fruit.

3. I use 3/4 cup of FF Plain Greek Yogurt because the full serving size of 1 Cup ends up being SO MUCH food. I do actually measure this out I just plop a few giant spoonfuls in the cup measure and don’t fill it up all the way.

4. I’ve talked about the Fig Butter from TJ’s before, and I’m sure this won’t be the last time either. It’s freakin’ amazing stuff. Try it out! If you don’t have it or like it or suck and won’t even try it… use a Tablespoon of Polaner’s All Fruit Jelly! This will mix into the yogurt really well and sweeten it up a bit without being overly sugary.

I told you… not pretty!

As for my new breakfast helping my diet, we will find out soon enough! I have been “bad” on the past few weekends which of course things like this:

nom nom nom

… doesn’t help. I really need to buckle down and lose these last 5 pounds! No one ask me out to dinner…. lol.

More of John’s suggestions and foods in my new work-day diet to come soon!

Aug 15 2012

Peach-Mango Greek Yogurt Smoothie

So, I am VERY into making smoothies lately. I love drinking them as a snack or breakfast after working out. They’re so refreshing! This weekend, I made a really awesome smoothie that was much different than the last two i’ve made… here and here.

Peach-Mango Greek Yogurt Smoothie

Ingredients:

1 Peach (fresh), peeled and sliced off of the pit

1/2 Cup Frozen Mango Chunks

1 Tablespoon Ground Flax

1 HEAPING Tablespoon Fat Free Plain Greek Yogurt

1-2 Tablespoons Kefir (drinkable yogurt… I use Trader Joe’s Strawberry 1% version! Or use 1/4 cup Juice or Milk)

Directions: Blend until smooth and enjoy!

I actually really liked this flavor combination! Typically, I always throw a whole banana into whatever smoothie I’m making… this time I was all out, so from the start this smoothie was different than the others. I also have never tried using a fresh peach… it was really yummy and tart because of this, which went really nice with the mango. It was also really nice not having to chew the seeds from berries I normally use! :)

Jun 30 2012

Tropical-Blueberry Smoothie

Just a heads up:

I will be posting TONS of smoothie recipes.

I just started Invisalign (invisible braces).

Holy hell. OW.

It’s not even the pain that bothers me… it’s just having these plastic trays over my teeth. Everyone says you can’t tell (yeah i get it, INVISalign)… but I feel like I’m talking funny, playing with it all the time, and it hurts so much to eat!

What’s a girl to do?

I came home from work yesterday, after being off of my normal Breakfast-Snack-Lunch-Snack-Workout-Snack/Dinner routine… and tried to eat some “Lemon-Drop” Honeydew I bought from Wegmans. OW. Okay- if I can’t eat FRUIT, we’ve got some serious problems here.

I angrily dumped the rest of the fruit into the blender. Along with a banana… and some other stuff I found. Smoothie’s are the new… EVERYTHING. Shit.

Tropical-Blueberry Smoothie

Recipe by: It’s Good to be the Cook

Ingredients:

1 Banana

1 Cup Lemon-Drop Honeydew

1/2 Cup Blueberries

1/2 Cup Frozen Mango Chunks

1 Heaping Tablespoon Fat Free Plain Greek Yogurt

1 Tablespoon Ground Flax Meal

Directions:

1. Throw everything in and blend the shit out of it. Enjoy

Jun 25 2012

Banana & Mango Smoothie

As a blog writer (and many of you can agree I’m sure…) it’s hard not to get hung up and obsessed with checking your stats. For the first 2 months of It’s Good to be the Cook… I did exactly that. Now, I could really care less. I have realized (FOR NOW) the blog is just a place for me to share recipes and stories and a great way for me to organize them.

Today, I happened to check my stats. I am sitting here laughing outloud. This isn’t because I only have 43 hits today… it’s because someone actually went to google to search “Stella – Sriracha”… and was directed to my site. Of course they were! I’m not sure if they were looking for a spicy version of Blue Cheese or a Beer version of the Hot Sauce, but they found my page! Duh.

In honor of that person, as well as my apparent two favorite things to talk about on my blog… I had to share this photo of Stella with you… and also show you a new product I REALLY want to buy (saw it in Wegmans last night… wish I bought it then!) Here’s today’s STELLA-SRIRACHA:

STELLA, my (almost 4 year old) Bichon-Poodle was laying here all by herself with my sister’s phone!

Dying to try this! Sounds like the spicy sauce used in sushi?

Now, the real reason I wanted to post was to share this fresh fruit smoothie with you. This was the perfect snack to hold me over after work and before dinner. It also includes both fiber and protein- a “snack” time requirement from John the Dietitian.

Banana & Mango Smoothie

Recipe from: It’s Good to be the Cook

Serves 1

Ingredients:

1 Small Banana, cut

1 Medium Mango, peeled & cut

1 Kiwi, peeled & cut

1 Tablespoon Ground Flax

1/4 Cup Fat Free Plain Greek Yogurt

Directions:

Mix all ingredients in a blender until smooth. Enjoy!

Note: You may want to add some ice if you’d like it colder! Mine was cold but not as much as using frozen fruit. YUM!

Only 2 WW Points?! I’ll take it!!

It's Good to be the Cook

Tag Archives: Fruit

Mango Guacamole

HAPPY FIRST DAY OF SPRING!!!!!!!

Mango Guacamole

… and check out these other fruity recipes

Greek Yogurt Breakfast

Greek Yogurt Breakfast

Peach-Mango Greek Yogurt Smoothie

Peach-Mango Greek Yogurt Smoothie