Supernatural Botanicals

Orange Julius-ish

Apple Smoothie

Start the day off healthy with an apple smoothie.  You’ve tried all the berry flavored smoothies before, but apples bring a new taste to your blender.  Perfect with homemade apple cinnamon muffins. 

Serving contains 232 calories, 1 gram of fat and 15 grams of protein.

* 1/2 cup nonfat yogurt
* 8 ounces nonfat milk
* 2 tablespoon frozen apple juice concentrate
* dash ground cinnamon
* 1/2 whole green apple – seeded and cut in pieces
* 2 or 3 ice cubes

Combine all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth.

Makes one 12-ounce serving.

For more great recipes like this, check out Mr. Breakfast. 

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You may also like these blog posts:

  Blueberry Cheese Cake Smoothie

  Peach Blackberry Smoothie

Heart Health

According to the Journal of Nutrition, eating a small square of dark chocolate a few times a week will reduce your risk of a heart attack.  According to the results of the research, 20 grams of dark chocolate per week, or 6.7 grams three times per week, is ideal.  Research subjects who ate this amount had significantly lower blood pressure levels of C-reactive protein.  Because of dark chocolate’s richness, you can satisfy your sweet tooth with much less chocolate than a milk or white chocolate, for example. 

Backyard Dinner Dates

Backyard dinner dates….one of my very favorite things!  You don’t need to find a sitter for the kids and spend a ton of money in order to have a dinner date with your man….or entire family. Create a beautiful place in your yard or on your balcony to dine outside.  I created my secret spot under a huge tree in my yard, and designed a seating area, lined with Brassfield Chips (pebble ground cover seen above.)

Beautiful linens/tablecloths can create so many different looks.  The picture above happens to be a Saturday morning breakfast date with the newspaper and fresh papaya juice (coffee being brewed).  It’s a beautiful way to start the day or end an evening.

A backyard dinner date just takes creativity.  It can be breakfast, brunch, lunch, or dinner; the backyard dates are especially beneficial when you feel like you haven’t been on a real date in 100 years.  Create a romantic dinner for two (don’t forget candles), or serve dinner for the entire family there.   Have coffee and bagels in the morning, or gourmet cheeses and a bottle of wine in the evening.

Get creative and surprise your guy with a backyard dinner date.

VegNews VeggieAwards

   Let your voice be heard.  Vote for your favorites, such as Supernatural Botanicals Bath and Body and Park + Vine in Cincinnati, in VegNews Magazine’s 2009 VeggieAwards.  You can win great prizes! 

Let your voice be heard here. 

Backyard Garden

This is a look at my backyard garden today.  My purple hydrangea from the Farmers Market this past Saturday still looks great today, Thursday.  I change the water in the vase every other day, and add sweet lemon thyme to the vase, free floating.  It’s such a great look for clear vases.  Tender young green leaf lettuce is in full bloom.  My Roma tomatoes have their first bud, a single tiny green ball.  The Tabasco pepper plant has tiny little yellow peppers budding everywhere.  (editorial note….these peppers are as hot as fire!)  Very young Jalapenos, two single stubby peppers emerging out, in the past few days.  Cayenne peppers are green, and will turn red if you leave them on the vine long enough. 

Health Up Your Salad

Health up your salad.  Instead of reaching for the croutons, which can contain a high butter and fat content, reach for whole wheat crackers.  Just crumble over a fantastic salad and get the benefits of whole wheat and fiber, along with great taste with half the calories.

Farmers Market

Scenes from my day today at two farmers markets in Cincinnati; Hyde Park Farmer’s market and Findlay Market.

Smoothie Recipe

You are going to have to come up with new ingredient combinations if you want to make a smoothie interesting.  We’ve all been making smoothies for years, so it takes something special to really make one stand out. 

Try this on for size…a Blueberry Cheesecake Smoothie.  Fantastic with pastries or coffee cake in the morning, or as a dessert after dinner. 

Recipe:

1/2 cup milk (low fat)

3 oz.  PHILADELPHIA Light Cream Cheese, cubed

1 cup blueberries

2 Tbsp.  plus 1-1/2 tsp. sugar or honey 

1/2 cup ice cubes

BLEND  First 4 ingredients in blender until smooth.

ADD  Ice; blend until thickened. Serve immediately

Homemade Pizza

Don’t shy away from making your own pizza crust.  It’s super economical to make your own, and very easy.  Don’t let rising yeast scare you.  It’s easier than you think.  And lets not forget, better tasting.  You can add extra herbs (such as Rosemary or Basil), or seeds (such as Sesame or Poppy) to your crust to make it gourmet.  Not to mention, less than 300 calories.  Love that!  When the onion and fennel caramelize, they become very sweet and smell amazing (the whole house smells amazing, in fact!)  The presentation is beautiful, and your family and guest will think you spent hours making it. 

Try this delicious pizza with caramelized fennel, onion and olives.   Great for entertaining. 

Servings:  6 servings (serving size: 1 wedge)

Ingredients

• Dough:
• 1 1/2  teaspoons  dry yeast
• 2/3  cup  warm water (100° to 110°)
• 2  cups  all-purpose flour, divided
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• Cooking spray
• 2  teaspoons  yellow cornmeal
• Topping:
• 1  tablespoon  olive oil
• 4  cups  thinly sliced fennel bulb (about 4 small bulbs)
• 2  cups  thinly sliced onion
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• 1/4  teaspoon  dried oregano
• 1/4  teaspoon  dried thyme
• 1/4  teaspoon  black pepper
• Remaining ingredients:
• 1  cup  bottled tomato-basil pasta sauce
• 1  cup  (4 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
• 1/4  cup  coarsely chopped pitted kalamata olives

Preparation

To prepare dough, dissolve yeast in warm water in a large bowl, and let stand 5 minutes. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Add 1 3/4 cups flour and salt, and beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth. Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes); add enough of remaining flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, to prevent dough from sticking to hands (dough will feel tacky).

Place dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to coat top. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, 45 minutes or until doubled in size. (Press two fingers into the dough. If an indentation remains, dough has risen enough.) Punch dough down; knead 5 times, and let rest for 15 minutes. Roll dough into a 12-inch circle on a floured surface. Place dough on a (12-inch) pizza pan or baking sheet coated with cooking spray and sprinkled with cornmeal. Crimp edges of dough with fingers to form a rim.

To prepare the topping, heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add the fennel and the next 5 ingredients (fennel through black pepper), and cook for 20 minutes or until golden, stirring frequently.

Preheat oven to 450°.

Spread sauce over crust, leaving a 1/2-inc