I’m way too often behind the trends, but I don’t usually just catch up, I run to the front. 

Take smoothie bowls for instance. I thought I was pretty cool with my regular popular smoothies that everyone loves here and on youtube. The red beet smoothie is my number one post almost every day for two years pushing out over 800 other recipes. This means you like to start your day healthy, and you probably have a Vitamix or a Nutribullet.

So, if you’re love smoothies but never thought of eating them, let me introduce you.

Smoothie bowls are great if you like to eat your breakfast instead of drink it.  You can add in nuts and some fruit there is something very satisfying about chewing. Don’t think you only need to eat this at breakfast. This can be a dessert or a late night healthy snack that satisfies your sweet tooth and your belly.

Blueberries and walnuts are powerful brain foods, but everything in this smoothie bowl is good for you and life giving. Take whatever fruit you have and start creating. I added in a cara cara orange and half of a banana, and this was a such a good flavor combination, I had I everyday for a week.

I’ve found two ways to do smoothie bowls, using protein shakes or yogurt. For the protein smoothie bowls, I use the Vanilla Premier Protein and for the yogurt smoothie bowls, I use Stonyfield Organic Vanilla yogurt, which can be purchased whole milk or low fat. You could use a plain yogurt, but you may need to add some sweetener.

 The boys, who love smoothies and you may see on my smoothie videos, love the yogurt smoothie bowls, but not the protein bowls. If you love protein shakes you’ll, you’ll protein smoothie bowls and same goes for yogurt.

Tips for Smoothie Bowls

• Use frozen fruit and use equal amounts to yogurt or protein shake. Reserve a little bit of fruit to add for garnish.
• Use very cold protein shake. If you are using a premixed protein shake, put it in freezer for ten minutes, or add a little bit of ice. If you mix your own protein powder, use water and ice equally.
• You can use Greek yogurt which is thicker, but a bit more tart.
• Add in nuts. I recommend walnuts as they are a brain food and go so well with a few slices of bananas.
• Put your fruit into the blender with just a little bit of yogurt or protein drink, enough to crush the fruit. Then slowly add in remaining ingredients.
• If your bowl is not cold enough or thick enough, add in ice for the protein bowl and yogurt for the yogurt bowl. You may need to play around to get the right texture for your taste.

So tell me, are you on the smoothie bowl band wagon. I discovered them on instagram, where I would love to connect with you.

If you like healthy recipes that fill you up and make you happy, you’ve come to the right place. Please subscribe and enjoy many more to come.

Popular Smoothies with Videos

Spinach Kale Smoothie

Red Beet Smoothie

Cold Fighting Smoothie

Fever Reducing Smoothie and Tips for Reducing Fever

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Blueberry Banana Smoothie Bowl

Brain Power Smoothie Bowl with blueberries, banana, oranges, walnuts, high protein.

Course Smoothie

Cuisine American

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 5 minutes minutes

Total Time 10 minutes minutes

Servings 1

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 1 cup frozen blueberries
• banana divided
• 1/2 orange without peel or pith
• 1 cup vanilla or plain yogurt for yogurt option or
• 1 cup vanilla protein shake
• walnuts

Instructions

• Mix frozen berries, banana, orange in blender. You may need to add some liquid from protein drink or yogurt to get it going.
• Once the fruit is smooth enough, gently add in yogurt or protein drink. You want the smoothie to be thick enough to eat with a spoon.
• Pour in bowl.
• Garnish with fruit and nuts

Notes

Greek yogurt works best because it’s so thick, but I use regular yogurt. I’m just careful when I blend.
I use Premier pre-made vanilla protein drinks when I’m going in that direction.

The post Blueberry Banana Protein Smoothie Bowl appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

This is one of those posts that I’m exploding all over to tell you about.

Often baked goods that look good don’t taste good, ,  or just arent’ healthy. Often the “healthy” baked goods look anything but happy and often dry.

This is happy pineapple flower breakfast cake made healthier with spelt flour, sucanat sweetener, yogurt and olive oil.  There is a tiny bit of pineapple glaze between the cake and the pineapple flowers.

I saw these adorable pineapple flowers on  Pinterest, with four pictures showing how it’s done. I pinned them, without checking to see where the picture led.  Usually, I vet every photo I pin, because all too often the photo is lifted and doesn’t go back to the original source. I know it’s tempting to repin a pin, but if you think that it’s a recipe you will want, you should check to see if the pin will take you there.

Eventually I googled pineapple flowers, and I found the recipe and those pinned pictures at  Annie’s Eats.  Annie got them perfect, but as I read through the instructions and most of the comments, I took notice that there were quite a few failures  along with successes with what looked like a fairly easy recipe. Now I not only wanted to make them, it became a challenge. I wondered why did some people fail?

Do you get like this about cooking? I get on a roll with an idea or a food and I beat it to death. I’m not quite Alton Brown of Good Eats, but I so “get him.” I’m a food geek. I have to get it right. I can’t share food with you and have you fail. I’ll make something three times before I post it so that you can get it right. I carefully record the recipe,  which in pre-blogging days, I had no idea how I made most things.  But, thanks to you out there, who google and find me, I am a better cook, and a much better baker and much more precise.

How to Make a Pineapple Flower

I bought my beautiful pineapple. I braced myself for a night of practice.

The best tip I read was to use a bread knife and instead of slicing, use a sawing motion. Once a slice is cut, it may be uneven. Lay in down flat and move the knife parallel with the board to get even slices, using the same sawing motion. That works.

I use this bread knife that I have had for years. It’s worth the investment to have a good bread knife.

The next step in making the pineapple flower is to remove the moisture. This was not mentioned in the recipe, and I thought of it because many comments complained of soggy pineapple that was not baking. It was probably steaming.

This step is important. I used a lot of paper towels to get the pineapple as dry as possible and at room temperature.  Bake them on something that will aid in crisping them a bit. I baked them inside a stone muffin pan, but you could bake them flat.

Watch your timing. Some were done in under an hour. Most took about an hour, but I recommend checking at 50 minutes just to be sure.

Be okay with imperfection.  Some get a little browned, and this has to do with not being able to slice them perfectly evenly. This was okay by me. They still taste delicious, almost like a dried fruit. Some got a little crispy on the ends and I liked that even more.  I will not waste any food. I would not throw out perfectly good pineapple flowers because they are  little browned, and neither should you.

I put a pineapple glaze on the cake while it was still hot. You can decide if you want to do this part, and how much you want to do. A very small amount of glaze works fine, just enough to keep the flowers on. You can also skip the glaze and the pineapple flowers and just have plain breakfast cake. It’s all good.

I ended up with a healthy, breakfast cake. I used spelt flour and all purpose flour, and a sweetener I’ve never used before, which is supposed to be healthier.

Sucanat is dried cane sugar, retaining all the vitamins and minerals that are processed out of white refined sugar. It’s brown, the color of molasses and the spelt flour is dark, so the cake will be a molasses color.  I used the sucanat  cup for cup, same as I do for spelt flour.

The result of the breakfast cake was much to my personal liking. This cake is moist, full of flavor, and not very sweet, just as a breakfast cake should be.  I tested it out on my foodie neighbor who appreciated a big hunk after a tough Saturday morning workout.  The best test of all is the  five year old twins loved it and they are the pickiest dessert eaters. If they love it, it’s good!

The pineapple flowers are perfect for a whole cake, a cupcake, or a muffin, but don’t let that stop you. I think the pineapple flowers would  would look sweet with some vanilla ice cream, atop banana bread, or even at dinner on a  pork chop. However, the next time, I’m thinking Caribbean burger. I like to think outside the pineapple.

The pineapple flowers coincided with a pineapple craving that is rare for me. I am just coming out of an illness (walking pneumonia and pluerisy with a relapse)  that took me down for six weeks, which has led to all kinds of odd food cravings, including pineapple. During this pineapple fest, I also made gorgeous, tropical pineapple coconut cupcakes which will be coming soon, pineapple smoothies and I’m still perfecting pineapple cobbler.

If you have any idea for fresh pineapple, do send them my way in the comments section, pretty please.

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Pineapple Flowers for a Pineapple Breakfast Cake Made with Spelt Flour

A recipe for a healthy spelt flour breakfast pineapple cake and a how to make pineapple flowers.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 1 hour hour 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 2 hours hours

Total Time 3 hours hours 20 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• ngredients
• 1 3/4 cups flour I mixed 1 cup spelt flour with 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup chopped fresh pineapple
• 1 cup sucanat sugar can use regular sugar
• 2 large eggs
• ½ cup plain yogurt
• ½ cup extra virgin olive oil can use canola oil
• GLAZE INGREDIENTS
• 1 tablespoon pureed pineapple
• ½ cup of confectioner’s sugar (more if it is too runny)

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350.
• Peel pineapple and remove any brown spots.
• Slice very thin with a serrated bread knife. Lay each slice down and take knife parallel across pineapple slice to make even. Use paper towels to remove as much moisture as possible.
• Reduce oven to 275. Put pineapple into a stone muffin pan or lay flat on a stone or silpat baking sheet, preferably. You can use a regular baking sheet.
• Bake at 275 for one hour. Check the pineapple at 30 minutes, turn over. Check again at 50 minutes, to make sure pineapple is not burning. Browned edges are okay.
• Sift baking soda, baking powder, flour, salt together. Set aside.
• Add together, sugar, pineapple, vanilla, yogurt, eggs,
• Mix dry mixture into the sugar mixture. Add in olive oil, and mix.
• Pour into a 9 inch cake pan.
• Bake for 27-33 minutes at 350.
• INSTRUCTIONS FOR GLAZE
• Mix together until glaze forms. If it’s too runny, add more confectioner’s sugar. If it’s too thick, add more liquid. Pour over the cake while it’s still warm.
• Apply pineapple flowers to the cake.

The post How to Make Pineapple Flowers for a Pineapple Cake appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

I just went downstairs to get tea and found pink tulips, cards, candy and a dinner reservation and my cappuccino that he makes me every morning. I’m happy he is that kind of guy. We are not one of those couples who dismisses holidays and says “oh we just keep it low key.” We are never low key, not at Christmas, birthdays, anniversaries or Valentine’s Day.’

We have had thirteen Valentine’s Days together. The most significant  one was in 1999 a few months before our wedding. We were not yet engaged to be married and it was during Mr. ST’s visit to California where I, tiger heart that I am, gave him the elbow nudge.

He was in my jacuzzi and I asked him “How do you feel about me?”  I remember this as clearly as yesterday. He looked a little bit afraid to give me an answer, because he knew the response would have life changing consequences.

You see Mr. ST and I met nearly five years before at a business dinner, and I was absolutely certain we would be engaged within six months and married within a year. The story goes that it was his first day on the job and he was asked to attend this dinner. He thought that if he had to dine with people he didn’t know, he would look around the room and pick the prettiest girl to sit next to. He chose me. I’m still astounded that this was what he was thinking on his first day on the job, but the psychology of men has always intrigued me.

 Over those five days, we did a lot of talking and lot of eating. We were food compatible and that’s a great start to any romance. He had a favorite dish in a favorite restaurant in several cities in America. That got my attention, along with a sweet southern accent that said, “trust me.”

We were in Vegas for a trade show, but this was not going to be a “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” kind of thing.  We spent every night at dinner together and only a kiss happened, but I was expecting a lot more than a Vegas fling. That decision to find a pretty girl to sit next to was going to change his life forever. But, not so quickly.

The reality of long distance was too much to conquer and it wasn’t the right timing. So we barely remained friends until we were drawn together again four years later. He had tried to see me many times, and I had stood him up many times, because I just didn’t want a hit and miss romance, nor did I want a friend with benefits.  That’s not the kind of heart I have. I am either in or out, hot or cold. I don’t casually mesh for a few laughs and a good cry later. I’m pretty much as old fashioned as these sugar cookies.

One day in 1998, we met for dinner and I decided not to stand him up. He said he had made his mind up that this would be my last chance. And, just like that, the spark of the Vegas dinner was back. But not so quickly.

I didn’t hear from him  for weeks and I thought it was off again. I can get flaky in California. I didn’t need to transplant it from Tennessee and I was done.

I didn’t know that his father has died unexpectedly from a heart attack. His grief put us on hold. I saw him again in January and he was more serious minded and I was again interested.

We found ourselves together on Valentine’s Day. I am not a scaredy cat type. I am not one who avoids conflict. I don’t like pretense. I look people right in the eye. He was sitting in the hot tub, enjoying the moment. But I needed to know if we were just about moments or about a lifetime. I asked him, “how to do feel about me?”

He said, “well, I know I love you.” I pondered that for a second. I didn’t glow and  get starry eyed with those words. I figured by now he loves me, but I am the type that believes love is not enough. I asked him, “well, then what are you going to do about it?”

We were married three months later in California at sunset with all the romance that we could finally give in to as we abandoned all fear and started to live with thoughtful intention. I moved to Nashville, and the funny thing is, in spite of the rocky roads of our courtship, our marriage has been pretty much smooth sailing. We know we are right for each other and that’s that.

We laugh a lot about the tumultuous time between our Vegas meeting and our Nashville life together. We don’t fret over the time we were apart. n n We believe that true love ruled the day and transcended our stupid stuff and had its way in spite of us. He has never been flaky for one second, once he made up his mind that I was the right one. And, I have never stopped asking him questions.

The question I leave you with today is this.  Is there anything you need to ask that special someone in your life?

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Soft Sugar Cookies

Old fashioned sugar cookies made with sour cream

Servings 20

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup Greek yogurt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• sprinkles

Instructions

• Cream butter, gradually add sugar. Once mixed add sour cream.
• Preheat oven to 350.
• Add eggs one at a time. Add Vanilla. Sift dry ingredients together including nutmeg and salt. Add in a little at a time. Chill thoroughly. I like to divide the dough by four, and wrap each individually.
• Work with one piece of dough at a time, leaving the rest in refrigerator.
• Flour surface and when using cooking cutter, pull dough away from cutter, as this is soft dough.
• Roll out, cut into desired shapes.
• Sprinkle with sugar, or decorate accordingly. I used raisins for ghost eyes and glazed bat cookies after baking and then did the sprinkles.
• Bake at 350 for 9 minutes for average size cookie.

Notes

I found this soft dough works best chilled overnight. Options for topping are frosting or melted white chocolate.

The post Soft Sugar Cookies and What Happened in Vegas Didn’t Stay in Vegas appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

When I told Retro Rose that I was having a birthday party for my husband, and it wasn’t really her birthday party, she simply said, “okay, I’ll take a plain cake.” But, I’m not making you a cake. Your birthday is Monday.” But she reminded me “I’m turning 75, and that’s a big deal, but don’t do anything fancy. You can just get me a cupcake. Oh, and put a large 75 on the top.” Could I? How do the numbers 75 look on top of a cupcake?

Panic was setting in, because my “food” and “decorate” list was long. And, if you have a Jewish mom or an Italian mom, you might know what I’m talking about. When your mother says, “just get me a cupcake for my 75th birthday” you better hire a band.

Every year I have this dilemma. My mother and husband’s birthday are one day apart. So a lot of times we celebrate them together. Last year I made them carrot cake. What’s the problem you say? Well, it’s like celebrating birthdays for Auntie Mame and Andy of Mayberry at the same time. D.C. had a trying year, and an especially tough week. He deserved a little special attention and a night that was his own.

So I did what any other food blogger would do. I hit the food blogs. I landed on “I Like to Eat,” and found exactly what I was looking for. She found it on Orangette. Finding the right cake at just the right time is why I am captivated with food blogs, and food blogging. I found exactly what I was looking for. The description of a lemony yogurt, ONE layer cake with a lemon glaze sounded perfectly elegant, simple and Retro Rose worthy.

Yogurt cake is one of the very few desserts the french make at home. They typically buy all of their pastries from a pastry shop. This needs no explanation. However, once in a while they bake, and it better be easy and delicious, as they are trained to eat only fabulous desserts.

The cake is a substantial bite, and can be enjoyed for breakfast, or something you can proudly make for a birthday party. It’s the cake everyone will love every single time. I promise. The next morning there were three of us fighting for the last piece. I’ve been looking for the perfect dessert to deliver as a thank you, and this is it. It might even be more special served aside fresh blueberries or raspberries.

Happy Birthday Retro Rose!

Tell me, do you have a special go to cake for birthdays, or do you like to surprise people with something different every year?

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Retro Rose turns 75: Lemon Yogurt Cake Fit for a Queen

Lemony olive cake with a lemon glaze.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 35 minutes minutes

Total Time 50 minutes minutes

Servings 8

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

Cake

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• Freshly grated lemon zest of one lemon juice will go in glaze below
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt I used non-fat
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

Glaze

• 1/3 cup powdered sugar
• Juice of 2 lemons
• Freshly grated zest of one lemon

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease the bottom of a 9-inch round cake pan. Line the bottom on the pan with wax paper or parchment paper and grease the paper.
• In a bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt and lemon zest.
• In a separate large bowl, add yogurt, sugar and eggs, stirring until well combined.
• Add the flour mixture and stir to combine, then add the oil and mix until you have a pale yellow batter.
• Pour into pan and bake for 35 minutes.

Glaze

• Mix powdered sugar and lemon juice. Add more powdered sugar a teaspoon at a time, if glaze seems too thin.
• Pour over cake when cake is cooled. Grate lemon zest over the top immediately.

Notes

The original recipe had more lemon juice to powdered sugar and used it more as a syrup. I preferred it more as a glaze, but you might want to try that. In that case use 1/4 cup powdered sugar to 2 cups lemon juice. This is poured over after cake has cooled for twenty minutes.

The post Retro Rose turns 75: Lemon Yogurt Cake Fit for a Queen appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

I have wanted to make an olive oil cake for a long time. I’m not a big dessert eater. I like things “not so sweet” and I think the person this is for probably feels the same way I do. We are both food bloggers. And, we take a lot of pride in our cooking, and a bit less in our baking. I think maybe we don’t want some grand dessert overshadowing our meal, but I’ll just speak for myself on this.

This is, of course, a flavorful, moist cake that would be quite suitable to dress up for a party with fresh raspberries or perhaps include in your next brunch. Feel free to play around with the ingredients, and if you do, I would love to hear about it.

This is a perfect “get to know you with coffee” cake, or maybe even a “I’m so glad we met” cake. Now who is this for? A blogger I was getting to know prior to the food buzz festival and had hoped to get to know better in person. I got my wish. Now it’s his turn to make a wish.

Happy Birthday, Greg, of Sippity Sup, one of my favorite bloggers and friend. Here’s a toast from sparkling wine tasting at Food Buzz Festival.

Cooking Notes: I looked at several recipes and created this with the intention of using some precious Stonehouse blood orange olive oil, but you could use regular olive oil, and instead of oranges, you can certainly use lemon. You might even add some thyme or tarragon (just a small amount) as a surprise. Instead of orange juice, add 1 tablespoon orange liquor, Marsala wine, or rum. It’s the kind of cake you can play around with.

Post Note: A lot of people are worried that the olive oil would be too heavy either in taste or texture. Not so. The cake’s flavor was amazing and it is not a “oily” taste.

Recipe for Olive Oil Cake

• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup sugar
• zest of and juice of half of blood orange (can use any orange)
• 1/3 cup greek yogurt
• 3/4 cups blood orange olive oil *
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tablespoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Be prepared to allow yogurt and eggs to sit to room temperature.
   Add zest to sugar. Use your hands to thoroughly mix.
2. Mix yogurt with juice of orange. Allow to sit to room temperature.
   In separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt. Set aside.
3. Beat eggs, add sugar until creamy.
   Add in yogurt, olive oil.
4. Add flour mixture, until just mixed.
5. Bake at 375 for 30-40 minutes in deep pan that has a removable bottom.
   Allow to completely cool before removing.

*Create a flavored olive oil, by allowing the peel of a blood orange to sit in olive oil overnight.

The post Happy Birthday – I made you an Olive Oil Cake appeared first on Spinach Tiger.