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Granola
This summer I’m enjoying yogurt parfaits for breakfast. My favorite combination is vanilla yogurt, granola, and a fresh, chopped peach. Our Spend Smart. Eat Smart. granola recipe works great in my parfaits. Here are a few things I like about this recipe:
I Need Energy (Drinks)!
Recently my 14-year-old son asked me to buy him energy drinks to give him an extra boost of energy for school and football practice. This didn’t surprise me since nearly one-third of teens aged 12-17 regularly consume energy drinks. These beverages promise enhanced focus and athletic performance, making them appealing to teens facing the challenges of school and extracurricular activities.
Summer’s Perfect Side, Topping, Sandwich…
This month’s recipe is truly a jack of all trades. Broiled Tomatoes are so flexible, you can use them as the basis for a sandwich, sauce or appetizer. Here are some of the ways I have used this recipe.
Whole Meal Salad
This is our final week highlighting some of our Spend Smart. Eat Smart. salads, and, in my opinion, we saved the best for last. Whole Meal Salad is a hit at my house every time I serve it. My family loves this recipe because they each get to make their own perfect salad. The Whole Meal Salad recipe is written for one, but I easily adapt it for my family by setting all the ingredients out on the counter and letting each person choose what they would like. Earlier this summer, my youngest child separated all of the ingredients on his plate and then individually decorated each spinach leaf with his favorite toppings because he wanted every bite of his salad to be perfect.
Chicken BLT Salads
This week I am continuing our summer series on salads with one I have not made in a while. As tomatoes begin to ripen in gardens and become available at the Farmers Market, this is a recipe we can add to our meal plan. One thing I really like about this recipe is that it has great leftover potential. You can both use up leftovers when making this recipe or create leftovers for meals later in the week. Either way, this is a win because no food gets wasted.
Giving New Life to Leftovers
I am a big fan of eating leftovers for lunch. I find that most dishes even taste better the second or third time after they have had a chance to marinate in the fridge. If you have been following Spend Smart. Eat Smart., you likely know that I am a fan of both pizza and tacos. I almost always have the ingredients for those dishes on hand, and I rarely get tired of eating them.
Salad in a Bag
No, I’m not talking about a bag of salad you can buy from the grocery store but one you can make yourself! To make Salad in a Bag put 1 cup of leafy greens, ½ cup chopped vegetables, and 1 to 2 tablespoons of dressing per person in a plastic storage bag. For individual salads, use a quart size plastic bag and for a family size salad use a one-gallon size plastic bag. If you have reusable plastic or silicone bags, they are a great choice for this.
Make Ahead Salad – Really?
I love to cook and I prefer to eat homemade food most of the time, but I do not want to cook every day. For me, this means that when I do cook, it has to lead to multiple meals. This can be challenging when it comes to salads because a lot of salads just don’t hold up very well for leftovers. This month’s recipe is a solution to that problem! Club Salad combines a chopped vegetable salad and a pasta salad into a hearty meal that you can eat over a couple of days.
Elevate Your Dessert
I love dessert and always find myself wanting something sweet after my meals or throughout my day to satisfy my “sweet tooth”. I have been this way ever since I can remember. As a young child I relished birthday cake at parties for friends and family, so now I consider myself an experienced consumer of all desserts!
The Perfect Summer Treat
With summer in full swing, my kids enjoy having a cold treat when we get home from a walk or the pool. If it were up to my oldest, who is 5, she would love to have popsicles or ice cream cones every day. As a compromise, we make Frozen Pudding Sandwiches to keep in the freezer when we want a frozen treat. The combination of peanut butter and pudding is tasty and filling.
What Paige Makes
My 10-year-old daughter Paige loves to be creative in the kitchen. Baking and making sweet treats are her favorite things to do. When we have chocolate chips, it’s a given that she will be melting it and dipping whatever fruit we have in it! She also likes to use chocolate chips in Energy Bites and on Frozen Yogurt Bark. Yes, she gets her love of chocolate from her mom😊. With the warm summer days here, she also likes to make Berry Banana Popsicles for a cool treat. This is a simple recipe that she can make all by herself. It allows her to practice reading a recipe, safe knife skills and measuring ingredients. You can watch Paige make these in our How to Make Berry Banana Popsicles video and then make them yourself for a refreshing summer treat!
Peach Cobbler
Welcome to June! Summer is here and all of us at Spend Smart. Eat Smart. are looking forward to summer foods. This month we are going to focus on some tasty summer desserts. First up today is Peach Cobbler.
