Summer smoothie

You may have been wondering whether I'm still here because it's been pretty quiet here on the Hungry Monster Blog....  Well, I am, but I'll let you in on a secret...  I don't really like to cook in the summer.  Crazy, I know, right?  You would think, being a teacher, that I'd be in the kitchen all the time.  If that's what you thought, you'd be wrong.  It's hot, I'm busy, and honestly, not nearly as interested in food in the summer.  Thus, I cook significantly less.  I make salads, and soon I'll have a bunch of veggies to harvest from my vine garden, so look for new recipes for cucumbers, eggplant, and squashes soon...  But for now I will fill you in on what I've been living off of the last few weeks.

Smoothies.

I love smoothies.  They are tasty, healthy, cold, easy, and utilize many of my favorite things, fruit, veggies, and yogurt!  I'll share with you my basic go-to smoothie, but really you can throw whatever fruit you like into it!  This one was mostly berries.

I used:

About 3/4 c fat free plain greek yogurt

1 ripe banana

a few each frozen strawberries and blackberries

a handful each of fresh raspberries and blueberries

a big handful of kale (Yes, kale!  It's super good for you, and you'll never taste it!)

a splash of pomegranate juice

Layer them up in your blender, I do it in the order listed above and as pictured below:

Yogurt and bananas

Then add frozen berries

Next add fresh berries

Then add the kale

Last, splash in some Pom!

 Put on the lid and let it whirl on the puree or liquify setting until it's all mixed together and smooth.  Sometimes I have to use a spoon to push down the kale so that it catches the blades.  Then just pour it into a glass and enjoy!  I like to snack on a few coco dusted almonds with mine, but that's just me.

 

 

Simple Summer Supper

Confession, this dinner was born because of the hungry monster.  I had a yummy salad for lunch, but after a busy day of cleaning and tutoring, I was starving.  It had become a hot and humid evening and I had no desire to cook....  But, I had bought some perfect sea scallops and since I am thinking about going to the beach tomorrow, I knew I had to eat them up!  So, I started doing a mental scan of my kitchen, quickly counting out the spaghetti squash I had originally planned to eat with them because it was too much of a time commitment, and remembered I had frozen quinoa with veggies that I had never tried. I also had some yummy asparagus and a lemon, and then a meal was born.

This meal consisted of pan cooked sea scallops, garlic-lemon pan sauce, quinoa with veggies, and quick sauteed asparagus.  You will need:

4-5 scallops per person

olive oil

butter

juice from 1 lemon

1 garlic clove minced

salt and pepper

quinoa (I used Trader Joes Frozen with veggies, but you could totally cook your own)

asparagus (5ish stalks per person)

Ok, so start by mincing garlic and heating 2 tbsp each of the butter and oil over med-high heat in a pan, then add the garlic.  Let that cook for like, 30 seconds and try not to let your garlic burn (mine got a little browner than I wanted, but it still tasted good!)  Season your scallops with S and P, then add them to the pan.  Turn them ever minute or so until they are cooked through and brown on both sides.  They cook quickly, so watch them!  They only need between 2-4 minutes depending on their size. 

While that was cooking, I heated a few tablespoons of water in a pot and heated the quinoa through.  Then I removed it from the pot, put it on the plate as a bed for the scallops, and heated a little oil and butter for the asparagus. I snapped the bottom of the stalks off the asparagus because they are really tough, and then chopped them into thirds on the bias (cause it's pretty).  Then I added them to the hot butter and oil, and tossed them around with some salt and pepper.  Looking back, I may add some red pepper flakes for a little heat next time.  They just need a few minutes until they are tender, but still snap when you bite into them.  

Remove your scallops from the pan, and add the juice of a lemon to the pan and scrape the yummy bits that are stuck to the pan.  Be careful, it will spit when you add the juice!  Once you take the asparagus off and are ready to eat, spoon some of your sauce over the scallops, and then enjoy!  

 

This was such a tasty, flavorful, healthy, FAST meal.  Give it a try and let me know what you think!  Or invite yourself over and I'll cook it for you!