Mango Smoothie 

(organic)

My boyfriend and I are on a smoothie kick right now.  Enjoying fresh fruits and kicking up the healthy living a few notches.  Perfect for spring time.  Trying out lots of new flavors and combos has been a lot of fun so far.  Today was such a sunny nice warm in the 80's kind of day having a smoothie for lunch was perfect.

I've been out in the yard off and on all weekend pulling weeds and helping in the garden a bit.  Finding my herb garden just thriving again is quite pleasing to me.  I love having fresh herbs to add to all of our meals.  My most favorite herb plant I have is my "Pineapple Basil" plant.  Smells and tastes just like pineapple.  When cooking sometimes coming up with ideas is simple more often then not.  Today this just fell together without much thought at all.  I wanted a mango orange smoothie so I knew right away I was going to use the "Pineapple Basil".  Fresh, crisp, clean, green, and bit of sweet was perfect pairing with this smoothie!

Here is what you will need to make this smoothie:

Will make for 2 people, to 4.  (4 people if 8oz glass)!

2 banana's organic

2 medium to small oranges organic

1 apple organic 

2 serving sizes of frozen organic mango cubes

8 pineapple basil leaves fresh

2 large spoon fulls of Greek yogurt (0% fat, plain yogurt is what we use)

You will need a bit of liquid just to help get the blender working good, I always add a splash of some kind of fresh organic juice (with this smoothie I just put a splash of strawberry banana juice)

You will just need a blender to make this smoothie, a few glasses and enjoy!

I like to make things enjoyable and fun.  I served them up in mason jar's with a straw and a few more fresh "Pineapple Basil" leaves.  Pretty, and food, drinks, anything we eat always is much more enjoyable when its served up and pleases our eyes along with all the other senses.  So when your serving up your meals or drinks always think about that and know everyone will love your hard work and cooking that much more if you find a way to make it look enjoyable too!

Eat, Love, & Live

Pizza #1

Why not pizza?  Why not pizza at home with fresh veggies and hand made dough?  It's simple, tasty, easy, and quick to pull together in a short amount of time.  Family's with children this is a great dish to do and pull the little ones into to help in the kitchen along with you.  Perfect to have them get involved and learn about veggies, meats, and what they think tasty good together.  No need to fallow any rules when it comes to pizza, that is half the fun when having a pizza for dinner, or any meal.  Full of colors and flavors you love all together for a great way to use up things in the frig too.  Got left over chicken, bacon, sausage, shrimp, steak, or even random veggies?  Then pizza is perfect.  

I'm still trying to find a dough that my boyfriend and I really like.  I tend to cheat when it comes to dough after failing over and over again on making our own.  When I feel like it I just buy already made fresh dough from the grocery store, or market.  Our favorite is herb dough and second would have to be wheat, they have a lot more flavor than just a plan white dough. We have tried Bisquick mix, boxed just add liquids, frozen Pillsbury ones, already made Boboli pizza dough and to be honest have not loved any of them.  Needless to say we are still on a hunt down to find that perfect pizza dough or recipe.  I'm hoping that soon I'll be able top share a good recipe with you all.  This is kind of a big deal to us do to the fact that we really don't eat out and we make whatever we eat at home mostly from scratch.  Who doesn't love pizza?  With that said we love pizza and I just wish we could really love the pizza we make more!

The pizza I have here is a really good mix of fresh bell peppers, yellow and orange sweet bell peppers and ham onion cheese and pepperoncini some left over roasted garlic tomato sauce and I put some Italian seasonings on top with a dash of pepper.  We very much enjoyed this pizza and it really cleaned up the frig of a few things that otherwise might have gone bad.

Like I was saying though, you can totally do up or down whatever you want on your pizza.  Make it your own creation and enjoy.  One pizza pan, maybe a plate or two, meal in one!  I'm sharing this because I wanted to help others with good healthy ideas that can be put together in a quick fashion and totally enjoyable too.  Being a working girl and trying to be healthy eating at home and keeping things different fun and tasty can be a lot of work at times, but very worth while.  I find cooking to be very rewarding, relaxing, and even though it's only for the two of us I'm finding it to be part of a healthy and happy relationship too.  There are a few meals here and there when I'm trying new things that we don't totally love, so I learn from that and do better the next time.  Using fresh veggies, organic meats, cheese, as much as I can really helps too.  Don't forget that we are what we eat, so lets eat only the best that we can and make it enjoyable at the same time.  Food doesn't have to be blah boring and color less.  If you eat full flavored, colorful, fresh foods  you will be more satisfied and your mind body and soul will thank you.  Food should be a way of life, NOT a drive threw hurry rush it kinda thing.

This pizza below in the photo was my take on a pizza margherita.  We loved it!  I will make this again for sure this year when we have fresh tomato's from our garden.  

What is Pizza Margherita?

Simple.... Pizza dough, tomato sauce, tomato's, mazzarella cheese, and basil.

Her is what I did.  Fresh organic tomato's from our garden and fresh basil from my herb garden really made this amazing.  I used fresh organic mozzarella, had left over tomato sauce and this was a fresh ready to back herb pizza dough I picked up from the market.  In just 20 min. from picking the tomato's and basil putting the pizza together we had dinner!!!  The fresh mozzarella, tomato's, and basil also can make a fresh and amazing salad or appetizer too.  No need for salt or pepper, the basil and cheese really do the trick.  

Fresh is always best.

Now go make your self a pizza and have some fun with it, go crazy, get a little nuts, maybe ever sweet.  Whatever you do just remember to enjoy it.

Eat, Love, & Live