Peanut Butter and Banana Agave Smoothie

It's been snowing all day. I meant to take a picture of it today but it is now dark and I can't. I don't love the snow. I really, really, don't know why I live in Minnesota where winter lasts 6 months???? Although it is beautiful, it was a little depressing as I watched it fall today knowing that it will probably be here until March. It is hard to believe it was just yesterday morning that Miles and I had perfectly, lovely, sun-shiny weather for our run. It has been nice that it held off this long though and we've had a nice long Fall.

I decided a little comfort food dinner was necessary to ease my troubled winter mind. I had plans to make a soup and homemade oatmeal bread but when I went to the cupboard I had no stock. So on to plan B. Kodiak Cakes and smoothies sounded good and I have had this little magazine clipping for the smoothies sitting on a shelf for weeks waiting for me to try it. It did NOT disappoint! Plus it would be a quick dinner since I have been painting again for most of the day!

This is what went into the smoothies tonight. Notice they are sugar free!! Of course there was some ice too but you don't need a picture of that. They were AWESOME! I mean really truly yummy! It was a nice change from our usual berry smoothie.

In case you forgot what Kodiak Cakes are here is a picture of the box. I love that you only have to mix them with water. Even though they are a little expensive you don't have the extra ingredients like milk and eggs so it all evens out. Plus I love the ingredients list which includes 100% whole wheat flour and oat flour. They are quick!

We also had these Morning Star Farms sausage links tonight. I love Morning Star products. I love all the burgers. Every flavor is delicious. I will admit that they have a few more ingredients than I usually like in my food but they are convenience food for us and everyone needs a little of that in their life. They are meat free products and they have vegetables hiding in there which is great for the kids too. Give them a try sometime. I suggest starting with the Griller's Prime burger. These are a little expensive but in comparison to the drive through, not so much.

Mmm, mmmmm, good! Now you know me by now. I usually don't measure when it comes to things like this because I think it is pretty hard to mess it up but for those of you who need it I will give you a recipe to start with. I think you will find yourself tweaking it a little bit also to your taste preferences.

Peanut Butter and Banana Agave Smoothie

1-2 ripe bananas

1/2 cup Greek yogurt

2 tablespoons Agave Nectar

1/2 cup Vanilla Soy Milk or regular milk is fine too

1/4 cup creamy peanut butter (be generous)

1 tray ice cubes

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Place all ingredients in the blender and mix well until smooth.

Tips: You can use plain or vanilla yogurt as well but this is a great place to throw in Greek yogurt and get the extra protein without added sugar. Since I used vanilla Soy milk I didn't find I needed the vanilla extract. If it isn't sweet enough for you toss in a little more agave or some Stevia. If your smoothie is too runny add the second banana and some more ice to make it a little thicker. I used 2 bananas for sure and about 4 more ice cubes. Enjoy!

I want to fall into bed right now and it is only 7:30. Too bad my house is a total pit and I need to clean my bedroom up so I can even sleep! I have issues like that. No dishes in the sink, no closet doors open, no mess in the bedroom, or there will be no sleeping. I know. I need therapy.

Breakfast for Dinner

Breakfast for dinner is always my back up plan when I have nothing else in mind. I LOVE breakfast for dinner don't you? Sometimes I make homemade pancakes from scratch so I can make them with whole wheat flour but tonight I whipped up a batch of Kodiak Cakes.

So the story with Kodiak Cakes is that they are made from 100% whole grain wheat flour and 100% whole grain oat flour but you only have to mix them with water. Hooray for convenience! I gave up on pancake mixes a very long time ago because there just wasn't a healthy version so I am thrilled about this mix!

There is a great little story on the back of the box about how flapjacks were the hearty mainstay for frontiersman. They didn't eat them the way most Americans are used to eating them now with bleached flour, white sugar, vegetable shortening, and artificial additives. They ate them with whole grain wheat and oat flour and water. It supplied them with lots of healthy carbs, protein, and fiber but had very little fat. Combined with how hard they all had to work, it is no wonder they never had weight problems back then!

So making these flapjacks was an easy decision tonight. Not so easy was deciding just what I wanted to put on them.

Notice that syrup was not even a choice for me!

Who wants syrup when you can have all of these yummy choices. I knew I would pick the Sunbutter because I am still looking for excuses to eat that but I ate 4 small pancakes tonight. I put the peanut butter away first because that is too plain. Then I also eliminated the honey because 9 out of 10 times I will pick agave over honey. As much as I like Nutella I also eliminated that one away because of its sugar content. I left them all on the table for my family to choose from however.

I picked the Sunbutter of course, the Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter, and the Agave with some Earth Balance buttery spread put on it first. They were all delicious but the agave was my favorite so I had a 4th small flapjack with more of that. I have no earthly idea what Miles picked because I was loving mine too much to care I guess.

Normally I like to have a little cut up banana or blueberries on my pancakes but I did serve fruit on the side with some turkey bacon so that is why I chose all the yummy toppings tonight. I usually don't eat a lot of syrup. I do not have a gall bladder and syrup can be a little hard for my body to digest. Plus pure maple syrup is so darn expensive. I give the kids a sugar free version and that is what they chose tonight. They are crazy.

I think Evan realized too late that he should have had the dark chocolate peanut butter. It was because the kid was neck deep in turkey bacon, "Can I just eat one piece, (while waiting on me to sit down) How many can I have? Did you save the turkey bacon, Mom?" The kid has a thing for bacon. He doesn't even mind that I serve turkey bacon. It is such a rarity around here that it wouldn't really matter if I bought the good old fashioned pork bacon but I would rather eat more pancakes then bacon so I like the less fatty turkey. Plus I am hoping to have some kind of BLT tomorrow (thus eating it two days in a row) with the new cracked pepper olive oil mayo my friend Amanda suggested I try!

It really bothered me tonight that there wasn't anything green on my plate. You know what I say about colors on your plate. Maybe some kiwi would have helped. I kept thinking I should have a salad but it just doesn't go with this dinner. I fed the kids some light V8 Splash to sneak in a veggie serving but I drank a light blueberry pomegranate juice. So I am going to drink some regular V8 when I am finished with this post. I did eat plenty of veggies at lunch but it still bothers me. I did want you all to know that we do still eat a meal like this occasionally though so you know that we are human!

If you want to give the Kodiak Cakes a try I found them in the health food section at Cash Wise but I bet you can order them online and if all else fails I will give you my homemade whole wheat pancake recipe!

Faith's comment tonight, "This was a good idea, Mom!" She was not the last one done tonight. In fact she was first. She did not eat bacon however. If she didn't love chicken nuggets so much I would swear the girl could be a vegetarian!