This would probably taste even better with real chocolate pieces blended in. But we didn’t have real chocolate, so this is what we came up with.

Strawberry Chocolate Smoothie

3 ice cubes
1 cup whole frozen strawberries
1 cup milk
Generous squirt of chocolate syrup
Smaller squirt of chocolate syrup.

Put top four ingredients in blender, and blend. Pour into giant coffee mugs with either Santa Claus or Black Cat on the outside. Squirt a little extra chocolate syrup on top. Enjoy!

Makes 2 servings.

This started out as a smoothie, but it tastes much more like a slushy and has a chunkier consistency. I am calling it autumn slushy, because it is a beautiful deep red color.

Autumn Slushy

3 ice cubes
1 cup apple juice
1 cup no-sugar berry blend (strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, blackberry)
1 spoonful honey

Put ingredients in blender, and blend. Enjoy! (But not too quickly, or you might brain freeze).

Makes 2 servings.

3 ice cubes
1 banana
1 1/2 cups strawberries
1 cup Santa Cruz Organic Mango Lemonade

Put ingredients in blender, and blend! Makes 2 servings.

3 ice cubes
1 cup sliced peaches
2 bananas
1 cup Santa Cruz Organic Mango Lemonade

Put ingredients in blender, and blend! Makes 2 servings.

Here are some recipes that we came up with over the weekend, using items that we already had in our house! These are all simple, easy, healthy, vegetarian-friendly, and gluten-free.

Summer Smoothie

4 ice cubes
1 cup sliced peaches
1 peeled and sliced mango (about 1 cup)
Lemonade powder (we used Country Time—to about the 2 quart line)
½ cup water

Put ingredients in blender, and blend! Makes 2 servings.

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Derrick’s Black Bean Tacos

(Yes, we’re still trying to get rid of those taco shells. We made black bean quesadillas last week and had leftover black bean mixture in the fridge. Derrick put the ingredients together to make a tasty lunch!)

1 can black beans
1 small can diced olives
Taco shells
Cumin
Cilantro
Oregano

Drain and rinse black beans and olives together. Put colander over a plate (so it doesn’t drip over the counter!), and season with cumin, cilantro, oregano. Black bean mix is complete. Fill taco shells with black bean mix and whatever other toppings you choose. We used Wholly Salsa “Medium” and Mexican cheese mix. Some shredded lettuce would’ve also mixed in well. We did microwave the tacos for 30 seconds in the microwave after adding the cheese, to give the tacos a little “melty-ness” to their texture.

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Sunday Salad

1 can chickpeas (but I only used a few spoonfuls and saved the rest in tupperware!)
1 large tomato
1 oz. goat cheese
Salad mix
Olive oil

Drain chickpeas. Chop tomato and goat cheese. Build your salad, lettuce on the bottom, then tomatoes, then chickpeas, then goat cheese, drizzling with olive oil after all ingredients have been added. Serves two (but since Derrick isn’t quite ready for dinner…I’ll probably end up eating the other half in an hour!)