Ok, I have to admit that I saved the best for last.  Behold, the color for “Smoothie Week” – GREEN!

This smoothie happens to be modeled after one of my favorite fresh juices called “clean green” from a neighborhood coffee shop.  When I first saw it being served there, I realized they weren’t kidding with the name.  My camera was having a bit of trouble with the tone-on-tone, but have no doubt, this smoothie is GREEN!  :)

But have no fear — this smoothie is fantastic.  The simple fruit combination is fresh, sweet and delicious.  And — hard as it may be to believe — you honestly can’t taste the spinach.  Kind of crazy.  Without a doubt, though, the best part of this smoothie that you cannot leave out is the extra ginger.  The kick it gives at the end is no less than perfect.

I make this specific smoothie at least once a week.  It truly is a favorite.  Enjoy!!  :)

Green Smoothie Recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 cups fresh baby spinach, rinsed
• 1 Granny Smith green apple, cored
• 1 banana, peeled
• 1 orange, peeled
• 1 tsp. grated fresh ginger (or 1/2 tsp. ground ginger)

Method:

Combine all ingredients in a blender and mix until smooth and well-combined.

Ali’s Tip:

I usually double the recipe when I make it to store half in the freezer for another day.  It actually makes great leftovers!  :)

Ok, this one may technically be closer to “cream” or “taupe”.  But the 5th color in “Smoothie Week” is the WHITE smoothie!

The inspiration for this one comes from one of my all-time favorite snacks — apples dipped in peanut butter!  What was once an after-school snack, and is occasionally now breakfast or lunch, has been transformed into the world of smoothies!  Also added in some bananas (another favorite fruit with peanut butter) to give it some extra thickness.

A great, naturally-sweet smoothie that everyone will enjoy!  :)

White Smoothie Recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 apples, cored
• 2 bananas, peeled and frozen
• 1 Tbsp. peanut butter
• 1/2 cup milk or coconut milk
• 1/2 cup ice (if needed)

Method:

Combine all ingredients in a blender and mix until smooth and well-combined.

Ali’s Tip:

Another fun twist on this one is to use grilled (or roasted) apples and bananas.  TOTALLY kicks it up a great notch!  :)

Yellow is the fourth, delicious color in “Smoothie Week”.  And I’m pleased to say this smoothie is all about pineapple!

Any of my friends will tell you I go a little nuts when fresh pineapple goes on sale at the store (texts sent out to everyone, pineapples as gifts, inviting everyone over for pineapple something or other).  It kind of makes me ridiculously happy.

So for the yellow color in “Smoothie Week”, I decided to make one of my favorite smoothies — a pineapple-banana-coconut combination.  I ended up using some coconut milk I had onhand, which also gave this a touch of creamy-ness.  But if you enjoy coconut, you’re welcome to add in some extra grated coconut.  (Or if you don’t like coconut, you can also substitute in some juice instead.)

Always a winner of a smoothie in my house.  Enjoy!!

Yellow Smoothie Recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 cups fresh pineapple, cut into large pieces
• 1 banana
• 1/2 cup coconut milk (I used “light” coconut milk)
• 1/2 cup ice

Method:

Combine all ingredients in a blender and mix until smooth and well-combined.

Ali’s Tip:

For a more concentrated smoothie, feel free to omit the ice and freeze the (pre-cut) pineapple and (pre-peeled) banana ahead of time.

Indeed.  ORANGE is the third color in the rainbow for “Smoothie Week” this week at Gimme Some Oven.

I’ve actually already posted two of my favorite orange smoothie recipes on the blog over the past year — my beloved pineapple orange banana smoothie and a fresh orange smoothie (a la Orange Julius).  But today I wanted to present another favorite.

Basically, this is a pure orange smoothie — lots of oranges (you can use pretty much whatever kinds you love), no dairy (milk, yogurt, etc.), and a special extra kick of ginger!  Oh my goodness.  If you don’t usually put ginger in your smoothies, you must give it a try.  Definitely one of my favorite little additions, and it’s healthy too!

So cheers to orange smoothies of all kinds!

Orange Smoothie Recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 oranges, peeled
• 2 mandarin oranges, peeled (or 1 small can of mandarin oranges, drained)
• 1/2 cup orange juice (or any juice)
• 1/2 cup ice
• 1/2 tsp. grated fresh ginger

Method:

Combine all ingredients in a blender and mix until smooth and well-combined.

Ali’s Tip:

To make this creamier, feel free to sub in milk or yogurt for the orange juice.

The next color of the day for “Smoothie Week” here at Gimme Some Oven is RED!  Although this second batch I made, pictured above, turned out a little more “magenta” than in this first post.  Either way – YUM!

As you may have guessed, this recipe calls for lots of strawberries.  But the best ingredient hidden in there happens to be my absolute favorite fruit — a mango!  Ha, I realized while enjoying this that it’s basically the smoothie (non-alcoholic) version of my strawberry mango margaritas.  :)

Definitely a simple smoothie, but packed with color, nutrients, and a deliciously sweet flavor.  Enjoy!

Red Smoothie Recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 cups frozen strawberries
• 1 mango, peeled and cored
• 1/2 cup cranberry juice (or other juice)
• 1/2 cup ice (if needed)

Method:

Combine all ingredients in a blender and mix until smooth and well-combined.

Ali’s Tip:

Another fun twist would be to add some fresh lime to this.  Yum!

It’s “Smoothie Week” here at Gimme Some Oven!  So to kick off our week of literally eating the rainbow, we’ll be featuring the berry-licious color – PURPLE!

I’m sure many of you have noticed before that whenever you tend to add in some blueberries or blackberries to a smoothie, the purple color of the berries often wins over the other ingredients.  But this recipe is purple through-and-through, featuring a combination of your favorite berries (such as blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, or even cherries), and then accented with some rich pomegranate juice and a little banana (for texture and sweetness).  It’s packed with antioxidents, delicious flavor, and of course…that fabulous purple color.  :)

I also love this one because it’s not overly-sweet.  The berries provide a fresh, slightly-tart kick.  But if you’d like to sweeten your smoothie even more, feel free to just add in an extra banana, an apple, or some vanilla yogurt.  Enjoy!

Purple Smoothie Recipe

Ingredients:

• 3 cups frozen berries (I used 1 cup each of blueberries, blackberries and strawberries)**
• 1/2 cup pomegranate juice
• 1/2 cup ice
• half a banana

Method:

Combine all ingredients in a blender and mix until smooth and well-combined.  Serve or freeze immediately.

Ali’s Tip:

**I prefer to use frozen berries in smoothies — either fresh berries that I have frozen, or berries I’ve purchased already frozen at the store — to avoid adding in too much extra ice.  But fresh berries totally work as well.  Just add in extra ice until it’s the temperature you’d like.  :)

There is something so wonderfully nostalgic about cider mulling on the stove, infused with beautiful orange slices, cinnamon sticks and cloves, filling up the house with that most heavenly of heavenly spicy aromas.  Mmmmm….

But for years, the “homemade” cider I’ve made has always come from the big glass jar I’ve purchased in my annual fall cider pilgrimage to the store.  It was only until recently that I ever really thought about investigating how to make a batch completely from scratch.  So during a beautiful fall day today, with the windows open and a cool breeze blowing through the house, I decided to give it a try.

Now, I have no idea why I waited so long.  :)

The entire process was such a delight.  It turns out that the initial prep work for the cider could not be easier.  (I think it took me all of five minutes.)  Basically, you let the apples and spices do their work for a few hours, while your home fills with the most wonderful, spicy aroma.  And then after a little straining, you have a pot full of warm, delicious cider ready to be ladeled into your favorite mug and savored.  Amazingly simple.

My favorite thing about the process, though, was just watching it all come together from scratch.  I know that probably sounds obvious, but this was my first time making a homemade apple juice.  Sure, I’ve juiced oranges and lemons and limes plenty of times before.  But the anticipation of waiting for the crisp apples, cinnamon sticks and whole spices to mull together and create this completely new cider just felt different.  Felt like I was connecting with a bit of tradition.  A bit of history.  I love it.  :)

Will definitely be making this my new fall tradition!

Homemade Apple Cider Recipe
(Adapted from Chaos In The Kitchen)

Ingredients:

• 12 or so small-to-medium-sized apples, assorted types (I used mostly Gala, Granny Smith & Red Delicious)
• 1 orange
• 1/2-1 cup brown sugar
• 4 cinnamon sticks
• 1 whole nutmeg
• 1 Tbsp. whole cloves
• 1 tsp. whole allspice (optional)
• water to cover

Method:

Wash apples and the orange, and then roughly cut into quarters.   (Don’t worry about removing peels, seeds, or stems.)  Place in a large stock pot.

Add sugar (I start with 1/2 cup, you can always add more later), cinnamon sticks, nutmeg, cloves and allspice.  Then cover with water, filling the pot until it is nearly full.  (I left about 2 inches of space at the top of my pot.)  Bring to a boil and boil uncovered for at least an hour, stirring occasionally.  Then cover and reduce to a simmer, and allow juice to simmer for at least another two hours.

Periodically during the three hours, use a potato masher (or I used tongs, or you could just use the side of a spoon) to begin mash the apple and orange slices once they are soft.   Feel free to also add more sugar or spices to taste.

When cider is ready allow to cool then strain apple pieces and whole spices into a clean pitcher or pot. If you feel like it you can strain everything through a cheesecloth and twist and squeeze to get every last drop.

Serve hot, and garnish with a cinnamon stick, fresh orange slice, or dried apples if you’d like. Store in the fridge and reheat as desired.

Ali’s Tip:

I have yet to try this in a slow cooker, but imagine it would make a fabulous batch of cider as well!

Summertime = Sangriatime.  :-)

So for a happy hour with some friends at my place last week, I decided to put some fresh fruit to use and make some yummy pitchers of sangria for everyone to enjoy on the deck!  Unfortunately, though, our crazy Midwest weather kicked the temperature over the 100 degree mark that day.  So we ended up enjoying a lovely evening together…in the air-conditioning.  :-)

But the sangria still rocked!  This happened to be the one day of the summer that I somehow didn’t have fresh berries in the fridge.  So ended up just going with oranges, lemons and limes…and it was great!!  Since I ended up making a double-batch for the size of our group, I actually combined a bottle of Merlot with some boxed wine we had leftover from a wedding.  But hey — that’s the joy of sangria!  With all of the other yummy flavors in there, you don’t need a really expensive bottle of wine to make good sangria.

Anyway, this batch ended up being a stellar success.  My friends all gave it rave reviews — even without the addition of sugar.  I tend to find that the longer you let it sit in the fridge, the less sweetener you need and (of course!) the more fruity the flavor.  Yum.

So grab a bottle of wine, whatever fruit you have on hand, and have fun creating your own batch!  All the better when enjoyed with good friends.  :-)

Sangria Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 bottle (750 ml.) of any dry red wine (I used Merlot)
• 3 oranges, two sliced and one for juicing
• 2 lemons, sliced
• 2 limes, sliced
• 2 Tbsp. sugar (optional – I left it out)
• 1 cup gingerale, club soda, or lemon-lime soda
• 1 shot brandy

Method:

Stir together the wine, orange juice, sugar, and brandy in a large pitcher until the sugar is dissolved.  Then add in the orange, lemon and lime slices and stir briefly to combine.

Refrigerate the pitcher and let it sit, preferably 8-12 hours for the juices to meld.

Just before serving, stir in the gingerale (or club soda, or lemon-lime soda) until mixed.  Then serve the sangria poured over ice, either strained or served with the fruit slices.

Ali’s Tip:

Fresh berries (or even frozen) are also a wonderful addition to red sangria!  Just be careful (at the recommendation of my friend, Lisa) not to add sliced strawberries in more than a few hours beforehand, as they can turn soggy and watery.

‘Tis the season for enjoying yummy cold drinks on the deck — and all the better when made with fresh fruit!

My faithful readers know I’m always a fan of anything mango.  But since I had some fresh strawberries needing to be used up in the fridge, decided to try making some strawberry-mango margaritas.  I don’t know how you could really go wrong with those two…  :)  But thankfully, the margaritas turned out delicious!  The strawberry and mango flavors were actually fairly mild, so if you want them to be really fruity, I’d add in even a little more fruit.  But this ratio made a delicious margarita that everyone definitely enjoyed!

For those looking for a non-alcoholic margarita, this would also be a yummy option.  Just leave out the alcohol, and if you’d like, sub in a little extra fruit juice (strawberry, mango, limeade, or orange juice could work) instead.

So if you’re looking for a fun, fruity drink to enjoy in the heat of summer (or as a bit of inspiration in the winter!), pull out your blender and give this one a try!

Strawberry Mango Margaritas Recipe
(Original recipe)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups frozen strawberries, hulled
• 1 mango, peeled, cored and diced
• 2 1/2 cups crushed ice
• 1/2 cup tequila
• 2 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3 Tbsp. Cointreau (orange-flavored liqueur)
• optional garnishes: fresh strawberries, diced mangoes, lime wedges, and/or salt for the rims of glasses

Method:

Combine strawberries, ice, tequila, lime juice, sugar, and liqueur in a blender, and process until the mixture is smooth. Pour the margaritas into 4 large glasses. Garnish margaritas with a lime wedge, if desired. Serve immediately.

Ali’s Tip:

Feel free to experiment with other favorite fruits in this as well!  (Just be sure that you have about 3-4 cups of fruit in there.)  Some other fun options might be: blackberries, blueberries, peaches, apricots, plums, etc…

Ok – this post is definitely not really a “recipe”.  But I’ve had so many people remark over the years on how I make sun tea, that I decided it might be worth sharing with the blogosphere!  :)

As you’ve probably guessed by the photo, this is my alternate method to making sun tea.  Rather than using a huge pitcher (which I did for years) that takes up some serious refrigerator shelf space, I love using mason jars to make smaller, more concentrated batches.  It hardly takes up any room in your fridge, and is just as easy as the big pitcher to make.  Just fill a jar with water and a tea bag or two, set it out in the sun in the morning, and by dinnertime you have a wonderful batch of tea ready to go!  Pour a little bit in your glass filled with ice, and then dilute it with water to the strength you prefer.  (And if you’re into sweet tea, add a touch of sweetener!)

Super easy, and it’s a great space saver!  I’d definitely encourage you to give it a try!

(Here’s my pup, Henry, babysitting the tea.)