National Pina Colada Day

in honor of national pina colada day, E and i had green pina coladas after our gym session. they turned out delicious and, as always, we couldn't even taste the spinach but we got a whole serving of the leafy greens each in our wonderful pineapple coconut goodness.

with some much needed rain, a wonderful long night's sleep and an afternoon nap, this pina colada topped off a wonderful day.

cheers!

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Green Pina Colada
(serves 2)

2 heaping handfuls of baby spinach
1 cup fresh chopped pineapple
1/2 cup coconut milk
juice of 1 lime
4 oz coconut rum
1 cup ice

blend everything together until smooth and enjoy!

Strawberry Purslane Smoothie

wow, i have been mia for more than a week now.

i was celebrating with my college roomies in sin city.

then, since i'm getting old, it took me nearly 4 days to recover from our 4 day weekend. luckily i did get home in time for our csa pick-up!

one of my purchases at the farmers market this week was purslane (along with some sweet potato leaves, green onions, purslane in the middle, a huge zucchini, garlic, and romaine).

i had never had it nor heard of it before but i was encouraged to use it in salads and even given a taste test.

it was very mild and slightly salty. my first though upon tasting it was to add it to a smoothie. as fate would have it, i was out of spinach that afternoon and i did, in fact, add it to our afternoon smoothies. and, just like spinach, i couldn't even taste it. you could barely even see it either.

tonight, i plan on adding it to our csa salad. i'll let you know how it turns out.

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Strawberry Purslane Smoothie
(makes 2 large smoothies)

1 cup purslane leaves
1 cup strawberries
1 scoop protein powder (i used dessert vanilla)
1/2 banana
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup orange juice
1 cup ice

blend until smooth and enjoy!

4th of July Sugar Cookie Bars

if you are looking for a last minute dessert to take with you to a 4th of july cookout, look no further than this (admittedly unhealthy) sugar cookie cake/bars.

i made this one a while ago but picture how pretty it would look decorated like the american flag. something a little more like this?

[source]

again, this is by no means a healthy dessert. it's basically sugar cookie dough pressed into a sheet pan and baked.

then iced with sugar cookie icing and decorated. you can take them in the sheet pan decorated like an american flag and cut it when ready to eat. or, ice it with white icing, cut into bars and decorate, or you could cut them into bars and then ice some red, some white, and some blue. anyway you do it, they are super easy and kids always love them.

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Sugar Cookie Bars
adapted from annie's eats
(makes approximately 48 bars)

cookie bar dough:
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
zest from 1 lemon
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 tsp salt
½ tsp. baking soda

frosting:
3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
3 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
food coloring (optional)

preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  cream together butter and sugar in an electric mixer on medium-high speed until light a fluffy (approximately 2 minutes).  add eggs one at a time, blending well after each addition and scraping down sides of the bowl as necessary. add vanilla and lemon zest. in a separate bowl, whisk together dry ingredients (both flours, salt, and baking soda). add dry ingredients to mixer a little at a time and beat until final dry ingredients are just incorporated.

press cookie dough into a 13" x 18" greased rimmed baking sheet. bake 10-15 minutes until just starting to brown around the edges. let cool completely on a wire rack.

note: it is very important to let the cookies cool completely before frosting - otherwise, icing may melt!

to make frosting, cream butter in electric mixer on medium-high speed until smooth. add vanilla and salt. then add sifted confectioners' sugar a little at a time and blend until smooth. tint with desired food coloring and spread over cooled cookies in the pan. let set and cut into bars and serve!