Last month I had the privilege of giving away copies of Rocco Di Spirito’s new cookbook, Now Eat This. Imagine my surprise when I got an email from the same publisher, offering me his new book Now Eat This Diet to my readers! Now I know the world is all about green monsters and smoothies – I am quite possibly the very last food blogger not to try one.
But the publishers gave me a sneak peak at one of his smoothie recipes!
SERVES 4
Green Tea Watermelon Super Punch
Makes 4 servings: 176 calories, 0 fat, 37 carbs, 1 fiber and 6 protein (4 PointsPlus)
Ingredients:
· 2 cups ice
· 4 cups cubed seedless watermelon
· 1 cup nonfat Greek yogurt, such as 0% Fage Total
· ¼ cup fresh lime juice
· ¼ cup agave nectar
· 1 cup chopped fresh pineapple
· 4 teaspoons unsweetened matcha green tea powder
Method:
· Toss all ingredients into a blender and blend for 5 minutes to increase volume.
· Serve in glasses with a straw.
Here is my smoothie – believe it or not I already had everything at home to make this, except for the watermelon, which I picked up on my way home from work. Hannah loves green tea ice cream and Tony bought some matcha green tea powder at a Japanese grocery store last fall so we could make green tea ice cream at home.
The verdict? I really liked this. It’s bright and refreshing. Not sure why mine isn’t as bright looking as Rocco’s, but I guess that would depend on the green tea powder.
![1a 024](http://biz319.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/1a-024.jpg)
![1a 029](http://biz319.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/1a-029.jpg)
I definitely think when the weather gets warmer, I’ll be making more smoothies. But our weather is . . . cold. . .windy. . . snowy. . .nasty. So I was happy that yesterday was . . .
BAGEL WEDNESDAY! 8 Point Jalapeno Cheddar Bagel with 1/2 cup egg beaters and 1 ounce deli ham. Perfect 10 point breakfast. 😀
For lunch I decided to shake it up a bit at the gym – I did the Stair Master and chose the “random” setting. I really had no idea what that even meant, until I realized I had no idea what was coming. The first 30 second intervals were pretty slow, and I almost changed the level when all of a sudden I was pedaling so fast! I only did it for 20 minutes (2 minute cool down) and ended up doing 66 floors!
Next up was the bike machine – I had time to do a 3 mile bike ride. My incentive was to beat the pacer bike by as much time as possible. I ended up doing the ride in 12:36 minutes – beating the pacer bike by 8:08! Woot! Then it was 5 minutes of abs and a few minutes of stretching.
My idea for lunch was based off of a Clean Eating recipe – a sweet potato steak wrap with a spinach blue cheese sauce. I will be the first to tell you that I am not a sweet potato fan. I am trying though. I baked 3 sweet potatoes over the weekend. I had to call my Mom and ask her if you ate the skin like a regular baked potato – turns out you can’t!
Since I had the fryer out last night for the fries, I sliced the sweet potatoes kind of thick, and flash fried them for about 2 minutes to give them some texture. I let them drain on a paper towel and just finished them off with salt and pepper. While the sweet potatoes were supposed to go IN the wrap, I opted to keep them on the side. 😀
Spinach and Blue Cheese Sauce (adapted from Clean Eating)
- 3 cups baby spinach
- 1/3 cup fat free half and half
- 3 tablespoons blue cheese
- pinch of salt
- pinch of pepper
- pinch of cumin
- pinch of crushed red pepper
Put in a blender and puree. Keep in refrigerator for up to a week. Holy cow this sauce is good – although very mile on the blue cheese front – in fact there is just a hint. My friends at work and I decided that we would add an extra point of crumbled blue cheese in the wrap to get that blue cheese taste. I had this make 8 servings, for about 3/4 of a point per serving – about 1/4 of a cup.
The middle of the wrap is just two ounces of cooked steak, romaine lettuce, wrapped in a 4 point whole grain wrapper, heated in the microwave and then drizzled with the spinach sauce.
While I liked the wrap (I need to reduce the cooking time of the steak next time – the meat while still tender was well done) – guess what I loved the most? The sweet potatoes! Although, I have to admit, I added a splash of Tabasco to them to balance the sweetness, and then I dipped them in the spinach sauce – lunch was a delicious 9 points! 😀
This made a lot of sauce – I think I am going to make a zucchini/cheese omelet for breakfast and drizzle this sauce over the top. 😀
I had pork chops on the menu last night, only to realize as I was driving home that I forgot to take them out to defrost. So a simple pasta dish subbed nicely – I cooked 2 ounces of lean ground beef, drained any fat, then added a cup of baby spinach and marinara sauce and poured it over a cup of fusili – dinner is 8 points.
- 39 points (including 12 points for wine and Trader Joe’s sesame crack pretzels eaten while watching Top Chef)
- 40 minute stair climber/bike ride
- average blood sugar 108
I am off to put my breakfast and lunch together – can’t wait for lunch today: a skinny reuben sandwich with new potato/green bean pesto salad. 😀
That is one good looking smoothie. yum!
The stair climber is by far, one of the most difficult exercises for me. I am sure the random setting wasn’t easy. Good for you!
I haven’t had a green monster smoothie yet and don’t plan to. I don’t like smoothies very much. I prefer to chew my food. 🙂
My mom used to eat the skins on her sweet potatoes all the time. Not the tough ends though which is probably just her preference.
Way to go on the exercise, Biz! Even though I can run for a long ways, a flight of stairs still gets me breathing hard! I am determined to tackle it someday though! Definitely a goal of mine!
Have a great Thursday!
Love blue cheese so will have to try that sauce.
Looking forward to seeing how your lunch Rueben turns out – love me some Rueben 🙂
Eating sweet potato skins is probably a preference thing, but I love them! I had a bad experience with Rocco’s Now Eat This! and I’m totally cynical about trying any more of his recipes. I made the black bean brownies and I swear Satan must have wrote that recipe instead of Rocco. I even did things to make it less healthy, like using real chocolate syrup instead of sugar free, and they were 100% puke worthy. And looked nothing like the picture, though I followed the directions to a T. Since I’m so cynical now, I think the reason that smoothie prob looks so nice is that it’s not even a photo of the actual smoothie, but something with food coloring, just like the picture of those brownies could not have been real. Granted, I should have started with a recipe that sounded like it had more potential but I’ve been hearing good things about black bean brownies and I couldn’t pass up a recipe for them that was so low cal and looked so pretty.
I was actually thinking that it could have been food coloring too? I am not a smoothie drinker, but it was pretty good – not too sweet, which I liked! 😀
I’m glad you’re now a sweet potato convert… I can’t imagine my life without them. 😛
Between the smoothie and the sauce, this could have been a St. Patrick’s Day meal! I’m glad to know that I’m not the only one who isn’t gaga over sweet potatoes – I have them in fry version every once in a while, but other than that, not a huge fan.
And I cracked up at your wine/snackage during Top Chef – what IS it about cooking shows (and The Biggest Loser) that makes *us* eat while we watch them?!?
Green monsters are so awesome! I love them!
That spinach and blue cheese sauce sounds great. Although I’m not a fan of blue cheese, I bet it would be great with feta, too!
That pesto salad for lunch today sounds amazing!! And you don’t like sweet potatoes!?!? Crazy, Biz 🙂 I’m glad I’m not the only one who’s okay with “spending” 10 points on breakfast. My coworkers doing WW think I’m insane. They spend like 2!!! I would be one big B by 10am rolled around…!!
I’ve done WW at work where the meeting wasn’t until 4 in the afternoon, and some people would not eat or drink until 4 p.m. – so crazy!
Never tried a green monster but I always eat my sweet potato skins! And I’m still alive 🙂
Glad you are still alive after eating the skins Rachel! 😀
I’m so confused (may be my pregnancy brain)- did you say your Mom told you you can’t eat the skin on a sweet potato? You 100% can! Let me know if I read that wrong 😉 Love me a green monster- haven’t made one in a long time. The sauce on the wrap looks fantastic. Love spinach.
Well, I guess my Mom doesn’t eat them! Thanks for letting me know that I can 😀
No problem 🙂
Oh my goodness, we were almost eating twins yesterday: I had a bagel in the morning and a wrap with flank steak, blue cheese crumbles and roasted red peppers for dinner!
I think I need to give your blue cheese sauce a whirl as I’m always looking for new ideas for sandwich spreads. I bet that would be good on a plain old roast beef sandwich, too!
I like to chew to much to go with the smoothie crowd. I almost consider them a snack vs. a meal.
Where do you get those lovely looking bagels…. would love to try them. I live in the Crystal lake area and shop at the same stores… and I am doing weight watchers too!
Hey! I buy them at Dominick’s – .49 cents each is a steal! 😀
Thanks so much!!… that sure is a steal will have to add them to my shopping list. 🙂
That smoothie looks really good. I’m sorta on the fence about the taste of green tea. It’s okay but not something I love. I want that cookbook, I have an amazon gift card that I need to use and that just might do it! Thanks!
You can add me to the list of ppl who have never tried a green monster smoothie! Not that I am against smoothies…but I like to chew my snacks! although, I have to agree with you, in the summer, a nice treat!
I made a pot of soup yesterday, because our weather had turned so icky! It was sooooo spicy! YIKES! I though of you, because you would probably like it! 🙂 I tried everything to bring the spice level down…but no luck. I am hoping it will have mellowed overnight! haha
thanks for the advice on the camera! I am going to look to see if I can find that model.
Hey Biz,
Looks like you had a great Birthday Weekend!! How is Tony doing? Hopefully he is getting stronger every day. I love Hannah’s hair style, it is so sophisticated looking. Your photos look great! I must get a new camera so I can take pictures like you now! Have a great day!
Robin
Tony is doing better – each day is getting a bit better – he ate some pasta last night for dinner too! 😀
I’ve never had a green monster. I can’t wrap my brain around the idea of drinking breakfast…or any meal…
lunch sounds good girl! i have a good one too….leftovers from last night-love! that smoothie looks so good and pretty! can’t wait for the cookbook giveaway. how is your hubs?
Yum, I love all kinds of smoothies, so refreshing! A skinny reuben? I can’t wait to see that!
Glad you enjoyed your first “Green Monster” Biz! I don’t drink them often but when I do, it always does feel great to get such a nutrition-packed shake in first thing :).
– Beth @ http://www.DiningAndDishing.com