Random Quick Kitchen Tips and Frozen Key Lime Pie

Random Quick Kitchen Tips

In no particular order, first up we have a banana nut milk.  This is a great quick snack, especially good for pre or post workout, or on the go.  Simply blend a banana, a handful of pepitas, and about 2 cups of water.  I like to buy my pepitas raw from Trader Joes as that's the cheapest I can find them.  Adjust the amount of water until it's the right consistency for you.  I love the quick energy, protein and sugar I get from this.  Pepitas are super high in iron and I usually add a handful to my morning smoothie as well.  This picture was taken looking down into my Vitamix.

Next we have some limes.  When you are juicing citrus, firmly roll it before cutting and juicing it.  

After I juice citrus, I like to freeze the peels and toss them in water later.  

Does anyone else love using bulk beans but never remembers to pre-soak the the day before using?  This solution works really well for me and I hope it helps you, too!  I soak beans overnight then drain and rinse them.  Put them in a tupperware, cover with water and pop into the freezer.  When you want to cook the beans, dump out the giant ice cube of beans into a pot and add water.  Bring to a boil and simmer until beans are soft.

This is a newer habit of mine, but every night while I'm making dinner I try to cut up a fresh veggie and snack on it.  This is a cucumber with black sea salt sprinkled on top.

I have R to thank for this next tip.  I purchased some puffed millet cereal from the store and was putting OJ on and eating for breakfast.  I wanted a snack, but wanted something salty instead of sweet so R recommended a snack that he tried while traveling in India last summer.  It's something like millet popcorn.  I took a bowl of millet, drizzled olive oil on top, and sprinkled the following to taste: nutritional yeast, salt, and cayenne pepper.  

This last tip is from one of my favorite sites, The Kitchn.  It has instructions on how to make a week's worth of steel cut oats for breakfast without slaving over the stove for an hour like steel cut oats usually require.  And, they use cute little mason jars!

Frozen Key Lime Pie

I used this recipe from Kimberly Snyder.  I didn't use the stevia because I don't like the taste.  I didn't have honey so I used maple syrup instead.  I added a little extra maple syrup to taste and maybe used a quarter cup of water total.  I poured this in a pie dish and froze it for about 3 hours.  This was a big hit!  Next time, I will likely pour it into a deeper container and scoop it out more like ice cream.  There is enough fat in here so it doesn't get icy and stays very creamy when frozen.  Delicious!!