Coconut Fruit Smoothie

1c coconut milk - from a carton

2c mixed frozen fruit - today I used

pineapple, mango, strawberries, blueberries

1c plain Greek yogurt

1T± Mexican vanilla

Put everything in a blender jar, pulse and blend until smooth.

My neighbor texted me yesterday to see if I wanted some extra coconut milk they had. I've used canned coconut milk before, but never this, the thinner type, in a carton. This Stuff Is Good!  For a while now, the liquid in my yogurt-fruit smoothies has been a variety of fruit juices. I like this much better. It seems to create a more natural balance of flavors, plus it's lower in sugar than fruit juice.

These amounts made 2 big servings, containing 240 calories each. Ohhh, this was good! Give it a try!  Get creative with your fruit choices. Bananas, frozen cranberries, frozen cherries, a whole-unpeeled mandarin orange are also excellent choices.  .😃. .Lin

Spicy Mango and Cheese

1/2 perfectly ripe pink and green mango

ground cinnamon and/or nutmeg 

black pepper

1/2c± cottage cheese

shredded pepperjack cheese

Try as I might. . .it's so hard for me to eliminate my sugar cravings, or at least channel them into something healthier. I've found a few ways, this being the most recent. Peel and slice half a mango into a pretty glass bowl to make yourself feel it's a special dessert 😉 shake on cinnamon or nutmeg, just out of the container, not mixed with sugar. Add a grind or shake of some really good black pepper* Top with cottage cheese and pepper jack cheese.

Mmmmm! This is SO good! 

Mangos are really interesting to me. I'm not a peach person at all, yet these remind me of a peach infused with pine. . .and I love them! Papayas are great dried. I've never had a fresh one, but I hear they're really good with lime. When I was at Aldi's last week the papayas and mangos both looked great.

Time to be adventurous I think! . . Lin

*Pepper is really good on certain fruits, especially pears!  If I can find some good fresh ones this summer, at a farmers market, I'm thinking I might can them, simmering them with brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and peppercorns!