Coffee Flavored Rice Milk Smoothie

6 oz. coffee yogurt
4 oz. vanilla or plain rice milk
4 oz. vanilla or plain soymilk!
1/2 small banana
3 ice cubes
chocolate syrup if desired

Pour all ingredients into a blender or Ninja.  Blend.  Drizzle chocolate on inside of glass.  Pour.  Enjoy!

I love, love, love making smoothies!  I love to experiment with different types of milk, fruits, yogurts and sometimes even nut butters.   I use this amazing Ninja system,  it's much less expensive than a Vitamix and is much nice than a traditional style blender.  I have a smoothie almost daily for breakfast or for lunch.

Gluten-Free Brownie Bites

I recently made Pamela's Brownie Mix to bring to a friends house for dessert.  I purchased mini cupcake liners which I have never used before.  I had my little guy line them up on a cookie sheet, I sprayed each liner lightly with a gf non-stick spray and spooned in the mix.  I followed Pamela's recipe for the fudgiest brownies and added pecans.  I baked the brownie bites for 10 minutes ate 350 degrees.  They were delicious, a huge hit, portable and no messy brownie pan to clean.

Mexican Sweet Plantain Recipe

Mexican Plantain Recipe

Our best friends vacationed in Mexico this past February and our family vacationed in Playa del Carmen, Mexico in March.  We recently got together to celebrate, share photos, trade stories and enjoy a Mexican feast.  My girlfriend is also gluten-intolerant so a gluten-free menu is always on the table when we get together.  They put together a truly delicious taco bar with fresh organic sauteed chicken, pork, steak, shrimp, pico de gallo, Mexican soft cheese, guacamole, salsa, diced red onion and soft, warm gluten-free tortillas.  WOW!  Amazing and delicious.

We contributed Mexican Fruit Salad, Sweet Plantains and Mexican Black Bean dip.  Thankfully the fruit salad and bean dip were delicious, because my attempt at sweet plantains did not go well.

I followed Tyler Florence's recipe for Mexican Sweet Plantains.  The biggest mistake I made was not using ripe plantains.  Although it does indicate in the recipe to use ripe, black plantains, I didn't pay attention and I used green plantains.  They were not ripe, were very hard and dry.  So, unfortunately, the dish didn't turn out so well:(  I will definitely try again and this time, I'll be sure to let my plantains turn black before I even think about cooking them.