So, did you know today is National Eat Drink Your Veggies Day?

Yeah, me either.

But anything I can do to get my kiddo to down some veggies is a-okay with me!  And, to promote this awesome food holiday, Naked Juice is giving one of you the chance to enter their “Pin It To Win It! Win A Naked Juice Garden Gift Basket” sweepstakes.

By voting for your favorite delicious Naked Power Garden recipe, you’ll be entered in a drawing to win a $250 gift basket from Naked Juice.  Pretty slick!  I’d love it if you’d click over and vote for my Cherry Berry Smoothie!

Cherry Berry Smoothie

Since I’m new to the whole “drinking your veggies” thing, I’ve compiled a list of a few yummy-looking smoothies I’ve spotted around the web.  These photos belong to different bloggers and are not mine.  If you see one you like, please take the time to pin the image from the original source and not my page.

Veggie Smoothie

Kiwi, Kale and Apple Smoothie

 

Chocolate Avocado Smoothie

Berry Veggie Mango Smoothie

All Natural Shamrock Shake Green Smoothie

Blueberry Spinach Smoothie

Avocado Banana Smoothie

Cherry and Spinach Smoothie

Avocado Green Tea Power Shake

Tropical Green Smoothie

Red Velvet Smoothie

Strawberry, Pomegranate and Kale Cooler

Mango Strawberry Carrot Smoothie

Strawberry Spinach Smoothie

Looking for more awesome ways to drink your veggies?  Check out the Glam Pinterest Power Up Pinterest Board here: http://pinterest.com/BlissbyGlam/power-up/

XO, Ashley

Subscribe via email and have successes from my kitchen delivered straight to your inbox!

Power Garden is Naked Juice’s new veggie drink lineup with 1 pound of veggies in every bottle*. With delicious flavors that only Naked could blend, Power Garden offers one of the easiest ways to get your daily servings of veggies and fruits, along with good sources of fiber, vitamins and minerals. Learn more at http://www.nakedjuice.com/veggiedrinks.

*weight of vegetables, prior to juicing

Disclosure: Compensation was provided by Naked via Glam Media. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Naked

I’ll admit it. I was a little nervous to make this Cherry Berry Smoothie with a fruit and vegetable juice blend.

I don’t really care for vegetables.  I mean, I eat them, because it’s what you’re supposed to do, and I’m a mom…so I’m supposed to set a good example and all that.

But if you want the real truth, I’m not a huge vegetable fan, unless you count eating tomatoes in salsa or in pasta/pizza sauce.  I can do corn on the cob, and roasted broccoli and asparagus.  Other than that?  Not so much.  The idea of drinking vegetables through a straw sort of weirds me out.

So when I had the opportunity to review Naked’s new Power Garden Berry Veggie juice, I was a little hesitant.  While the juice contains a ton of fruit I love (cherries, strawberries, plums and apples), it also boasts red beets (along with purple carrots, sweet potatoes, chickpeas and sweet corn)…which I won’t eat normally under any circumstance.

 But I tried it, because that’s what a mom setting a good example does.

And you know what?  I couldn’t taste the beets!  I couldn’t really taste any of the veggies, although the juice isn’t quite as sweet as what I typically drink.  But the color?  Amazing, yes?

The color in these pictures might even be a bit diluted, because I added in some black cherry Greek yogurt, honey, and ice cubes.  I did also blend in some frozen cherries, but basically, this vibrant color came straight out of the bottle.

And you know what?  It tasted amazing!  Doodle slurped down a huge glass of this, with no clue that it was actually healthy for him!

Total mom SCORE.

Power Garden is Naked Juice’s new veggie drink lineup with 1 pound of veggies in every bottle*. With delicious flavors that only Naked could blend, Power Garden offers one of the easiest ways to get your daily servings of veggies and fruits, along with good sources of fiber, vitamins and minerals. Learn more at http://www.nakedjuice.com/veggiedrinks.

*weight of vegetables, prior to juicing

 

Make sure to check back on Monday, June 17th for details on how you can enter the Pinterest Sweepstakes contest with Naked Power Garden by voting for my recipe!

XO, Ashley

Connect with me here:

 

Subscribe via email and have successes from my kitchen delivered straight to your inbox!Disclosure: Compensation was provided by Naked via Glam Media. The opinions expressed herein are 100% mine and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Naked.

 

Summer says sangria to me. Fruity summer sangria.

And after the week I had, I really, really needed to relax.

Crashing your entire blog can do that to a person.

I’m still working out kinks as I find them, but I’ve learned a very valuable lesson in this whole process: I am not qualified to go anywhere near anything that requires HTML coding.   Ever.

This sangria is another story. There’s just nothing like a fruity red wine in the summer.  I can go near something like that all day long.

And while I typically drink red wine, the Tall Boy and I have a favorite white wine that we order by the case and have shipped to us once a year from California.  It’s the bomb-diggity.  The problem?  Where to store it and have it chilled and ready to go when I’m ready to pop open a bottle.  We have a small kitchen and not much storage space, so finding a place for 12 bottles of wine poses a bit of a problem.

Fortunately, thanks to the good folks at Staples and their VinoVault, my wine storage and chilling problems have been solved.  If you’re like me, you had no clue that Staples has an entire line of  mini-fridges and coolers.  Cool, right?

I wasn’t sure at first how the Preservino VinoVault was any different from any other mini-fridge.  But it uses green cooling heat pipe technology that allows you to chill up to 16 bottles of wine at a time – and you get to set the temperature based on what you’re chilling. Pretty slick.

Another super cool feature is that the VinoVault comes with its own special stoppers and little argon gas container that you can use to preserve your bottles of wine.  As much as the Tall Boy and I love wine, we don’t usually finish an entire bottle in one sitting, so it’s important that we find a way to make sure the flavor of the wine is just as good on day two as day one.

Trust me, the VinoVault is pretty cool.

And so is this sangria.

XO, Ashley

Subscribe via email and have successes from my kitchen delivered straight to your inbox!Staples provided me with a VinoVault in order to facilitate my post. However, all opinions are 100% my own. You can read my advertising and disclosure policy here.

Here’s the thing.

I’ve mentioned it before, but no matter what day–holiday, weekend, weekday–I wake up early.  Despite this fact, I am not a morning person.  Seriously, totally, and completely not a morning person.

The Tall Boy can attest to this, and will tell you that it’s the safest bet to give me space until I’ve had a cup of coffee.

Or two.

I got through college and graduate school on hundreds of pots of coffee, and with our new school and work schedule, a cup of strong java is pretty much a necessity.  Typically, I like my coffee strong and black, and if I could direct an IV drip to get it into my bloodstream quicker, I might do it.

Every now and then, though, I like to jazz up my coffee with a flavored creamer, typically during the fall and winter seasons.  And as much as I love the flavors of the store-bought creamers, I’m not particularly fond of the ingredients: you know, stuff like preservatives, refined sugars, high fructose corn syrup, and hydrogenated oils.  Bleck.

This quick and easy (I’m talking less than five minutes start to finish!) recipe tastes amazing, and will save you a ton of money if you’re addicted to Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Lattes this time of year.  And, if you’re not a coffee drinker, this would taste amazing in place of water/milk for hot chocolate, or poured over your oatmeal.

I actually used 1 percent milk and fat-free half and half in my recipe, and the creamer was still plenty thick and rich.  If you’re not concerned about calories or are looking for something for a special occasion, by all means–use whole milk and heavy cream!

We’re headed out of town for the weekend for another football game. What are your plans? I’d love to hear ‘em! Whatever you do, have a great weekend!