Sweet Potato Pie Smoothie

Hi friends!

It's Monday!

How do you feel about that today?

I had such a nice weekend. I did a whole lotta cooking and baking on Saturday, followed by hanging around a fire pit at our friends place, followed by football Sunday with my family. I love.

As my love affair with fall continues, I devised a new smoothie to get my taste buds in the spirit. I had leftover sweet potatoes one Saturday morning and thought, hey, why not put them in a smoothie?

It's a natural thought process, no?

Don't think I'm weird.

Ok, I'm it's a little weird. But look how pretty it is! Shaun shuddered at the idea. But it tastes like fall in a cup. In a cold, frosty, cinnamony, nutmeggy cup. What's so bad about that?

A word of warning. If you don't like sweet potatoes, don't touch this with a 10 foot pole. Because it tastes like sweet potatoes, so don't expect something different, like it will taste like pumpkin or something. I like this smoothie because it gets breakfast done a little bit better than a pumpkin pie smoothie (though I love those even more because I have a weird pumpkin obsession. obviously). The potato makes this a super filling breakfast or lunch. Combined with fall spices, I'd happily drink this anytime :)

Sweet Potato Pie Smoothie
1 C unsweetened almond milk (or milk of your choice)
1 small sweet potato, cooked & mashed
1/2 frozen banana
1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder (optional)
1 packet Splenda (or sweetener of your choice)
dash cinnamon
dash nutmeg

Combine all ingredients. Blend together until smooth (I used my immersion blender). Serve over ice.

Drink up!

I'm off to make one of these now...here's to a great week!!

Questions of the Day:

Do you like sweet potatoes? Do you prefer sweet potatoes or white potatoes? If it's mashed, I say yesss x 100 to white potatoes, but if it's baked, I'm all about the sweet!

What was your favorite part of the weekend?

Five Things Friday

How did Friday get here so fast? I'm not complaining :) I am ready for a gorgeous Fall weekend! It's another Five Things Friday, so...here goes!

New haircut.

Last night Kimberly and I got our hair did at Bumble & Bumble. I only go for haircuts like twice a year so I splurge on a good one. Not only is this a lasting cut, but I heart the salon for its chic New York loft vibe, the floor to ceiling windows with gorgeous views.

Impromptu mid-week girls night with Kristen.

Shaun and Kristen's husband Ryan play basketball together, so Kristen came over to hang out! Yay!

Pumpkin mini-muffins + lite vanilla bean ice cream.

Kristen was so thoughtful and brought over some muffins that she had made. They really tasted just like pumpkin pie!

Finishing the Fever series.

I read like a maniac to get through these! Such a fun and easy read. Not the most well-written books I've ever read, but when I can't put a book down (or find myself up past midnight on a school night to get 'er done), I know it's worthy time spent. Side note: I have plans to revamp the book club page! I'm also on the hunt for new book reco's so send 'em my way! Oh and if you want to follow me on Goodreads, you may do so here.

Leopard print flats.

I'm on the hunt for a cute pair. I found these and can't decide if they are adorable or hideous. Any suggestions for some cute ones?

So that's what I'm digging this week! Hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

Questions of the Day:

What are you digging this week?

What are your plans for the weekend?

{Un}traditional Apple & Cranberry Strudel

Has anyone else been affected by the Blackberry outage over the last day? I have had my Blackberry for about a year and a half...and I hate it! I always seem to have problems with it. It freezes (sometimes even mid-ring so I can't answer the phone!), the Internet access is horrible, emails and texts are delayed, my media card broke, my Twitter connection is horrible (which is why I hardly ever Tweet)...the list can go on and on. When my phone stopped receiving emails yesteray morning, it was the last straw. I threw it into the Hudson freaked out and decided that I need a new phone (of course, this was before I realized it as a worldwide outage, but still). Argh!   iPhone here I come!

Good thing there are yummy treats to keep me occupied. And make me happy. You know what else makes me happy? When it's one of the easiest treats ever, but only seems like you slaved over it for hours.

This past weekend, Shaun and I drove out to a local farm to pick up some fall goodies. I had been jonesing for a bit of apple cider, fresh doughnuts, many apple varieties and some crisp fall air. I got what I went for!

When we decided to make our Oktoberfest dinner, I knew that some kind of apple strudel would be the perfect finale, especially a homemade one containing freshly picked apples!

This is definitely not a traditional strudel. But it's so easy and so delicious that I'm not sure why anyone would ever not make this version. I'm fairly certain that it took all of 5 minutes to come together before leaving it in the oven to bake. In addition to crisp, sweet apples, I also added some dried cranberries for a bit of tartness and texture. I think the strudel would be great without them though too! I could also see brown sugar, pecans, or any other baking fruit as a substitute. I topped the strudels with a bit of light and fluffy vanilla ice cream.

If that's not the perfect dessert, I don't know what is.

Apple & Cranberry Strudel
*Adapted from Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry
1 egg
1 Tbsp water
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 Tbsp all-purpose flour (plus extra for rolling out dough)
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
2 large baking apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
2 Tbsp dried cranberries (or  craisins)
1 sheet of puff pastry (1/2 of a 17.3-ounce package), thawed
Confectioners' sugar (for dusting)
vanilla ice cream (for topping)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix the sugar, flour and cinnamon together. In a mixing bowl, toss sugar mixture with the apples (I used one Macintosh apple and 1 Gala apple) and cranberries; set aside.

Flour your work surface and roll out the pastry with a rolling pin, with the short side facing you. The pastry should be rolled out to about 16x12 inches. Spread the apple mixture on the bottom half of the pastry only, leaving a small border around the edges.

Starting with the side facing you, roll up the pastry very carefully so as to gather the apple mixture inside of it but without ripping the dough. Once rolled up, tuck in the ends and place on a greased baking sheet. In a small bowl, beat the egg and water together. Cut small slits across the top of the pastry and brush top with egg mixture.

Bake for 35 minutes. Cool for 20 minutes and sprinkle with confectioners sugar. Serve warm with a heaping scoop of vanilla ice cream! Is your mouth watering yet?

Mine is!

Questions of the Day:

Have you had cell phone issues in the past? Or affected by Blackberry right now?

Are you a fan of apples around this time of year? What's your favorite kind? I love honeycrisp, macintosh, galas, and fujis!

psst...It's Handpicked Peaches day over on The Peach & The Pit! We rounded up some awesome links from around the web for ya!