2 cups orange juice
1/3 cup vanilla yogurt
2 medium ripe bananas, frozen
1/2 cup fresh or frozen blackberries

Combine all ingredients in a blender, process until smooth.

I like to add a couple of teaspoons of powdered sugar to make them a tad bit sweeter. I’ll add more of our favorite smoothie recipes in another post.

S.S. Mommy's Summer Survival Kit free report will be showing up on Saturday morning and is available for RSS subscribers only!

The first time I thought about making homemade pizza I thought it was going to be difficult. Once I got around to making it I was really surprised at how easy and relatively quick it is to make. This summer I decided it was time to get the kids in on the pizza making process and teach them how to make and build their own pizzas. Here are a couple of recipes that we all love:

Herb Garlic Pizza Crust

3 cups all purpose flour
1 pkg instant yeast (.25 oz)
2 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp Italian seasoning
1 tbsp chopped dried garlic
8 oz milk warmed to 110 degrees
4 oz water warmed to 110 degrees

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and prepare pizza pan by spraying with non-stick cooking spray. In a large mixing bowl combine dry ingredients, add warmed liquids all at once to the dry mixture. Stir until well mixed making sure all the dry ingredients are moistened. Cover the bowl with a clean towel and set aside for about 20 minutes to allow the dough to rise. On a clean, well floured surface knead dough by hand 6-8 times adding additional flour as needed to keep it from sticking. Roll dough into the size which will easily fit in your pizza pan. Add your favorite sauce, cheese and toppings. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and crust is done.

Cheesy Pizza Crust

2 1/4 – 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 pkg yeast
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 cup water warmed to 110 degrees

Mix 1 cup flour, yeast Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper in a medium mixing bowl. Add water to the flour mixture and mix until almost smooth, add in remaining flour as needed to make a soft dough. On a clean, well floured surface knead dough until it is smooth and elastic. Cover and let rest for 15 minutes. Roll dough into a size to fit your pizza pan. Add your favorite sauce, cheese, and toppings. Bake at 425 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and crust is done.

S.S. Mommy's Summer Survival Kit free report will be showing up on Saturday morning and is available for RSS subscribers only!

 <<She reads my blog by the way – “Hey Mom! How’s it going?>>

Her recipe is a bit different than some that I’ve seen because she always adds coconut in hers. I have to admit that I’m not a real big fan of coconut but I promise you for sure that when she whipped up a batch of these cookies, my step-dad and I fought over every single last bite! If you absolutely will not eat the coconut then you can simply leave the recipe as is and just leave it out without making any adjustments. Okay so without any further chatter here’s:

Grandma Mary’s No-Bake Cookies

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup milk

2 cups sugar

6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa

3 cups quick-cooking oats

1/2 cup coconut

Heat butter, milk, and sugar in a sauce pan over medium heat and bring to a rolling boil; stir occasionally. Let the mixture boil for 1 minute and continue to stir occasionally. Remove it from the heat and add cocoa, oats, and coconut. Drop tablespoonfuls of mixture onto waxed paper and let cool until “set”.

This should make about 3 dozen cookies but when you have your children helping you it’s hard to determine just how many you’ll end up with in the end.

S.S. Mommy's Summer Survival Kit free report will be showing up on Saturday morning and is available for RSS subscribers only!