Peach-Strawberry Almond Milk Shake

I've switched from milk to Almond Breeze's Almond Milk and my digestive system has thanked me for it. On occasion, I buy a small pint of milk for recipes that call for it but if I can manage to use Almond Milk instead I will. Almond Milk is smooth and light with a mild flavor. I'm never going back to Soy milk again. Make sure you get Almond Breeze. I'm vouching for them not because they told me/paid me to but because in comparison to Silk's Almond Milk, it's far better.

It's almost August which means it's prime time for Peaches. Make sure you try out this shake. It's absolutely delicious.

Ingredients:

A handful of strawberries hulled

1 peach, peeled and sliced

1 cup of Almond Milk

6-8 ice cubes

This makes 3 small glasses or 2 large size ones. 

Add the ice to your food processor and pulse until the ice is crushed. Add your peach slices, strawberries and almond milk. Pulse until smooth. Drink while it's nice and cold.

Cilantro-Lime Black Bean Burgers on Nature's Pride Whole Wheat Buns

I'm ready. I'm ready to strengthen my cooking muscles. I'm ready to enhance my kitchen abilities. I'm ready to take my culinary skills to the next level. How am I going to do that? Start inventing more of my own signature recipes.

When Foodbuzz and Nature's Pride sent me some of Nature's Pride 100% Whole Wheat Buns, I wanted to challenge myself and not only make something I've never made before but also try coming up with something new. Lo and behold: Cilantro-Lime Black Bean Burgers. These are so tasty, you don't even need any seasoning. The combination of onion, garlic, cilantro, lime and black beans is so flavorful that adding any salt or pepper would be criminal. These burgers are healthy. Black beans provide good protein. The Nature's Pride 100% Whole Wheat Buns are sturdy and hold up well. You can definitely stack a couple burgers easily in one bun. They taste delicious too.

These burgers are simple and unique. They'll knock your everyday beef burger out of the park! Try it out. What are you waiting for?

Ingredients

1 small onion chopped

2 cloves of garlic

1 29 oz. can of black beans, rinsed and drained

zest and juice of one lime

3 tablespoons (small bunch) of cilantro leaves

1 egg

1/2 cup of breadcrumbs (less to taste)

Sliced plum tomatoes

dollops of sour cream

Nature's Pride Whole Wheat Buns

Makes 6-8 burgers

In your food processor, add your onion and garlic. Pulse until minced. Then add black beans, lime zest, lime juice and cilantro. Pulse until smooth.

In a bowl, add the bean mixture, one egg and breadcrumbs. Mix until the egg and breadcrumbs are incorporated.

With wet hands, form the black bean burger mix into patties. You can get 6-8 out of this mixture, I happened to make 7.  Heat up your grill pan and add a drizzle of light olive oil. When the pan is hot, grill  each patty until its crispy on both sides. These are delicate burgers so be careful when flipping.

Toast your Nature's Pride 100% Whole Wheat Buns. Each package comes with 8, so if you make 8 burgers you can use the whole bag! Add your burger to the bun and top it off with a couple of slices of tomato, a dollop of sour cream and some cilantro. Enjoy!

Cilantro-Lime Black Bean Burgers

Mango-Ginger Lassi

When I used to live with my parents, I had free access to their food processor and blender and would make Mango-Ginger Lassis on a regular basis. My tiny apartment kitchen has no space for a blender and can barely hold the new Cuisinart I just purchased. So needless to say, I really missed these Lassis since I couldn't make them at home. To break in my new Cuisinart, I decided that it was time to revisit this delicious drink. If you have a blender, please use that instead of your food processor but I'm using my Cuisinart because that's all I got.

Ingredients:

6-8 ice cubes

2 small containers of plain low-fat yogurt

1 mango

1 2-inch piece of ginger, peeled and grated

2 tablespoons of honey

Instructions:

Peel and grate your ginger.  Remove the meat from the mango. 

In your blender or food processor, add the ice cubes and pulse until they are somewhat crushed. Do this to get the drink started so that you don't end up with chunks of ice in your Lassi.

To your blender or food processor, add the grated ginger, mango, yogurt and honey and pulse until smooth. Serve immediately.

It's the perfect combination of sweet and spicy!