Bali Banana Date Smoothie

I'm super excited to share this guest post from my friend Heather. I met Heather a few years ago in San Francisco, and we've been friends ever since. She's an inspiring, positive person – the kind of person you want to be around all the time. She's also the nutrition expert for The Skinnytaste Cookbook, please welcome her!

Hi there, I’m Heather! I’m a dietitian and the founder of www.heatherkjones.com – a weight loss site that focuses on healing and hope instead of diets (ugh) and deprivation (no thank you!). I’m also the creator of Smaller Size Bigger Life, an online group coaching program for women who struggle with emotional eating, compulsive overeating, or body image issues.

I’m thrilled to guest post on Skinnytaste today (thank you, Gina!), and I’m so honored to be the nutrition expert in the upcoming Skinnytaste cookbook. Gina poured her generous heart into this beautiful book and I know you’re going to love it as much as I do!

So I’m a huge fan of green smoothies, in fact I drink a Skinny Green Monster at least a few times a week. But on a recent trip to Bali I discovered a banana smoothie that just blew me away.

The simple combo of banana, dates, yogurt, honey, ice, and (surprise!) cinnamon, makes a refreshing and tasty concoction, especially for sipping on steamy days. I drank one of these delicious smoothies every morning before heading to the pool or biking thru the rice paddies.

Here’s to a healthy and happy summer. Enjoy!

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Spiralized Greek Cucumber Salad with Lemon and Feta

This light cucumber Greek salad is the perfect meatless summer dish. Trust me, you're going to want to make this all summer long! Fresh cucumber, tomatoes, bell pepper, olives, red onion, oregano, lemon juice, olive oil, and fresh feta – it's filling, high in fiber and protein, perfect for lunch or dinner!

I had some fresh Feta leftover from my Lemon Feta Drumsticks, and I've been craving a good Greek Salad, but I wanted to make it without the lettuce and make cucumber the star of the show. This turned out better than I could have imagined! I used my favorite cooking gadget – my the Paderno Spiral Vegetable Slicer with the chipper blade to quickly whip this up into beautiful spirals and the results were a salad that's crunchy and bright, and not weighed down by a heavy dressing. This took me less than 10 minutes start to finish – win!

If you don't own a spiralizer you can just dice the cucumbers with knife and make it a chopped Greek salad instead. I highly recommend using a decent Feta cheese, not a fat free Feta.

A great Meatless Monday meal. If you are making this ahead for lunch for work, you can leave the lemon juice and olive oil out, and pack it on the side, then just add it when you're ready to eat. Enjoy!

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Quinoa Tabbouleh + Summer Berry Cobbler from the Skinnytaste Cookbook

I know a lot of you are really excited about The Skinnytaste Cookbook release. Well guess what?, so is Target! So excited in fact that they are carrying my cookbook which is now available for pre-order on Target.com.

The Skinnytaste Cookbook has 150 recipes – 125 of those recipes are brand spanking new and have never been published on my blog. But I gave Target a sneak peak inside the cookbook and shared two exclusive recipes and photos from the book. (photo credit: Penny De Los Santos)

I chose two of my summer favorites so you don't have to wait until September 30th – you can start making them now while the weather's warming up. The Quinoa Tabbouleh tastes so fresh – a perfect summer salad whether you serve this as a main dish or a side dish with grilled chicken or lamb. And this Summer Berry Cobbler – cobbler is my weakness and this is my absolute favorite way to utilize those sweet summer berries.

Did I tease you enough? Well that wasn't my plan... head on over to Target's A Bullseye View and get the full recipes!!!

Grilled Cumin Spiced Pork Tenderloin

Summer parties and dining al fresco doesn't get more convenient than this – lean pork tenderloin seasoned with a quick, flavorful rub then grilled to perfection served with the easiest salad ever!!

I love having my friends over in the summer for BBQs, but I don't love spending hours in the kitchen. Instead I prefer to keep things simple so I can actually enjoy my company, which is why I love these new DeLallo SaladSavors.

If you're not familiar with DeLallo; I first discovered them last year. They are the only brand of whole wheat pasta my family will actually eat, but they sell tons of other quality ingredients like olive oils, vinegars, olives, roasted peppers, marinated artichokes and more. So it only makes sense that they took those ingredients and conveniently packaged them to create quick and easy salads – all you do is add the lettuce!

Whatever you throw on the grill; whether it's pork tenderloin, shrimp kabobs, pesto chicken kabobs, harissa lamb chops or even just burgers – making a salad with one of these salad toppings takes minutes to put together – EASY!

Back to the pork tenderloin – it's super lean, a serving is under 175 calories (4 points plus) and is gluten-free, clean, paleo-friendly, & takes 25 minutes to make. You can easily double the recipe to serve more. Enjoy!

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Lemon Feta Chicken with Oregano

Mediterranean ingredients such as lemon, oregano and feta cheese turn ordinary chicken into a spectacular dinner. The cheese forms a light crust on top when broiled – you won't even miss the skin!

This is sooo easy to make with only a few ingredients; simply marinate the legs with lemon juice and oregano and bake. Once it's done, top it with fresh grated feta cheese and broil until golden.

I keep this simple and serve it with a salad on the side or you can make this with one of my favorite summer sides, Sauteed Zucchini with Summer Tomatoes.

I first published this recipe back in 2009 using skinless chicken thighs, but a year or two ago the USDA changed the data for chicken thighs and the calories, fat and points increased so much, I started using drumsticks instead. There's a part of me that hopes they made a mistake but until then I use thighs less often.

The drumsticks I used were pretty small, so if yours are really large the points may increase slightly.  Hope you enjoy!

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Aloha Teriyaki Shrimp Burgers

If I can't be in paradise, at least I can bring a little paradise to my backyard with these grilled shrimp burgers topped with grilled pineapple and a homemade pineapple teriyaki sauce – just under 300 calories!

It's June and the weather is getting hot out there, which means most of my dinners are being cooked outside on the grill. Last year I created a shrimp jalapeno patty which I modified slightly to come up with this Hawaiian inspired burger. I found making the burgers ahead of time and keeping them refrigerated before grilling helped them maintain their shape perfectly and I had no issues with them sticking to the grill.

They only take a few minutes to grill on each side and you can grill the pineapples at the same time. This recipes makes 8, but if you want to halve it, you can certainly make enough for 4, although I would probably keep the teriyaki sauce as is and use it for another day.

I served these on whole wheat potato buns but you can skip the bun and serve it over lettuce if you wish to go low-carb.

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Avocado Coconut Popsicles

These creamy popsicles are a real treat! Made with just 4 ingredients – nutrient dense avocados, coconut-almond milk, raw sugar and sweetened coconut flakes. They are also dairy-free, vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free.

It’s no secret, I'm pretty avocado obsessed! I grew up eating avocados all my life and I usually incorporate them into a meal just about every day! In fact, I love them so much I created an entire Pinterest Board devoted to avocados. But I usually eat them in some type of savory dish such as guacamole, BLT, egg salad, in my salad dressings, with my soups and more.

But the fact is, in Brazil where my Dad lived for many years, avocados were never eaten with salt; instead they were treated as the fruit that they are and were often sweetened with sugar. My dad used to make a smoothie years ago with avocados, milk and sugar which he called Vitamina. Because I love coconut, I took his smoothie idea and added coconut flakes and loved it! And since avocados are so nutrient dense, you're also getting a good dose of healthy fats, vitamins and minerals to boot!

PS - The popsicle mold I used is from Progressive which I bought on Amazon, click the link if you're interested.

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