Move Over, McDonalds! (Part II).

I finally finished the brown rice pudding. It lasted me three breakfasts. And I'm definitely planning on making it again!

However, I'm still on this weird breakfast experimenting spree. So yesterday, I decided that my next breakfast would be a smoothie.

Well that was a big fail. This morning, it was 17 degrees but felt like FOUR. ??? I don't think I've ever experienced weather in the single digits.

Needless to say, I was not in the smoothie mood. My insides already felt frozen without consuming a frozen beverage.

Never fear! I still made the smoothie I'd planned to make today, but in the form of a protein shake. It was just as great as I'd envisioned it to be.

Raspberry Creamsicle Protein Smoothie

Ingredients:

• 1 frozen banana
• 1/2 frozen avocado
• 2-3 tbsp frozen raspberries
• 1.5 cups milk (I used almond because it's creamy)
• 1 scoop vanilla protein powder

I know the avocado part sounds weird, but the avocado taste is practically invisible! The raspberries have such a strong flavor that it masks pretty much everything else (including the protein powder!). What a fun way to drink protein.

So why exactly am I asking McDonalds to move over? Well, that's because I made some green bean fries today. 

I did lots of research on green bean fries, and the consensus is that they taste like French fries. What a strange concept. I also assumed that making green bean fries involved breading the green beans in some form.

But this is the easiest recipe ever, and I highly recommend making this if you feel the need to consume French fries.

Green Bean Fries

Ingredients:

• fresh green beans
• olive oil
• salt

There really are only three ingredients.

Chopping the green beans is optional. I chopped them in half because they were long. Toss them with olive oil and salt.

Arrange on a baking sheet. Bake at 425F for 15-20 minutes, flipping them after 10 minutes.

Remove from oven when the "fries" have sufficiently browned.

I tried one, expecting it to taste like a French fry. It didn't. (Yet). It was tasty, though.

Then I decided to really put it to the test. I dipped a few of them in ketchup.

And they really tasted like French fries. Something about the crisp outer portion in combination with the soft inner portion dipped in ketchup made my taste buds quite confused. 

So...this is what happened.

Now you really have no excuse not to eat your veggies! Green bean fries and spaghetti squash hash browns? These two recipes alone should have you fulfilling your new year's resolutions in no time!