Kid Friendly

Forget doing another set of crunches at the gym. Tomorrow morning, sip on this deliciously sweet smoothie packed with ingredients that fight belly fat and reduce bloating — all for under 300 calories.

The Greek yogurt in the recipe provides a good amount of calcium and protein, both of which can aid in weight loss. The smoothie also contains several ingredients — like blueberries — which have been shown to help diminish belly fat. If that's not enough, you also get the sweetness of pineapple, which contains an enzyme that helps ease digestion and banish bloat. You won't be able to taste the kale, which is full of fiber to prevent constipation, as well as calorie-free water to help clean you out.

From Jenny Sugar, POPSUGAR Fitness

Flat-Belly Smoothie

Ingredients

3 ounces vanilla nonfat Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon almond butter
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1/2 cup frozen pineapple
1 cup kale
3/4 cup water

Directions

1. Place all the ingredients in a blender and mix until smooth.
2. Enjoy immediately.

Makes one serving.

Source: Calorie Count

print recipe

Do you, like me, equate sun-filled May days with outdoor eating and drinking? If so, then you'll spring for this speedy, supersimple, no-cook bean salad.

Macaroni and potato salads may get most of the love, but I'd argue the unsung hero of the picnic is actually the bean salad: it's light, full of wholesome ingredients, and satisfying. This six-bean version in particular boasts a symphony of flavors; it's sweet, savory, tangy, a little bit spicy, and bright (thanks to the addition of fresh dill). Best of all, it's free of any cream or mayonnaise, so you'll never have to worry about it baking in the Summer sun.

Get the effortless bean salad recipe now.

If your hair is dull, dry, and brittle, forget spending tons of money on shampoos and styling products that claim to offer shine and moisture. You need to replenish your hair from the inside out! Made from hair-healthy ingredients like Greek yogurt, blueberries, and kidney beans, this smoothie will help moisturize the scalp and encourage growth. The beans also offer biotin, which is not only great for your hair, but for your skin as well.

This under 400-calorie smoothie contains almost 20 grams of protein. If you're skeptical about the beans and spinach, the fruit overpowers their mild flavors so you hardly even notice they're there.

Keep reading for the simple recipe and nutritional info.

We've got a partnership with the recipe, equipment, and product testing gurus at America's Test Kitchen. They'll be sharing some of their time-tested recipes and technical expertise with us weekly. This week: how to perfect a nostalgic side, the tater tot.

We recently found that our nostalgia for frozen tots, like many kid-friendly foods, outshone the reality. Determined to right this wrong, we hit the test kitchen in search of potato tots with a golden, crunchy exterior and light, fluffy interior. After 100 pounds of potatoes, we finally got a recipe for tots that adults can't get enough of, either.

Video: Watch Christopher Kimball and Julia Collin Davison show every step of making the tots as part of the "Dinner at the Diner" episode of Cook's Country TV.

Why this recipe works: Many recipes simply mix coarsely ground potato with flour and egg, which fry up into raw, dense nuggets. We found that parcooking the chopped potato in the microwave was a step in the right direction, but the tots were still too heavy. Reducing the flour and omitting the egg helped, but the tots were still not light and fluffy. To minimize the gluey texture of potato starch, we tried processing the potatoes with water. Perfection. This step rinsed off the excess starch, and a small amount of salt in the mixture kept the interior downy white.

Keep reading to see the recipe for tater tots.

A dried mango addiction is no laughing matter to your wallet. A small container can run you almost $10! That's just insane when a fresh mango costs about $2. Aside from costing too much at the health-food store, some dried mango is made with added sugar or preservatives. Save triply on money, calories, and chemicals by making your own homemade chewy treat.

Keep reading for the simple recipe.

Mouth-puckeringly tart, slightly sweet, cool, and creamy, the mango lassi is a natural pairing with spicy Indian dishes as its dairy base quells fiery bursts of heat. Thankfully, like its smoothie kin, it's a simple recipe to master and, likewise, worth considering beyond the dinner table.

Thinner than a typical smoothie (thanks to a healthy dose of milk), a lassi isn't an exact analogue per se but ticks many of the same boxes. For those only familiar with it as Indian-restaurant fare, it might seem like an odd choice for breakfast, but I bet once you try your hand at the easy recipe, you'll want to enjoy it morning, noon, and night.

Often the most memorable gifts are those that are homemade. Rather than go to an expensive chocolate shop, attempt these homemade white chocolate truffles. Sure, you may be thinking white chocolate is plain Jane, but these truffles are anything but. Whether you are making them for your love, your friends, or your mother this Sunday, any recipient of these chocolates will be amazed by the craftsmanship and flavor of these white chocolate truffles.

First, you'll need to make a ganache, which is an emulsified mixture of heavy cream and white chocolate. When it cools, it will set into a cloudy, more malleable mixture.

The ganache is rolled into balls before it is dipped in the melted, tempered chocolate.

The white chocolate shell snaps to reveal creamy white chocolate ganache centers.

Make the recipe.

Now that I've accepted that I have a severe gluten intolerance, I've started enjoying food a lot more. Thanks to people like Lena Kwak — the food developer for chef Thomas Keller — we all have better gluten-free options. She has developed a flour called Cup4Cup that can be used interchangeably with all-purpose flour. So grab a bag and start baking these awesome cookies. Like the name suggests, I put just about everything in them — it just depends on what I have on hand.

Keep reading for the recipe!

Hot-pink stalks of rhubarb and rosy-shouldered strawberries practically beg to be simmered together; add perfume-like cardamom to the mix, and it's hardly surprising that this crumble is a keeper. Even better, it's a low-effort proposition, perfect for casual entertaining or baking up as a spontaneous treat for oneself.

Particularly when working with cardamom, make certain to grind the spice fresh, as it rapidly loses its fragrance once pulverized to a powder. Other than that, this recipe is simple, satisfying, and more than worth the minimal effort expended — try it yourself tonight.

For a sweet treat that cuts back on calories, fat, and sugar, bake a batch of light and airy low-calorie red velvet cupcakes. While there's still a tablespoon of agave nectar used, the high-sugar content of traditional cupcakes is brought down with the addition of Stevia to the mix. This recipe only makes four cupcakes total, but consider it a blessing — this way you won't be tempted to chow down on all the leftovers lurking in the kitchen.

Keep reading for this sweet Stevia cupcake recipe.