Yes, it tastes as good as it looks, and no added sugar!
1/2 C melon, chopped (or apple, including peel)
1 dozen red grapes
1/2 stalk celery with leaves
1 small piece of lime or lemon
1/2 fresh beet
1/2 banana Continue reading “Beet Ginger Smoothie”
This power smoothie is surprisingly good considering the amount of bitter greens. The recipe makes three big servings so definitely reduce the quantities if you’re only making it for yourself. It seems like a lot of ingredients because it is! Of course any of the smaller items (lime, ginger, chocolate, almonds, etc) are all optional. Just don’t remove large amounts of wet ingredients or you’ll be adding water to get it thin enough to blend properly (let alone drink!).
1/3 honey dew melon, seeded and rind removed
2 dozen (or so) red grapes
1 stalk celery with leaves
1 piece of lime or lemon
1 fresh beet
1 banana
2-3 C pre-chopped mixed greens (turnip, mustard, collard, etc.)
1″ piece of fresh ginger
1″ piece of 100% chocolate
1/2 C oats (preferably gluten-free and organic)
1/2 C acai or other juice
1/3 C chia seeds
handful of almonds
1 tray of ice cubes
The night before, soak the chia seeds and almonds in the juice. Peel and coarsely cut the beet and the ginger and toss all that in there as well. Stick it in the frig.
In the morning, you’ll want to process the watery items (melon, grapes, celery) first. You can choose to chop them in to smaller pieces if you like but you really don’t need to if you’re using a power blender, like Vita-Mix or Blend-Tec. So throw that watery stuff in there and blend it on low for 15-20 seconds to get it broken down.
The chia/juice mix will be kind of solid, so scrape that into the blender container next.
Then add everything else. The order doesn’t matter much but I usually put the dry stuff (oats) in last, and then the ice cubes on top.
Process on high (according to your blender’s instructions), tamping it down as needed to get it going. Blend for about 45 seconds or so and then pour and drink right away.
I’m sure a lot of people have never tried kale because they don’t know how to cook kale. I was one of those people too until just a few years ago. That was when I discovered that kale is a great tasting, highly nutritious leafy green vegetable, similar to spinach.
Kale is best when fresh, so cook it within a few days after you buy it at the grocery store. Make sure it’s a nice dark green with firm leaves and no brown spots or flimsy areas.
Kale is also very inexpensive, especially when you buy it in season. I can get a huge bunch of it in season (January-March) for about $1.29.
[Time saving tip: Make the whole bunch at once, even if you won’t eat it all that night. Store the rest in the frig for a few days. Then you can briefly microwave it and serve with another meal. That’ll save you a lot of time.] Continue reading “How to Prepare and Cook Kale”
