Fruit & Veggie Smoothie!

Fruit & Veggie Smoothies!

(They’re an Adventure!)

I am often asked to provide recipes for my Fruit & Veggie Smoothies. (Pam and I have a large one most mornings.) My reply is that I don’t really have a recipe. I use whatever fruits and veggies I have on hand.

But while I don’t have a recipe. I do have a plan I can share with you so that your fruit and veggie smoothies can become a taste adventure.

First, of course, you need a powerful blender. I use a Vitamix. This is a great “blender on steroids” and nothing less expensive will make smoothies as smooth. Literally, the Vitamix emulsifies the ingredients. But a Vitamix is $400 plus. It is a good investment being that it has a 7 year warranty and can make ice-cream, grind flour from the whole grain, make soup right inside the container that’s piping hot and so much more.

But you can also purchase a blender like the Ninja to make good smoothies. ($99-$149 at Wal-Mart). Also, just a good powerful generic blender should work.

First: Your INGREDIENTS.

1. Fruit & Veggies of all kinds (either fresh or frozen). Don’t be afraid of using frozen fruit & veggies. Studies show that these frozen items often have more nutrients than their fresh counterpart. Why? Because the time from field to your table with fresh produce can be a week or more. During this time, they lose as much as 40% of their nutrients. On the other hand, fruits and veggies go right from the field to the freezing plant sometimes within hours.

2. My plan – USE WHATEVER YOU HAVE ON HAND OR WHATEVER YOU FIND ON SALE!

3. USE ABOUT 1/3rd of your produce or fruit frozen in your drink. Fill the container 1/3rd with frozen items. This keeps the smoothy cold when served.

4. Also, MAKE AT LEAST 1/3RD TO 1/2 of your smoothy out of FRUIT. Today I placed a frozen Kiwi, Frozen Strawberries, along with a handful of homemade banana chips and homemade dehydrated oranges.

5. Fill the REMAINDER OF THE CONTAINER WITH FRESH ITEMS. I packed spinach into our morning drink right up to the top.

6. OTHER ITEMS TO CONSIDER ADDING: I add a few tablespoons of ground flax seed (Omega 3 fatty acids); 2 tablespoons of ground sunflower seeds and a small handful of walnuts (Magnesium). I grind these first in a coffee grinder and throw them in the drink while it’s blending. These really add a nutrition punch to the smoothy.

7. Add filtered water (we use a Britta water filter) so that the water fills the container 1/2 way. You can add more while blending if you want a more watery smoothy.

8. I also add a few sprinkled of concentrated STEVIA POWDER. I buy the concentrate of this mega sweetener (1 lb. of Stevia powder = 200 to 300 lbs. of tabel sugar). Stevia has no calories and comes from a tropical plant. I place my Stevia is a salt shaker and I find that 2 shakes into my smoothy is enough to add some sweetening. Most people don’t like the taste of Stevia alone (at least until they get accustomed to it). But I find Stevia works very well to enhance natural sugars in the fruit.

That’s it. BLEND YOUR SMOOTHY UNTIL IT IS SMOOTH. Serve right away.

A full container makes Pam and I each a 32 ounce smoothy. It’s a great way to start a day. ENJOY!

A Note About The “Raw-Food” Philosophy

The following recipe is from some great folks who follow a “Raw-Food” diet. Certainly the major portion of a healthy diet should contain raw foods (just as God created them) – without cooking or processing the ingredients. But some very healthy food choices such as mushrooms should be cooked in order to rid them of natural toxins. Dr. Joel Furhman M.D. lists mushrooms as a “super-food” that protects against breast cancer in his great book, “Super Immunity”. Certainly it seems reasonable to conclude that the lion’s share of a healthy diet should be raw fruits, veggies, nuts and seeds. But from my research, the best information on nutrition does not support the notion that some cooked veggies are bad for you. They may not be as healthy in a cooked state as they are in a raw condition; they may lose some nutrients in cooking, but they are not therefore “bad” for you. I make this point because I believe you will find some great recipes from the “Raw-Food” folks. But be careful in your evaluation of the raw-food philosophy.

Having given my opinion, I do suggest you look for good healthy recipes from those that hold a Raw-Food philosophy. But always look over a recipe carefully and ask questions. Does this contain a lot of fat? Nuts, for example, are good for you, but they should be eaten in limited quantity if you are trying to lose weight because they are high in fat. How much added salt is in the recipe? It might be best to leave out salt, or at least cut it down to bare minimum. There might be other questions you can think of to add to the list.

The following recipe comes from www.RawFor30Days.com .

A 2 part video of the making of this desert can be found at www.youtube.com/rawfor30 .

The recipe originally came from www.sweetlyraw.com. (This young lady has published an e-book of Raw-Food desert recipes. The recipes look delicious.)

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Apple Raspberry Pie Recipe

Crust:

• 2 cups pecans
• 1 cup walnuts
• ¾ cup pitted and packed, medjool dates

In a food processor, combine all ingredients until they become crumbly. Press half of the mixture into a 9” pie plate.

Filling:

• 2 cups raspberries
• 6 medium sized apples, separated
• ½ cup pitted and packed, medjool dates
• ¼ cup raisins
• 2 tsp cinnamon

1. Sprinkle the raspberries over the pie crust.

2. Peel and core all apples.

3. In a food processor, puree 2 of the apples, and remaining ingredients, until smooth. Pour this mixture into a bowl.

4. Chop the other 4 apples into large chunks and then process into small chunks in a food processor, making sure NOT to puree it into applesauce! Add to the puree.

5. Spread this filling into the pie crust.

6. Top with the remaining pie crust, sprinkling it over the tip like crumble.

Today I made my first batch of home made soy milk. It was easy and cost a fraction of buying the commercial product. (Besides, I know what I put in it.)

After doing a lot of online research, my process was as follows.

FIRST: Soak 3/4 cup of dried soy beans in 1 quart of water for 10-16 hours. (You can get soy beans from most health food stores. Genesee Natural Foods, Genesee, Pa. for example. www.gnfi.com, or just search for them via Amazon.com)

SECOND: After soaking, drain the beans and heat the beans in the microwave for 2 to 3 minutes. This will reportedly destroy enzymes that cause a “beany” taste.

THIRD: Pure’ the beans with 2 quarts of filtered water in a good blended. (I used a Vitamix).

FOURTH: Strain the mixture through cheese cloth. (I found this was not necessary using the Vitamix because the beans were so emulsified no “okara” (the insoluble material) remained. But if your using a standard blender, you will need to do this.)

FIFTH: Boil the recovered soy-milk after removing the particulates with the cheese cloth. Bring the milk to a boil and boil for 5 to 10 minutes.

SIXTH: Let cool and flavor the milk. A little salt will improve the flavor. Cows milk does contain salt. I also added a little Vanilla Extract and some sweetener to taste.

The result was a very tasty soy milk.

Enjoy!