I've only turned on the stove once in the last week to do anything more than boil tea water, and I blame/thank one of my favorite Library Patrons for the new culinary inspiration. My Clark Kent job is at the front desk of a public library, (can't remember if I've ever mentioned that), and part of my duties include procuring books from other libraries for people when our small Lib doesn't have them in stock. I consider it a point of pride, (and a super power), that I can usually get my hands on most of what people ask for. But I digress. Back to my favorite colour which is blue, wait, no green...
So this particular patron was looking for books about Green Smoothies and Eating Raw, and since the Lib was quiet we were able to converse on the subject and I found myself intrigued. Imagine being able to get all of your daily recommended dose of fruits and veggies in a cup, without the fuss of pots and pans, complicated recipes,or time spent? Plus there is the added benefit of eating food in its original raw state when it is supposedly most nutritious. And being that these Smoothies are from scratch, and that scratch is raw fruits and veggies, they are by their very nature gluten free. You control the ingredients. (There are literally dozens of books and even more websites dedicated to Green Smoothies alone as well as Eating Raw. I haven't looked at them all of course, but of the ones I have seen I would recommend: the Green Smoothie Revolution and Ani's Raw Food Kitchen.)
I will be the first to admit that I fast bored of salads, finding myself quickly sliding out of that healthy habit as I ran out of things to top lettuce with. Smoothies on the other hand are fun! Okay, so I'm a bit of a sucker for the wanton destruction of the blender. Now I feel like one of the old master painters blending pigments... what colour will today's gastronomic concoction become? At the end of the blend not all green smoothies are green! I'm mixing things I might not have normally eaten before, and some certainly not raw, avocado (I'm going to try growing a plant from the seed), beet greens, fresh mint and basil (I now have it growing in my windowsill), papaya, plum tomatoes... Plus I have to say I'm a serious fan of the fact that "cooking" a healthy meal requires nothing more than a blender, a knife, and a vessel to drink from. My friendly Patron feeds these to her young daughter, and I think I would have been the sort of child to have enjoyed drinking gloppy green stuff for breakfast if for nothing other than the gross out factor alone. (Okay yeah, I would have been beggin' to throw random defenseless fruit into the blender, it's just the way I'm wired). But it helps that even the worst Smoothie I've made so far was pretty tasty, and the best ones made me wish I'd made twice as much! And because they were so good, I've finally come out from under my rock to write about them.
So go throw some unsuspecting leafy greens into your blender, add some fruit, add some veggies, add some fresh herbs. Be creative, make pretty colours. Make it thick, make it thin, make freezer pops! Have fun, be green.
Here are a few of my favorites things...
It's Purple!
1/2 black berries (I use frozen cuz I'm cheap and lazy)
1 Orange (peel, section then throw it all in the blender)
1 1/2 bananas ( this makes it thick and smooth)
2 big handfuls baby spinach (I've also made this with beet greens)
1/2 water or less if your blender doesn't need much water to work
The Chill
1 inch cucumber (use skin if not waxed)
5-6 fresh mint leaves
1 big handful leafy lettuce
lemon juice to taste
1 cup water
this isn't really a Smoothie so much as a slurrie, let sit for about an hour so the flavors blend, very refreshing
Tropical Green
1 banana
1/2 cup frozen tropical fruit blend
1/2 apple
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 big handfuls baby spinach
1/2 water or less if your blender doesn't need much water to work
