Cilantro Smoothie

Good morning! Yesterday was a very blah day for me. I was supposed to go take a blood test to see if I am preggers, but the clinic was closed. Hubby and I drove to 3 different drug stores to buy a home pee test. In the end, it was negative and we ate some nachos.

Today, I am feeling lighter. I may not know what the heezy is going on baby/body wise, but I can find much comfort in the people around me and the life I am lucky enough to have. I trust the universe to continue working as it is meant to; I'm down for the ride.

So! This morning's smoothie was a bit of a risk. This is how it started out...

1 cup Simply Apple Juice
2 Oranges
2 handfuls Spinach
8 sprigs Cilantro
2 Carrots
1 cup Frozen Strawberries
1 cup Ice
plus some Maca and Flax seeds

How did it taste, you ask? Like rubbing your face in a pile of cilantro.
Hmm.
Then we tried this...

Add:
1 Carrot
1  handful Spinach
1 Frozen Banana
1 cup Frozen Mango

And now? Better! Certainly drinkable. It's hard to mellow out cilantro once it's in there.
What did we learn today?

LESS CILANTRO FOR OPTIMAL YUMMINESS.

Have a great day :)

Pineapple Green Smoothie

The green smoothie saga continues. This morning we have apple juice, water, spinach, romaine lettuce, baby carrots, frozen banana and lots of pineapple. Also, maca, chia seeds and matcha green tea powder.

Yes! This is excellent!






Any body have any good green smoothie recipes to share?



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Green Smoothie

I have been inspired by a lovely woman to embark down a new path. Denise Madeja of Raw Intentions is helping me begin a journey into raw food living. While I may not be 100% committed to going without cooked food or chocolate cake, I'm eating more veggies and fruits than donuts and that's a good start.

As Denise would say, "It's about making a better choice today than yesterday so that tomorrow can be the best!"

So for today, I begin with my first "Green Smoothie."



1 banana
6 strawberries
1 kiwi
1/2 - 1 cup almond milk
small handful of spinach



Last night, I cut up the banana and put it in a Tupperware in the freezer so that it would be ready to dump in this morning. I used whole frozen strawberries, so they were easy enough to toss in. I sliced the kiwi without peeling it (yay, fiber!) and threw that on top.

I admit, I did not measure the almond milk; I just poured some in. Probably about half a cup. Then sent my poor immersion blender to work. I now know that immersion blenders do not do well with frozen things. But it persevered!

I added a little more milk, blended some more, added the spinach, blended LOTS more. A little more almond milk to thin it out. And voila. Breakfast. And it doesn't even taste like spinach!

Cheers and Sláinte to all on this fine morning. Bottoms up.

Vegan Mug Cake

Uh- that's right, fellas and ladies. Vegan... Chocolate... 1 minute... CAKE! IT'S TOO MUCH TO BEAR!!!
(link to the recipe I used )

And to think, Hubs was about to go to the store just to prevent me from having a psychotic episode. What a swell guy.

Spectacular Vegan Sauces

As promised, I am posting the recipes for the two sauces I made to accompany the delicious asparagus and coconut curry my roommate and I cooked up on Monday. I have never made a sauce before so this was really exciting! And lifted my spirits quite a bit, since my baking has taken a turn for the worse as of late.

Vegan Peanut Sauce
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup water
a sprinkle of ground red pepper to taste

Mix it all up. Stir it with all your might! Cause that peanut butter isn't going down without a fight. (ooooh, a rhyme!)
This sauce came out a little sweeter than I expected. But when drizzled lightly over curry and rice, KAPOW! Awesomeness.

Vegan Lemon Aioli Sauce
1/2 cup Vegennaise
2 garlic cloves, minced (or 1 tbsp minced garlic from a jar)
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon basil

Mix it up!

This sauce went really well with our almond, garlic asparagus.

But really I just love opportunities to eat mayonnaise.

Sloppy TVP - not quite as catchy...

My day started out really great! I won a giveaway from madewithlove so now my button will be on their page. Weeee! I'm excited.

On to other news, this next recipe is so simple yet positively mind blowing (for me, anyway). For 8 years I didn't eat barbeque sauce because I was a bad vegetarian and mostly ate cheese and bread. One day my husband made a baked potato with barbeque sauce all over it and my life has not been the same since. Here is my favorite recipe made with, you guessed it, barbeque sauce.

Sloppy TVP

Put 2 tbs oil in a medium skillet.
Add 1/2 cup TVP and slightly less than 1/2 cup water
Let that heat up a minute while the TVP soaks up some water
Squirt barbeque sauce over TVP mixture, stir in, add more til it looks coated
1 tsp liquid smoke
1/2 tsp vegan Worcestershire sauce (optional)
I like to add a little chipotle seasoning or vegan bacon salt
salt and pepper to taste

This goes great on a hoagie bun with a little vegenaise and a sliced claussen pickle! Or atop a baked potato.

Vegan Mulligatawny Soup - I'd get lost on an island with this soup

This soup is so amazingly awesomely delicious that you will decide to invite friends over to help you eat the giant pot of soup and then silently cry that you won't have enough leftovers to eat for breakfast.
* Be wary of growing feelings of resentment when your friends get seconds.
* Do not steal the pot and elope to Mexico. No one will understand your love.

Mulligatawny Soup (vegan version)

1 yellow onion, chopped
6 stalks celery, chopped
6 carrot, diced
1/4 cup peanut oil
1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
8 cups vegetable broth (or Not Chik'n Broth)
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup rice (jasmine rice is good)
1 can coconut milk
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste
1 pinch dried thyme

Jazz it up with extra pinches of cumin, coriander, ground red pepper, and more curry powder.

Saute onions, celery, carrot, and oil in a large soup pot. Add flour and curry, and cook 5 more minutes. Add stock, mix well, and bring to a boil. Simmer about 1/2 hour.
Add applesauce, rice, coconut milk, salt, pepper, and thyme. Simmer 15-20 minutes, or until rice is done.

Spicy Pumpkin Soup Recipe

I know that soup season is nearly over, but I feel the need to share this recipe.
(for vegan recipe, use rice milk and omit butter and cheese)

5 cups Vegetable Broth
1 can Evaporated Milk
30 oz Pure Pumpkin, puréed
16 oz Yellow Corn
1 packet Lipton Vegetable Soup Mix
1 cup Sharp Cheddar Cheese, grated
2 tbsp Stick Butter
6 tbsp. Dark Brown Sugar (this part is VERY important!)
2 tbsp. Chili Powder
1 tbsp. Ground Cumin
1 tsp. Ground Coriander
1 tsp. Ground Red Pepper
1 tsp. Thyme
½ tsp. Celery Seed
Salt and Pepper to taste

Blend pumpkin, vegetable broth and evaporated milk in large stock pot.
Add remaining ingredients and whisk for 2-3 minutes.
Bring to boil over medium heat.
Reduce heat and simmer until flavors blend, about 30 minutes.

Makes about 3 qts.

When we first made this, we used a whole pumpkin. Let me be the first to say, when you are standing in the kitchen holding a HUGE PUMPKIN, life can become very confusing. We ended up with 75 ounces of pure pumpkin, whereas the recipe only calls for 30. We put up a post on facebook calling all nearby residents to bring a bowl. There should be a proverb about how time and effort put into a pumpkin can feed a small village.