Medjool dates

Strawberry Pear Apple Parsley Smoothie

What’s in a name? How about, surprise goodness. Or smoothie by happenstance. Maybe, I can’t believe this mixes together so nicely.  lol!

I have to say that I was a bit surprised by this combination. The first one I tried happened because I was hutting around for fruit and, well, all the exotic stuff was gone and all I had left where pieces that I was tied of eating. I had a beat-up pear, an older kind of soft apple but that wasn’t enough. I dug around in the freezer and found some strawberries and thought what the heck.

That adventurous happenstance turned out nice enough to want to share with the rest of the world. And, well, here it is!

  • 1 pear
  • 1 apple
  • 10 frozen (or fresh) Strawberries
  • 2 Medjool dates
  • ¾ cup coconut milk
  • ¾ cup rejuvelac
  • 1 bunch fresh garden picked parsley

Add everything but the greens to you high speed blender. Grind to a liquid. That might take about 10 seconds.

Next, add your greens. Remember, green smoothies are all about getting your greens in a way that is raw and enjoyable. As you can see, I try to always use a ‘bunch’ of parsley. The stores are pretty good about selling bunches in the size that works perfect in a smoothie.

Now blend again. This time, after the greens are chopped, you’ll want to spin the blender on high for about a minute. The longer you go, the smoother the smoothie. At the same time, the longer you go the warmer it gets. Because we’re using frozen strawberries, you shouldn’t notice any heating in that 60 seconds.

In the end, depending on the size of the fruit that you use, you’ll get 4 to 5 cups.

Even if you have an aversion to parsley, you might find this one a little more tolerable. If you  like parsley, you’ll probably really enjoy this one. If you love parsley (like me!) you’ll want to make this smoothie a number of days in a row!

Remember, if you get to experimenting with green smoothies, it always helps to keep the Green Smoothie Basics in mind. They taste best when balancing sweet, sour, salty and bitter. Once the balance if found, it then a matter of accentuating the flavor!

Good day!

Collard Smoothie with Blueberries & Mango

This, I believe, is the best collard greens smoothie I’ve ever had. Every once in a while you come across a combination that simply stands apart from the rest. This smoothie is it. I wish I knew the reason why this one came together so well and I may someday, but it is what it is. And this one is a keeper!

Recipe:

  • 1 cup rejuvelac
  • 1 ½ cups frozen blueberries
  • 1 mango
  • 1 frozen banana
  • 3 larger medjool dates
  • ½ cup coconut milk
  • 1 large bowl collard greens

I added the blueberries to the rejuvelac so as to get a wet measure on the berries. As you can see in the above picture, the liquid line is at about 2 ½ cups. Once you’ve pitted the dates and mango and thrown it all in the blender, you’ll get something that looks like this:

The center of the collard green leave isn’t the most tender steam. Thus, I like to slice them out. I run a paring knife along the rib to shave off each side of the leaf. You’ll end up with a pile that looks like this.

Notice that I’ve spun the fruit just to the liquid stage. It makes it easier to add the greens.

After blending for 60 seconds, you get this wonderful green colored mostly fruit smoothie that’s just loaded with good things for your mind and spirit (body too).

I’ll be making this one multiple times. This was the second real picking of collard greens from the garden and I’m totally looking forward to getting more. I’m going to have to plan the harvest around having a fresh mango on hand. A frozen banana, blueberries and dates can come around just about any time.

Think green – act green everyday!

Cherry Truffles – A Chocolate Dream

Chocolate truffles are no longer just for Christmas! Here is it, the end of July and I’ve found a few extra hours to craft some hand rolled cherry truffles. If you haven’t ever given this a try – and you love making decadent deserts – this project is for you.

The filling has the consistency of gooey fudge and the outside has just a little crunch to it. The secret is the amaretto (or almond extract) that you add to the filling. It’s also worthwhile to serve these truffles are room temperature, but be prepared to get chocolate on your fingers. These are not M&Ms!

Don’t those look great! I hope they last more than just a couple days.

Recipe: for the filling

  • 1 cup dried cherries
  • ½ cup Almond butter (paste)
  • 1/8th tsp Sea Salt
  • 1 tsp vanilla powder
  • 6 large Medjool dates
  • ½ cup cacao powder
  • 1 oz Amaretto (or 1 tsp almond extract)

This one takes a little bit of preparation – you need to reconstitute the cherries and dates. With the cherries place just a little less than 1 cup on a jar and barely cover with water. Let it stand a few hours. Once rehydrated, remove from water and reserve. With the dates, if you’re using amaretto, pit them and cover with the ounce of amaretto. If you’re using the almond extract, add a little water and let them rehydrate a bit.

We’re going to use a mixer with the S-blade to create this filling. To start with, add the cherries (without the water) and dates (with the water) and blend. You want to really break these down before going further.

Once the mixture looks like really good jam, you want to add the other ingredients. Make an effort to mix the powder in before turning on the machine or you’ll get cacao everywhere. Once done, it will look like this:

At this point, you’ll want to cool it before rolling it into balls. I placed it in the fridge overnight.

While it’s still cold, you want to shape small spoonfuls into little round balls. I rub coconut butter on my hands and keep a little around so that the filling doesn’t stick so bad. Notice that in the following picture there are some that turn out smooth and others that are a little spiky. Well, the filling tends to pick up the coconut butter (oil) so you’ll get a feel for how often to replenish the coating on your hands.

Recipe: For the cacao coating

  • ½ lb. Cacao butter
  • ¾ cup cacao powder
  • 4 Tbsps Agave syrup
  • 1 tsp vanilla powder

Place the cacao butter in the dehydrator until it melts (or shave it and float a bowl of it in a hot water bath). After it’s melted, add the cacao and vanilla and stir toughly. Lastly, add the agave (if you like it really sweet (which I don’t) you’ll want to add a little more agave.

I melt the cacao butter in a 2 cup measuring cup so it’s a little steeper on the sides (more depth) so that when I dip the filling balls I can stretch the cacao butter a little further.

Using cold filling balls, place one on a fork and dip it in the warm cacao and remove. The cacao butter (coating) should harden fairly quickly around the cold filling. This should only take a few seconds. To get the chocolate coating fairly thick, you’ll want to dip it about three times.

In the end you get something like this…

… which you get to enjoy for lunches for a week or so!  This recipe makes about 50 once inch (or smaller) truffles.

I hope you love these as much as I do.

Kale Blueberry Mango Watermelon Smoothie

There are two ways that I most enjoy eating kale 1) with blueberries and 2) with even MORE blueberries mixed with watermelon! Watermelon, all around, makes for a great addition to smoothies, but in this case it thins out (and cools) what is normally thick (and warmer). If you love the Kale Blueberry smoothie post I’ve made before, you’ll really love this one!

Oh, and I have to say that I’m totally excited to see the kale coming on in the garden. It’s still a bit cold for it, but I’m able to get the first smaller leaves. I can’t tell any taste difference between the larger leaves and these smaller ones, but it just takes more. After a harvest, I feel that I’ve left the plants naked and exposed! Yet, when I revisit in a few days they look back to normal.

Recipe:

  • 1 cup rejuvelac
  • 1 cup blueberries (wet measure as you poor them into the blender
  • 1 ripe mango
  • Couple medjool dates
  • 2-4 cups watermelon
  • Juice of ½ lemon

Start off by blending all the fruit to liquefy.

Now we’re going to add our bowl full of kale.

As with most greens, they don’t consume much volume.

After packing the leaves in, blend for 60 seconds or more but don’t let the mixture heat up. You can easily monitor the temperature by holding your hand against the side of the blender. If it’s feeling warm, you spun it for too long! Just run it long enough to break everything down. You don’t want to have to chew chunks of kale.

In the end, you’ll have around 7 cups to enjoy and share with a friend. If you’re the only one, you’ll probably get a breakfast and lunch out of this recipe. It’s worth it, really…

Sometimes I wish I had some voting software that I could include with these smoothie recipes. It would be cool to get the votes of others are they try them out too. I could envision a five start system. Five being the best, I’d put this one on that five star list!

Kale Mango Strawberry Melon Smoothie

This recipe is a slight variation of the Kale Mango Blueberry Melon Smoothie that I also just posted. I loved that blueberry version so I figured I’d make a slight change and substitute strawberries for blueberries. Well, once again the melon carries the day and shines through to make a gently complex smoothie that is easy to drink – for it is kale!

I’m looking forward to raspberry season so I can say that I’ve tried all the local berries that I love. Blueberries have a strong flavor and a little bit of grit form the tiny seeds, whereas strawberries add a fresh tartness yet the seeds are softer. Raspberries, I’m sure, will add a grit and a wonderful flavor for they are probably as strong as blueberries.

In any case, the strawberries are subtle and the melon stands out a bit more in this smoothie.

Recipe:

  • Juice of ½ lemon
  • 1 large mango
  • 2+ cups watermelon
  • 3 large medjool dates
  • 2+ cups strawberries
  • 1 cup rejuvelac
  • 1 large bowl fresh garden kale

Stack it all in the blender and liquefy.

Once liquefied, press the kale in and blend for 60 (or more) seconds until everything is ground up thoroughly.

As you can see, I had a bit of fun with this one. Every morning I shot for about 7 cups smoothie. This morning I added just a bit too much melon so I poured it off to make a bit more room for the greens. It made for a festive glass of predominately fruit smoothie. I shot for ½ lb of greens every day and in the process get the fruit. The fruit is just there to mask the strong flavors of the greens. Every once in a while it’s nice to ‘go conventional’ and not turn all the smoothie green!

Read about raising your pH and balance out your intake. You’ll feel better and be able to focus your energies on what you like to do without thinking about your body not being able to make it.

  • You are what you eat.
  • You are how you feel.
  • You are what you think.
  • You are what you do.
  • No one stops you but yourself.