Medjool dates – Page 6 – Genuine Observations

Parsley Pear Banana Smoothie

February 6, 2011February 8, 2011 by Dave

I love parsley! When I was a teenager, I would buy it by the bunch and eat it like eating a bouquet of flowers. People that observed this behavior called it ‘grazing’. Looking back, I now think of it as a little weird, but that doesn’t change the fact that I love parsley!

I’ve been looking for nearly two years now for a combination of ingredients that would significantly mask the taste of parsley so that my wife, who really doesn’t care for anything be the taste, would not complain about a parsley smoothie. Normally, all she has to be is in the same room as a parsley smoothie and her spirit gets all worked up. She absolutely detests parsley smoothies!

Well, as it turns out, for the last three days she’s had parsley smoothies without knowing it. And, better yet, each day I asked her what she thought of the days’ smoothie and she’s said “Ok” and “good”, but still complains that it’s too thick (parsley tends to congeal when it gets broken down, thus it’s jello like if you don’t thin it out.)

So, I’m going to have to say that this parsley smoothie passes the Lori test – which is a pretty high bar to get over!

Parsley, Pear, Banana + smoothie

Recipe:

2 Bananas
2 Pears
½ Mires Lemon
2 Medjool Dates
1 cup Coconut milk with Vanilla flavorings
½ cup Dole Pina Colada juice
1 Tbs ground golden flax
1 probiotic

And, of course:

1 full bunch well washed parsley

If you haven’t noticed, one of the key principles of the green smoothies that I make is that there needs to be an incredible base of liquid to really bring out the flavors in the smoothie. In this case, it really is a must have to include the Dole Pina Colada mix! Without this, it just wouldn’t be the same.

Funny thing about this juice was that a friend came over on the weekend and had a couple pina coladas but left leaving half a container of mix. Not wanting it to go to waste, I figured I’d add it to a smoothie or two. Well, I’m glad that I did for this smoothie would not be the same without it.

Back to the preparation process. Throw everything together and blend. J

Well, actually not everything. Add Juice first, throw in bananas, slice pears adding everything but stem and seeds. Pit the dates and add. Squeeze the lemon making an effort to not allow the seeds in (adds bitter taste). And start the blender for a few seconds to break up the bigger pieces. Now grind the flax seed in your old coffee grinder until fine (and standing) add to smoothie. Add probitic and then cram in the parsley.

Blend again and give it 60+ seconds on high. When you feel the side of the blender and you can sense just a little heat, stop!

It’s at this point that you taste it. Is it sweet enough? Peary enough? Creamy enough? The taste that should stand out is the Pina Colada mix and pear granules (those little specs of pear that don’t grind up).

I’ve got one more bunch of parsley, two pears and a couple bananas so I’m sure this will be on the menu for tomorrow. After that, back to mangos! Got a collection of those for under a buck yesterday and one’s almost ripe.

See you next time!

Strawberry Mango Swiss Chard smoothie

January 30, 2011 by Dave

Now that winter is upon us (me that is), I don’t feel bad about using frozen fruits in my smoothies! Normally, I advocate using fresh fruits rather than frozen for the molecular structure of the fruit has not been altered by low temperatures. But when it gets cold outside, I like to bring back the feeling of warm season fruit in a way that warms me up. Nothing fits that bill better than Ice Cream!

Ice Cream it is! At least for the first few seconds of the life of this drink. Well, ok, I give, it might not really be iced cream (diary), but it sure does taste like it. And, if it doesn’t, I keep working it until it does. Ultimately, I LOVE to experience great tasting smoothies, thus I’m always working to bring out the best flavors.

So, here we go, a creamy strawberry surprise.

Recipe:

1 ½ cup Coconut milk with Vanilla flavor (ok, ok, it’s not raw, but it isn’t dairy!)
10-12 frozen strawberries
1 banana
1 ripe (if you can find them) mango
2 Medjool dates (don’t eat the seeds)
About 1 large Tbs Flax seed
1 probiotic

And, of course, you can’t forget the greens:

1 bunch Swiss chard

When I did my shopping the other day I weighed the Swiss Chard before bagging it. Each bunch came in just under a pound. Yep, that’s right. I use the full bunch and get the biggest ones that I can find. The green smoothies are all about re-mineralizing your body and sweeping out the toxins. So, even though you see all the fruit, it’s balanced by all the greens.

When putting this one together, I combine the coconut milk with all the fruit and blend. The Strawberries take just a few seconds to break down and you end up with something that looks like this:

If you were to look straight down on this, you’d notice that it’s more like a milk shake than ice cream. I probably should have added another few strawberries. That would have thickened it up. Never-the-less, it tasted like a strawberry milk shake – which was close enough for me.

The next step is to grind the flax seed. I love this function for me coffee grinder. Since I gave up making latte’s, that little grinder had sat unused. Now, it’s my flax seed grinder and it works great.

To the ‘milk shake’ I add the rest of the ingredients: ground flax, probiotic and Swiss chard. When I add the Swiss chard, I remove the main rib from the leaf. It’s got some great properties to it, but I don’t want anything in this drink that will distract from a smooth texture.

Now blend. If you’re using a vita-mix, you’ll most likely have to use the plunger to get the greens broken down, but once you’ve got it spinning, flip it on high and give is a whirl.

But don’t stop there! Because we’re using frozen strawberries, we can let the blender run longer and the heat is dissipated into the frozen fruit. And, because we get to let it run longer, we get a creamer feel in the end product.

You won’t get a strawberry seed as you enjoy this one.

Note that this makes about 6 cups!

Light is Life!

Blueberry Bliss Cheesecake

June 28, 2010September 20, 2010 by Dave

I’m excited because not only am I going to be able to show you a beautiful desert, but I’m going to be able to point you to the complete recipe!

This is one of the first raw deserts I learned to make. It’s wonderfully simple and seems to deliver amazing results every time. I’ve served it at Thanksgiving and eaten it for lunch many a times! Yum.

So here it is – Blueberry Bliss!

Look at that! Right out of the spring-form!

If that’s too much, here’s a little serving.

It’s amazing how the close-up shows all the details. I worked for at least a minute jiggling and dropping this spring-form just after pouring the berry mixture in and I still didn’t get all the bubbles out.

When making this desert, the one thing that I’d recommend more than anything else is to make sure you use the best cashews that you can find. Don’t get anything that’s old. Get whole nuts (beans) as fresh as can be.

Also, I use frozen berries (See my Oh My God – Blueberry Sorbet for a picture of the brand). But, when you use frozen berries, they thaw down to at least ½ size. Thus, I pour 4 cups berries into a measuring cup and place them in the dehydrator until they’ve warmed up to 100 degrees. Thus, with the recipe, I’m using a few more berries then what Carmella uses.

Also note that I also place the cacao butter/coconut mixture in the dehydrator to melt along with the berries.

Without further ado, the best write-up is from the source. The Sunny Raw Kitchen’s Bliss-full Blueberry Cheesecake.

…

Well, what did you think of her desert? The blueberries over the top just seem … a little over the top. Thus, you don’t see that in my picture.

I also changed the crust a little simplifying it.

What the heck, I’ve changed it quite a bit. I guess I should include my measurements for comparison.

Crust:

¾ cup soaked almonds
¼ cup coconut flakes
1 tablespoon cacao
1 teaspoon vanilla powder
Pinch Celtic Sea Salt
2 Medjhool dates
Little squeeze Raw Agave

I guess I don’t really like brazil nuts and I’ve found that I like the coconut flakes a little better than the powdered stuff. I put it all together like she does – using a food processor. With the almonds I soak them for maybe 6-8 hours and then let them dry. You want to work with dry nuts

Filling:

4 cups frozen blueberries
1 cup dry cashews – the best you can find
5 Tbsp melted coconut butter
2 Tbsp melted cacao butter
¼ cup honey
1 Tbsp lemon juice
Big pinch of Celtic Sea Salt.

Now, the real trick is getting it creamy without overdoing it. So, I approach the process just a little different than she does. I place the nuts in the blender and give them a whirl. It only takes 20 seconds (or so) before the nuts stick together and let the blade run free. At this point, I add everything else. The juice from the melted blueberries soaks down into the nuts softening them a little while you’re piling everything else on top.

Then, when you actually blend this up, let it run a little longer than you would normally do for smoothies. Remember that you started with warm ingredients, but you don’t want to cook them. Thus, feel the side of the blender as it’s getting creamy and make sure it’s not too hot.

Before pouring it into the spring-form, taste it. You should find yourself licking your fingers!

After you’ve poured the berry mixture into the pan, tap the pan so as to encourage the air bubbles to come to the surface. This might take a little extra coxing, so don’t by distracted by that little bit of mixture that you want to keep tasting!

When it cools, the butter and nuts will set-up giving it that standard cheesecake feel. I normally let it sit overnight.

It’s absolutely a keeper recipe. I make it for lunches!

Enjoy.

Tropical Chard Smoothie

June 9, 2010September 20, 2010 by Dave

I think I’m really starting to like Swiss Chard! Especially when it’s used to color this smoothie green. The combination of all the ingredients seem to come together with just the right texture to make this one stand out.

I know, I know, you’ve heard that from me before, but this time I’ve gotten feedback from a couple other people that have tried this one and, most of the time they kind of shrug their acceptance, yet this time they perk up with a – wow! That’s good!

For three days now I’ve made the exact same smoothie and its better each time. I love it when I can find enough ingredients to make good smoothies for multiple days.

IMG_7669_ingrediants — Swiss Chard, Coconut milk, probiotic, banana, mangos, dates and Pineapple

Here’s what I used

If you remember from the Masking the bitters out of a lettuce smoothie article, I’m using a slice of pineapple that really adds to the tropical flavor. The mangos where also a great deal at Wholefoods. They were ripe but not overripe.

Ingredients:

2 mangos
1 banana
Slice of pineapple (about 1 inch thick)
Four or five little dates (got a great deal on these little dates)
1 – 1 ½ cups Vanilla flavored Coconut milk
1 probiotic
And, of course, 1 bunch Swiss Chard.

When I bought the Swiss Chard at WholeFoods, I commented to the woman at the checkout that this was the dirtiest Swiss Chard I’d ever seen (been raining for what seems like forever) and she responded “we won’t charge more for the extra earth.” Ha. What a great spin on things. So, wash the Swiss Chard well.

Ok, build from the liquid up. Add Coconut milk, Mango, banana, pineapple, dates, probiotic and then pile in the Swiss chard. Looks pretty cool all stacked in the blender.

Start off at lower speeds because you’re going to have to use the ‘plunger’ on this one.

I love how the colors separate during the grinding process. After you hear the dates and greens grind up, flip it on high and start counting. Because the mango and banana is going to give this some texture, you want to make sure to not spin it too long. It will quickly heat up.

In the end, this is what it looks like.

I highly recommend giving this one a try. That is, if you’ve got a good deal on mangos and pineapple when Swiss chard is in season.

Have a great day!

Strawberry, Grape, Spinach Smoothie

June 2, 2010September 20, 2010 by Dave

I’ll bet you never thought about that combination. Just so happened that I got to shop at Costco this last weekend and wouldn’t you know it, but they had Strawberries, Grapes and Spinach all at great prices. I think the 1 lb. spinach containers are the best price in town, but I don’t think they move as many as Whole Foods for I always have to carefully pick through the Costco spinach to pick out the bad pieces and I don’t have to do this with the Whole Food packages. Is it older? Or, does Whole Foods just care for it better? I don’t know. I guess you get what you pay for.

The best part about this smoothie is that tartness of the grapes add to the essence of strawberries which give a richness to the creamy spinach based blend that ultimately stands out from many of the other green smoothies that I’ve made. This one, I do have to say, is worth trying.

Happened to have the camera with me this morning when I threw this one together.