Peaches – Genuine Observations

Peach Spinach Smoothie

September 25, 2011 by Dave

Every time I tell Lori that I’m going to introduce someone new to green smoothies she says, “You’ve got to make them the Peach Spinach one!” If Lori could have it her way, this would be the only green smoothie that she’d drink. I’ve got a lot of favorites, and this one is right up there on the top of the list.

If you’re new to green smoothies or if you want to introduce a friend to how good they can be, consider making them this one. It’s easy, quick and tastes like desert!

Recipe:

2 ripe peaches (maybe three)
2 Medjool dates
1 cup coconut milk
½ lb Fresh young baby spinach
½ cup rejuvelac (optional)

Add liquids, pit the fruit and add it. Blend for about 10 seconds.

Pack in as much spinach as will fit. I generally recommend ½ lb. Remember, green smoothies are all about getting the greens! Thus, don’t skimp.

Now, use the tamper and blend for another 50-60 seconds until it’s creamy smooth.

I used three fairly large peaches and a little over a cup liquid and I’ve got a fancy glass for the princess and a quart jar for myself. If you cut back to just two peaches, you’ll probably just get a quart of smoothie.

Remember – a quart a day keeps the doctor away!

Peach Mango Melon Lettuce Smoothie

July 17, 2011July 16, 2011 by Dave

Peach and watermelon is a GREAT combination. These are two great summer fruits that always go over well on a warm sunny morning. Even if the peaches are not as ripe as you want, they will still work in this recipe. The trick is the mango. It provides the creaminess if the peaches can’t.

Now the lettuce, well, this smoothie would probably be ten times better if you didn’t add ¾ lb lettuce! The lettuce always brings in a bitterness that’s hard to mask. As much as I love lettuce, I’d probably mix spinach in with this fruit next time. It’s too bad I don’t have much spinach in the garden this year for I’d do just that. It just so happens that I’ve got tons of lettuce. So, lettuce it is…

Recipe:

2 peaches

3 cups watermelon
3 larger medjool dates
1 large mango
1 cup rejuvelac
1 large bowl fresh garden lettuce

Place all the fruit in the blender and spin it for a few seconds to liquefy the fruit.

Now stop! Drink it like this – unless you’re really bold. J

If you know you want ¾ lb lettuce, stuff that into the blender and spin on high for about a minute. Don’t let the liquid heat up for you’re not making soup.

With this one, I got a ½ and ½ treat for the morning and a quart for brunch later. I love being able to get multiple flavors in the same glass. That’s king of fun.

Remember though that the idea is to get the greens. Smoothies are all about increasing your green intake. Your greens should taste good and be something you can eat in larger quantities.

It’s a great day for a smoothie – have you had yours?

Sweat Spinach Peach Smoothie

March 24, 2011March 23, 2011 by Dave

If you’re looking for something super palatable, this is your smoothie. Peaches, coconut milk and baby spinach make for a dynamite combination. All the flavors are simple and smooth, so there is nothing that stands out as odd. If you’re tired of all those super smoothies with the strong flavors that you have to mask, this is worth a try.

You’ll most likely also notice that I’ve added a couple ingredients that are outside the norm; ground flax seed and ORMUS. The ground flax seed gives the smoothie a ‘breakfast’ feel – a taste of grain, but not too much. If you let the smoothie sit, you might want to pass on the flax seed for it will thicken up like pudding! ORMUS, on the other hand, adds a bit of saltiness that really makes the flavors pop! Also doesn’t hurt to add angstrom size particles into the diet.

Recipe

4 frozen peaches (I store 8 per quart size bag, so ½ bag)
1 – 1 ½ cups grapes
3 small dates
1 cup coconut milk
½ lb baby Spinach
1 Tablespoon flax seed ground
1 serving ORMUS minerals
1 probiotic

Add liquid first, followed by grapes, dates and frozen spinach. Blend to get the initial grind down. One thing that will help is if you split the frozen peaches into ice cube size pieces.

If they are much larger, you’ve really got to work the mixture in order to keep it from jamming up. Even in my case with my Vita-mix, I’d have to plunger it if the pieces are too big.

When it’s broken down a bit, add the spinach.

I’ve been tempted to stop at this point in order to enjoy the peach sorbet! It’s just as amazing without the greens as it is with them! Notice that after stuffing in ½ pound spinach it’s ready to blend and plunge. Close everything back up and mix on high under creamy.

Meanwhile, get out the coffee grinder and place the flax seed in it for grinding. Grind until it starts to stand, but not before it starts to heat up and melt. You want to keep the olds cool.

Finally, turn the blender off and add the ground flax seed, probiotic and ORUMS. You want to turn the blender on to mix in the dry ingredients, but not too long for you don’t want to break down the probiotic critters.

In the end, you’ve got breakfast and sometimes lunch. It just depends on how hungry you think you are in one sitting. With this smoothie, I really don’t mind having it for both breakfast and lunch. Thus making a little extra foots the bill for me.

I’m so glad I put up peaches last summer! I’ve been craving early summer fruit, but nothings out yet. I think this one will tide me over.

Amazing Peach Sorbet

February 9, 2011February 6, 2011 by Dave

This recipe is so simple and delicious that anyone should be able to whip it up in just a few minutes. I guarantee that it will take you ten times longer to eat this than what it takes to put it together for the flavor is to delicate that you’ll want to savor every spoonful.

Be prepared, for this will make a meal!

Recipe:

1 cup coconut milk
4-5 large medjool dates (pitted)
½ to ¾ tsp vanilla powder
¾ bag of frozen peaches

First thing to notice here is that I prepared last summer! When boxes of peaches came on for ‘cheap’ I bought a bunch and saved them in the freezer. Each quart size bag as the equivalent of eight medium peaches so this recipe calls for about six. Note that the skins and pits have been removed so what comes out of the bag is pure peach ‘meat’.

Add the coconut milk into your 3-horse power blender (I strongly advise that you only use something that really has the muscle to get through this), drop in the dates, about a teaspoon vanilla powder and then about 6 frozen peaches. I use a knife break apart the frozen block of peaches. I make sure each piece I break off is no bigger than about ½ a peach (size wise – large ice cube size).

With all this in the blender you’ll want to start out on about 4 or 5 and use the tamper to press the frozen peach down into the blades. This is pretty hard to do. You’ll almost feel like standing on it in order to force the peaches down. As soon as the mixture starts to grip in, start counting in your head and turn the blender above 7. Quickly work the peaches down with the tamper and make sure to not let it develop an air bubble down at the blades. This hectic grinding process shouldn’t take more than 30 seconds. If so, you’ll end up with a milk shake rather than ice cream.

The little specs that you see in this mixture is the dates. Yum!

This six peach mixture makes two beautifully decadent servings. You’ll want to savor every bite. The little bits of dates come across as little cold sweet carmelly tidbits.

I highly recommend this desert (meal) and I believe you will too.

Let me know what you think if you try it!

Parsley, Peach, Pear Smoothie

September 14, 2010September 13, 2010 by Dave

The thing that makes this smoothie outstanding is the sesame milk base. Sesame milk is so easy to make and it adds a bitter sweet full bodied texture to the smoothie that doesn’t happen if you simply use water. If you’ve never made sesame milk before, you can read about it in a previous posting here.

I guess the other part I like is the garden fresh parsley! Yes, out of all the greens that I blend up into breakfast food, parsley is my favorite. But it’s not spinach! Everyone loves spinach. Parsley takes a little warming up too, if you know what I mean. Its flavor is much stronger and, if you get the standard curly parsley at the store, it always leaves your mouth feeling like it’s eaten something a little too strong.

That doesn’t happen with this garden parsley. It’s fresh and smooth tasting. Every time I visit the garden, I can’t help but pinch off a couple leaves and chomp them down. I get no negative reaction and my breath is left parsley fresh!

If I could grow more parsley, I’d make it my green of choice.

Recipe:

2 peaches
3 little pears
1 good size bunch parsley
1 ½ cups sesame milk

Notice I didn’t need to add dates to this smoothie! I LOVE it when the fruit really is ripe and sweet. It makes a huge difference on the resulting flavor of the smoothie. If I haven’t already said this enough – always use ripe fruit!

After I pack all the fruit in and press the greens down hard enough so that I can get the lid on the blender, it sure makes it look like I’ve used a lot of sesame milk.

And look at those parsley leaves! Yum. This is the broad leaf Italian verity that grows a couple feet tall – but only in warm weather. The plants seem to go on hold if it’s not 70+ outside.