Swamp Water

I have green juices every day. I usually am drinking them at work too. One of my good friends and fellow teacher, Amy, gets quite grossed out by them. She says it looks like something that was dredged from the bottom of a pond. I do love that girl!

PUT IN THE JUICER:
2 apples
5 stalks of celery
1/2 a lime (including zest)
1" slab of pineapple
1 cucumber, unpeeled
1 large handful of parsley

1 large handful of cilantro
1 large handful of spinach

*you can also choose to make a batch of swamp cubes rather than juice the parsley, cilantro, and spinach 
5-6 romaine leaves

5-6 kale leaves 
1/2 bulb of fennel

PUT IN THE BLENDER:
The juice you just made

1 banana
1/2 of a Haas avocado
2 oz of wheatgrass juice, fresh or frozen

2 teaspoons of Sun Is Shining

Chlorella

Blend quickly

*If you are using Swamp Cubes, put 4 of those in the blender instead of juicing the cilantro, parsley, and spinach.

If it seems too thick for you, gently blend in some water.

Store in glass mason jars. It will fit in a quart jar or 2 pint jars.
This makes enough for 2 1-pint servings.

Strawberry Spice

This morning I was chatting with a couple of High School friends on FB.  Dairy Free Diva was mentioned and it inspired me to create something new this morning.

 

I've been arguing profusly with bronchitis for the past week and frankly it's making me miserable.  Forget about the fact that it's cold and snowy.  I looked through the produce in my fridge, feezer, and counter to find something that would give me some "summer comfort".  I have certain summer comfort fruits that I always try to keep in the freezer.  I found 3 and added some ginger.

The fruits are chock full of Vitamin C and fresh ginger is great for knocking out a cold.

 

 

Put in the Vitamix the following:

 

2 whole oranges minus the zest (Use the white pithy part.  It has a lot of good nutrients!)

1/4 of a pineapple, peeled

1 big handful of strawberries

2 inches of ginger, peeled.  You can use more if you like it really spicy!

 

Blend them until smooth.  You may have to add a small amount of water of your fruit is frozen.

 

 

 

MP3 Fresh Juice

1 whole mango, peeled and pitted
2-3 peaches, pitted
1 pear
1" round of pineapple (you don't have to peel if you are juicing but if you decide to blend you will have to peel!)

Process all the fruit through your juicer or if you want, you can put in in the blender for a bit of a thicker drink. 

AFTERNOON DELITE Fresh Juice

As I was making this juice this morning and thinking about when this afternoon I would drink it, the song Afternoon Delight popped into my head so I said to myself, "Self, what a great idea for a name!"

2 kiwis peeled
1 orange zested
1 inch round of pineapple
1 mango peeled

Process all the fruit through the juicer.  If you want a thicker drink, this also makes a great smoothie!  I would not recommend adding milk.  If you need to thin it out, use a little water.  And yes!  That is a canning jar glass that you see.  I use canning jars to transport my juice. 

WALKING ON SUNSHINE Smoothie

I had some extra fruits that I had to use today so I threw them all into the Vitamix with a little flax milk and this is what I got. Wasn't too bad for a throw-together.


2 bananas
1 mango, peeled
1-inch thick slice of pineapple, peeled
5 medjool dates, pitted
1 orange, peeled
1/4 - 1/2 cup of flax, hemp, or almond milk
ice (optional)

Put all the fruit in the blender. Let it mix until all the fruit is incorporated. Add some milk just to thin it out. Once it's the consistency that you want, you some ice to the running blender to chill it a bit.

ORANGE CRUSH Fresh Juice

1 orange, zest removed
1" thich slice of pineapple
1/2 of a mango
**sparkeling water (optional)

A quick round with a veggie peeler will tkae care of the orange zest.  No need to peel off the skin from the pineapple and mango.  Just make sure the skins are clean.  Just cut and juice!

** If you choose to put in sparkling water, do it at the very end to top off your glass.

PANGAPPLE Fresh Juice

I tried to come up with a name to encompass the 3 fruits I used to make this delish juice.

1 pear
1 mango
1/4 of a pineapple

Put fruits through the juicer.  You don't have to peel the skins off the pineapple or mango if you don't want but make sure you cut the mango away from the pit.

Fruit Prep

People ask me how I prep my fruit for smoothies.  I try to do as much prep as possible when I get my fruit so when it's time to make a smoothie, its quick and easy.  I shop at our local public market every Saturday.  I buy as much of my produce there as I can.  It's cheaper and most of it is local to the area and/or state.  I freeze most of it, much to my husband's dismay.  My freezer is jam packed! 

Below is listed how I prep my fruit for smoothies.  Some of it, like citrus, I leave on the counter.  Any fruit I use for the juicer, I keep fresh on my counter.  I usually go through it pretty quick but if something starts to get soft, then into the freezer it will go. 

Make sure you wash all of your produce well.  There are several products you can buy such as Veggie Wash, Vermont Soap Organics, Biokleen or you can make your own.  I typically use Veggie Wash but if I don't have any then I use fresh lemons.  I just throw one in my juicer and them pour the juice into a sink filled with cold water.  You can also use distilled or apple cider vinegar.  Use about 1/4 of a cup in a sinkful of cold water.  I soak my produce for about 10 minutes then rinse and dry.  The only produce I don't soak are berries.  They are too delicate.  I just rinse them briefly.

BERRIES
This includes blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, gooseberries, boysenberries, cranberries, and grapes.

Gently rinse your berries.  Use the pointed end of a veggie peeler to pluck out the green part of the strawberries and cut them in half.  All others, including grapes you can leave whole. Lay your berries flat on a cookie sheet and freeze.  Once they are frozen, put them in bags quickly and refreeze util needed.  Grapes, cranberries and gooseberries can be put directly into a bag and frozen. 

You can store your berries by kind or you can make a mix of several kinds.

POMAGRANATES
Remove the seeds from the fruit and store them in the freezer.  These will not work in your juicer so save them for the blender.

CHERRIES
De-stone them and bag them and freeze them.  If you don't have a cherry stoner, invest in one.

APPLES & PEARS, PEACHES & NECTARINES
Leave the skins on your apples, pears, peaches, & nectarines!  There is a lot of nutrients in those thin skins!  Chop them into 1" cubes and take the seeds out.  Lay on a cookie sheet in a single layer and freeze.  Store in freezer bags and store in the freezer.

BANANAS
Peel bananas and cut into 1" chunks.  Place on a cookie sheet in a single layer and freeze.  Store in freezer bags.

MANGOS, PAPAYA, PINEAPPLE, MELONS
Peel skins off, cut into 1" chunks, layer on cookie sheets and freeze.  Store in freezer bags.  A note on the papayas, you can eat the seeds!  Store them separately in the freezer.  Add some to your smoothies for a burst of protien.

CITRUS
I keep all my citrus on the counter.  Use a carrot peeler to gently peel the zest off of your citrus.  The white pithy part has a lot of vitamins in it so leave it on.  (Juicer note....you don't have to peel the zest off of lemons and limes when you juice them.)

DRINKING UP SOME SUN Smoothie

1 cup OJ juiced fresh
2 peaches or 2 nectarines or 1 of each pited & diced
1/2 a mango chopped
4 apricots pitted & chopped chopped
1 banana
a 1-inch pineapple slice
a handfull of sliced almods
2 tablespoons each of hemp and flax seeds

Juice the orange and put the juice in the blender with the rest of the ingredients.  If you don't have a juicer then just put the orange in the blender with everything else.

ISLAND BREEZE Smoothie

1 cup of hemp milk or almond milk
1 banana
1/3 of a pineapple
6 medjool dates pitted
2 cubes of frozen wheatgrass

Put everything in the blender and whiz until smooth.

PINAPAYANGO Smoothie

Well that's a mouthful! And it's delish!

1 cup of hemp milk or almond milk
1/3 of a papaya including the seeds
1/3 of a pineapple
1/2 of a mango

Put everything in the blender and whiz until smooth.  Don't leave out the papaya seeds!  They have a powerful kick of protien!

SUNSHINE IN A GLASS Smoothie **Green Monster**

1 cup of almond milk or hemp milk
1 apple
1 banana
1/4 of a pineapple
3 or 4 kale leaves

(I also added in my vit B complex and calcium)

Put everything in the blender and let 'er rip!

**The term Green Monster was created by Oh She Glows