Monthly Archives: September 2012

Green Eyed Monster Smoothie

Green juice, green smoothies, green anything in liquid form always scares me. But determined to eat more greens, I tried to make a green smoothie a few months ago. But my blender was not really high powered enough, so it left chunks of green spinach. The consistency was so gross that I couldn’t even taste it. When my new Vitamix arrived, I decided to try the smoothie again. A lot of smoothies call for ginger, but I didn’t like that. I needed just a bit of sweet. So my secret ingredient is Agave. I know a lot of people try to avoid sweeteners, so this ingredient is optional. I also use coconut water because it tastes yummy, but regular water will work as well.

Basically, the fact is we could all use more greens. I can only eat so much salad a day, so a green smoothie is an easy way to go. The color is shocking and at first, I was like, “um liquid lettuce, yuck.” But the truth is that it tastes pretty good. In fact, the ol’ hubby says he could drink it all day long.

Green Eyed Monster Smoothie

Ingredients

1 Head Romaine Lettuce

2 c. baby spinach

3 celery stalks

20 ounces coconut water

1 tablespoon Agave Nectar

1 green apple

1 pear

1/2 lemon (peeled)

Directions

Put the water in the blender first (always the most liquid stuff at the bottom). Add the lettuce, spinach, and celery. Blend on high until liquefied. Add the rest of the ingredients. Blend on high until liquid and delicious. Drink it yourself or share with a friend.

I love my Vitamix Yellow Pepper Soup

To honor the arrival of the newest member of my family, a red Vitamix named Amazon Cherry, I thought I would post a wonderful reciepe for you all. First I just wanted to say that buying a Vitamix was the best thing I have done since I started down the path to Vegan. I know they are expensive, but no one blinks twice when you buy a $350 grill! I have used it everyday, multiple times a day to make everything from smoothies to soup to salad dressing. It is AWESOME, so if you are vegan, or trying to be, I recommend you have a garage sale (I sold things on ebay) or beg your mom for your birthday to get you one of these awesome machines. I got mine from QVC because they let you make payments. You can check it out here QVC VITAMIX.

Yellow Bell Pepper Soup

According to cronometer, this recipe is about 150-200 calories. I ate the entire recipe by myself in two sittings, but there is more than enough to share!

Ingredients

2 Yellow Bell Peppers
1/4 onion
1 clove garlic
1 TBSP tomato paste
2 c. vegetable stock
1/2 c. almond milk (or coconut milk, or soy milk, you choose)
1/4 c. cilantro
1/2 ear of corn
1 TBSP corn starch
salt
pepper

Directions

Turn on the good ol’ broiler. Slice the peppers in half and let them sit under the broiler until the skin starts to blister and turn black (tip: let them get good and black and blistery. It really makes the skin removal process easier). Take them out of the oven and put them in a paper bag or air tight container right away, and let them sit for a few minutes. (for me this process took some practice, so don’t fret if you don’t get it right the first time). Then peel the skin off.
Roasted Yellow peppers. I would suggest letting them get a little more black than this.
At the same time, rough chop the 1/4 onion and 1 clove of garlic. Saute on medium heat until translucent. I don’t add any oils or anything and they work just fine.
Saute onions and garlic until translucent (this is them right in the beginning)
Put the onions, peppers, garlic, tomato paste, and stock in the blender. Blend on high for 2 minutes. Add the milk and corn starch. Blend on high for an additional 2 minutes. (The great thing about the Vitamix is it heats up the soup!) If you are not using a Vitamix or other high powered blender, blend the items until creamy, put in a sauce pan and simmer until warm.
Soup in the blender
Finally, chop up the cilantro and remove the corn from the cob. Garnish your soup. (I call it garnish, but you really need it to be super yummy. I even add more corn sometimes.
Corn and Cilantro for topping
Ta Da! Enjoy. It looks a little frothy because the Vitamix churns it up.