Green Smoothies

Recently, a friend who has a kitchen that consists of a mini-fridge & microwave (I'm not sure she has a stove!) asked me how she could get more vegetables, especially leafy greens, into her diet without all that pesky cooking & eating of solid food.  Since I am a huge fan of green smoothies, I put together my notes on green smoothies for her and after a few weeks she reports that she wakes up craving her green smoothie and her day is not the same without it!


There's a TON of information on the internet about green smoothies - lots of "recipes" and recommendations for the "correct" proportions of leafy greens and fruit and lots of information on the correct "order" to put things into the blender.

Here's my take on the Green Smoothie:

1. Put 1 cup of cold water into the blender.
2. Depending on size, add 3-6 leaves of kale, chard, collards and/or a handful of spinach, parsley or cilantro.  
3. Process until all the green stuff is pulverized.
4. Add fresh or frozen raw fruit/avocado/zucchini.
5. Process til pulverized, adding enough water to bring up to 4 or 5 cups.
6. (optional) Add some freshly squeezed lemon or other citrus juice (I usually keep a jar of lemon juice in the fridge)
7. (optional) raw cacao powder, raw protein powder, psyllium husk powder

You might say "I hate kale, I can barely eat it!" but the truth is - once you make a smoothie - you won't notice the taste of the greens because they blend right in with whatever fruit or other veggies you make.  If you want it creamier, use some frozen fruit or a small zucchini/courgette.  Zucchini adds some good protein and makes anything creamy when blended.   

My favorite fruits are fresh mangos and strawberries (which I froze last fall on cookie sheets).  Here in California, mangos are cheap - you can get them 5 for $5 at Whole Foods, even.  Avocados are pretty cheap out here too - sometimes you can find the little small avocados for under $1 each, just the right size for a smoothie.  Avocados are a healthy source of fat (and you do not have to buy organic because the skins are very thick - just try to get California avos, or Mexico but stay away from stuff imported from other continents generally). Personally - I stay away from most tropical fruit.  Fresh pineapples hurt my mouth, bananas just don't taste as good here as they do in the places where they are grown. 

I try to put mostly greens into my smoothies - and I have a ton of parsley growing in the yard, so this morning is probably going to be:  chard, parsley, 1/4 avo, 3-4 frozen persimmon cubes (about 1/2 c persimmon puree) and 1 scoop raw vegan protein powder (brown rice based).

Most smoothie recipes don't include protein powder because you are getting all the natural enzymes from the raw greens to make protein - but I do this personally about every other smoothie or when I am going to make the smoothie all I eat for most of the day (and then I make more than 1 qt and drink it while I am working).
 

Take advantage of your raw dessert recipe leftovers for smoothies!  Recently,  I made a key lime green smoothie the other day after making up the filling for a raw key lime pie (which I was making with a recipe from the Cafe Gratitude dessert book "Sweet Gratitude") - with young coconut milk & water, avocado, lime and collard greens, plus a handful of locally harvested pineapple guava that someone gifted me at an East Bay Raw Foods MeetUp.  It was incredibly delicious!

Green smoothie keeps well in the fridge - so you could drink half and bring the other half to work to have for a mid-morning snack.  Unlike fresh green juice, it doesn't oxidize and become some awful unappetizing color.

Here are a couple of my favorite green smoothie websites -- get some ideas but don't get hung up on details, just throw some good greens into your blender, add water, whiz & enjoy!

• Green Smoothie Recipies by Victoria Boutenko http://www.rawfamily.com/recipes
• Green Smoothie Recipes http://www.greensmoothie.com/blend/green.html

Hot Kale Mess

There's nothing that nourishes like greens - a sweet & savory Japanese-inspired sauce makes this dish stand out to my friends (one friend always requests it as "that hot kale mess.")  usually, it just means going out the garden to pull a bunch of kale & arugula, and adding it to the other ingredients in the house, I give you:


Pan-Seared Greens with Ginger & Mushrooms


INGREDIENTS:

• 1 Tb rice wine vinegar or sake (if you want more sweet, instead of sour)
• 1 Tb sucanat
• 3 Tb soy sauce
• 3 Tb olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, sliced or coarsely chopped
• 1 Tb minced fresh ginger
• 1 vidalia or red onion, cut into thin crescents
• 1 c sliced mushrooms - chanterelles, morels, oyster, shitake - whatever is fresh & local
• 1 small hot chili - sliced  or 1 Tb cayenne flakes
• 1 small red bell pepper, seeded & julienned
• 6 cups coarsely chopped winter greens - chard, kale and arugula are my favorites (use scissors to cut out the coarse bits which may be finely chopped and added to the pan with the onions)
• Herbs - 20 basil leaves, or equivalent in other herbs that are fresh & local
• 1/2 c raw cashews

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a small bowl or measuring cup, combine the first 3 ingredients. Set aside.
2. Heat the oil over high eat in a large cast iron skillet or wok.  
3. Quickly stir in the cashews and toast in the pan - remove and set aside.
4. Stir-fry the garlic, ginger, onion & mushrooms (and any reserved chopped chard stems) for about 1 minute
5. Add chile and red bell pepper, cook for 1 minute
6. Stir in greens - add a splash of sake if needed to deglaze
7. Cook greens until they are bright in color and just tender, about 2 minutes or to taste (do you like crisper or softer greens?)
8. Add herbs, cashews and sauce - toss gently to coat and cook for another minute or 2 - the sauce will thicken up a bit (this shouldn't be soupy).

Serve immediately - as a side or over steamed quinoa, rice or couscous.  Enjoy!

Collard Greens & Golden Chanterelles

Collards don't need to be prepared with fat and meat - they are a fantastic and versatile vegetable that can tolerate long cooking periods without falling apart.  After reading through some traditional recipes, here's my current favorite way to prepare my collards.

Ingredients:

• 1 large bunch of collards 
• 5-8 cloves of garlic
• 1 white or yellow onion
• 1 cup dried chanterelles (or other dried mushrooms like shiitake, but for black trumpets or porcini, use 1/2 cup due to stronger flavor)
• 2 red Pimiento de Padron peppers (or other mildly spicy red pepper)
• 1-2 small sweet red peppers (or Anaheim)
  
• 2 Tb tomato paste
• 1/2 c apple cider vinegar
  
• water, to cover
• salt, to taste
  

Instructions:

1.  Prepare the collards by cutting out the thick ribs.  Reserve the ribs for broth or to chop into fine dice to cook as a separate dish.  Roll up the leaves lengthwise and cut off 1/4" - 1/2" strips.
2. Place all collards into pot and cover with water, turn on high heat.
3. Add vinegar.
   
4. Fine dice half onion, thin slice remaining half and add to pot.
5. Crush dried mushrooms in your hands to break up large pieces before adding to the pot, along with finely minced peppers and tomato paste.
6. Bring to a boil, add water as necessary and then reduce to simmer until broth is thickened.  You can serve with a slotted spoon (reserving the broth for other uses) or cook down until there is nearly no broth left (more goodies on the greens).

Note: this could take a couple hours on simmer.  Get this started early and let the scent fill the house while you prepare the rest of your meal.