Clearing Out & Moving On Up(state NY) + Spring Transition Tips

My favorite time of year is here!

And not just because it marks the arrival of my birthday, but also because the days grow longer, heavy coats and layers will soon be done away with, and I’ll get to spend more time outside. Comfortably.

This weekend I’ll be embarking on the next phase of my minimalist journey (read about that over here) in Grafton, NY.

The beautiful folks of Soul Fire Farm are hosting me for the next three months as I bring my food, farming, and wellness advocacy work full circle (read more about that over here).

I’m clearing out my freezer, blending up any and all of last season’s frozen bounty and cleaning out my fridge. I hope the ground isn’t too solid, as there are plenty of scraps to go into the ground and the compost bins need dumping.

Now’s a good time to start phasing in more leafy greens and herbs into your diet via salads, juices, and smoothies.

If you find yourself prone to seasonal allergies and sinus infections, homeopathic remedies that include lots of water, chamomile, nettles, red clover, and gradually increasing doses of bee pollen and raw honey bought locally from your farmers market or backyard beekeeper will help boost your immunity and reduce inflammation.

You may also find that reducing mucus-forming foods like uncultured/unfermented dairy and white foods (flour, sugar, potatoes) will help keep your allergies at bay.

I’m looking forward to taking my trusty Vitamix with me, as I’ll have access to just-picked leafy greens, herbs, and wild edibles for daily smoothies and juices.

Coconut Carrot Raw Organic Whey Smoothie & Cocoa Sea Salt Smoothie

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I live, work, and play in Brooklyn, except when I’m living, working, and playing in Hudson Valley. I spend so little time in Manhattan (or any of the other boros for that matter) that this blog probably shouldn’t be called blended “nyc”. /

But oh well.

my view from the 30th floor

Last week I watched a pair of cats on Manhattan’s East Side, close to my old stomping grounds. This time around, I decided to leave my Vitamix at home. I didn’t want to lug my big-ass laptop AND clothes AND food AND the Vitamix, so I made the choice to leave it behind, thinking that my friend’s blender would be fine should I need it.

Nope.

Not fine.

AT. ALL.

The folks over at Raw Organic Whey sent me a package to try out and so I brought it with me,.

I’ve never used whey protein before – never really been compelled to – so I didn’t know what to expect going in.

The packaging is nice and looks recyclable. This brand is 100% whey protein (no soy – yay! no fillers, flavors, nada) and smells sweet. Does your whey protein smell sweet?

Since this was my first time using whey, I decided to play it safe and look for existing recipes that I could tweak so I went to Raw Organic Whey’s own recipe section to see how they use their product. I chose the Carrot Juice Smoothie with Raw Organic Whey and Coconut and the Cocoa and Himalayan Pink Salt Smoothie.

If you’re just tuning in, this blog is all about recipes whose ingredients get blended. I find juicing wasteful and time consuming and since I prefer to eat whole foods, I don’t bother with it. So of course, I used whole carrots. I actually used pureed carrots that I froze last fall in ice cube trays. I like to do that with fresh produce from when I have more than I can handle at the moment. It makes it very easy to make single-serve blends later.

So into my friend’s blender went the pureed carrot cubes, some coconut flakes, water, and the whey. I have an on-again, off-again relationship with coconut (love the oil, can’t like the water, black coconut used to be a favorite scent, coconut milk ice cream, pina coladas, and pineapple-coconut lemon scratch cakes – YES). I hadn’t had any in a long while so I thought this recipe would be nice to try. And it was, until I had to start CHEWING.

And that my friends, is why I own a Vitamix. My friend didn’t appreciate me dissing her “old” blender (it’s just old, huh? that’s your story?) over Twitter, but guess what? My Vitamix is almost NINE years old and she’s still working like she’s supposed to.

I wanted to enjoy the coconut carrot whey smoothie, I really did, but I just couldn’t get past the mouthfeel and the chewing, so I bottled the blend and took that 45-minute ride back to Brooklyn, where my trusted friend was waiting for me.

coconut carrot smoothie

After it had a proper go, the smoothie lived up to its name and was very palatable. Raw Organic Whey has the same aftertaste of the raw milk aged cheese I used to get from the farmers’ market in Ft. Greene.

If your carrots are sweet and in season (preferably local), you should have no need to add sweetener. Even with the water, the carrot and coconut was prominent and refreshing. I’ve made a carrot smoothie before (will post that recipe soon, but check out this one for now), and it’s nice to have another one that I can rotate in this coming summer.

pink salt!

Since I wasn’t going to bring my Vitamix with me, I went ahead and made the cocoa and pink salt smoothie to have the next day. I didn’t have any pink salt, so I used my grey salt. I didn’t have any milk and I don’t like processed stevia, so I blended pecans in water with a little maple syrup.

cocoa whey smoothie

This smoothie right here is the business, and can go right up there with my recovery drink.

Raw Organic Whey is practically tasteless (again, I only remembered I added it when I caught the milky aftertaste). I don’t know if it’s a good or a bad thing, but I’d like to say it’s good, since it means it won’t overpower whatever else I’m blending with it.

It also blends well and isn’t chalky. What I was chewing in the carrot smoothie was the coconut flakes and some of the carrot pulp.

If you use whey protein daily, you may decide to cut the serving size in half (5 tablespoons), or you’ll find yourself having to re-up every two weeks.

I find it interesting that Raw Organic Whey sources from grass-fed cows and is hormone-free, considering they are located in King Corn country where it’s corn-fed beef or go home. I seriously wonder how they get along with their neighbors.

But anyway, if whey’s your thing, visit www.RawOrganicWhey.com to order a bag and check out the recipe section for ideas. You can also find all the info about how they process their whey and why they don’t add anything other than whey to it.

@simonejturner’s Avocado-Based Salad Dressing

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Simone with a her green juice, Vitamix looking all good in the background

Simone Turner, Certified Health Coach and fellow Institute for Integrative Nutrition Grad is like me when it comes to our blender recipes – we don’t have any!

What I mean is, we rarely measure anything, instead using our eyeballs to gauge taste and proper mixing. A little bit of this, a lot of that, and POW!

Delicious.

When I got a hold of her dressing recipe I smiled and exclaimed, woman after my own heart.

I have an on-again, off-again relationship with avocados (currently off-again). There are days when it’s nothing but eggs and avocado, garlicky guacamole, chocolate (blueberry) pudding, or just sliced and salted, and other days when it’s hmm, no thank you.

But this right here, yes please!

From Simone:

I put one ripe avocado, a handful of cilantro, and fresh garlic finely chopped in the Vitamix and I turn the Vitamix on and the stream in the olive oil and balsamic vinegar until the consistency becomes almost like a creamy ranch dressing. I like heat (spicy heat), so I add a few sprinkles of grinded Afrikan bird seed pepper to my mix. You can sweeten it if it’s too tangy with a spoonful of honey or agave (my personal preference is agave) to balance the balsamic vinegar that is on the dressing.

I prefer honey, but that’s the beauty of making your own food – you can use what you want!

Bon Appetit!

Simone Turner is a Certified Health Coach and out-of-the-box thinker when it comes to preparing and enjoying healthy meals. She guides women with Fibroids with learning how to use whole foods and lifestyle changes to eliminate their fibroid symptoms so they can enjoy a more radiant and purposeful lifestyle without pain. Visit her online at www.radianthealthchic.com and Facebook.com/radiantheathchic.

@OrganicSoulChef’s Warm Root & Nut Drink

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Organic Soul Chef Madea Allen is a professionally trained whole foods & community foods chef and health coach working in private practice in NYC. She’s also a good friend and colleague.

I’ve been working on improving the health of my spleen-pancreas lately (Traditional Chinese Medicine says the presence of dark eyelids and a nasal crease indicate deficient qi of those organs), so when I found this recipe from her collection, I had to add it here. I’m going to leave the sweet potato skin on and take out the star anise (I just can’t like the taste of licorice these days), but the sweet potato, cinnamon, and nutmeg are just what the (natural healing) doctor ordered.

This recipe is warming and is a whole food.

Please note the quantity of the ingredients called for in this recipe.

Ingredients:
1 cup raw walnuts
1 pound carrots, scrubbed and tops and tips removed
1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into large chunks
2 dates, pitted
1 teaspoon whole allspice
½ teaspoon whole cloves
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 star anise
1 tablespoon vanilla
¼ cup honey (optional)

Instructions over here

Almond Milk Experiments: Roasted Almond Milk

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Now that it’s getting colder, it’s all about the warm beverages baby!

I’ve started back up with the Yogi Tea chai (herbs + assam tea) and I usually add half & half, but after ordering about ten pounds of raw almonds from my buying club, I figured it was time to make some milk (and cookies. Flourless almond butter cookies, yeah!). After my previous almond milk experiment, I decided that the 1:3 almond to water ratio was a good bet, blanched when I’m not being lazy, and sea salt (important!).

My chef friend Marina asked why I didn’t roast the almond before eating them (I dunno, do I have to?) and then I decided that it might be interesting to try a roasted almond milk.

So, into the container went one cup of roasted almonds, three cups of distilled water, and 2 pinches of coarse Celtic grey sea salt blended on high for five minutes.

As usual, no straining was necessary, and I was pleasantly surprised by the taste. I ended up blending in cocoa powder with a little brown sugar for hot cocoa.

Yo! This is the business!

Have you ever used roasted almonds for homemade milk? What do you think of it?

#NYLocavoreChallenge Day 6: NY Apple Green Smoothie

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Of course I’d find a way to squeeze green smoothies into the NY Locavore Challenge and here’s one just for us NYers!

Apples have started making their appearance at our farmers markets and are the best time to experience all the varieties available in New York State (over 100).

For this recipe, skip the McIntosh, Red Delicious and Granny Smith and look for a Ginger Gold, Jonamac, Winesap, or Macoun instead.

Apple Green Smoothie

A generous handful of your favorite leafy greens

1 apple, cored, skin on

1 cup NY yogurt or good ol’ filtered NY tap water (or NY Spring water, like Saratoga Spring Water or TYR Water) to start.

Add all ingredients to the container and blend well.

#NYLocavoreChallenge Day 1 & 2: The Locavore’s Shopping List, Eggplants, and Watermelons

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I’m keeping it pretty simple for the recipes that are going into the Vitamix for this challenge by focusing on the food of the day and going to my neighborhood farmers market or my buying club to source ingredients.

Malcolm X Blvd Farmers Market

I try to support the community markets in or near my neighborhood and I’m lucky to have access to markets in walking distance or a quick train ride away Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays. In addition to what I can get from my buying club, eating locally is not really a challenge.

Bushwick Farmers Market

Except for fruit: I haven’t eaten as much fruit this year as I would have liked, mostly because it’s been it’s been scarce or at a price point that hasn’t been very budget-friendly. New York’s orchards got hit with a late frost this past spring, destroying the blossoms that bloomed early. This is the risk us locavores take with farmers and I’m not complaining about farmers having to raise prices on fruit this year to make up for their losses. It simply means I’m eating less fruit.

Hattie Carthan Community Market & Herban Farm Market

Day two of the challenge called for Eggplant, and since chickpea hummus is out of the picture this month, I figured an eggplant spread will do just fine.

Spanish Eggplant Spread

I found and adapted this recipe slightly to stay within the rules of the challenge as much as possible.

Instead of olive oil, I’m using Stolor Organics Sunflower Oil. This is the best sunflower oil I’ve ever tasted, because it’s the only sunflower oil I’ve tasted that actually smells and tastes like sunflower seeds.

I roasted the eggplant to take the skin off before sautéing, and the rest of the ingredients, with the exception of salt and vinegar are in season and available at the farmers markets. Olive oil, salt, and vinegar do get a pass during the challenge because they are cooking staples, but I will be looking for local alternatives/sources this month. I don’t mind using sunflower oil in place of olive oil and there is a New York sea salt producer but I haven’t had a chance to make a purchase yet. I haven’t looked into local vinegar options, so if you have one, please share it.

Most people I know don’t get too adventurous when eating watermelon beyond slicing or cubing it and sprinkling a little salt on it. Every now and again, a friend will tell me about how they made boozy watermelon (soaking chunks in their favorite wine or spirits) or threw a few slices on the grill (if you haven’t tried grilled watermelon yet, get to it!), so I wanted to look for something interesting to do for watermelon today.

And I found it: Tomato Watermelon Sorbet

Tomato often gets overlooked as a fruit but I have found it to be a fun addition to my smoothies and frozen treats. For this recipe, try to find an heirloom tomato that matches the flesh of the watermelon. I’m going to look for green zebras, pear tomatoes, or garden peaches to pair with a yellow crimson watermelon for that unsuspecting yellow color. I promise to be back with photos.

For this recipe, I am using honey instead of sugar and apple cider instead of lemon juice.
If you make either of these recipes, please come back and let me know how it went!

Stay tuned for a post with photos of these two recipes.