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.

In season and just in time to get you thinking about signing up for my Green Smoothie Challenge, this green smoothie from The Food Relationship Coach is like a farmacy in a glass!

The sweet potato, a root vegetable often called a yam but not at all a yam, is a highly nutritious complex carbohydrate that provides a good source of iron, fiber, potassium, beta carotene, calcium, Vitamin C, magnesium, folate and phosporous. It also has a really pretty flower that I keep meaning to find out if it’s edible.

I try to eat one every day when they’re in season – mashed, baked, fried, or in a smoothie.

And then of course there’s all that good stuff from the kale, the almonds, and the cinnamon.

So head on over to check out the recipe, which has some great prep photos – a reminder of what is severely lacking over here.

We’ll be seeing this recipe during the challenge. I might be able to convince a few brave souls to serve it during their Thanksgiving celebrations. It will be a nice treat for the sugar conscious.

Salud!