Green Juice #1

Posted on April 12, 2011 by melissa danielle

The other day I went to check out this new Papaya spot in my neighborhood on a tip from a friend. I ordered their “All Green Juice” and it was ALL bad.

I will be the first person to admit that I have a sugar addiction, and that’s one of the main reasons I started making my own juices and smoothies – I needed a whole foods alternative to simple and processed sugars. But I can drink up some green juice, when it’s done right.

So, naturally, I decided to rework their recipe and see if I can do it better.

A green juice needs the right combination of ingredients and tastes better cold.

I don’t remember what all went into their recipe, but the major “greens” were collard, parsley, and celery.

I forgot to measure how much water I added, but I got exactly a quart, minus the foam (I’m getting really good at eyeballing how much liquid I need).

Green Juice #1

3 leaves collard greens, with stems

1 stalk celery

3 sprigs parsley

1 lime, peeled (leave on some of the pith)

ginger to taste, optional

water

Add all ingredients to blender and start with 2 cups of water. Start blending on low and gradually work up to High.

Blend for 2-3 minutes.

Collard greens are pretty tough, so you’ll need to give it a bit more time.

Blending for this long will also warm the juice, so feel free to add ice if you need to.

I put my Mason jar in the freezer after blending.

I added just enough water to cover half the collards that I stuffed into the container but did not tear up too much.

I also did not peel the skin off the ginger.

Posted in green juice, juice | Tagged | 1 Comment

Goddess Cocktail

Posted on April 8, 2011 by melissa danielle

I’m going through my juice recipe books now in preparation for a Juice Feast (more on that later) and came across a recipe called PMS Cocktail.

Really?

You couldn’t think of a better name for it?

Fine then, I will.

The ingredients in this cocktail help to balance hormones and relieve symptoms like bloating, low moods, and irritability.

Here’s my recipe, adapted from Power Juices, Super Drinks:

Goddess Cocktail

2 celery stalks, with leaves

3 leaves kale or collard greens

handful of alfalfa sprouts

1 whole lemon (peel the skin, keep the pith and the seeds)

2 tsp spirulina (optional)

fresh ginger, to taste (optional)

water (start with 2 cups)

1 to 2 quarts, depending on how much water is used

This can be a smoothie or a juice depending on the consistency you want.

2 cups will make it a smoothie, four will make it a juice.

Add all ingredients to your blender and process on High until well blended.

If you don’t have a high performance blender like the Vitamix, you will need to use a food processor to break down the greens, or, add each ingredient one t a time with a little bit of water to your blender so that you don’t work the machine too hard.

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Creamy Cauliflower Soup with Apple & Tarragon

Posted on March 27, 2011 by melissa danielle

I’m planning out my meals for the week and came across this very simple recipe from Vegetarian Times.

Creamy Cauliflower Soup with Apple & Tarragon

It looks good and shouldn’t take more than 30 minutes prepare.

What are you eating this week?

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Enter to Win a Vitamix & Support a Good Cause!

Posted on March 15, 2011 by melissa danielle

On Friday, March 25th, I will be celebrating my birthday by helping to raise funds for my CSA, the Bed-Stuy Farm Share.

The money raised will go to towards the Low-Income Fund, a revolving loan fund that allows us (I’m a core member) to pay our farmers in full while we work out payment plans and food stamp payments from our members.

If you’re in NYC, I hope you can make it out.

But if you’re not, you can still donate for a chance to win a Vitamix.

Tickets are $10 and you can buy as many as you’d like until March 24th.

You don’t have to live in NYC to win – I will ship it to you.

What will you do with a Vitamix?

Posted in beyond juice, upcoming events | Tagged | 1 Comment

Where Have I Been?

Posted on March 14, 2011 by melissa danielle

I just realized that I haven’t posted anything here for over a month.

It’s mostly because I haven’t been blending anything special.

Sure, I’ve made a soup here and there and should have posted them, but I’ve been a bit lazy with updating this blog.

I promise I’ll do better!

In the meantime, I’m experimenting with making a green “superfoods” powder more palatable. I have a couple of clients who want to include the chlorophyll-rich greens in their diet – spirulina, alfalfa, etc, but that stuff is hard to get used to.

The saturation point is very low, so it needs a lot of water to reduce the grittyness.

I’ve been testing it with warm to just hot water, which seems to do a good job of dissolving them, and I find that it tastes better in apple juice.

I don’t like what they do to my green smoothies, and this week I’ll be looking to see how it goes with fresh ginger.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

Do you supplement with green powders?

What do you add them to and how has that been working for you?

Posted in spirulina, test kitchen | 1 Comment

Blueberry Pomegranate Green Smoothie

Posted on January 17, 2011 by melissa danielle

Whenever I cook for my boyfriend I try to make sure he eats a wide variety of greens, fruits, and other vegetables, because left to his own devices, he’s pretty SAD.  And because I’m doing the cooking!

I love that he’ll pretty much eat whatever I cook for him, and he’s learning to hide all evidence of his edible discretions (like receipts for that infamous “murder burger” joint) and is pretty good at following my food rules when I give him the grocery list.

Last year I convinced him to by me him a Vitamix so that I wouldn’t have to schlep mine back and forth every week to his place, and we worked out some green smoothie recipes that he could make on his own.

Since then, he taught himself how to make mayonnaise and whipped cream, from scratch(!), using REAL, unprocessed ingredients. I really think we’re making progress.

This morning I made him this smoothie. This was my first time working with fresh pomegranates, and I kinda wish I checked my emails more often, because I found this helpful post on juicing pomegranates.

I just threw all the seeds in the blender.

This will be on the tart side, and closer to purple than green.

1 cup spinach

1 cup blueberries

All of the seeds of 1/2 pomegranate

1 banana

yogurt or kefir of your choice

Add everything to the container and blend until smooth. I used kefir and eyeballed it, using enough to get me to 32 ounces, perhaps about a cup.

Posted in green smoothies, smoothies | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Carrot Ginger Apple Juice

Posted on January 15, 2011 by melissa danielle

My absolute favorite way to make this is with Red Jacket Orchards‘ Fuji Apple Juice. It’s the best apple juice ever. Don’t believe me? Check out what these folks said [video]. Gotta love those New York accents!.

12-14 ozs Red Jacket Orchards Fuji apple juice or 100% appple juice of your choice (preferably pressed, no sugar added)

2 carrots, scrubbed

fresh ginger to taste

ice, optional

Break  carrots in half and add to container. Add fresh ginger and apple juice. Add a few ice cubes, if desired. Blend until smooth.

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