Coconut Kale Smoothie!

Okay, so finally I have come up with another yummy smoothie recipe.

Coconut Kale Smoothie
*2 large ripe bananas
*roughly 1 head of kale (I used stalks and all...just not the MAIN stalk of the plant)
*hefty dose of raw hempseeds
*hefty dose of raw cacao nibs
*jar of failed coconut milk yogurt

Add all ingredients to blender (Blendtec) jar, and add cold water until total liquid reaches 4 cups. Blend on "whole juice" setting or until smooth.

Ok, now what you might ask, is "jar of failed coconut milk yogurt"? Well, this is what you get when you try to make coconut yogurt from dried coconut. I used my Wilderness Family Naturals coconut chips to make coconut milk. You basically the coconut chips with water to your blender, blend, then strain...repeat once. I found a video on U-tube and rolled with it. Then I followed the steps to make yogurt and used a Yogourmet packet as a starter. I put the jars into my dehydrator and waited 24 hours.

But instead of thick, creamy, So Delicious style coconut milk yogurt, I got funky separated coconut milk liquid. There was the teeniest bit of stuff that resembled yogurt, but for the most part the recipe was a failure. I've never had kefir, but I'm guessing from what I've read, it must be similiar. So, I gave the thickest parts of the "yogurt" to my son mixed in with his grain cereals, but I didn't know what to do with the liquidy parts...until I was making my smoothie.

I just went for it and dumped it in. And it really MADE the smoothie. The smoothie didn't really taste like coconut OR like yogurt, but it definitely didn't taste like a KALE smoothie, if you know what I mean. It was quite delicious! In fact, I've made the same smoothie for the last two days!

Now, how can you recreate my failed yogurt? Well, I'd say don't try to. You could use real coconut milk yogurt, coconut kefir, or just experiment with other types of yogurts or kefirs. Let me know what you find out!

Split Pea Barley Burgers and Raw Pasta Sauce

Okay, these weren't originals, but they're pretty tasty!

Split Pea Barley Burgers courtesy of the happyveganface blog

Fresh Tomato Sauce (raw) for pasta

Mmmm....

Yummy, yummy Kale Salad -- all RAW!

A week or two ago I signed up for The Daily Raw Inspiration email. I have to admit I haven't paid much attention to the once a day emails until today. The title, Kale Salad Recipe Music Video, was just too tempting to ignore, so I checked it out!

The video is only 3 minutes long, it's set to cool music, and it's nicely edited! Plus you get to see a family of young kids prepare and, most importantly, EAT the greens!

We already had all the ingredients on hand, so I tried this for lunch. I didn't measure anything, I just dumped in what felt right after watching the video. Hey, I figured if the little 9 year old boy in the video could do it without measuring, so could I!!

Here's what I used: locally grown kale--chopped, Bragg's raw apple cider vinegar, pink Himalayan sea salt, olive oil, Nutiva shelled hempseeds, cumin powder, nutritional yeast. When I had it all tossed up, I tasted it and added a little more vinegar, salt, and nutritional yeast.

It was delicious! My 2yo DS even ate about 1/2 a cup full of the kale salad, and he doesn't normally eat ANYTHING green! Yay!

I ate a Corelle pasta dish full of the salad, and thought about making something else to go with it, but I'm glad I didn't. It was surprisingly filling!

I think we'll have the leftovers tonight as a side salad with dinner so DH can try it, too!

Bulk Buys: Organic Strawberries & Almonds

I have been busy in my kitchen putting away bulk purchases the past few days. Buying in bulk is something we've just started doing to become more green...and save some money, too! Buying in bulk reduces packaging waste, saves on fuel costs, and is generally cheaper than buying in smaller quantities. Not to mention it means we always have food on hand as well as less trips to the grocery store, and with a 2 year old and a 7 month old, that is a blessing...for me AND the other shoppers! :)

While I have been buying in bulk from Amazon.com over the past 2 months, I had my first experiences with buying in bulk directly from farmers this week. Buying directly from farmers ensures you get the freshest products, reduces fuel costs, and generally saves you money since you eliminate the middle man.

Earlier this week, I got strawberries. Not just any strawberries. Organic, hydroponically grown strawberries...about 50 pounds of them! We use strawberries a lot in hot cereals and in smoothies, so I wanted to buy a bunch while they were fresh and freeze them. Fifty pounds of strawberries should last us a really long time! :)

Now, here in North Carolina, strawberries won't be ready for picking for another month or two. But Florida strawberries are ready NOW! My parents were just down in Florida visiting relatives, so I asked them to look around for an organic strawberry farm while they were there. Why organic? Because strawberries are on the Shoppers Guide to Pesticides' Dirty Dozen list! This list details the 12 produce items you should always buy organic because of their high pesticide load when grown non-organically.

Well, my parents not only found me organic strawberries, but hydroponically grown ones as well at the Parke Family HydroFarms. While hydroponic strawberries weren't a requirement of mine, it definitely was an interesting experience for my parents since the plants are all grown in vertically arranged pots, so there was no bending or kneeling required to pick the strawberries! Because my parents were kind enough to pick the strawberries themselves, they saved me about $50! So, what does 50 pounds of organic strawberries cost? About $100. Because of the quantity and because they picked them, the strawberries cost $1.99 a pound. That's cheaper than non-organic strawberries in the grocery stores!

When I heard my parents were able to find organic strawberries, I searched on Craigslist to find a FoodSaver. I was able to find a Vac 900 with 2 rolls of bags, a few pre-made bags, and a canister for $35. I figured this way I'd be able to vacuum seal the berries to keep them as fresh as possible. This was a pretty good deal considering 2 rolls of bags cost upwards of $19.99 + tax by themselves.

So, late on Tuesday night, my hand-picked strawberries arrived. Everyone was tired, so we waited until the morning to get them put away.

On Wednesday morning, I got to work on the strawberries while my mom played with the kids (read: kept them out of my hair). I had researched on the internet the best way to freeze strawberries, so I had a rough plan in mind. I think what I did ended up working really well.

First I topped (cut off the green top of the strawberry) and washed them. I had 5 flats total and I did one flat at a time. After I washed a small batch of them, I laid them out to dry on flour sack towels. Once I completed an entire flat, I hand placed them on cookie sheets lined with wax paper so that none were touching. Then I stuck them in my mostly empty garage freezer (another great Craigslist purchase...3 year old Frigidaire commercial freezer for $75) to harden. While they were freezing, I started on the next batch. After about an hour or so, I removed the frozen strawberries from the freezer and vacuum sealed them in FoodSaver bags. Ideally now I'll be able to open the bag and remove single strawberries instead of huge clumps!

So, from the "fields" to my freezer in about 24 hours!!


My second large bulk purchase arrived today: truly raw organic almonds!


We'll use them for almond butter, trail mixes, nut toppings, and raw desserts! Yum! In trying to learn more about the raw diet several weeks ago, I learned that most almonds labeled as raw, really aren't. A California law passed a few years ago requires that farmers steam pasteurize their almonds before they are sold, though they can still be labeled as raw. Unfortunately, this process "kills" the enzymes in the almonds and they are no longer living foods. If you soak these steam pasteurized almonds (labeled as raw) they will not sprout, like truly raw almonds should. The California law does have a loophole though; it does not specify that almonds sold directly to consumers be pasteurized. So, if you want truly raw almonds, you have to either buy imported almonds from Spain, or buy directly from a California almond farmer. I chose to do the latter.

After much research, I settled on Anderson Almonds.


My local health foods grocery quoted me a price of $12.99 for organic almonds (which aren't even really raw). Anderson Almonds sells their organic almonds shipped to your door for $8-10 a pound AND they are really, truly raw AND shipping is included in that price! If you order 5-10 pounds, you pay $10/lb and if you order 25 lbs you pay $8/lb. I had a few questions before ordering, so I emailed them and received fast, courteous replies. When I was ready to order, I called and talked to the owner himself. I gave him my credit card number to pay for the 25lbs of almonds ($200 even). He told me they normally take about 6 days to arrive, and on day 6, guess what UPS dropped off at my door?? That's right, my organic, raw almonds!!

I noticed right away upon opening the box that these almonds were carefully graded. There were virtually zero broken, cracked, or chipped almonds...very unlike the bulk bin almonds I had been buying from Whole Foods which, although "whole" were most definitely not!



I immediately went to work to freeze my almonds. I like to store my almonds for daily use in the refrigerator in a 1/2 gallon mason jar. So I figured out how many cups of almonds it took to fill up my 1/2 gallon jar: 8. Then I got out my measuring cups; I used the 2-cup one as a scoop to fill up the 4-cup one.


I put roughly 8-cups of almonds into each food saver bag...


...and vacuum sealed.


I ended up with 11 bags which immediately were placed in my freezer.

I can't wait to try them, but figured I'd finish using my not-really-raw raw almonds from the grocery store first. I'll be sure to update you on them later and show off some recipes using them!

Here are the 25 pounds of vacuum sealed organic raw almonds in my freezer:

I now have an entire shelf of organic strawberries and most of a shelf of organic raw almonds!



Now, off to enjoy the rest of this unseasonably warm Friday evening...and maybe munch on a few fresh organic strawberries I hid in the back of my refrigerator!! ;)

Homemade Baby Food

Making your own baby food is a great way to be green. The benefits are tremendous and it really isn't as difficult as it sounds. Just think: you will have virtually nothing to trash or recycle since you can use reusable containers, you will know exactly what is in your baby's food (i.e. fresh wholesome foods and NO preservatives or other ickies), and you can compost the food scraps, which is something I hope to get started with very soon...but that's a whole other post!

I am happy to say that I made 95% of my son's baby food. He's 2 now, so he survived! :) I started him on solids at 6 months which is the age recommended by the World Health Organization (courtesy of an article on the KellyMom site), to help lower the risk of him developing any allergies, and because as they say, breast milk is best!

I highly recommend the Super Baby Food book by Ruth Yaron if you are considering making your own baby food. It is a great (GREAT!) reference book showing when your baby can eat what foods, how to cook them, how to store them, and so on. It's loaded with recipes and just chock full of information. My 2yo still eats the Super Porridge recipe almost every day for breakfast. Sometimes I eat it with him! Seriously, get the book!!

My little girl is just about to turn 7 months old, so this past Saturday I made her first baby food meal: avocado! This was my son's very first meal, too.

Making your baby's own avocado baby food is about the easiest thing you can ever do, and it is super healthy. You won't find avocado baby food on the shelf at your grocery store either because they can't find a way to preserve it (according to our pediatrician at our most recent wellness visit), so unless you make it, your baby won't get to enjoy creamy, nutritious avocado.

Making your own baby food isn't very difficult to begin with no matter what you choose to make, but it doesn't get any easier than avocado:

1. Make sure your avocado is ripe. It should "give" when you lightly squeeze it. If it's hard, leave it on your counter for a few days until it's ripe. Once ripe, it will keep in your refrigerator for several days.
2. Wash the avocado.
3. Use a knife to cut the avocado in half lengthwise. Your knife will hit the avocado seed; don't try to cut through it, just continue to cut all the way around the seed. (Once you've done this a time or two, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.)
4. Pull the avocado halves apart.
5. Use a spoon to scoop out one half of the avocado into a bowl. I either eat the other half myself, use it to make guacamole, or I leave the seed and skin on, cover it with the other now empty skin, and put it in a covered container in my refrigerator to use later (the next day). If you scoop out the extra and put it in the refrigerator, it will turn brown and look disgusting. Leave it in the skin and cover it with the other skin, and it will stay pretty green and fresh.
6. Use a fork to mash the avocado until smooth.
7. Serve your baby yummy, healthy, fresh avocado baby food!

Easy peasy! No cooking involved and minimal cleanup...well, except the baby!

A Dinner of My Own Making

That's always scary. At least in my house. But this time it turned out okay. DH had two helpings of the beany pasta dish, and DS chowed down on it, too!


My personal fav of the day were the seasoned brussel sprouts.


DH groaned when I bought them (yes, groaned out loud in a grocery store like a little boy!) but he freely admitted that he liked them once I cooked them up. He actually preferred them steamed without any seasonings like I made them the day before, but I preferred the seasoned ones.

So, here are the "recipes" I created:

Beany Pasta Sauce:
*can of organic black beans (undrained)
*2 chopped tomatoes
*roasted garlic (I used Just Roasted Garlic from Just Tomatoes)
*oregano
*basil
*Just Hot Vegetables (from Just Tomatoes, ordered through an online coop)
*Just Crunchy Onions (from Just Tomatoes, ordered through an online coop)
*taco seasoning

I heated the pasta sauce over low heat while I cooked a package of whole wheat penne pasta in a separate pot, stirring frequently. (Using beans that had been soaked and cooked would have been more economical, healthier, and more earth-friendly, but I am still working on being prepared ahead of time...)

Then I drained the pasta and ladled sauce onto the pasta on each person's plate. We topped it with freshly grated cheddar cheese purchased from the coop (a community owned grocery I just found out about).





Brussel Sprouts:
I had lightly steamed these the day before and used some of them in a recipe (that flopped, by the way), so for today's second chance, I cut them in half and put them into a skillet along with...
*a good drizzling of extra virgin olive oil
*curry powder
*rosemary
*paprika
*garlic powder

...and stirred them around until well-coated and heated through. Then I put them into our bowls and sprinkled with some freshly ground Himalayan pink salt. Tasty!



Sometimes my creations end up really yummy and sometimes they're just okay (read: awful!), but luckily both of these dishes turned out pretty well and were well-received. :)

Recipes from Raw on $10 a Day (or Less!)

For dinner one night this past week, I made three all-RAW recipes from Lisa's Raw on $10 a Day (or Less!) blog. I stumbled upon this site a few weeks ago and have really been enjoying trying out her recipes. She is so creative and her photography makes everything look SO good! (My photos pale in comparison to her works of arts, so be sure to follow the links and check out her site!)

From Lisa's website, we tried the Banana Salad, Creamy Cucumber Soup, and Apple Cinnamon Cookies.

For once, I followed the recipes to a "T"...with the only exception being that for the Creamy Cucumber Soup, I used a red onion instead of a "regular" onion (although she didn't specify a type) and I also added some of the diced red onion on top of the soup as well.

Here were our thoughts on each dish, along with some photos:

*Banana Salad -- We loved the presentation of this salad (especially the coconut flakes!), but didn't think the dressing really melded well with the ingredients. We would definitely try it again, but would go with a different type of dressing...not sure what though...hmmm....





*Creamy Cucumber Soup -- We both LOVED this! It tasted incredibly fresh and light. It would make a great summer soup on a hot day because it tastes so cool and refreshing. DH liked the chopped cucumber and onion on top and actually wished there were more of it; he prefers chunky soups, and I have to say I agreed. We were pleasantly surprised by how much we liked this recipe! It turned out a beautiful light green color, and looked quite fancy, even though it took less than 5 minutes to whip together!





*Apple Cinnamon Cookies -- I had a little bit of difficulty making these in my Blendtec. I think it was just because the amount I was making was pretty small and I was using the big 3qt jar, so most of what needed to be blended kept getting stuck under the blade. A food processor probably would have done a better job, but with continued scraping down of the sides, and some patience, I was able to get a sticky dough which rolled nicely into cookies. These were absolutely delicious, but a bit thick (think peanut butter), so I'd recommend a nice glass of your favorite milk (cow's, coconut, almond, etc.) to wash these down with! The spices in these cookies are absolutely perfect; you won't believe they're raw! Yum! (Unfortunately, I didn't get a photo taken of these before we devoured them! Oops!)