Purple Monstrosity Fruit Smoothie

Friday, April 22, 2011

Kale & Apple Smoothie

My smoothie this morning was really yummy.

Purple Monstrosity Fruit Smoothie - Modified from All Recipes RATING: 4.5/5

Ingredients:

2 bananas
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1 cup orange juice (I used 4 oranges)
1 tbsp honey (I didn't use - optional)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used the equivalent in vanilla powder- optional)

1/2 cup kale leave (optional - I added to the recipe to make it green)

Comments:

Came out looking like a chocolate shake (despite the name) I guess the green and purple made brown. ANYWAYS, it would have gotten a 5/5, but I put it in the fridge and the texture got too thick. It was yummy, actually the first really typically good smoothie I've had in a while. It was also pretty filling. I didn't get hungry until much later in the day.

We are running low on greens and high on bananas, so it will be interesting to see what I make tomorrow. Cilantro & banana??? hmmm.

Lemon-Lime Detox Smoothie Recipe

Kale & Apple - from Incredible Smoothies RATING: 4/5

Ingredients:

1/2 medium lemon, peeled and deseeded
1/2 medium lime, peeled and deseeded
2 medium bananas
juice from 1 large orange
1-2 cups chopped dandelion greens or kale (optional) (I used 2 cups dandelion greens)

Comments:

I guess I like the tart/sour/random tasting ones. This is not a sweet smoothie and even tasted weird. HOWEVER, I thoroughly enjoyed it!

**I'm actually going hiking today with a local group. I'm a little nervous about meeting new people..............so, wish me luck.

Inspiration....

Oscar is such an inspiration.

He is so grateful for his place on this earth. We have a piece of art in the kitchen which quotes Ralph Waldo Emerson, saying, "Do not go where they path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."

Love that quote. He and I frequently mention it. God cares for each of his creations and has a unique path for us to follow.

Trusting in him and using what he has innately given each of us will, create a more splendid fulfilling path than attempting to follow the "standard" path/plan or simply copy that of another.

Happy Monday!

~ Francine

Kale & Apple Smoothie

My smoothie this morning was really yummy.

Kale & Apple - Modified from Hub Pages RATING: 4/5

Ingredients:

1 cup of kale leaves
2 oranges
1 fuji apple
6 oz cold water
5 ice cubes

1/2 cup of green grapes

Comments:

Yummy and tart! I think I really like apples in smoothies. YAY!

Today we cleaned out our storage. Oscar was a champ and did all the heavy lifting. Some kids were playing hide and go seek out in the courtyard. I made cookies for our friendly neighbors. It was a beautiful day.

Here are a few backlogged recipes:

Raw Tomato Soup - Raw Radiant Health RATING: 5/5 (SUBJECTIVE, OSCAR RATES IT A 1/5)

Ingredients:

1/2 red bell pepper (seeds and pits removed)
1 celery stick
7 Italian tomatoes
1/2 cucumber (with seeds and peel removed)
3 cloves of garlic

3 tbsp of cold pressed organic olive oil

1 tsp celtic sea salt

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

Instructions:

Blend on variable 4 in the Vitamix until hot. Can be made in other blenders as well and heated on the stove.

Comments:

I only made 1/4 of this recipe to see if I'd like it. I'm normally not a fan of raw tomatoes at all. I absolutely loved it. I made it for lunch on a cloudy day and I felt all warm and toasty inside for hours. I made it for Oscar for dinner and he wouldn't even eat it (this has only happened once before). Muy interesante. I can not safely recommend it, but I'll make it again for myself. :)

Kale and Banana Smoothie - The Best of Raw Food RATING: 2/5

Ingredients:

2 bananas
5 kale leafs
2 tbsp hemp seed
1 bag of frozen blueberries (I used three cups)
2.5 cups of water

Comments:

So, I am still drinking green smoothies which aren't very tasty, lol. That's ok, health is the major factor and I am happy about that. After a few sips, it all starts tasting better anyways. I know there are yummy recipes out there, I just have to find them. If this had a milk base, I think it would be better. I just need to use some common sense.

Locked Out

Haha, another story about that darn judgement jar. Today Oscar put in two quarters and I put in one. Maybe we should have chosen nickels, eh?

This morning, we locked ourselves out of the apartment! It took two hours for our handyman, Jack, to let us back in. Luckily, we were able to take off a screen and pry open a window far enough to let the cats out. So they waited outside with us too.

We, of course, both judged each other for forgetting keys. Sooo funny how easy it is to try to get the speck out of another's eye when we obviously have a log in our own. We're getting better though.

I have a couple of recipes to post and will possibly do so tomorrow.

Oscar is done with Wuthering Heights and is reading another one of my favorites, The Count of Monte Cristo. I love Alexander Dumas' writing style. I started reading it again too and am thoroughly enjoying it.

Cheski, I was shocked to see I had a comment already. Love you, and just felt the urge to blog.... so I'm back for as long as the feeling lasts!

Green Smoothie - avocado, banana, apple, spinach, lemon

This morning I got out up on the wrong side of the bed. I am a grouch and I hate being this way.

I had to put money into the judgement jar for lashing out at Oscar. He has been sitting in the chair in the living room for the last two+ hours reading different books, while I made and served him a delicious breakfast, an ok smoothie and then picked up and vacuumed the house.

I love that he reads! I love that he is learning and enthusiastic about it, but on this grouchy morning, I really just wanted to workout (which I don't like to do in front of him). I also wanted to listen to music!!! I could have used headphones, but yah, instead I lost a quarter. I should have read my Bible, but did not.

phew. I feel a little better now. It is 8:30am and I am going to get a lot of great things done today. Working out is going to be like medicine this morning - I need that stress reliever. Then I get to shower and look cute.

Apple Banana Avocado Spinach Lemon Smoothie Recipe - Sparkpeople RATING: 3/5

Ingredients:

2 medium granny smith
1 ripe banana
1 cup fresh spinach
1 cup romaine
1 avocado
1 lemon, cut up (with or with skin)
1 TBS ground flax seed
1.5 cups water

Comments:

I liked this a little better than yesterday's, but nothing to write home over. The apples gave it a nice taste. I didn't end up finishing yesterday's smoothie because it was too creamy. I think tomorrow we are doing one w/o avocados. This was creamy as well and also lacked flavor.

Avocado Spinach Smoothie

So, I bought the vitamix!! We needed a blender and decided to go all out.

Anyways................ that means I am back, at least partially, to raw. My yummy cheesy cashew recipe broke our old magic bullet blender almost a year ago.

I'm going to record my failures as well as my successes, so I don't keep repeating them.

Avocado Spinach Recipe - FitSugar RATING: 3/5

Ingredients:

1 handful baby spinach

1/2 ripe avocado

1/2 banana

juice from 1/2 a lime

ice

water

Comments:

Extremely creamy with very little taste. Tasted pretty much like smooth avocado with a little lime. It wasn't bad, but nothing to write home about. Very filling.

*I should have known it would be over the top creamy because both bananas and avocados add that element to smoothies.