A Weed Smoothie

No, I don't mean That Weed, silly.  I mean This weed:

Chickweed is prolific in my yard.  In fact, in Florida's wet season, chickweed grows much larger than you would suspect from the picture.

Here is a picture of chickweed growing in my yard in February, so it's not very thick:

I know that it's a very nutritious herb, even though it's most commonly known as a weed.

Click on this sentence for more information about the nutrition and benefits of chickweed.

Here's a picture of chickweed taken in April, which was dry this year, so it's not very big here, either:

Here's a picture of it in June, just as it was starting to get bigger:

After harvesting and freezing, here's what it looked like when I pulled it from the freezer.  For reference, the bag shown is gallon size:

My basic smoothie recipe is to place the ingredients in the blender in the following order:

• something green - spinach or mild herbs
• something wet - coconut water or iced tea made with stevia
• three apples - pared and quartered
• spices - apple pie spice or cinnamon or fresh ginger pieces

Here are the assembled ingredients in our VitaMix blender:

Here are the blended smoothies:

This is very tasty.  The chickweed makes it milder and less bland than a spinach smoothie.

Pretty Food!

I made a green smoothie today.  Into the blender I put the following:

• 1 can coconut milk
• 1/2 bag spinach
• 1/2 small bag frozen cubed mango
• 3 apples
• 1/2 cup green tea

Here's what it looked like when I started to blend it:

Here's what it looked like while it was blending:

Here's what we do with it when it's done.  Well, OK, we actually put the salsa jar lids on and store them in the fridge ...

I used a spatula to get the last of the smoothie out of the blender jar, and I let DH lick the spatula.  He declared it good enough to eat, and told me that it was a Pretty Color!

Usually DH doesn't like to eat it, and only because it's green.  For example the other half bag of spinach was used in an "apple pie" smoothie a few days ago, and he refused to eat it.

Here are the ingredients for the Apple Pie Smoothie I made last week.  I usually use coconut milk, but wanted to use up the last can of coconut water:

• 1 tall can coconut water
• 3 capsules psyllium fiber (it was still quite liquid)
• 3 small apples
• 1/2 bag spinach
• 1/2 small bag frozen strawberries
• 2 teaspoons (if not more) apple pie spice

Have you ever made a fruit smoothie or a green smoothie?

Avocado Green Smoothie

I made a new green smoothie today.  This was my first successful attempt at a non-sweet green smoothie.  My usual green smoothie tastes like apple pie with apples, spinach, coconut milk, ginger, and cinnamon.

No traditional fruits were used to sweeten today's green smoothie.  The ingredients are:

• 1 haas avocado
• three-inch piece of cucumber, peeled
• handful of spinach
• 3/4 can of coconut milk
• five dashes of salt
• one dash of lime juice

The taste is not exciting, but simply tastes like the list of ingredients.  The coconut milk and avocado make it very creamy.  I like it because sometimes un-exciting is good!

This batch filled a salsa jar and refrigerated so I can eat it tomorrow.  I put the rest in a coffee cup for my evening snack:

Spinach in Smoothies

My sewing pal mad-SewIKnit2 questions spinach in smoothies. Spinach has a much milder flavor than most greens. Give it a try!

We are expecting delivery of our VitaMix, which is a super-charged blender. That doesn't begin to describe it, but I will be sharing pictures of it in future days. Keep watching!

More Green Smoothies

Sunday night, I made enough for Monday and Tuesday's lunch:

• romaine lettuce
• some parsley
• 2 peaches
• 1 apple

Today's lunch was quite good. I made a lot, and I ate it all:

• spinach
• blueberries
• 1 banana

Some day I might consider taking pictures of the process. The only thing holding me back from that is that my kitchen does not look like a studio of any sort.

Friday's green smoothie

Friday's smoothie was even better:

• romaine lettuce
• small amt parsley
• one apple
• one kiwi
• a few dashes of lemon juice

The predominant flavors were kiwi followed by lemon. Very good!

Drink my Lunch

It's not what you might think if you don't know me. I mean, it's not booze, or even a traditional protein drink.

It's Greens!!

Yep, my lunches at work have been what basically amounts to blenderized salads. Here's the line-up:

Monday
leftover salad with cheese and salsa
- yummy with a salsa attitude

Tuesday
red leaf lettuce, cut cross-ways and rinsed
one pear, quartered, cored, and cut up
a few mint leaves
1/2 Cup water
- just OK

Wednesday
6 large romaine leaves, cut cross-ways and rinsed
two bananas, broken up
1/3 Cup shredded coconut
1/3 Cup leftover iced tea
- the best so far

Thursday
romaine lettuce
bananas
strawberries
blueberries
blackberries
leftover tea
- tasted like a fruit slush

I put the smaller and wetter things into the blender first, greens on top, and liquid poured over. Then I blend on the Liquefy setting until it looks, well, blended. I pour this into a container which I then leave in the freezer overnight. When I take it to work and leave it on a napkin in the back corner of my desk, it thaws to just the right temperature by lunch time.

I thought I was doing this for my general health and for the health of my eyes. There is a nice side side effect of 3.4 lbs of weight shed, and I started just this week! I also don't have that mid-afternoon dragged-down feeling. If this is an experiment, it's not over yet!

I have made it a point to not change any other eating habits, except that two weeks ago we gave up carbonated beverages completely. Oddly enough, that had no effect on my weight.

I recommend any book by Victoria Boutenko, but especially "Green for Life" and "12 Steps to Raw Foods."

How to eat after going to the dentist

I took DH to the dentist today and he can't really chew for a couple days. I made our supper's salad in the blender:

4 big pieces of leaf lettuce, cut up
1 large tomato, cut up
1/2 apple, cut up
1 Tablespoon frozen, chopped onion
1 Tablespoon Italian dressing

Blend until liquid. Pour into large drink cups (14 oz. with handles, is what we have). Serve with a spoon (for when you get to the bottom). It tasted better than I thought it would, but at least we each "ate" a whole, large salad. I like to eat fresh food for the nutrients and enzymes.

I also pureed the contents of a can of clam chowder, poured into mugs, nuked for 2 minutes, and served with oyster crackers. That was supper!