Smoothie Operator

ב"ה

A few weeks back, my Mom and I went to "the city" (in our neck of the woods, that means New York City, a place where both of us have lived at some point in our lives) and after taking care of what we were there for, we walked from the West 60s to Penn Station to take the train home. It's been a few years since the two of us went together and my Mom has slowed down a bit, so it was harder for her to do the walk than the last time.

We stopped at a wonderful health food store on 8th Avenue, but we didn't sit while there, so my Mom wanted to stop some place we could sit. So we stopped at a Starbucks. Because I'm vegan (and diabetic, so I can't have sugar or sweetened soy milk), they made me a smoothie with bananas and strawberries. It was delicious.

So it got me to start making my own -- I take 2-3 bananas, a bag of frozen strawberries, 1 1/2 to 2 cups of unsweetened almond milk, sometimes I add 1/4 to 1/2 bag frozen mixed berries or frozen mango, and then I add stevia to taste (or your sweetener of choice, or no sweetener if you think it's sweet enough without it) and whir it together in a blender. (If it's too thick, I add some filtered water to help it whir better.)

This is a good start -- if there's anything else you'd like to put in (other fruit, some nuts, etc.), experiment. With the summer heat (we've had temps in the high 80s to the high 90s), this is very refreshing. It's also very filling.

Check out my other blogs:

Israel and it's Place in the World
Jewish Singles
Jewish Sandwich

Check out my squidoo lenses (articles):

Don't miss my latest Veg*n Themed "lens" -- If you love animals Don't eat them!

Strong Biblical Women
Strong Biblical Women 2
Why Be Vegetarian
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 1
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 2
Rosh Hashana
Quick Vegan Cooking
Creating new recipes from old
Strong Biblical Women Part 3
Hanuka
About the Jewish Calendar
Witches and Morality
Presidential Trivia Quiz
Christmas and the Jewish Single
Math Hints 1 -- Adding Fractions
Presidents1: George Washington
Passover: Holiday of Freedom
Ruth and Naomi
Why I'm a Red Sox Fan

I love kale!

ב"ה

Our town has a farmer's market in the summer (ok, part of spring, all of summer and part of  autumn) on Fridays. This year's market was inaugurated this past Friday (I had been waiting, a tad impatiently, for them since I noticed signs that said "Farmer's Market June through November" and it was already June) and I got to see the people I see year in and year out at the only Organic booth there.

Because it's the beginning of the season, there were "slim pickins" . But the woman who runs the booth, who's known me for a few years, knows that I love purple food. So she steered me over to the Purple Kale.

Kale, BTW, happens to be one of my favorite veggies. It shows up regularly on Nutrition Action Magazine's list of the best fruits and vegetables (like this article about the 5 most overrated and underrated foods from May 2010).

But, unlike spinach and some other veggies, I can't get frozen organic kale. So what's a lazy-ish kale lover to do?

I'll tell you what I do: I take the kale (1-2 bunches at a time), wash it in a mixing bowl with 2 tablespoons of cider vinegar mixed in with cold water. I rinse each kale leaf in the vinegar wash then rinse it in running water. I turn on the food processor before I put in the kale, then a toss in the kale leaf by leaf (after pulling the greens off the stems and ripping the leaves to make them smaller and easier to get into the food processor chute).

I then put the chopped up kale into zip bags (snack size) and zip them up and put them in the freezer. They keep there for months. I can then take kale from the bags and saute it (as I did today -- I took that sauteed kale and tossed it into my salad) or toss it into soup. I also like to put some kale on my sandwich machine sandwiches (see my blog entry of Sunday, March 7, 2010 called Marshall's and Soup )

Kale is high in calcium and iron. Like most greens, it's also high in beta carotene.

Check out my other blogs:

Israel and it's Place in the World
Jewish Singles
Jewish Sandwich

Check out my squidoo lenses (articles):

Don't miss my latest Veg*n Themed "lens" -- If you love animals Don't eat them!

Strong Biblical Women
Strong Biblical Women 2
Why Be Vegetarian
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 1
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 2
Rosh Hashana
Quick Vegan Cooking
Creating new recipes from old
Strong Biblical Women Part 3
Hanuka
About the Jewish Calendar
Witches and Morality
Presidential Trivia Quiz
Christmas and the Jewish Single
Math Hints 1 -- Adding Fractions
Presidents1: George Washington
Passover: Holiday of Freedom
Ruth and Naomi
Why I'm a Red Sox Fan