Green Smoothies

Life has been crazy. When things get tough at work, I don’t always eat the best. I have really been trying to start my day off with a green smoothie to get some greens in my diet and also because I just feel better. More energy, better mood, alertness. And then I don’t feel as bad eating a cheese danish later in the day.

In my quest to eat mostly plant based and find a balance of healthy living and living in the real world, I know that what I choose to incorporate in my diet I need to be able to continue to do for the rest of my life. Or at least some variation. In the past, I have fallen into many “fad” diets or diets that were too restricting. Enter the green smoothie. By now, just about everyone has heard that greens are good for you. Kale is a superfood and green salads are king. So in my quest for lifelong health, of course I am going to try to incorporate these powerhouse foods.

The thing about green smoothies is that they are really versatile and they don’t even really have to be green. Especially if you add some blueberries and cherries. They end up looking more like chocolate. But they do not taste like chocolate. But you could put chocolate in a green smoothie.

So, my green smoothies. I like to use spinach in my smoothies because it doesn’t have a strong taste. And I don’t like eating it raw or cooked because of how it feels on my teeth. But blend it in to a smoothie and I don’t even know its there. Except sometimes for the color. This has been my go-to green smoothie that I have not gotten sick of just yet. And it’s super easy because I just get the big bag of frozen organic strawberries from Costco.

 

AB&J Green Smoothie

yields: about 4 cups (breakfast)

2 bananas (fresh or frozen, depends on how cold you want it)

2 cups frozen strawberries

1 TBSP raw almond butter

big handful (about a cup) of fresh spinach

1/2 cup to 1 cup of coconut water (depending on desired consistency and if you use frozen or fresh fruit)

1-2 tablespoons local honey or sweetener of choice (I know honey is not vegan, but I would rather use local honey for allergies than take a pill)

 

Place ingredients into high speed blender in order listed. Blend until smooth. Drink up!

 

Apologies for no photo. It’s been that busy. And I mean, we haven’t even posted for almost a year…but…we’re back!

 

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Spaghetti Squash baked seeds

After cutting open the spaghetti squash I realized how similar this inside was to a pumpkin.  The recipe I was using to prepare the spaghetti squash said to scoop out the seeds and discard, but like a long tradition of using every corner of a napkin before you get a new one, I thought there had to be something interesting i could do with the seeds.

When we were younger while we were carving our jack-o-lanterns we’d take the seeds from inside the pumpkin, lay them flat on a cookie sheet, rub them in olive oil, sprinkle with lawry’s salt, bake for 20 minutes then enjoy.  We’d keep them in a cup on the counter and between my sisters and my mom they didn’t last long.

When you go to the store there’s always bags of pumpkin seeds baked, salted and sold $3 for 5 oz’s but you never see any squash seeds. The recipe I used for the spaghetti squash told me to throw the seeds away, but I couldn’t bring myself to do that.

What a pleasant surprise.

I coated them in olive oil, sprinkled them with dried chipotle & smoked salt seasoning, baked for 20 minutes and ate them while they were tying to cool on the cookie sheet.  For what I can tell these taste just like pumpkin seeds.  So if you do find yourself using the spaghetti squash PLEASE don’t throw away the seeds.  Just bake them and eat them for a delicious snack! You could always turn them into a pesto if you really wanted…

INGREDIENTS
spaghetti squash seeds
lawry’s or other seasoning salt to taste
olive oil (or your preferred oil) to evenly coat seeds

Coat the seeds evenly with oil and seasoning. Bake for 25 min at 350. Try to let them chill but you’ll most likely eat them straight from the cookie sheet.