Saturday, December 31, 2011

Year of the green smoothie & frozen veggie mixes

This fall I started making green smoothies as a get out of the house quick, I have class from 8am to 12pm, breakfast. I was really surprised that I liked it, I just KNEW that I wouldn't.  I'm glad I tried it. It not too expensive to start. You really do not need those ridiculously expensive blenders, I bought my single serve blender from walmart it was between $9-$14. I don't remember because the price kept fluctuating.

Around thanksgiving time I tried Kale in my smoothie because I caught a manager's special on Kale for 99 cents. The spinach you can't really taste once blended in but the kale is pretty bitter. Some people add sugar/honey/agave/whatever sweetener to fix it. I don't like the idea of adding sugar to my smoothie. I tried to deal with it but I noticed that when I added banana, a little bit more fruit and lime juice (not lemon it doesn't seem to work as well) the bitterness was gone! 


I switched from (frozen) Spinach to Kale because I like the taste and also because Kale is one of the most beneficial greens in terms of nutrition. I was further convinced after watching this TED talk where this physician changed her diet to include alot of Kale (and other things) to reverse the progression of her multiple sclerosis (MS). They are good for your mitochondria (BTW, mitochondria is my favorite organelle). I'm going to add a link so you can view it at the bottom. For the green smoothies my normal ingredients are listed below.

Components
Orange Juice (1 cup)
Plain non fat/low fat yogurt (2T)
Spinach (usually frozen) or Kale (2-3 cups)
Frozen pineapple, peach, etc (1/2 cup)
Ripe Banana  (usually 1/2 or whole)
Protein Powder (I scoop ~20g protein)

Extras (things I sometimes add)
Lemon/ Lime Juice (a few squirts)
ground Flax seeds (a sprinkle) they will make your smoothie grainy
Oats (usually pre-soaked) it can also add grainy factor
Green Tea (usually I brew a strong 1/2 cup and replace 1/2c of orange juice if I do this)
Ginger (a little grated ginger)

*sometimes the blender gets stuck because the mix is too thick, I just add water.

I started buying more frozen veggie mixes from Kroger and using those to cook with instead of buying fresh and having to chop.I prefer the texture of frozen to canned veggies and with the recent BPA scare, I doubt I'll switch to using only canned veggies. Its a real time saver and with my intense graduate school life that will be re-starting in about one week, I'm trying to organize all the healthy shortcuts I can make now.  My go to mixes are the

Vegetable soup mix
Fiesta mix
Italian mix
Mexican mix

I normally season the last three mixes according to the meal I'm making and serve myself so my plate is 2/3 veggies 1/3 meat or main dish.

What are your healthy timesavers?

doin it slow...

This is a post I started 4/2011. I can't believe I never finished it! Here ya go.

I am so impatient when it comes to my cooking. I often make things that are browner then they are supposed to be because I like it dark (chocolate, food, my men! haha!) and slightly charred. The over browning often happens because I trying to cook my food faster then it wants to cook. I've recently been cooking with a few new people and I think I've come around to see the benefits of cooking for a long time over low heat.

This quick toss veggie dish is a perfect example and its so good alone or served with a protein. The best part of this is that you just use whatever veggies you have on hand.  My usual mix is a rotation of:

1 bag Frozen California Mix veggies (broccoli, cauliflower and carrots)
1  Bell pepper (Chopped)
1 onion (Chopped)
1 cup Corn

I throw
1T of butter
2-3 whole garlic cloves into a sauce pan
Salt, Black Pepper and Cayenne Pepper to taste