"Green" Smoothie: Midnight Orange

My most recent "Green" Smoothie creation.... I am naming it Midnight Orange! Whipped this little beauty up last night and it was deeeelicious. I am also including a modified version with some added protein and healthy fats (which will help you feel fuller longer). ENJOY!

I also found a great mix n'match green smoothie go to! 

Check it out at >>lifelessbullshit.com<< GREAT RESOURCE!

 

Midnight Orange Recipe
 
Directions:

1. Add banana, coconut water and spinach to blender. Blend on low for 1-2 minutes until well blended.
2. Add 1/2 cup blue berries, blend on low until well blended. Add remaining blue berries, blend on low for 1-2 minutes.
3. Add 1/2 an orange's juice
4. Add orange zest- I zested 1/2 an orange for a great citrus flavor. You can add as little and as much as you'd like to get the desired flavor.
5. Add about 1/2-3/4 crushed iced, and filtered water and blend on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add more or less water to help blend.

*Note, gradually adding the ingredients and blending between each step helps liquefy the spinach to ensure you don't get chunks in each sip.

Midnight Orange: Modified Recipe

Directions:

1. Add banana, coconut water and spinach to blender. Blend on low for 1-2 minutes until well blended.
2. Add 1/2 cup blue berries, blend on low until well blended. Add remaining blue berries, blend on low for 1-2 minutes.
3. Add flax seed oil, and tofu. Blend for 1 minute on low.
4. Add 1/2 an orange's juice
5. Add orange zest- I zested 1/2 an orange for a great citrus flavor. You can add as little and as much as you'd like to get the desired flavor.
6. Add about 1/2-3/4 crushed iced, and filtered water and blend on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add more or less water to help blend.

*Note, gradually adding the ingredients and blending between each step helps liquefy the spinach to ensure you don't get chunks in each sip.

 

Green Smoothies! Peanut Butter Banana

Everyone knows the importance of incorporating fruits and vegetables into the daily diet; balancing the right amounts of fruits, vegetables, protein and grains- has been debated for decades, and I am sure will continue to be debated. I am not going to pretend to be a food scientist, just a food lover, and an enthusiast for healthy food that tastes good! But my personal belief is: food. is. a. science. And whatever your health goals are, tweeking that science can do wonders!!

I have been reading a lot about green smoothies, and have been experimenting with them for about 2 months. Poor Frank has had to try all sorts of crazy concoctions. This whole process has also made me want a juicer reeeeeal bad. I think the next time I get some birthday money I might breakdown and buy a sweet juicer. But until then I have been doing it the old fashion ways, so to speak, using my blender, and occasionally my little food processor [to get a finer texture for the more… coarse (if that’s the right word) veggies?]. 

So I am going to share my personal recipe that I have been tweeking… simple and sweet (literally). Initially I was all about adding EVERYTHING, kale, spinach, tofu, carrots, green apple, banana etc. But Frank made a keen observation… less is more. The more I added to my smoothies, trying to increase the nutritional value, the fewer flavors they had. I know that might sound counter intuitive but they just ended up tasting blahh. Since then I have been dialing back, and trying to keep the number of ingredients to the minimal. 

SO, with all of that, the recipe that I finally mastered, is as follows:

Directions:

• I typically add the spinach, coconut water and banana and let them blend for a solid 1-2 min to get the spinach all chopped up. No one likes large pieces of spinach floating around in their smoothies.
  
• Next I add the peanut butter and ice. The amount of ice added is completely up to the individual, I typically add anywhere from 1/2-1 cup crushed ice.
• Note the more ice you add the more diluted the taste will be
• If you'd like to skip adding the ice, use a frozen banana instead

• Once all the ingredients are added blend away for an additional 1-2min, until the desired texture is achieved!
• Voila! Green Smoothie!  

NOTE: Another common ingredient I add is 1/8 - 1/4 avocado to make it more creamy and get some of those unsaturated fats!!

•  Avocados also adds fiber, potassium, and vitamins C,K, folate, and B6. BUT....Half an avocado has 160 calories, 15 grams of heart-healthy unsaturated fat, and only 2 grams saturated fat. One globe contains more than one-third daily value of vitamin C, and more than half the day’s requirements of vitamin K.

I will also share my one struggle with any smoothie, green or not… and that is the struggle of SUGAR!! Trying to keep the sugar down is really hard, especially when you’re using fruits for flavor. After doing some reading I have really cut back on adding sugar to our breakfast/green smoothies. Initially, when I first started making breakfast smoothies I added honey for flavor. As my smoothie blending skills advanced, I graduated to a more “clean” sugar, if you will, Agave. Now I have moved (or as frequently as I can) to just using the sugars in the fruits to flavor the smoothies. Unfortunately there is still a lot of sugar that adds up even when you’re just using fruits. This is a balance I am still trying to master, but even with the higher content of unprocessed sugar, I definitely am an advocate of green smoothies!  

Through my research I found this awesome Q/A from some green smoothie experts, and I am going to pass it on to you!! (Source Greenthickies.com)

Best vegetables for green smoothies

The best vegetables for green smoothies are dark leafy greens as these are the vegetables we struggle to eat the most of and they are the best for us.  You can put other vegetables in the blender too but ensure you have enough creamy fruit to balance out the fibrous textures.

Best greens for green smoothies/ green smoothie greens/ what are the best greens for green smoothies 

Spinach, lettuce, parsley, kale, chard, basil, cilantro, bok choy, celery, and cucumber are all great in green smoothies.  The darker the leaf the better it is for you.  You can also add beet tops, celery leaves and strawberry leaves in to your green smoothie.  If you are looking for a mild green, the best green to start with is spinach as you can easily hide the taste with sweet fruit.  You can include herbs to make the green smoothie taste very fresh. I personally love herbs in my green smoothies.

Best fruit for green smoothie 

The best fruit for green smoothies are fruit with more soluble fibre as it blends more easily and makes the smoothie creamier, sweeter and hides the taste of the greens more.  The best fruit to use are banana and mango as these are the sweetest and will make your smoothie creamy.  You can combine either mango or banana with any different types of fruits such as peaches, pineapples, strawberries or other berries, pears, kiwi, oranges, papaya, grapes etc.  The worst fruit to blend on it’s own is an apple as it has a high amount of insoluble fiber so it doesn’t blend very easily or mask bitter tastes.

 

Can you use frozen spinach in a green smoothie/ Green smoothies frozen spinach?

I have been adding frozen spinach to my green smoothies and green thickies for years and know of other people who have done it a lot longer.  However on many frozen vegetables there is a warning telling you not to eat them raw.  This is because they haven’t followed the same safety guidelines as they do for frozen fruit as they expect people to cook their greens and eat their fruit raw.  Once the greens are cooked they are much safer to use.  Some people reason that if you consume your greens raw, the benefits they provide for your body (and ability of your body to fight off infections) outweighs the risks of eating raw frozen greens.

 

Can I add protein to my green smoothie?

Yes, you can add whatever you like to your smoothie. You can add protein powder (see above for my views on this) or you can add other types of food that contain more protein such as nuts, seeds, quinoa, grains such as oats, sprouted seeds or beans, tofu, or other dairy free forms of protein.  Bear in mind that greens contain a high level of protein per gram, you just need to eat more of it to get the same amount of protein.  I prefer to get my protein as part of a whole food as that is the way it is designed to be consumed.  I prefer not to separate my foods.  So I add nuts and seeds to my smoothies to turn them into a complete meal. I also add oats to get enough carbs to fill me up until my next meal.

Check out more information at: www.greenthickies.com AND simplegreensmoothies.com.

Spicy Moroccan Shrimp Tagine

This recipe is one of Franks Favorites! Typically each week I browse my various foodie websites for new recipes, and once in a while Frank sends me something that he would like to try. Frank found this favorite on Yahoo! which linked it over from Foodrepublic.com.

We initially tried this recipe over a year ago, and have just recently perfected it. Not because it is a difficult recipe, but there is a definite “trick” to get just the riiiiight amount of lemon. It is rare for me to come across a recipe that I don't modify at least a little, especially after making it the first time- but this recipe I haven't tweaked a bit.

The first time we made this recipe it definitely got a WOW! It is very tasty, healthy (ier), and is great for leftovers. I would rate it on an easy scale to make, but it definitely is not a quick recipe. There are multiple steps, which in total, takes about an hour… but this little gem is well worth it!

The trick to this recipe is getting the right amount of lemon. The recipe calls for “3 slices lemon, halved”. The first time we made it; we simply placed the lemons in the pan and did NOT squeeze them into the sauce. The second time we made it, we must have squeezed ALL the lemons into the sauce, because the only thing you could taste was lemon. The third time we made it we squeezed about 1/2 the slices into the sauce, and the other 1/2 in the skillet. The third time was definitively an improvement, but there was still and overwhelming lemon flavor. And the fourth time we made it, we eventually came to our senses and went back to when we made it the best, and didn’t squeeze any lemons into the sauce.

You may be asking yourself, “Why does she keep talking about lemons?!?” The answer, lemons truly make or break this recipe! AND one of the perks of reading about past experiences is to learn from my mistakes!

I give this recipe four out of four forks! It is definitely a keeper (once we finally mastered the level of lemon). I would also recommend making brown rice to pair with this recipe. Typically I make about 1-1.5 cups (dried) brown rice, which makes about 2-2.5 cups cooked rice (approximately 4 servings). Top the rice with the shrimp and sauce and you’ll have a new family favorite. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do!!

Spicy Moroccan Shrimp Tagine

 

Servings: 4

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Source: Morocco: A Culinary Journey with Recipes from the Spice-Scented Markets of Marrakech to the Date-Filled Oasis of Zagora, By: Jeff Koehler

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 361 g

Amount Per Serving

Calories 403 Calories from Fat 78

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 8.7g                          13%

Saturated Fat 1.3g                  7%

Cholesterol 243mg                  81%

Sodium 262mg                        11%

Total Carbohydrates 46.8g     16%

Dietary Fiber 3.7g                   15%

Sugars 3.5g

Protein 37.1g

Vitamin A 31% • Vitamin C 38% Calcium 5% • Iron 10%

Nutrition Grade A-

* Based on a 2000 calorie diet

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil

4 medium ripe tomatoes, halved, seeded and grated

6 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped

2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, finely chopped

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1 bay leaf

salt

freshly ground black pepper

1 1/2 pounds large shrimp, peeled, tails left on 
Note* I always take the tails off because I hate doing it while I'm eating

3 slices lemon, halved

*1 to 1.5 cups dried brown rice

Directions

1. In a medium sauce pan, add brown rice and 2-2.5 cups of water (or until the rice is completely submerged, and has about 1 inch of water above the rice). Turn to high heat, until the water boils. Reduce the heat to medium-low to medium heat and let the rice simmer until all the water has cooked off.
2. Meanwhile….In a tagine, flameproof casserole, or heavy skillet or saute pan (we simply use a heavy skillet) add the olive oil, tomatoes, and garlic, and cook uncovered over medium heat until the tomatoes are a deeper red and pulpy, about 12 minutes. 
3. Reduce the heat to low. Stir in the parsley, cilantro, paprika, cayenne and cumin.
4. Add the bay leaf and season with salt and pepper. Place the shrimp on top and cook for 1 minute, and then turn.
5. Place the lemon slices around the edges of the tagine, dribble 2 tablespoons water in the side, cover with the lid, and cook for 10 minutes.
6. Serve bubbling hot in the tagine. 
7. Note* we serve the shrimp over ½ cup cook brown rice per serving.