Mango Pear Green Smoothie

Hi, All!

When Kurt started a whole foods cleanse to lose weight a little over a year ago, one of the main things he ate were 3 to 5 vegetable and fruit smoothies per day. This mango and pear green smoothie was his own invention, and it is delicious! It's a great one for smoothie beginners, since you cannot taste any of the spinach and it's sweet and fruity.

You can play around with the ratios of the ingredients to suit your taste. Feel free to add a protein powder or chia seeds if you like! Ingredients list is listed after the video below. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
1 banana, quartered
3 large handfuls spinach
2 pears, chopped
1 cup mango, frozen cubes
1 knob ginger, peeled
1.5 cups water (add more for a thinner consistency)
1/4 cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds) (optional - for iron!)

Blend all ingredients for about 45 seconds, or until smooth. Makes at least 2 servings.

How to Make Almond Milk - Unsweetened and Vanilla

In this video, I show you how to make plain, unsweetened almond milk, and a vanilla almond milk that is sweetened with dates. Almond milk will keep for about 2 or 3 days in the refrigerator. Just shake it, and enjoy!

Ingredients:
1 cup almonds, soaked 8-12 hours
3 cups water

To make Vanilla, add:
6 dates, soaked 10 minutes
splash of vanilla

Tools:
Blender
Nut Milk Bag
Bowl

PS, I think that this is really tasty. I hope you like it as much as I do!

I know this is random...but maybe you'll like it!

So, I made a very short film for a contest, went to upload it to their page, and they shut down the contest 6 hours earlier than they advertised! It was for crucial.com and Lou Ferrigno endorses their computer products - for computer memory and things.

The contest was to make a 30 seconds or less video of you making your best ROAR at the computer like you were frustrated at it. Here's what I was going to submit. I hope you like it! :)

UPDATE: I was able to submit this video to the contest! Their website's glitch was fixed! Yay! Wish me luck! ;)

Car Ride for Saba, Police Chase, and a Tour of Nearby Parks!

Kurt and I were recently given an actual video camera by my generous sister and brother-in-law! Thanks Aim and BW! So now we can film things without having to lug around our lap top. We're so high tech now!

So we decided to take our new camera on an outing. Some exciting things happened during the drive - and some stretches of chatting.  Cute views of Saba and the nice scenery is a bonus too! Enjoy!

Red Lentil Soup

Hi All!

This recipe is a family favorite. I think my mom invented it, I just added the kale! It's a great way to have a kind of creamy soup since the lentils break up and lose form, and all the veggies make it super tasty and healthy too!

Last night, I read that gram-for-gram, cooked kale has more calcium than milk. So get your greens in for healthy bones, people! :)

Ingredients:

1 cup of split red lentils, sorted for imperfect lentils and small stones
Water
3 carrots, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 medium zucchini, chopped
3-6 leaves of kale, depending on size, de-stemmed and chopped into thin ribbons
olive oil
salt, pepper, garlic powder

Directions:

In a saute pan, add about a tablespoon of olive oil, and heat to medium. Add chopped carrots, onions and celery. Season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Saute over medium heat for about 10 to 15 minutes - until onions are translucent and veggies are soft.

Meanwhile, place sorted lentils into a sieve and rinse under running cold water. Bubbles will appear among the lentils as you rinse them. Rinse until no more bubbles appear! I think this helps them become more digestible...

Fill a soup pot about half way with water. Place lentils, a teaspoon of salt, and some pepper into the water and stir. Heat to boiling. Turn down to a simmer. Skim off any foam that the lentils produce. This will also help with digestion! Let simmer 15 minutes.

Stir in sauteed veggies into the pot. Simmer for 15 minutes.

Add zucchini and simmer for another 15 minutes.

Add kale and simmer, once again, for another 15 minutes.

Test the soup for seasoning, and adjust for taste. Serve soup over some brown rice if you want to make a more filling meal.

Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Home Fries

In attempt to make home fries a tad healthier, we swapped sweet potatoes for regular white potatoes. Funnily enough, we had orange bell peppers that matched the potatoes, too! These home fries were actually better than regular ones! They are really flavorful and the addition of spinach lets you get some greens in!

This is my portion. Kurt had some too!

Ingredients:

1 large sweet potato, peeled and chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 small orange bell pepper, chopped
1 large handful of baby spinach
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste


Directions:

Peel and chop sweet potato. Boil or steam potatoes until just fork tender. Don't overcook. Drain or remove potatoes from steam.

Heat large saute pan to medium heat. Add sweet potatoes, onion, bell pepper, salt, pepper and garlic powder. Cover to let cook, occasionally removing lid to stir, about 5 minutes.

When onion and bell pepper is soft, add spinach and garlic. Saute for another minuted or two.

Serve immediately and enjoy!

Video! Broccoli in Garlic Sauce Made Gluten Free

Hi All,

I wanted to try to make a video of my Broccoli in Garlic Sauce recipe. The audio is not so good, but I used my laptop to film. This is my first attempt at editing and on-camera stuff, and though I'm a bit green, I'm excited to do more and get better!

I hope that you enjoy seeing how this recipe is made!

PS, I cut out the part where I can't stop laughing - but maybe I should include it in a bloopers reel!

xo

Broccoli in Garlic Sauce - Made Gluten-Free!

Hey all!

Being gluten-free can be tricky, since gluten is found in so many products where you wouldn't expect to find it. One of those is regular soy sauce. One of my favorite Chinese food take-out meals is Broccoli in Garlic Sauce (shout out to Oriental Pearl and China Chef!). Alas, any of the brown sauces is usually an indication of the wheat-containing soy sauce. I needed to create my own recipe so I could once again have that delicious sweet/salty/slightly-spicy taste again!

Ingredients:

For the Sauce:
3 tbsp Bragg's Liquid Aminos (delish wheat-free soy sauce substitute)
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 tbsp water
2 tbsp rice vinegar
3-4 dates (instead of sugar!)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (adjust for taste)

For the Saute:
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
3 large heads of broccoli, chopped into florets

Directions:

In a blender, blend together the Liquid Aminos, rice vinegar, olive oil, water and dates. In small sauce pan, saute the garlic and tsp of olive oil for one minute over medium heat. Pour the blended mixture into the sauce pan. Turn to low. Add red pepper flakes and stir.

Meanwhile, heat large saute pan to medium-high. Add tsp of olive oil and coat the bottom of pan. Add broccoli florets and saute for about 3 minutes. Once the broccoli turn bright green, pour the garlic sauce over top and saute for 30 more seconds. Take off heat.

Plate the broccoli and serve with steamed brown rice. Pour extra garlic sauce over the rice. Enjoy!

This serves two really hungry people, or four medium-hungry people.

If you want lower sodium, use 1 tbsp less Liquid Aminos and 1 tbsp more water, or use a reduced sodium gluten free Tamari. Here's info on Bragg's Liquid Aminos and San-J Tamari.

Note that this is not a thick sauce - I did not use any thickener. You can if you want, but I have a fear of corn starch. For reals.

xo!