Going GREEN!

As I had shared earlier, I had made Kimberly Snyder's "glowing green smoothie" and was a little less than excited about the results.  However, I saw potential in the recipe.  There are so many GREEN foods in it as well - the nutrition content must be amazing!! (I'll have to look that up.)  So, I was determined to make it more enjoyable...so the likelihood of my drinking MORE of it would actually go up.

We had a fun trip to our local farmer's market on Saturday and I had picked up a big bag of kale.

It was only after I had purchased it that the guy told me there were about 4-5 varieties in the bag.  

More than one exists??  I was only familiar with the typically seen "Curly Leaf" kale.  So, upon opening the bag, it was like a scientific classification game.  After dumping all the kale out and organizing it into piles based on appearance, I did some internet research to figure out what type each was.

Kale is considered a superfood based on its nutrient density.  It has tons of antioxidants and is considered an anti-inflammatory. There are, indeed, several different types of kale.  I had these types:

Since I had it on hand, I decided to use some of the kale as a base for my green smoothie.  I sampled the different types and the plain-leaved kale had the mildest flavor and softest leaf (allowing for easier blending).  So, I pulled the leaves off the stems (those are pretty tough) and chopped up a good 2 handfuls of it.

The main issues I had with the "Glowing Green Smoothie" was the thickness and the fact that I couldn't fit an entire batch in my blender.  I had to pour out 1/2 and blend...then add it back it.  It was a hassle, and a mess!  So, for my smoothie, I wanted it to be easily drinkable and portioned so one batch would fit in my blender.

I think the key to this smoothie is BLENDING.  Now, a Vita-Mix would work wonders here...but, I don't have one...so, you just have to let it blend longer...and blend well after adding each ingredient. I'm not making any promises of "glowing" ...but it is super healthy!

Jennie's Super Green Smoothie

2 cups Water

2 handfuls of chopped kale, stems removed (If you can find the plain-leaved, go with that...otherwise, regular curly-leaved would be fine)

1 handful of baby spinach

2 stalks of celery

1 apple - cored and chopped

1 pear - cored and chopped

2 bananas

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Directions:

Place water and kale in blender.  Blend well.

Add each ingredient individually and blend well.

Store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. 

Drink a glass full each morning and enjoy! 

Blend, Blend, Blend...

Yay! A FULL batch fit in my blender!

Then, absolute utter success was when my munchkin grabbed my glass, took a drink and said, "Mmm! Good!"  

So, make a batch and enjoy!!

Now, for transparency sake, I'm a sucker for baked goods...and ice cream.  All it takes is a glimpse of a brownie and I'm done for. They had a 4-pack of these babies for $1.99 at Safeway.  How could I pass that up?? It's a raspberry-filled croissant cup thingy...

I was talking to my hubby about the green smoothie as I started eating one of these.  He laughed and threatened to start a blog titled, "What Jen's REALLY eating..."

I do love nutrition and get excited about healthy food...but I'm far from perfect.

A Birthday Treat

I had recently gotten this cookbook:

(Source)

...but hadn't made anything from it.  Until today.  It was Mike's aunt's birthday yesterday and I wanted to make her a fun treat.   She's a veganish vegetarian...yeah, I just made up that term.  Essentially, she tries to eat vegan a lot but doesn't totally adhere to the label - especially when eating away from home. 

We had gone to the local farmer's market yesterday and I picked up some raspberries.

So, when I flipped through the book and saw a recipe for "Skinny" Vanilla Cupcakes with a raspberry topping, I knew those had to be the ones to make.

I've made vegan muffins before, but not cupcakes.  I've really found vegan baking to be easy - and really yummy.

The naked cupcake.  

I had to try one right out of the oven - just to make sure they were edible.

More than edible!!  They are a little spongier than your typical cupcake.  But really, flavor-wise, I doubt anyone would really suspect these didn't have eggs...and did have soy milk.

The recipe called to spread on some all-fruit jam. 

Then came the raspberries...and a drizzle of your basic powdered sugar icing.

I will definitely be trying some of the other recipes in this book! These were delicious.

Blogger Adolescence

I'm feeling like a jr. higher when it comes to blogging.  A little awkward looking, still trying to figure things out, and in desperate need of some fashion guidance.

So, as I sit here and rock out to some Ace of Base, I thought I'd try a food-log style entry.  Hence, the name of this blog is, "What's Jen Eating," so I might as well go that route.

While on vacation, I had a conversation with my Dad and had mentioned that I rarely eat salad.  Shocked, he was all, "Really? What do you eat!?"  I think it's a huge misnomer that all vegetarians eat is salad.  There are SO many yummy things to eat out there without meat that is not salad.

That said, ironically, today I did eat a salad for lunch.  Haha...

To begin the day, I had a green smoothie.  Green Monsters have been somewhat of a staple of mine for about a year now.  I love them.  My basic one is ice, about 1/4 cup of raw oatmeal, a banana, and a couple handfuls of baby spinach.  Blend it up and enjoy.  I know it sounds weird, but seriously...you can't taste the spinach!  It tastes like banana.

Well, I recently heard Kimberly Snyder on the radio promoting her book, The Beauty Detox Solution.  It seemed like the basis of her "solution" is in a green smoothie.  I looked it up and decided to give it a try. This thing is hardcore.  It's a head of romaine, celery, spinach, an apple, a pear, a banana, lemon juice, cilantro & parsley (optional but I had them, so used them).  As a friend of mine commented about the batch she made, "it's more like salsa than a smoothie!"  I'm determined to tweak this and make it more palatable...but in an effort to use the batch that I had on hand, I used it as a base this morning and then added a banana, oatmeal, and ice...and blended it some more.  It was MUCH better.

For lunch, I had lots of leftovers. I threw together a salad because I had lettuce left over from that batch of green smoothie I made.  In the mix was romaine, a broccoli-slaw (shredded broccoli stems, cabbage, carrots) mix I had, some baby carrots, celery, and Mama Pea's Mmm Sauce.  Then, on the side, I had some Wheat Thins with vegan ricotta I had made for a pasta dish the night before.

I spent most of the day studying for my NCLEX while Mike took Aaron to Seattle to go to the Pacific Science Center.  They stopped by Pike's Market and got me flowers on the way home!!  I love my boys.

That said, dinner was about as thrown together as lunch.  We stopped by the store and I was inspired by some Naan I saw to make a curry dish, knowing that I had some Trader Joe's Yellow Curry sauce in the pantry.

This stuff is awesomesauce. Hehe...  Sorry, had to.  Seriously though, you throw together some veggies, pour it on top, and serve with rice or naan.  It's delicious!















Our dinner consisted of onion, potatoes, red bell pepper, carrots, broccoli, and Quorn Chik'n tenders...with naan.

I forgot to take a picture when it was plated.  It wasn't until I took our plates to the sink that I remembered I was doing this post today and I needed to take a picture!

This naan was really yummy. It's from British Columbia...which I almost feel is somewhat local since we're so far up here now. Hehe...

So, thanks for being on this journey with me.  I've had the urge to do a food blog for a while now and I'm really hoping to get it up and running...work out all the kinks of what style of blog I'm going to have  and get consistent with posting.