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Product Review

Froothie Optimum 9400 Blender Review

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Froothie Optimum 9400

As many of you know, I’ve been a devoted user of the Vitamix for years, so when the opportunity came along to try out the Froothie Optimum 9400 Blender I felt a little bit like I was cheating on an old and very dear friend. But I decided to have an open mind and see what this new kid on the block could do. A few weeks ago I stashed away my Vitamix and replaced it with the Froothie to see how it worked for my daily blending needs.

Daily? That’s right. I’m a pretty heavy blender user – I make smoothies for breakfast every day and often (at least once per week) use the blender for other tasks such as pureed soups, custard for ice cream, almond milk, cashew gravy and on special occasions, raw raspberry cheesecake. I need a blender that can withstand my serious usage and heavy pureeing needs.

Over the past three weeks I’ve been using the Froothie for those daily smoothies, and have also used it to make oat milk and banana “ice cream”. I have yet to try more interesting tasks such as custard or hot soups, but those items will certainly have their chance because I don’t intend to stop using the Froothie anytime soon. So far it’s been a stellar performer and has performed at least as well as the Vitamix. If it excels in one area I’d say it’s noise: the Froothie is noticeably quieter than my Vitamix. I also like the clear jug.

Froothie vs Vitamix

Perhaps one of the reasons I haven’t missed my Vitamix is because the Froothie is almost identical in terms of looks and function. Under the hood sees a few benefits, too. The Optimum 9400 has a 2,238 Watt motor (compared to Vitamix’s 1,492), a 44,000 rpm speed (vs 37,000), a 6 blade assembly (vs 4) and one jug that works for both wet and dry blending (all of my flour- and spice-grinding dreams come true). At £329, it’s also cheaper than Vitamix which starts at about £465.

Yes, it’s still expensive, but having spent this kind of money on a high power blender myself, I can tell you that I’ve never regretted my purchase. A good blender is enabling. You could use a cheaper blender but you wouldn’t get the same silky smooth results, and you wouldn’t be able to blitz up great stuff like kale, broccoli and beetroot into perfectly smooth smoothies. At best, you might get smoothie salsa! A good blender also enables you to do fun things like make your own nut milk, nut butters, flour, cashew cheese and other things that are only achievable with a good motor and some strong blades.

Hemp Protein Green Smoothie

That word “enabling” brings me to another surprise plus I’ve found with the Optimum 9400. The blender comes with a quaint little booklet called “Deliciously Raw” full of recipes for raw smoothies, soups, dressings, nut cheeses and desserts. The book is written by Carmella Soleil of the Sunny Raw Kitchen blog and the stories she’s included with her recipes are down to earth and really inspiring. I especially liked her discovery story of raw nut cheese, having been unimpressed early on, but then having her interest “rekindled” by Chad Sarno’s Cashew Cheese Au Poivre. I just love origin stories like these and it really helps put a commercial product like a blender in perspective. It also really makes me want to have a go at making raw cheeses – particularly the nacho “cheeze” to have with raw tostadas (with raw corn chips made in the food dehydrator).

All this raw healthy vegan stuff certainly is hugely appliance heavy, and for that I’m often in two minds about whether some of this stuff is the way forward. Regardless, I know from experience that smoothies and juices have had a positive impact on my own health and wellbeing, so I’m willing to let these gadgets into my life. And like most gadgets, it’s better to get something of quality, that works well, and will last. So far the Optimum 9400 is ticking all of those boxes.

Speaking of appliances, I’m looking forward to trying out the Froothie Slow Juicer next, particularly for its bonus abilities as a nut butter machine and a tofu maker. Stay tuned!

You can test-drive any of Froothie’s machines with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Check out the Froothie website to see their full line of blenders and juicers including the Optimum 9400 and the Slow Juicer.

Recipe

Cooking with Nettles

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The Stinging Nettle is an edible plant which grows prolifically like a weed in wet woods, hedge banks and river valleys (and in my garden). It is so-called because the leaves are covered with fine, stinging hairs, making them a mild hassle to forage. However, this year I’ve learned that they are well worth the effort. Here is my journey of nettle discovery…

Nettles

A couple of years ago, my friend Mike and I made nettle soup. Even with the Vitamix, the result was a little rough… literally. The soup seemed gritty, not in a dirty kind of way, but in a nettle-y sort of way. Having picked the nettles in the rain and suffering a few stings along the way, I decided nettles weren’t worth the effort and wrote them off… until this year…

Lesson 1: The art of picking nettles

I’m pretty sure the reason behind my lacklustre nettle soup was that I picked the wrong leaves. Leaves should be picked while young, early in the season if possible (nettle season is late February to early June). According to Richard Mabey’s invaluable book, Food for Free:

“Older leaves – especially those formed after June – contain tiny crystalline particles giving them a gritty texture. They are also bitter and can often have a laxative effect. The very best nettles are the whole shoots picked when they are just a few centimetres high in March.”

Also, before you use the nettles, remove all traces of tough stems and wash really well.

Brave little ladybug

Lesson 2: The recipes

Over the last few months I’d seen a few interesting nettle recipes going around. Meanwhile, my friend Emily was honing her own curiosity about nettles. So when we got together for Beltane recently (and Imbolc a couple months prior), we put some of these recipes to the test. (The seasons have a way of sparking creativity, particularly in the food and foraging department.)

Nettle Recipes

It was through this effort of experimentation that we discovered that nettles are totally worthwhile. Here are the recipes we tried:

  • Nettle Spanakopita – This was good and deserves a do-over I reckon.
  • Nettle Pizza #1 – Using the Tartine Bread method, putting raw nettles on the pizza. I loved the texture from the nettles on this one (see Lesson 3 below)
  • Nettle Pizza #2 – Here we put blanched nettles on the pizza, so it was more like spinach. Also good but I preferred Nettle Pizza #1.
  • Stinger Balls – A foraging double whammy with nettles and wild garlic, mixed with cheese and formed into balls. Err on the smaller side with your stinger balls, and bake in the oven to make sure they’re cooked all the way through.
  • Nettle Farinata – I love farinata regardless but adding a couple nettle leaves to the batter adds cool texture and makes them look super cool.
  • Nettle and Mushroom Omelette – You just can’t go wrong with this. Blanch the nettle first then chop finely and add to the omelet with cooked mushrooms.
  • Nettle Smoothies – Both with juiced and blended nettles. This worked really well but warning: go easy on the nettles, a small handful is plenty.
  • Nettle and Wild Garlic Pesto – Another foraging double whamming; the nettles are a great way to tone down the super potency of wild garlic.
  • Nettle Cordial – OK we didn’t make this one but Kanna did and it’s hugely interesting.

A couple things that require further experimentation: dehydrated nettles, my attempt at nettle crisps – they didn’t turn out very well, but I think it’s because I was stingy in coating the nettles with oil. Also, nettle tea – this was just not very good but I blame myself for including the stems with the leaves (a nettle tea no-no apparently). Finally, the elusive nettle soup that I have yet to try again. This Nettle Broth with Scallops and Horseradish from Richard Corrigan sounds really interesting. I also like this idea for Nettle Sauce to go with poached eggs.

Lesson 3: Why nettles are worthwhile

Are nettles really any better or different than spinach, kale or other green that’s far easier to get a hold of? Well, “better” is a matter of personal preference, but they are definitely different. The most amazing nettle discovery I’ve had through my experiments is their texture, particularly in cases like Nettle Pizza #1 and Nettle Farinata. Unlike spinach or wild garlic, which gets soft and almost disappears into the other ingredients when cooked, nettles retain a definite texture, and when the whole leaves are kept intact, those nettle hairs (no longer prickly since they’ve been cooked) make for a pretty neat mouth-feel that I don’t think I’ve experienced from any other vegetable.

Nettle farinata.

It’s also worth noting nettles’ nutritional benefits. Nettles are remarkably high in calcium – 1 cup of cooked nettles contains 42% RDA of Calcium (compared to spinach’s 24%). Nettles are also high in potassium, iron, sulphur, vitamin C, vitamin A and B complex vitamins. If you really want to be hardcore about it, you can make this nettle infusion that’s basically like a stinging nettle IV drip (I don’t think I want to be that hardcore).

Nettle Smoothies

I’d put nettles right up there with spinach in terms of nutritional powerhouse-ness (click here to compare the two), but nettles are free. So attention all you health-conscious, adventurous people on a budget – nettles are for you!

Lesson 4: Where to get started

There are an infinite number of ways to discover the marvellous nettle, and I recommend getting started with this easy recipe from Rachel Demuth. Let’s face it, it’s hard to go wrong with a deep fry, and these deep fried nettle fritters are no exception. They make a great party trick but are tasty too: green goodness encapsulated in crispy batter, best served with a good pinch of salt and squeeze of lemon or a tasty sauce – Food Urchin’s Foraged Salsa Verde would be ideal!

Nettle Fritters

Nettle Fritters

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

  • Nettle tips – pick succulent tips and leave enough stalk to give you something to hold on to
  • Sunflower oil for frying
  • Lemon wedges

For the batter

  • 200ml ice cold water
  • 1 large egg, beaten
  • 90g sifted plain white flour
  • 2-3 ice cubes

Method:

  1. To make the batter, pour the ice cold water into a mixing bowl. Mix in the beaten egg, add the flour and roughly fold in with a fork – do not beat, the batter should be lumpy! Add the ice cubes.
  2. Heat the sunflower oil in a wok or deep fryer.
  3. Dip the nettle tips into the batter a few at a time, allowing any excess batter to drain back into the bowl. The nettles should be only thinly coated.
  4. Fry the battered nettles until golden, then drain on kitchen paper.
  5. Serve hot with a pinch of salt, a wedge of lemon & a salsa verde.

So that’s my experience with nettles so far, but more inspiration is wanted. What have you been doing with nettles? Any cool recipes worth trying?

This post also appeared on Great British Chefs.

Uncategorized

Smarter Fitter Supperclub Recap and Recipes

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Fwd:

Last night was my first ever Smarter Fitter Supperclub held here at my digs in the Cotswolds featuring a vegan, raw, gluten-free theme. There were 11 of us in total, and what fun it was having so many like-minded and adventurous people over to try some of my creations, share ideas, drink wine and have some great chat. It went amazingly well and I hope all of my guests had as much fun as I did. The stand-out dishes seemed to be the beetroot and walnut dip, sweet potato kofte, raw raspberry cheesecake and, funny enough, the “Juicer Dreg Crisps” I made in the dehydrator with leftover juicer pulp.

My only regret is not taking enough pictures! The only pictures I did take were of the beverages (which might explain a thing or two).

Infusing. #tequila

Will I do it again? I think so! The social opportunities alone make it worthwhile – I met some really interesting people and made a few new friends. Plus, it was great hanging out with people who are actually local to me – something I don’t do as much as I’d like to.

So I’m thinking a summertime veggie BBQ camp. Any interest?

The menu from last night is below, with links to a few recipes for some favourite dishes.

DRINKS

APPETIZERS

SMORGASBORD

DESSERT

Uncategorized

New Year Reboot Workshop Recap

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New Year Reboot Detox Class at Demuths Vegetarian Cookery School

Last Tuesday I hosted my first cooking class ever! The title was New Year Reboot and the aim was to show people strategies and recipes to help them recover their body from a season of excess and get back to (or get started with) feeling awesome all of the time. The class was held in Bath at Demuths Vegetarian Cookery School, owned and operated by Rachel Demuth, one of the best vegetarian chefs in the UK (she’s been at it for 30 years so she knows her stuff!).

New Year Reboot Workshop

I was very grateful to work alongside Rachel as I taught the course. While I demonstrated smoothies, soups and salads, Rachel showed how to make your own veggie stock, quinoa and the ultimate soup garnish: kale chips!

New Year Reboot Workshop

I was so grateful to have Rachel there, along with my helper and friend, Marie Leggo of Lanyon in Cornwall. I now realise just how much effort goes into teaching a cookery class, and I have new appreciation for the work that cookery teachers like Rachel put into what they do. It’s quite possible that I bit off more than I could chew with the menu, but Rachel and Marie helped everything flow.

All of the dishes were vegan, gluten-free, soy free and dairy free. Here’s what was on the menu, with recipes where available:

The students made their own pear and avocado smoothies and quinoa bowls, and it was fun seeing the different variations they came up with (I applaud their copious use of fresh herbs – my students were flavour genius!).

I was further delighted by how much they liked my cauliflower soup, where the creaminess comes from cashews rather than milk or cream. And in another cauliflower trick, the raw winter tabbouleh used cauliflower in place of bulgar wheat (the cauliflower gets broken into bits in a food processor).

New Year Reboot Detox Class at Demuths Vegetarian Cookery School

Of course, the best part was meeting and cooking with a bunch of new people, all eager to learn a bit about this healthy eating stuff and exchange ideas. It made all of that effort worthwhile and certainly assuaged any new-teacher-nerves I might have had!

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A big thanks to Rachel for providing such a wonderful environment for teaching, and thanks in particular for all the help with preparation. And thanks to Marie who helped clean up our messes!

Finally, thanks especially to everyone who came on the course – it inspires me to keep on pushing with my own healthy habits, and healthy output like recipes, cookbooks and workshops. Beetroot smoothies all around!

 

Recipe

Vegan Cream of Cauliflower Soup

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Vegan "cream" of cauliflower soup Lunch today & on the menu for my #detox workshop this Tues at @Demuths!

Last night I hosted my New Year Reboot cooking workshop at Demuths Vegetarian Cookery School in Bath. The whole “reboot” concept is all about giving the body a chance to rest and recover after a season of excess, and get back to (or get started with) feeling awesome all of the time. The aim of the class was to provide strategies and recipes to help people design their own “reboot” according to their own personal tastes.

One of the strategies involves eating foods that are vegan, gluten-free, soy-free and dairy-free. Another strategy involves eating a lot of soup (easy to digest, nutrient rich meals – kinda like smoothies)!

One of the soups I demonstrated was this “Cream” of Cauilflower soup. Blended cashews give this soup its velvety creamy texture – no dairy required! And based on the mmm’s of the students, I’d say this was one of the top recipes of the evening.

Vegan Cream of Cauliflower Soup
You don’t need milk, cream or potato to make soups creamy – use cashews instead. You also get the protein and healthy fat bonus that comes from using cashews. Plus, adding cashews or any nut to your soup will ultimately make them more satisfying, keeping you fuller for longer and keep you from needing to snack later in the day. You can use this same recipe to make all kinds of vegan creamy soups – broccoli and celery are great here.
Ingredients
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, roughly chopped
  • 1 head cauliflower, broken into florets
  • salt, to taste
  • 1 liter of water or stock
  • a large handful of raw cashews
  • Freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
  1. Warm the olive oil in a heavy-bottom pan. Cook the onion on a medium heat until it is soft, without letting it brown.
  2. Add the cauliflower and 125ml water. Raise the heat slightly, cover and let the cauliflower cook for 15-18 minutes, until tender.
  3. Working in batches, puree the cooked cauliflower with the stock and the cashews, then return to the pot and heat thoroughly.
  4. Serve garnished with sauteed mushrooms, kale chips or whatever tasty garnish you can think of!

Travel

Chicago 2013-2014 Trip Highlights

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Marina Towers

I was in Chicago from December 13th – January 13th (lucky 13!) visiting family and doing the whole Christmas thing. There wasn’t much chill time (even though the temperature was -20 F at times!). Instead, we did as we usually do – as much as possible, to make up for a whole year of absence. Here were the highlights, in rough chronological order.

Meeting my niece

This has to go at the top of the list. My sister Stephanie’s baby Jordan was born on October 22, 2013 and this was the first chance I had to meet her. She is not an ugly baby! In fact, she’s charming… when she’s not suffering internally. The poor little girl (Stephanie and her partner nicked named her “PJ” for “Poor Jordan”) has colic so is not her best self at the moment. But she is a trooper. One of my Jordan highlights was on “Christmas” (see below) – Jordan was crying so I took her to give my sister to sleep. I actually managed to get her to stop crying for a few minutes. Who knows, my maternal instinct may emerge yet!

Christmas time on Harmony Rd

The other bonus of meeting my niece: getting to spend time with my sister and her gorgeous dog, Halo. I am really REALLY looking forward to Jordan being old enough to accompany my sister and I on our famous road trips and camping expeditions.

The Schwinn

Wish I could take this bike home with me

My parents have this amazing old 1963 Schwinn given to them from my grandpa. I’m in love with this bike, and one of the big achievements of my trip was in having it cleaned up, greased, tires changed and ready for action. Thus, this was much ride during my trip – I wish I could have taken it home with me.

I love this Bicycle

Meeting some of my Mom’s crew

My mom is always talking about her awesome friends and this time I got to meet a few of them over a potluck lunch. I brought kale sale (a riff on the family recipe for Mandarin Orange Salad), Turkish style flatbread and no knead bread. Mom made her awesome Middle Eastern red lentil “Shorbat Adas” soup  Her friend Kathy made a stellar Iraqi rice Sweet and Sour Salmon in Almond Prune Sauce from Delights of the Garden of Eden by Nawal Nasrallah (the sauce alone was outstanding). I attempted to make Iraqi rice that didn’t exactly have the crispy rice crust (hikaka) I was hoping for but it was good.

Lunch at Kathy Ellingson's

Dessert was pretty special: Kathy made Ginger Ginger Cake using fresh ginger and stem ginger. It was pretty much perfect, and even extra amazing with labna and jasmine tea.

Kathy Ellingson's Ginger Ginger Cake

Father Daughter Day 

Father Daughter Day

Dad and I planned a couple days out together, partially give my mom some well-deserved time for herself, but also, it’s great having some one-on-one time with dad! We deliberated over what to do – museums, movies, bowling… but in the end it was my mom who had the best idea ever: a day out at and around the University of Chicago campus, where my dad got his PhD and a source of many of his stories. This was one of the best days ever!

Brunch. UofC. Robie house. Gargoyles. Carrot cake. Trivia. The awesomest day out in the city ever with @shawtreks.

We started with lunch at one of our favourite Chicago spots, Victory Banner in Roscoe Village. Then we cruised down to Hyde Park, had a romp around the U of C campus (via the book store so I could pick up a souvenir sweatshirt). Then we went on an excellent tour of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House on the U of C campus, then finished with coffee at cake at Medici, where my mom says she and my dad “fell in love”.

More photos on Flickr: Father Daughter Day

 

Winter Solstice

Morning walk - the day after Winter Solstice

I have developed a soft spot for solstice and equinox occasions over the last year (see this post) and I was very grateful that my family was willing to do something special for the occasion. I started the day with tea, a smoothie and some mood padding. This was also the day of my Aunt’s cookie mission (see above), and I can’t think of a better way to spend winter solstice afternoon than in the spirit of creation and collaboration with my family, especially those extended family members I rarely get to see.

Nourishing beetroot, apple & avocado smoothie for winter #solstice breakfast. Score: mom has a juicer.

In the evening, mom made a wonderful wintery meal of veggie chilli (Emeril’s Vegetarian Chilli recipe, and it’s a total keeper – bam!). I made cornbread and glogg. We reflected and talked, then took a post-dinner walk to welcome in the darkness (and practise our carolling). Back home, it was dutch apple pie for dessert (Kate Hill’s Easy French All-Butter Pastry for the win), then an early-ish night in order to wake up for a sunrise walk in the morning: a stroll in the woods, snow falling all around me, and thoughts about what this season means to me.

Winter solstice Rocky

My winter solstice mission: to make this winter a time of nourishment, mentally and physically.

Flickr photoset: Winter Solstice

 

Christmas Cookie Baking

Cookie Day Output

Every year my Aunt Sue has a day in which she bakes all of her Christmas cookies, and she always invites some helpers along. I’ve been very grateful to have been on the invite list the last couple years, and as I said above, I treasure these days because it’s a great opportunity to hang out with my extended family in a more intimate way than at big family parties. Plus, there’s baking involved! And this year saw a new cookie revelation: rosemary shortbread! I basically followed Chocolate & Zucchini’s Shortbread recipe, and added some chopped from rosemary from my Aunt’s kitchen garden. These were delicious on their own, but even extra special with cheese (particularly Stilton, thank you UK!).

New Ove Glove - Thanks, Sue!

I also got a new Ove Glove – thanks Aunt Sue!

Flickr photoset: Chicago 2013 / 2014

 

Christmas

This is what it’s all about, right? Well, unfortunately my mom and Jordan were both sick, so we decided to postpone Christmas with the immediate family until everyone was better. On the plus side, Dad and I were feeling well and made it to the big family party – and the family keeps getting bigger. I’m hoping to see more Christmas Sweaters next year.

Christmas Collage

Flickr photoset: Christmas 2013

 

The Ohioans 

Shaw Brothers at The Baked Apple

My dad is from Ohio and has two brothers who live there with their families. I don’t get to see “The Ohioans” very often, so it was pretty cool that they were ALL able to come down for a few days between Christmas and New Year’s. We crammed a LOT into those two days. I had an especially good time on the day we tried to go to Brookfield Zoo, only to get on a non-stop train to Chicago. We ended up having a terrific day in the city and the weather was beautiful.

Downtown Chicago

We also had some great outings to Morton Arboretum and my sister’s place, plus some good meals too. There was the Mexican feast: tortilla soup, pan-fried cod with chilli seasons and an amazing apple cobbler, which was extra good because we all pitched in to make it (Aunt Rosella had the genius idea of adding oats).

Dottie, Rosella, Monica and Melissa

The best might have been our final breakfast at the extremely friendly, reasonably priced and quite good “family restaurant”, The Baked Apple  We were all in high spirits following an incredible trip, plus we scored a free baked apple pancake from the charming Angelo.

Angelo

Consequentially, I also invented the “Monica Frittata” – basically their veggie frittata without the potato, plus jalapeno. I am only writing this so that I remember to order it again next time I go. Delicious! (Though Uncle Ed would argue, not as delicious as their grits and blueberry waffle.)

"Best grits ever."

Flickr photoset: The Shaws Come to Town

 

New Year’s Eve with Matt & Abby

Cheese board, bread, leftovers, mimosa's - New Year's Day is made!

Matt and Abby are two of my dearest friends and I’ve been very grateful to spend my last couple of New Year’s Eves with them (it’s becoming a tradition!). One of the reasons why we get along so well is that we enjoy the virtues of staying in, which is especially handy when New Year’s Eve coincides with a snow storm and some very cold weather.

Quinoa Salad with Sweet Potatoes and Apples

We did another one of your New Year’s Eve smorgasbords, this time incorporating a few new recipes and a few new people. We ate cheese, played The Bowl Game, drank craft beer and stayed up talking until about 3am. Pretty solid.

Matt & Abby revisit the NYE feast

The menu (more on this in a separate post):

Flickr photoset: New Year’s Eve 2013

 

Snow Day(s)

Snow Globe -esque

We had some pretty serious cold weather in Chicago this visit, and a lot of snow. I loved it, but it helped that I had nowhere to be. It also gave me, mom and dad the chance to do some hunkering for a few days.

Snow Day

Our outings were constrained to bowling, lunches and movies. We all had a delicious nourishing lunch at Prasino  where I satisfied my craving for fish tacos and mom had some amazing mushroom soup (no problem finding a table that day).

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We saw Saving Mr. Banks and Gravity at the cinema. And back at home we watched an epic amount of the Muppets, a theme which carried throughout the whole of the trip (let 2013 forever be known as the year I discovered The Muppets). I also discovered the wonderful thing that is sweet potato fries at Standard Market. The place has a whole ROOM devoted to cheese – amazing! And they also do great pizzas and a pretty mean veggie burger (extra pickles, please).

Flickr photoset: Chicago 2013 / 2014

 

“Christmas”

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The upside to everyone being sick at Christmas meant that we got to extend the holiday merriment a little longer and were even extra prepared when we finally had Christmas together in January. Aside from getting the car stuck in Stephanie’s driveway (did I mention the snow?), everything was perfect, and we all learned something: Christmas is far better when you keep it simple. With the gifts, as well as the food. The menu was basic and came together without stress:

 

  • Bread and insalata caprese with Mom’s balsamic reduction for appetisers
  • Roast vegetables
  • Blanched green beans with toasted almonds
  • Mashed potatoes (expertly made by dad – learning moment: when out of milk, use sour cream – it may have actually been better than the usual)
  • The requisite veggie loaf with cashew gravy
  • Ginger Ginger Cake for dessert

Balsamic Reduction

We’re thinking that we’ll do more “alternative Christmases” like these in the future. Since I’m out of the country, anyway, why not have them at a completely different time of year when the world is less crazy with holiday buzz? I’m all for this.

Flickr photoset: Chicago 2013 / 2014

 

Raw food lunch at Borrowed Earth Cafe

Raw Raspberry cheesecake

My parents’ town is home to one of the few raw food restaurants in Chicago, Borrowed Earth Cafe  and it’s a pretty good one at that. Mom and I met with my friend Jim for lunch and had a pretty inspiring meal. Raw gyros, lasagne, pierogis, tortilla soup and an impressive raw raspberry cheesecake that I’m hoping they’ll share the recipe for!

Raw pierogis

"Gimme a Gyro" Cross Section

Raw Lasagna

Photoset: Borrowed Earth Cafe

 

Kate Hill tribute dinner

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Inspired by the enviable cassole that Kate Hill gave to me to give to my mom last summer, Mom and I put it to use in a mushroom and eggplant cassoulet. We DEVOURED this.

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For dessert, we made Kate’s recipe for prune clafoutis. We devoured that too. My mom was in ecstasy eating this meal, and Dad gave it a “10 plus”. Camont in Chicago – it was the best!

Flickr photoset: Chicago 2013 / 2014

 

Lunch at Topolobampo

Following my dad’s and my outing to Rick Bayless’s Frontera Grill last year, we decided then and there to take mom to his “fancy” restaurant, Topolobampo this year.

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I had to book a table two months ahead! But we went and it was DELICIOUS. Interestingly, the appetisers blew the main dishes away, especially the “Modern Mexican Winter Salad” and the “Nutty Stuffed Pasilla Chilli”. I think mom was especially blown away by the flavour bomb, and she seemed to have a mushroom a-hah moment. The pasilla chilli and the “Griddle Baked   Huitlacoche Quesedillas” both included wild mushrooms and both dishes seemed to cause my mom to enter another plane of existence (that and the coconut horchata).

Modern Mexican Winter Salad at Topolobampo

We were all impressed with the dessert, too. Super rich brownie type cakes with vanilla bean ice cream, corn masa crisps, sweet puffed rice and some kind of jellied thing. I mean, look at it:

Amazing dessert at Topolobampo

Flickr photoset: Topolobampo, Chicago

 

Dinner party and sleepover at Dawid’s

Geeking out with @dawidlp. Just like Room Ten.

I’m so glad I made the time to have an overnight in the city at my friend Dawid’s, one of my dearest friends from University (jeez, he’s known me for over a decade!).On Friday, Dawid hosted a wonderful dinner party with me and three of his friends. I arrived early to help and it was so much fun cooking together, just like old times but with far better taste in food. I learned that hosting a good dinner needn’t take an excessive amount of time or turn the kitchen upside down. Not everything needs to make from scratch, especially when there are quality producers out there (and there are many in Chicago).

a collage for you

Flickr photoset: Dinner Party Sleepover at Dawid’s

 

Shaw Family Breakfast Buffet

Cinnamon rolls

A new family tradition? We decided to theme our last get together around a breakfast buffet. I resisted my urge to set up an “omelet station”, but I did do poached eggs, cinnamon rolls, no knead bread and granola. Stephanie made an awesome baked apple pancake and mom did roast potatoes on the weird (but effective) Pizza Pizzazz.

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Flickr photoset: Chicago 2013 / 2014

 

Game Day

One last roll before I return to the land of an entirely different kind of #bowling. #GameDay #latergram

So I’m getting into games, and mom and dad treated me to a day of gaming and food, including bowling, lunch at Standard Market, and a dinner, Yahtzee and craft beer evening and the nearby Ballydoyle. The super great bonus was having Matt, Abby and Sam along for the Yahtzee bit, and sunshine cake after!

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Flickr photoset: Game Day aka Monica Day

 

Sunshine Cake

Yes, sunshine cake. It’s a family recipe from my Auntie Jo (RIP) and I’m pretty sure it’s the best cake ever. It is so simple and easy to make (flour, sugar and eggs!) and is THE perfect delivery device for strawberry shortcake. Recipe to follow in a future post.

Sunshine cake

Shera

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My family has been going to Sher-A-Punjab (or just “Shera” as we call it) for decades. It’s an Indian buffet. No big deal. But it’s special to us. My dad (a former priest) says their food is the closest he’s ever been to heaven. My parents still go at least once a week. And this visit we learned they were BYOB, too. Bonus!

Consequentially, Shera is the place where I had the buffet binge nightmare that resulted in my slow eating mission (you can read about it here: In Praise of Slow Eating). The experience jarred me to the core, and changed my life forever.

Dinner at our family favourite Indian restaurant.

I’ve shied away from going to Shera ever since, but I knew how much it meant to my parents – especially dad – to have me go with them again after so many years. So I decided to go for it, but with a different approach. We decided to enjoy the buffet in “courses”. No piling on of plates. No going back for seconds. And it worked SO well. I started with soup and a samosa, then moved on to some of the curries, and finally a bit of dessert. I was very tempted to heap my plate high, and very VERY tempted to go back for seconds (their food really IS great). But I kept it real and saw it as a real achievement. I now think every trip home will involve a visit to Shera – instead of a thorn in my side, let this place be a reminder of how I’ve learned to CONTROL MYSELF. From now on, let Shera be a symbol of SUCCESS! (Yes, I’ve been practising my positive thinking.)

And, also, who can deny the delight of fresh tandoori-baked naan. Shera’s is the best!

The best naan
 

Beer 

I made a point to taste a lot of local-ish beers while at home (and a local craft Root Beer, too!). This one was my favourite: New Belgium Brewing’s seasonal winter “Accumulation Ale”.

Happy Christmassy things

 

Sushi

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My last hours in the USA were spent having sushi with my parents. We meant to go to our local favourite, Yokohama  but – gasp! – it was closed. We were hell-bent on sushi so decided to try Nabuki in nearby Hinsdale. Where Yokohama is very traditional (why we like it), Nabuki is a much more elaborate affair. Fancy sushi for Americans! But guess what – it was REALLY good and I think it may have opened dad’s eyes to the idea of sushi (even the raw fish part).

Last family selfie taken after sushi lunch at Nabuki

I like the whole pre-flight lunch idea. It forces me to pack up early and puts us all in a place where can just relax and enjoy our last couple hours together without distraction.

 

It’s always bittersweet leaving home. I always think a lot about the things we didn’t get to do. But on this visit, even though there were a lot of hitches (illness, plan-cancelling snow storms, pulled butt muscles), I had a great time and I can only focus on all the great things we did together. I am very grateful to have a family that I LIKE and who likes spending time together. I think when we’re young, it’s easy to blame our parents for all of our shortcomings. True, I often lament that I’m “turning into dad” (partly when it comes to mannerisms and inability to get a haircut) but these days I’m seeing all the ways my family make me a better person. Perhaps having everyone sick or busy or stressed gave me a chance to “take care of them” for a change. I am the Toast Fairy, after all.

Happiness

Vegetarian Thanksgiving with Friends and Klingons

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Star Trek Cheese Invasion

I am very thankful to have a few of my fellow Americans close by on this side of the pond. And I’m extra grateful that some of those friends happen to be vegetable-eating sci-fi geeks like myself. Thus was the foundation of this year’s Thanksgiving, aka Thanksgeeking, aka Thanksgivukkah, which brought me together with my friends Emily and Robert for two days and two nights of vegetarian cookery and geeky hijinks in Cambridge.

Geeking out on pecan pie smoothies in our respective geeky t-shirts.

A little bit more on the geeky stuff in a moment, but first, the menu, which basically reads like a litany of blog post fodder, because everything was great – even the failures offered some learning moments.

Here’s what we made over the course of Thanksgeeking (menu shamelessly copied from Emily’s blog post):

Smoothie Making

  • Mushroom Ginger Matzo Ball Soup – a total stroke of Emily genius

Matzo Ball Soup

Thanksgiving appetizers

NPR Cranberry Relish

  • Eggplant “Bacon” (vegan) – holy aubergine, batman – dehydrated eggplant may be my new favourite thing

Aaaaaah. The smell of eggplant 'bacon' in the morning.

Thanksgeeking

And for dessert:

Pumpkin pie shooters with coconut whipped cream. #vegan #thanksgeeking #latergram

The real stroke of genius is what we did with the leftovers: PIZZA. Yes, green bean casserole pizza (with crispy onions) may be even better than straight up green bean casserole. I challenge you to find out.

Arguably the ultimate geek food: pizza. (In the company of Klingons.) #thanksgeeking #latergram

As to those geeky hijinks, they mainly comprised cheese boards, t-shirts, action figures and terrariums. How have I lived this long without ever experiencing Moon Sand?

And for my next geeky trick: Dragon Fruit Jellies. Stay tuned.

Thanksgeeking

 

There are more Thanksgeeking pictures on Flickr.

Juicing

Juice Feast in Review

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So it seems spirulina makes smoothies look like something out of Ten Forward. This is cool to me. #trekkie

As I mentioned in a previous post, I recently did a 7-day “juice feast” in which I drank only fresh-pressed fruit and vegetable juices for seven days in a row following Jason Vale’s annoyingly-named “7lbs in 7 Days Super Juice Diet”. I’ve already written about how stupid it all sounds (I normally wouldn’t buy or buy into anything involving the word “diet”, but even book publishers have to eat… or drink as the case may be). But I did it, not so much for the weight loss, but just to see how it would make me feel. I wanted an adventure!

Having finished the seven days (successfully!), I just wanted to share a few random thoughts about the whole thing.

Let me make this clear: THIS IS NOT FASTING

When I told some people about this juicing thing they were automatically like “oh my god, you’re going to to disappear”. I want to stress that this juice plan wasn’t a starve yourself plan. I drank 6 substantial juices throughout the day at 3-hour intervals. Some of those juices got blended with avocado or greek yogurt, so were more like smoothies. It’s tough to count how many calories I was eating, but as a very rough estimate, I’d say I drank 6-7 cups of juices per day plus 1-2 avocados plus 200-400g yogurt. If a cup of juice has 100 calories, an avocado 400 calories and yogurt (I chose Greek!) 100 calories per hundred grams, that’s about 1200+ calories per day. And the plan is flexible – if you’re hungry, have more juice.

Attempting the family jello 'mould' using fresh juice. Beet for colour!

In fact, I wasn’t hungry

As much as I was never full, I was never really hungry. There were some days when I didn’t even drink all the juices because I just felt satisfied with what I had.

No planning or thinking required: I like that

Well, there’s a bit of planning – you have to go to the grocery store and buy all the ingredients. And get a juicer. But the day-to-day stuff is completely laid out on a wall chart. There’s your seven days. No researching recipes or thinking up creative low calorie meals. The work is done. And as much as I normally love inventing recipes, this juicing thing was totally new to me and I appreciated the clear guidance.

Headaches

I experienced headaches on Days 2 and 3, in the evening, but these went away after that. Caffeine withdrawal? Kale withdrawal? Who knows.

Crazy amounts of energy

So after Day 3 is when things really got crazy. I suddenly had all kinds of energy that lasted from the time I woke up until the time I went to bed. It was marvellous. I got so much done. I was focused. I put in lots of time on Smarter Fitter Smoothies. I put in lots of time on everything. I had to force myself to go to bed at night even though I wasn’t tired. I felt like I did things with purpose. I wonder if…

Was it the superfood?

The plan calls for supplementing with wheatgrass (fresh or powder), spirulina, “friendly bacteria” and his “Superfood” supplement. I bemoaned the idea of buying more stuff, so I didn’t, but then had the great fortune of receiving some wheatgrass powder and spirulina samples from Naturya (more on that in a separate post). These arrived at the end of Day 3. So I’m left to wonder whether my energy came from the “superfood” or just the simple fact of my body settling into a juice routine. Regardless, I’m going to keep up with the superfood in my post-juice-feast smoothies and see if the energy wave continues.

Physical energy, too

Throughout the seven days I maintained my usual morning gym routine of swimming and weightlifting and even upped the ante a bit with some afternoon cycling on my new bicycle trainer. My workouts that week were better than they’d been in months. I was swimming faster, lifting more, and generally just feeling more focused on my activities, and thus, pushing myself harder.

Sorry to sound so smitten but

I felt better at the end of those seven days than I’d felt in probably years.

But I was glad when it was over

It felt so good to chew food again and to eat things that were (a) hot and (b) SAVOURY. In fact I made my first savoury smoothie the day after the juice feast.

Whole food is hard on the body after a week of juicing

Jason’s book stresses that you must ease back into normal eating slowly. Days 8-10 should consist of smoothies for breakfast, raw salads or soups for lunch and a protein-rich dinner. So that’s what I did – lunch was an apple, avocado and rocket salad and dinner was a thai-style fish soup with lots of vegetables. But even then, my stomach felt off on Day 9, like it was sore from all the hard work of digestion! So I kept Day 9 pretty light with a juice for breakfast, a small salad and juice for lunch, and another salad with grilled fish for dinner. Today is Day 10 and I am feeling much happier on the inside. 

What about those 7lbs?

I guess for a lot of people this is what it all really comes down to. I lost 6lbs. I wasn’t able to measure body fat so I don’t really know how much of that weight loss was water, fat, muscle, etc. As much as I didn’t do this to lose weight, when I looked in the mirror at the end of it and saw just a HINT of an abdominal muscle, I felt kinda pleased. Hello Christmas six-pack.

Expensive, but not as much as I thought

I put the vegetable ingredients into Tesco’s online shopping cart and the grocery bill came to £43.68 (with about £15 coming from the 85 apples!).To me that isn’t absurd for a week of groceries. The real expense comes with the equipment and the supplements, if using. The juicer alone cost £199 (you can get them cheaper, mind you, but expect to pay at least £80). And if you buy his recommended supplements, you’re looking at another £50 for spirulina, wheatgrass, psyllium husks, “Friendly Bacteria” and “Superfood” (I didn’t use the latter three). Plus the cost of the book and the iPhone app (which is awesome), about £10.

So in total it costs about £200-300 to do this thing.

But why?

I only wish I knew more about why the plan was laid out the way it was, in the given order on each day. Why did I have to wait three days to have the glorious yogurt and spirulina smoothie?! This was not covered in the book, or if it was, only in fluffy, non-scientific terms. I want someone to explain the way I’m feeling so I know how to make it last!

How long can I keep this up?

I’m still feeling pretty awesome and incredibly motivated to KEEP feeling this way. I just have this worry – now that I’ve stopped juicing, is all this awesome energy going to wear off? Well, I guess that’s the next adventure. Let’s so how I long I can keep it around for!

Smoothies

Pear and Avocado Smoothie

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Green apple smoothie

As I ramp up for the imminent release of my new book, Smarter Fitter Smoothies, I’ve been playing around with new smoothie recipes. The ultimate test of whether a smoothie works is whether I can’t resist making another one the very next day.

Such has been the case with this pear and avocado smoothie, which I’m calling “Pear and Avocado Thickie” in the book. Fresh pear and avocado go really well together. The avocado, combined with the flaxseed, make this smoothie super thick and creamy. You can substitute the flaxseed with other nuts or seeds, or omit completely if you don’t have it to hand. What I like about this smoothie is that you know the avocado is there, and the pear gives it just a little sweetness (if you like it even sweeter, you can add a few dates, but I prefer the less sweet version; it allows more of the avocado and pear flavours to come through).

Taste aside, the smoothie is full of all of the good stuff that makes it balanced and wholesome. It’s got loads of fiber from the pear, flax seed and leafy greens, plus lemon which aids digestion and avocado for healthy fats and delicious creaminess.  Eat one of these for breakfast and it will totally set you up for the day; sugar crashes be gone!

If you like this smoothie, me a huge favour and subscribe now for updates on my upcoming smoothie book. I’m giving away free copies of the ebook to 10 lucky subscribers so you have nothing to lose and only health, happiness and perfect blends to gain!

Pear and Avocado Smoothie
Recipe Type: smoothie
Author: Monica Shaw
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 1
Ingredients
  • 1 large pear (~150g)
  • 1/2 avocado (~50g)
  • 1/4 small lemon, peel removed
  • 1 handful of kale or spinach (~1 cup)
  • 1 heaped tsp flaxseed (~5g)
  • 1-2 dates (optional)
  • A few ice cubes
  • Small pinch of salt
Instructions
  1. Combine everything in the blender and add a little bit of water. Start blending and add more water as needed (the less water, the thicker the smoothie!).

 

I’m sending this to this month’s breakfast club where the current theme is fruit.

Food Diary

Clean Detox Day 17: Indian spices everywhere

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Clean detox day 17

Breakfast: “Peachy green” smoothie. 200g fresh peaches, 50g avocado, 20g kale, 7g almond butter, 1 tsp flaxseed, 1 date, ~1 cup ice and enough water to blend. The peaches could have been riper/sweeter – hence the date. But pretty good nevertheless!

Lunch:  Besan cheela with sambhara (Gujerati-style cabbage and carrots) and green coconut chutney . A delicious mess on the plate. But note to self: leftover besan cheela have very little structural integrity.

Dinner: A soup good enough to be blog-worthy: Indian-style pumpkin soup adapted from the ever reliable How to Cook Everything: Vegetarian by Mark Bittman. (A good use for a spare can or jar of pumpkin puree.)

Related Links:

Food Diary

Clean Detox Day 16: Green apple smoothie, roast salmon and broccoli soup

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Clean detox day 16

Breakfast: Green apple smoothie made with 1.5 apples (~150g), 50g avocado, 1 date, 30g kale, 5g almonds, 100ml water, ~1 cup of ice, a pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg. Very autumnal and no doubt the destiny for many of those apples ripening up in the OC orchard! I think some fresh ginger needs to come into play next time.

Lunch: Roasted salmon with sautéed vegetables, dill and lemon. Until now I haven’t been thrilled with my fish creations, but this I really liked. The lesson: keep it simple, stupid! I followed this very basic technique for the oven-roasted salmon. Also, I’m really into dill at the moment.

Dinner: Broccoli soup with avocado, wild garlic pesto and lemon. Another simple soup but I liked it. Another bonus to these pureed soups is you can make them all about ONE vegetable, one flavour profile, rather than a hodgepodge of veggie mush. And here, the wild garlic pesto is perfect with the broccoli (it’d probably also go well with cauliflower soup, too).

Snacks: Fresh figs, nectarine

Figs.

 

Related Links:

 

Food Diary

Clean Detox Day 15: Cream of all the soups!

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Clean detox day 15

Breakfast: A variation on the black and blue smoothie, made with blackberries, mango, avocado, kale, flax seeds plus a dash of cinnamon and a couple drops of orange flower water.

Lunch: Besan cheelas (Indian chickpea flour pancakes) with Indian cabbage salad and coconut coriander chutney. Not sure why I took so long to make these pancakes – they’re quick, easy and awesomely delicious, plus that have that eat-with-your hands delight that makes them all the more satisfying. You can also make them non-Indian style (the Italian version is called farinata). I love to wrap the cabbage salad inside the besan cheela and eat with chutney, so I made some coconut coriander chutney following this recipe but it was a little mealy (the recipe uses desiccated/dried coconut). Maybe I should have soaked the coconut first? Or maybe I need to face a real coconut and bust out the hammer.

Clean detox day 15

Dinner: If I’ve learned one thing on my detox, it’s that if you saute any kind of vegetable with onions and garlic, then puree it with cashews and veggie stock, you get the most amazing silky smooth soup that’s basically a vegan version of all those “Cream of” style soups that I have such fond memories of. Today’s was a “cream” of celery soup inspired by my friend Sharon, garnished with that crispy kale I’m so into at the moment.

Clean detox day 15

I’m now scheming all kinds of other creamy soups I can make… cream of cauliflower… cream of broccoli… cream of asparagus! And let’s just give a shout out to the whole vegan protein bonus that the cashews bring to the soup. I reckon other nuts will be worth trying… almonds, brazil nuts… pistachios!

When tomatoes and peppers are back in my life, I’m thinking an almond version of the classic African peanut soup will be worth a try. Next week!

Related Links:

 

Food Diary

Clean Detox Day 14: One week to go

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Clean detox day 14

Breakfast: Another green smoothie with mango, flax seeds, avocado and kale. I autumnalized this one with a dash of cinnamon.

Lunch: Pureed courgette soup with cucumber and dill salsa. Leftovers from day 12. Loved this.

Dinner: Black beans, avocado and a mixed fruit & veg salsa made with finely diced carrots, courgettes, white onion, mango, pomegranate, radish, cilantro and lime (it sounds weird but it’s actually very good). Not shown: the pretend tacos I made with all of these fixins and little gem lettuce leaves. Sort of like this.

Snacks: I never mention snacks but I should. I usually have a piece of fruit in the afternoon (today an apple with some almond butter) and another piece of fruit (or two) in the evening (today a pear and a nectarine).

Clean detox day 14

Only one week to go of the detox and I’m already feeling a little reluctant to “let it go”. I’m really enjoying this and feel good. The phrase “permanent detox” keeps spinning in my head. If I kept this up for a few months, I think I would be a solidly changed person, both physically and mentally. This won’t happen, because there are things coming up for which a “retox” is desirable (equinox and Marrakech just to name two) but aside from these anomalies, I can totally see keeping up with many aspects of this “diet” in the future. For example, I’m surprised by how much I’ve come to love smoothies for breakfast. And I can really groove on soup, which doesn’t have to be boring, especially when pureed with cashews and adorned with adequate garnishes like tahini and crispy kale.

The bottom line is something I’ve always known: I feel a lot better when I’m not eating lots of bread or sugar, and when I’m not drinking alcohol on a regular basis. The structure of the detox has made it fairly easy to undo those habits, however, I wonder how easy it will be to continue those habits without the detox-imposed restrictions. I guess I’ll just have to learn self control, and to choose my pizza-and-beer nights with care!

It will be interesting to re-introduce other foods into my life that I always thought “healthy” – tomatoes, tofu, eggs – and see how they make me feel. I don’t think I have any sensitivities to such things but who knows?

It’s too soon to know whether this detox has affected my progress at the gym and pool. I think it would take a few months to really test this out and see if I’m getting weaker or stronger. On some days I feel exhausted and hungry. Others (today at the pool) I feel great. I do know that it seems to take me a while to recover from a heavy weights session (2-3 days) but this is nothing new and begs the eternal question for a mostly-vegan person: am I getting enough protein?

I have been saving grocery receipts and will report on the cost of this detox at the end of the week. I’ve been doing this frugally and as mentioned, mostly vegan, saving money by using dried beans which cost very little, and of course the courgette glut which seems endless (but girl cannot live on courgette soup alone). The smoothies are expensive – the orchard apples and pears are still a little early yet, but I have foraged lots of blackberries which come in handy. Writing all this I’m feeling very lucky for the abundance of free food around at the moment! This detox would definitely cost more in the winter. Now there’s an ebook: How to Detox by the Seasons!

Related Links

Food Diary

Clean Detox Day 12: More velvet in soup form

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Clean detox day 12

Breakfast: Green smoothie made with 1 pear, 1/2 peach, 1/2 avocado (~60g), 1 date, 1cm cube of ginger, mint, ice and enough rice milk to blend.

Lunch: Everything salad made with leftover bean, fennel and tuna salad from day 10 to which I added lentils, carrots, radishes, lettuce, cucumber and avocado. It wasn’t hugely inspired but it was quick and tasty.

Dinner: Another revelation involving soup and courgettes. This time, pureed courgette and cashew soup. The soup itself was VERY simple – onion, garlic, celery, veggie stock and courgettes (peeled to make the soup so white and velvety) plus a small handful of toasted cashews. It all got blitzed in the vitamix into a silky smooth puree. The cashews added that extra hint of richness you might otherwise get from cream.  A recent conversation with fellow detoxer and Rave Coffee friend inspired me to top the soup with crispy kale chips, now officially known as The Best Soup Garnish Ever. I was going to herb up this soup with dill and parsley but when it came to tasting, I found that I liked its simplicity, and I think the kale would have overpowered the herbs anyway.

Clean detox day 12

I’m trying to go gung-ho on soups-for-dinner for the rest of the detox, as stipulated in the Clean Program Manual. But even with the cashews, I’m finding it a challenge to not go to bed hungry, and extra challenging to go to the gym in the morning. I have even woken up in the middle of the night, ravenous! Occasionally I cave, which basically voids the whole 12-hour without food window, but there could be worse detox transgressions.

I feel I need more protein, most likely, and pureed vegetable matter just doesn’t cut it. So more pureed pulses and nuts, I think. I may also bust out the juicer attachment of my food processor and make myself a juice to have with dinner. Sounds messy, but also really nice. I may never drink wine again (as if).

Related Links:

Smoothies

Black and Blue Avocado Smoothie

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Black & Blue Avocado & Mint Smoothie

This smoothie has become a staple of mine in recent weeks, largely thanks to the abundance of blackberries in the hedgerows at the moment. If only avocados grew so readily, alas, I have to rely on Lidl for my avocado fix (yes, Lidl, where avocados seem to be both cheaper and tastier than those from other supermarkets, the exception being The Organic Farm Shop which occasionally has organic avocados from Mexico which are pure bliss).

But I digress. I like to add interest to this smoothie with mint and orange flower water, but if you don’t have those it’s not the end of the world. This is really all about the berries, and the avocados and dates make it creamy sweet deliciousness.

Black and Blue Avocado Smoothie
Recipe Type: Smoothie
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 1
Up the dates if you like a sweeter smoothie – this comes in handy if the dates are particularly tart. Go easy on the orange flower water – a little bit (we’re talking drops) goes a very long way.
Ingredients
  • 150g blackberries, blueberries or a combo of the two
  • 1/2 avocado
  • a big handful of kale
  • 1 date
  • a few ice cubes
  • water, nut milk or rice milk
  • a couple sprigs of mint, stalks removed
  • a few drops of orange flower water (go easy on this)
Instructions
  1. Put everything in a blender and add enough water, nut milk or rice milk to blend. Blitz on high for a minute or so to make sure the date and everything else gets chopped up well. Serve and enjoy!
Calories: 268 Fat: 16 Carbohydrates: 33 Fiber: 14 Protein: 6 Cholesterol: 0

 

 

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