Green Warrior Smoothie

You knew it had to happen.  All of those greens in this week's Crop Share, it was inevitable.  Yes, that's right, ANOTHER green smoothie!  I can't be stopped, I won't be stopped!

So, this morning I rose early to get back into the practice of yoga to start the day, and as I was holding Warrior III, instead of concentrating on my breathing or finding a focal point on my mat...I was thinking about what to put into my blender.  I'm very zen like that.  Thus the name for this smoothie, the Green Warrior, as it was devised whilst in Warrior III.

With the inclusion of celery in this smoothie it has much more of a "green" taste and there's more "substance."  So if you're not a fan of much pulp in your smoothie, just leave the celery out.  And if you're wanting to have less of a "green" flavor, then add more tangelo juice or even throw in a banana or a handful of strawberries.  Or again, just omit the celery.  I threw it in for giggles and I wanted it to actually taste more like veggies rather than a dessert.  Because I'm very into health like that.  Please ignore that wrapper from a completely eaten bar of chocolate.  Our invisible, imaginary bulldog, clearly got into the pantry again.  Darn pooch.

Green Warrior Smoothie

Ingredients:
12 ice cubes, divided
3 gala apples, cored and cubed (no need to peel)
Juice of 2 tangelos
1 rib of celery, ends trimmed and chopped
8 kale leaves, removed from stalks
Juice of 1 lime
1 1/2 cups unsweetened vanilla almond milk (I use Almond Breeze)

Into your blender, add 6 ice cubes, apples and tangelo juice, and blend until the apples are fully incorporated.  Toss in your celery and again blend until all chunks are gone.  Add kale leaves and lime juice and blend down until only flecks of green remain.  Then finish with almond milk and remaining 6 ice cubes.  Blend until ice is fully crushed.  Serve immediately.

Makes just shy of 3 pints (I serve mine in mason jars).  I drank one and bottled up the other two, so I'll let you know if after a day in the fridge, they're still good tomorrow.

Rise & Shine Citrus Smoothie

And the smoothie train continues to chug along, and by chug, I mean guzzle at rates that would make a frat boy proud.  We're getting tangelos this week, and not only is it one of the funnest words to say, they are a pretty cool hybrid of tangerines and grapefruit (some are also tangerines combined with pomelos, hence the "elos" in tangelo).  Unlike grapefruit they're easy to peel, and they are power packed with juice.  So...GET IN MY SMOOTHIE!  This Rise & Shine Smoothie really is breakfast in a glass as  you get your fresh-squeezed citrus boost, a protein & calcium jolt from almond milk, and disregard what those silly internet ads say, the bananas in this will keep you feeling full without filling you out, and they are great for helping to balance out blood sugar levels.

Rise & Shine Citrus Smoothie

Ingredients:
16 ice cubes
2 bananas, peeled
Juice of 2 tangelos
Juice of 1 red grapefruit
1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk (I use Almond Breeze)


Into the blender all of your ingredients go, blend until the ice is fully crushed and prepare for morning magic.  It reminded me a bit of an Orange Julius, and then it also reminded me somewhat of a pina colada, so use some reduced fat coconut milk in place of the almond milk and really transport yourself to the tropics!

Feelin' Apple-Saucy!

So if you're like me, you just now polished off the last of the Thanksgiving leftovers.  And now I feel like all I should exist on is lettuce, air and water.  That container of chocolate frosting probably didn't help matters, but hey, it's also my birthday week (in fact, it's my birthday today, the big 3-2!) so it was necessary.  So with the double dip of fruit in this week's share, I think it calls for some sort of homemade applesauce.  We have a great base recipe for Homemade Cinnamon Applesauce that is sweetened with only the natural sweetness of the apples and 1/4 cup of local honey.  No other added sugar and the only other ingredients are water and cinnamon.  Four ingredient magic!  So I'm thinking of doing a little saucy experimentation and using the mixture of baking apples this week for some blended flavor applesauce.  We're also getting tangelos, so maybe I'll throw in some nutmeg, ground clove and some tangelo peel and the juice of 1 (I'll reduce the amount of honey to probably an 1/8 cup) to make a Citrus Spiced Applesauce.  But I keep eyeing the cranberries in the store, so I'm also thinking of tossing a handful to maybe a 1/2 cup of cranberries into the mix, holding the cinnamon and making a Cran-Applesauce!  So many possibilities!

Who's up for the challenge of concocting a fun applesauce blend?  If you come up with your own based off of our original recipe, e-mail your recipe our way to cropshare@nallsproduce.com and we'll feature it here!

Homemade Cinnamon Applesauce

Cranberry and Citrus Vodka

Tis the season for holiday cocktails! Make them and pour them into mason jars for beautiful host/hostess gifts. Or keep for yourself, we won't judge :)

Ingredients:
1 Cup fresh cranberries
1/4 Cup sugar
2 Tablespoon water
1 Piece Tangelo Peel (2-By-1-Inch)
3 Cups vodka





To view the rest of this recipe, please visit: http://www.ezrapoundcake.com/archives/10473