A Natural Green for St. Patrick's Day

We started off our morning with our usual smoothie- but made a special green version in honor of St. Patrick's Day.  It's a lime-coconut smoothie!  Yummy yum!

By the way...the green is a natural coloring- can you guess from which food?  More later on that.

Anyway, today's smoothie was inspired by the book, Peas and Thank You: Simple Meatless Meals the Whole Family Will Love, by Sarah Matheny.  My smoothie is very loosely based on Sarah's.  We both have fresh lime juice in our smoothies, and we both share the secret ingredient that makes that natural green, but then our recipes rapidly depart from each other.  I adjusted my ingredients to pack in more anti-inflammatory healthy foods, per Andrew Weil's anti-inflammatory diet.

Have you guessed what makes the natural green yet???  Hint: it's very healthy for you...and Popeye would be pleased......

Here is our St Patrick's Day smoothie recipe:

St. Patrick's Day Smoothie

1/2 pound silken tofu (1/2 of a standard carton)

1/3 cup lime juice (about 3 fresh-squeezed limes)

1 banana

1 ripe pear

ready for the secret ingredient???

1 big handful of fresh spinach leaves

1/4 tsp coconut extract (real coconut milk would be good)

1/2 to 1 cup+ almond milk (I eyeballed it)

a small handful of ice

a really good blender, or food processor, to mix it all together.

Whirl all ingredients together except for the ice- add the ice at the end when all ingredients are incorporated.  Add sweetener if you need to cut the tartness of the lime. (my fruit was ripe enough today that I didn't need any sweetener)

You'll be strong to the finish, 'cause you ate your spinach!

Serve up and enjoy!  Salud!!!

I wold recommend Peas and Thank You for some great healthy ideas for meals and snacks ...

steel cut oats

 

It's a power breakfast!

Along with some fresh berries, it keeps my daughter fueled through her 3-hour gymnastics workout.  

The key to oats as energy food is the way they are cut.  "Steel cut", or "pin oats" are whole oat groats, chopped into pieces.  Converely, "rolled oats" are steamed and rolled a few times, then toasted, and end up looking like the little shavings we are accustomed to.

Steel cut oats take a a much longer time to digest than rolled oats do, because they are less processed, and therefore have thicker "walls" for digestive juices to penetrate.  They don't digest quickly and dump a lot of carb-sugars into the bloodstream at once, but rather, release their energy over a much longer time.  Steel cut oats have a much lower glycemic index because of this reason, and are a good grain for an anti-inflammatory diet.

We found steel cut oats at our local health food store.  A little bit goes a long way!  Be prepared to cook them much longer than rolled oats!  Here is the recipe we have worked out for basic steel cut oat oatmeal:

1/2 cup steel cut oats
2 1/2 cups water

Place the water and oats in a sauce pan, and gently bring to a boil.  When boil has been achieved, put a cover on the pan, and turn the heat down to a simmer.  Cook covered for about 25 minutes, stirring every few minutes or so.  The oats may still be slightly chewy at this point, but in a very enjoyable way.  Add sweetener (we use agave syrup) cinnamon, etc, and a little of your favorite white beverage (be it milk, soy milk, almond milk, etc)

makes 2 small-medium-sized bowls, or one fairly big bowl of oatmeal