hippie greens. not for the win of all green smoothie drinkers.

this morning's smoothie was some lacinato kale, parsley, arugula, a pear, an apple and two frozen bananas with 3 packets of spatone liquid iron and filtered water to get the liquids up to 1 cup in my vitamix.
when i tried it, i could definitely taste the spice of the arugula and was curious about paul's reaction. he was not impressed and said it definitely tasted like "hippie greens", the side salads ("organic spring mix from a bag") that seem to be the usual at some restaurants. he hates hippie greens! he tried using an apple as a chaser and a banana as a chaser.


i ended up with almost 2 glasses of smoothie this morning. oops. i will not use arugula tomorrow!

smoothies of the day.

i started this post almost 2 months ago which is really frightening! i gave up because i have run out of space on this account for photos as i guess i was using photos that were too large and now i don't know how to go back and make 'em smaller. and i can't blog without photos! so now i'm fiddling with hosting photos elsewhere to use for this thing. and i realize the photos i had for this post aren't amazing anyways. but it's all practice and learning, right?

so, first i had a pic from a morning when i was cutting it real close to missing my bus and took my green smoothie to go. and goodness, was it delicious! it was like a green custard. no wonder my day was so wonderful!

it contained about 1/2 cup filtered water, 1 frozen persimmon, 2 bosc pears, a handful of radish greens, a handful of cilantro and about 5 dandelion greens. need-a-spoon-thick with a mild sweet like vanilla taste!  happiness!

and that night, my dessert was a blended avocado with just under a cup of filtered water and a healthy heap of raspberries. subtly sweet and oh-so-thick-and-creamy. anyways... here's my excuse to post again! happy new year! may this year be full of health and happiness and inspiration and incredible food! ^_^

canadian romantic, smooth(ie)

this morning, paul said, "this smoothie is delicious!" so i figured i should post it.
and i think the winking photo card of robert dayton, aka the canadian romantic, compliments it quite nicely!

ingredients are as follows:
- 6-7 leaves of kale
- 2 packets of spatone liquid iron
- a sprinkle of camu camu
- one bosc pear
- two frozen bananas
- juice of one valencia orange
- one cup (or less) of filtered water

thanksgiving sunday morning green blend.

i'm at my parents' house for the weekend and i'm on smoothie duty for the mornings! i'm so excited they have been doing their own green smoothies since my last visit. and it's exciting to come for a visit and have a stock of fresh, organic yummy things to blend up!

this morning, i blended a couple leaves of kale (kale kind of frustrates me lately as there are more bugs than usual to clean off!), 1/3 a bunch of italian parsley, 3-4 stalks of red chard, 3 pears, 2 peaches, about 2 cups of water.

post-yoga fruity greens with jon!

i forgot to take a photo until near the very end. i also forgot to practice yoga for 6 months!? what was i thinking? gotta get back into that routine. thank you, jon, for taking me as your birthday guest!!! i am dreaming up something indonesian-inspired for a birthday dessert for you! ^_^
anyways... this smoothie comes courtesy of 2 cups of filtered water, 6 kale leaves, 1 pear, 2 yellow plums, 2 dates, 2 dried figs and 2 frozen bananas. sweet with amazing texture!

i am currently drinking a smoothie of frozen banana, one pear (my favourite right now!), a sprinkle of mesquite and lucuma and cinnamon and a spoon of hemp seeds and spatone liquid iron with some filtered water. delicious!

a trio of smoothies.

3 cups of water, 2 apples and 2 pears and the greens (and stems) from one bunch of beets made 3 portions of this not-so-green green smoothie!

the tops of a bunch of carrots,  3 cups of water, 1 plum and a couple handfuls of frozen plums, 1 sprig of mint and 1 apple made up this smoothie for 3! 

a few leaves of kale shy of a bunch, the juice of 4-5 oranges (about 2.5 cups) and 2 frozen bananas created 3 cups of  my favourite green smoothie this week! fresh orange juice? swoon!

the perfect day smoothie.

today's smoothie, just before a much-desired trip to the beach (for which i packed some strawberries, radishes and cucumbers! yum!), i've blended a peach and an apple, one piece of kale, a couple mini bunches of parsley and cilantro with one cup of filtered water. THE BEST!

green smoothie experiments.

yesterday's smoothie is the remainder of my romaine lettuce, a few red chard leaves, a peach and a plum (and 1 cup of water as it's a smoothie for one!)

i have to say i'm getting kind of tired of romaine in my smoothies and i can't even say i do it that often. 

so this next one is sans romaine and is made of the greens of one bunch of radishes, one peach, one nectarine and 1 cup of water.

it smells a bit like peach and tastes very light and fresh. a bit garden grass-ish but it blended so light like a frothy juice, it's refreshing!

i just started reading a book from the library, the 80/10/10 diet by dr. douglas n. graham, and there's a nectarine on the front (with cucumber and lettuce) - perhaps that will have to be my next green smoothie, when i'm ready to drink lettuce again! ^_^

from the beginning of "80-10-10"

first of 3 pages of reasons it makes sense to be vegetarian, according to dr. douglas n. graham

make-this-morning-easier smoothie

today's smoothie for paul and i (with extra for seconds for me! hehe) is 2 cups filtered water, 1 avocado, 1.5 frozen banana, 1 teaspoon(ish) spirulina, 2 plums, 1 bunch of parsley, 1 bosc pear and a nub of ginger. YUM!

b-ham and time with the fam!

this week i have been hanging out with my parents in chilliwack and on wednesday, i went down with my mom and aunt to bellingham. before i show off some things me and my mom have been making for meals this week, i gotta introduce a new crepe place in bellingham (as of april this year) called ab crepes on railroad, near everything i wanted to see in bellingham (terra organica, buffalo exchange, digs...)

this place is great as they have vegan/GF crepes and regular crepes. i got a southwest crepe, without cheese of course. they didn't have daiya but the girl helping us mentioned they had several people asking about it within a couple days so they were considering it! ^_^

the gluten-free vegan southwest crepe (basically salsa and avocado), cucumber instead of cheese

at terra organica, i got some chocolate for paul (because i ate his stash out of the freezer! oops!) and my mom got some snacks for us, including one of my beloved nori sticks from gopals. i hadn't tried this kind (texas barbq) and me and my dad loved it! he agreed it was like pepperoni and it had a nice kick of spice!

back at my parents's place that night, my parents had pizza and i made a salad for their sides and for my dinner! the salad consisted of greens from my mom's aunt's garden on the island, beet tops, and mushrooms with a dressing of blended lemon, garlic, walnuts, ACV, salt pinch and some salad booster. super delicious!

on tuesday night, we made ani phyo's raw chili to top a collard green leaf and some beet greens with ground walnut taco "meat" and avocado on top of that. awesome! i love that my parents have been enjoying the food that i enjoy. i must be doing something right! it's also been super nice that my mom is paying close attention to what she buys as she has a gluten allergy and dairy sensitivity. so she looks out for a lot of the same things i look out for!

i made smoothies every morning this past week for me and my parents which was fun. my first one was a chocolate banana one for my dad (frozen banana, cacao powder, mesquite, maca, coconut milk and a bit of ginger). this one was frozen mango and banana, apricots, lemon juice, a bit of camu camu, mesquite, ginger and goji powder with water.

this smoothie is lettuces from my mom's aunt's garden, apricots, frozen mango and banana. 

and this morning, i did the last collard leaf, some more of my great aunt's garden greens, some parsley, 4 apricots, 1.5 frozen bananas and a fresh mango. my parents are loving these smoothies and i'm excited that they will continue to do them when i am back home! i think it's such a great and yummy way to "get your greens"! ^_^

yesterday's lunch was an avocado/cucumber/lettuce sandwich on silver hills chia chia bread. my mom took me to the silver hills shop in abbotsford on our way home monday and it was awesome to see the assortment of raw and organic foods they are stocking! 

for dinner last night, my mom sliced up a zuchinni into noodles and rinsed the kelp noodles and we tossed them into a sauce i made out of 1.5 avocados, a garlic clove, juice from 1 lemon, a splash of ACV, a sprinkle of cumin and salt and a bunch of fresh basil before serving on top of a collard green leaf. SO YUMMY!

tonight we roasted marshmallows in the backyard with my friend since grade 2 (!!!) and her 4 (!!!) kids. it was so much fun! and it was awesome that it wasn't even noticeable that i had vegan/gluten-free graham crackers, chocolate and marshmallows (though the dandies were noticeably smaller than the kids'  marshmallows!

it was a wonderful week off and definitely a vacation being at my parents' place! 

now i have to start using my dehydrator again when i get home! ^_^

dorm life smoothies.

so i've just returned home after almost 3 weeks living in a dorm in quebec city on my quest to learn french.

i brought paul's magic bullet with me which was WONDERFUL for morning smoothies. it even blended better than i remembered it blending before (i thought i had to cut up everything for it to do anything but i managed not having to pre-cut much at all! yay!).

ha, my first smoothie in quebec city. i forgot to take a picture before drinking it!
romaine lettuce, apple, water and ground chia.

before i realized i didn't have to chop up my frozen banana.
just adding extra work for myself, is all!
(i brought this thin plastic chop board too and a knife
 to make sure i wouldn't be without smoothies this trip!)

i found a frozen "melange aux fruits biologique" at the nearby epicerie.
so this smoothie is frozen banana with frozen black cherry, blueberry and blackberry! 

so fresh and so green!

this morning's smoothie is my first since arriving back from quebec city. soooo great to be using the vitamix again!

this one is: a parsley bunch, some frozen banana, avocado and bosc pear. 

yum!

"le réfrigérateur toute" smoothie

today's smoothie is not mostly greens, but is mostly green.
it is creamy, ever-so-slightly-sweet and filling!

this smoothie is 1/3 a bunch of parsley, a few sprigs of mint, a couple celery stalks, one carrot, one avocado, one pear, one avocado, two dates (i was worried it would taste like salad), and one cup of filtered water. i have enough for 2 smoothie glasses and well, since paul isn't here and it's basically lunch time, they're mine!

p.s. i went to leanne and liam's super busy potluck last night! at any given point, with all the comers and goers, there'd be at LEAST 30 people there! so, lots of vegan treats to try! i at first was avoiding my allergy list foods (gluten, wheat, cashews, peanuts, etc.) which is super tricky at a potluck (with dishes that don't have listed ingredients and way too many people around to try track down who made what) but i soon figured i might as well see what happens. if i ballooned out into a 8 month's pregnant lady like the last time i had green pepper, i would just go home! anyways... i felt fine! and relieved. my naturopath encouraged me during my last appointment, saying i should not worry about having some of these things during my upcoming quebec trip as for one, eating vegan in QC will be hard enough, but also if i am relaxed about it and relaxed in general, food sensitivities shouldn't flare up too harshly. i think after my next liver cleanse, i want to get my allergies tested again. i'm confident that my "avoids" list is going to keep getting smaller!

oh, but back to L+L's... they have these cool plants that don't have roots or soil or a pot? and they are green! what are these things? are they these tillandsia plants?

i can vitamix again!!!

i have been watching my fedex tracking and knew that my vitamix arrived in ontario for repair last friday. well, i was so overjoyed to get a canada post parcel notice today after work... and super surprised when it was my vitamix! one week after it arriving for repair, it is back with me!
what service!!! (thank you, vitamix!!!)
and the best part is that IT WORKS!
i can't wait to have daily green smoothies again! forever! i'm going to take such good care of my newly restored vitamix!

this one was parsley, frozen banana, some spatone liquid iron, some camu camu, apple juice and water.

i'm excited to do a 2 day green smoothie challenge i just read about in rawbc's emailout. it is monday and tuesday, july 23 + 24th, and you only drink green smoothies those days. sounds like heaven! if you participate, you are encouraged to let the green smoothie people know at info@rawbc.org with your name and city/town. they suggest 60% (organic, of course) fruit, 40% dark leafy greens and 2 cups of water in your blender. and the challenge is 2 days/month. sounds like a great idea to me!

good friday good smoothie

today i had the privilege of green smoothie-ing it up with karl and emma! i'm anxiously waiting my vitamix parts and have been DYING to have a green smoothie again... and well, it feels like ages since i have seen emma... AND! karl has just moved here from TAIWAN!!! so there were many a good reason to do this smoothie collaboration.

this smoothie collab happened at karl's new place (with leanne and liam!) since there is a working vitamix there ^_^

today's smoothie is brought to you by:
-a papaya
-2 pears
-a handful of strawberries
-a handful of cilantro
-3 frozen bananas
-a squeeze of lemon? (correct me if i'm wrong, emma!)

no water or sugar added, just super fruit sweetness! yum!
happy good friday! ^_^

p.s. does anyone know where i can buy this amazing tea towel?! i love it!!! (*update* ahh, now that i've done some googling, i have found it! now, i just need to get it!)

day 30 of 30 green smoothie days in a row

wow, has it been 30 days already? in some ways, it feels way longer.
i know i will continue to do the green smoothie daily but i can't say i really am inspired to post it every single day!

haha. this doesn't look so appetizing but this is a series of shots as my smoothie progressed from mostly red kale (used one bunch total) and some navel orange (used 3 in total - just removed the peel and seeds), to more orange and finally, i think it was 4 frozen bananas!
this was my 'safe' smoothie. was craving it yesterday and i got what i wanted! didn't use water again and the texture was great. paul approved too. so it is a win! ^_^

day 29 of 30 green smoothie days in a row

today's smoothie was a head of romaine lettuce, 2 rainbow carrots, a nub of ginger, an orange, a pear, and 1.5 frozen bananas.

loved the texture of this one! didn't use any water, like yesterday and that helped keep the smoothie portions to 2 glasses. just had to blend in a couple stages to get everything to fit in the blender! i think the orange pulp and carrots really helps pull the textures together to make a smooth smoothie type blend. the frozen bananas help as well, of course.
not sure i like the ginger in this one which is weird because i love it in my parsley blend from earlier this week and i love it in a frozen banana/mango "tropical" style smoothie. who knows.
think i gotta pick up some kale today to do a kale/orange/banana drink tomorrow, like the simple yet delicious drinkme smoothies you can get in the freezer section of organic grocery stores. ^_^

day 28 of 30 green smoothie days in a row

i was excited to try some new (to me) snacks at whole foods in bellevue today where sarah and i met leanna for lunch. including these raw vanilla coconut ice cream pops! YAY! super good.

when i got home, i made this green smoothie which paul says is his favourite yet! i used the tops of the bunch of rainbow carrots we got from spud when they didn't have the beets i ordered!
oh yeah, the smoothie:
*carrot tops (the greens! of a whole bunch of rainbow carrots! inspiration here)
*2 carrots
*1 pear
*2 navel oranges
*2 blood oranges (small)
*1 frozen banana
*some mint leaves

paul was fine with the pulpy texture because it was thicker. i didn't use ANY water for this one! so pleased i used the greens i don't usually do anything with. next challenge is to use the tops of radishes before they get all wilted and mushy.

day 27 of 30 green smoothie days in a row

today's morning smoothie was romaine lettuce with celery, cucumber and apple. i didn't think i would have time to have a smoothie before leaving in the morning so i was excited! and paul didn't have to make a smoothie for himself as i left a glass of it for him too ^_^

at lunch, i had another green smoothie!!! i was in seattle with sarah and we went to chaco canyon where i had the ginger sesame bowl which was delicious and oh-so-perfect for how hungry i was by then! i was really impressed with how easy it was to order despite my allergies. (note: friday i had a re-test of allergies and i have a much shorter list now - HURRAH!!! - but i have to avoid gluten/cashews/peanuts/green peppers/honeydew always along with my "wouldn't-eat-anyways" dairy products, coffee and meat) i got the "really green smoothie" to go, which was kale with apple juice and banana. yum!

later that afternoon, i got to check out jodee's desserts which was awesome. i could eat some raw cookies, macaroons and raw taco chips. all super good. didn't like the raw chocolate so much (felt it should have a stronger taste - more bitter, more sweet - anything!). everything else had cashews in it though there were smoothie options. pretty near by, also in the greenlake area, is the chocolate shoebox where i got some costume-looking green flats for $24. and a bunch of fun (and unhealthy!) snacks, like cocomels and caramel popcorn. yum!

day 26 of 30 green smoothie days in a row

today's smoothie is basically a repeat of yesterday's (loved it!) but i added one apple: