Blueberry Chocolate Smoothie

I made a delicious smoothie today. The base was organic, unfiltered blueberry juice, to which I added frozen pineapple and blueberries and a banana. Yum. A smoothie would be perfect just like that, but no...I then added a heaping teaspoon of organic cacao powder (sooooo good for you) and a teaspoon of raw honey (ditto). The end result was a chocolate-blueberry smoothie, delightfully tasting and truly healthy.

What a great way to start the morning! Next time I make it, I'll take a picture and note the amounts so I can include it here as a recipe. Though it's really about eyeballing it and adjusting to your personal tastes.

I also think I'll substitute the blueberry juice base with something like almond milk, which should make the smoothie more creamy, like a shake.

Intriguing Smoothie Recipe I must Try

Found this smoothie recipe online and it looks quite good. Lots goes into it, obviously, and perhaps I wouldn't use all ingredients, but man, tons of power nutrients listed here.

I'm going to try it, and am posting it here for my own records.

Start off with half an inch of water and put it into your vitamix.

Add:

1. Spoon of raw and organic honey
2. Spoon of raw/organic coconut oil
3. Pinch of organic sea salt
4. Handful of organic cashews or organic brazil nuts
5. Two squirts of vanilla stevia

Blend on high until silky smooth. Now you have your base!

Now Add:

1. Half a cup of Organic Frozen Berries (or fresh berries like strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, etc.)
2. 1.5 - 2 cups Coconut water or some kind of nut milk (I prefer coconut water, but I do use nut milk sometimes. Such as vanilla almond milk or hemp milk)
3. 2 to 3 (or more :)) big tablespoons of Cacao Powder
4. 1 - 2 teaspoons of Goji Berry Extract powder
5. Handful of Goji Berries
6. 2 to 3 tablespoons of some kind of seeds (I like Chia seeds the best. But you can use flax seeds)
7. 1 - 3 scoops of SunWarrior Protein
8. 1 - 2 tablespoons of tocotrienols
9. 1-2 tablespoons of SunWarrior activated barley (optional)
10. 1 tablespoon of maca extreme (be careful! :))
11. 1 -2 tablespoons of The Sun is Shining (or spirulina)
12. 1 tablespoon of organic peanut butter (optional)

Blend that all up until smooth and enjoy!

You can basically mix and match ANYTHING you want and be okay. The more you put, the thicker the smoothie will be. As you start making more of them and watching what you put everyday, you’ll get a good idea of what works for you. There is so much you can put into smoothies its incredible. Like I said, once you have your base, you can dump stuff in and it’ll still taste good! The ingredients above are just some of the things I put in my smoothies. Some days I put other stuff and substitute. All depends on what you feel like.

The best part is, they taste GREAT and they make you feel GREAT.

Lifestyle Issues

I haven't posted any new recipes because truth be told I've been on a cleanse of sorts. I do drink smoothies, however, chock full of all manner of glorious things, and I have taken pictures as well as noted which blends make me feel particularly well, and why. Awhile back I also candied some tomatoes and made some fun and delicious flavored oils; photos and recipes of all these things to come at some point in the near future.

Mainly though I am eating a lot of raw foods. Spinach, nuts, seeds, cherries, bananas, etc. I use a little bit of olive oil to dress my veggies, and the rest of the time I use raw virgin coconut oil for medicinal reasons. I get more than enough healthy fats using that. I mix the coconut oil with orange juice (about a tablespoon to half a glass) and drink three times a day. The oil helps with thyroid function (I have Hashimoto's) and I am amazed over the great things it's doing for my skin, and also my energy levels. I will post more expansively on this soon.

Basically I eat the same thing nearly every day. This doesn't make good fodder for a food blog of course, but I will perhaps begin to include my observations on living 90% raw, as well as how this lifestyle is affecting my general well-being. I believe in nutritional intervention. I believe in holistic care. I believe in being the staunchest advocate for my own health care, and one way I do this is by trying to ingest things I know will truly feed my body. It's been a reverent exercise. The body truly is a temple, and the more we treat it as such, the better we begin to feel in so many areas of our life.

So, if nobody minds some deviation from the tried and true course (that being rad recipes that taste awesome), you'll be hearing from me more often on a variety of nutrtional topics currently of interest to me.

Peace.

Copy-cat Jamba Juice Orange Dream Machine Recipe

One of the most addictive things for me is the Jamba Juice Orange Dream Machine smoothies. You probably know the ones -- extremely overpriced but oh so nom-nom-nom. Anyway, I found a copy-cat recipe for this marvelous drink and thought I'd post it here for both myself and anybody else who'd like to try it. (They're fab!)

Orange Dream Machine Smoothie Recipe:

Ingredients:

2 scoops frozen vanilla yogurt
2 scoops orange sherbet ice cream
1/2 cup low-fat milk (soy or rice is fine)
1/2 cup orange juice
1/8 cup - 1/2 cup of ice (not too much is needed)

Directions:

Add all ingredients to blender and, well...blend.

Difficulty: Easy
Prep/Cook: 5 minutes
Serving: 1