Green Smoothie Magic

Roll out of bed to breakfast magic within 30 seconds!

Quicker and healthier than Cheerios and it will wake you up and sustain you until lunch.

What I do is buy green bags (the ones for veggies)and I buy all my leafy greens and put a handful of each per bag. This makes it so me or my groggy husband can crawl to the blender to wake up my giant 11 year old and us with deliciousness.

One large box of pre-washed organic spinach
One large box of pre-washed organic cut kale
One bunch of organic parsley
One bunch of organic mint (or two small boxes)
One box of organic alfalfa or clover sprouts
pineapple juice and/or water
ice or frozen apples

So first I get out 7 or 8 bags and divide the boxes of kale and spinach equally in all the bags. Usually a handful or two of each. Next, I fill the clean, plugged, sink with water and put my parsley and mint in it and swish it around. I spin one at a time in my salad spinner. I equally divide the mint into the bags, and equally divide the parsley into the bags. If you don't have a vita-mix or blend-tec, remove the stems of the mint and parsley first. Next I rinse the sprouts in a strainer, and then put them in a salad spinner (but first put down a paper towel so they don't shoot through the spinner.) Then I divide the sprouts into equal parts into the bags.

In the morning (or whenever I want one) I fill the blender with about a cup of water per person. I recommend if you're a beginner to use pineapple juice instead of water. You can use half pineapple and half water when you get more used to the greens. After you add the one cup of pineapple juice per person, drop the contents of the pre-made green juice bag and blend.

If you have a conventional blender, wait until all the greens are tiny specs and not little leaf bits. Once it is smooth (maybe 3 or 4 minutes)add a cup of ice and a spoon full of honey or other sweetener if you wish. Then blend the ice and honey with the greens and pineapple.

If you have a high power blender, just put the juice, greens from pre-made bag, ice, and honey and blend for 30 seconds (or until smooth.)Even the whole stems will be obliterated and smooth as a juice rather than a creamy smoothie.

My family uses water with 9 drops of stevia and quartered, cored, granny smith apples that we have pre-frozen in a zip lock bag. It's important to add the frozen apples or ice to the top of the greens in a vita-mix, and not add them first near the blade. It won't blend on the bottom.

I also add a scoop of Bob's Redmill hemp protein to my husband's or he gets hungry before lunch. I'm full with the juice alone.

Anyway, new friends: email me and tell me what you think of this recipe.

I will make a video soon.
-

Uncomplicated Raw Deliciousness

Dining in the Raw by Rita Romano

I first bought this un-cookbook when I was pregnant with Cossette. I was raw vegan for most of my pregnancy, and now she's a giant genius. Maybe I could have eaten candy exclusively for my pregnancy and she would have been fine, but who's to say? I ate meat twice because I tried to be a really intuitive eater, and I followed my cravings. But generally, my cravings and ideas about health coincided.

Anyway, when I bought a book that said "Raw" on the title and then found cooked recipes, I felt frustrated because I felt tricked. This feeling of feeling tricked caused this book to go directly on the shelf to gather dust. I just found it again recently, almost ten years later, and realize what a treasure it is.

Back in the day, I was just doing raw by myself with no books. I ate veggies and fruits as well as raw nuts and seeds. I loved doing it, but couldn't keep it up much longer after I had a baby to take care of, as well as work and school. I found myself shopping every two or three days just to have fresh raw food in the house.

I read a book called "Vegan on the Cheap" which not only has awesome yummy recipes, but practical tips on how to plan. Since reading it, I have planned a weekly menu which got me into the practice of buying groceries once a week and sometimes only once every two weeks.

With planning on my side, I am now ready to take on "Dining in the Raw" with it's over 700 recipes.

What a fool I was to not read it sooner! But then again, the recipes didn't sound good to me at the time, and I was overwhelmed by the shear volume of the book.

I've made the Fennel Slaw which looks and tastes like a party with bright red cabbage and fennel. The poppy seeds are what push you over the edge to euphoria.

The butternut squash soup was amazing. I ate a whole batch myself. I felt like I couldn't get enough.

I look forward to making Mint Jelly, Bechamel Sauce, Alfredo Sauce, Lemon Pudding, and Excellent Key Lime Pie to name a few. All vegan and almost always raw.

There's a guide on how to make your own sprouts and why they are a healthy choice. She talks about how sauerkraut is important to eat daily, and because raw versions are expensive, she gives an easy recipe for making a large batch.

Before every chapter, she explains in detail what ingredients are and how to use them. This book is full of glossaries, measuring charts, sprouting instructions, galore.

The only downside is possibly being intimidated by the encyclopedic size and you'll put it on your shelf for ten years. Seriously: don't do it. Read it. You'll thank me.

My husband and daughter DESPISE celery: both the taste and texture.

I happen to love both, and today while they were at work and school I made Celery Soup (a raw cold soup) and it was delightful

Celery Soup
1 head celery
1/2 cup of tahini
1 garlic clove
juice of 1 lemon
4 scallions
dash cayenne
Braggs amino to taste (an unfermented, wheat free soy sauce, Whole Foods)
1/4 cup fresh parsley, minced

Blend all ingredients, adding enough water to make a creamy soup. Garnish with parsley.

Because I made it only for me, I used a few celery sticks, about 1/3 cup of tahini, 1 clove of garlic still (I love garlic,)juice of one half lemon, and one scallion with the water and tamari. I genuinely forgot the cayenne and parsley, but it was still awesome!

Feel Like a Pro Immediately

Ever tried a recipe and it tastes so good that you can't believe you made it yourself?

Chicago Diner Cookbook: A Review and Loveletter

Dear Jo,

I received your cookbook with no pictures on loan from a girlfriend from Chicago. The only vegan cookbook I had used up until that point was Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. I had no culinary training whatsoever....well....one day free cooking class at Mother's in Newport Beach ten years earlier, but that hardly counts.

As a completely inexperienced chef, every single recipe I made turned out so well, I felt like someone had broken into my kitchen and planted new food in my oven: impossibly good food. I was outraged at how amazingly easy it was. Why didn't I start sooner?

I made heart shaped pot pies. I made polenta which I'd never seen even in a picture, which somehow turned out magically good as well. Your diner gravy is so good, I could drink it, but self restraint dictates it must go on mashed potatoes or my little pot pies.

Your vegan quiche is so convincing, I tricked many of my non-vegan neighbors into trying it. One neighbor didn't even realize I was vegan until she bumped into me at Whole Foods. I mentioned to an aproned, fundraising, mousy-brown haired girl selling "Save the Earth" cookies that if she really wants to save the earth, she should be vegan. My neighbor overheard my lecture to the non-vegan cookie salesperson and said, "But you're not vegan! You made me that quiche the other day!" Sorry Tauna; I tricked you good.

Ratatouille Provençal, a real crowd pleaser, knocks out guests with delight with a little over 15 minutes prep time. Strogonaff made from tempeh fills me with ecstasy, I ate Ex-Benedict every day for almost two weeks, and I made both Leslie's Mushroom Spread and the Artichoke Dip for vegetable dip for my recent wedding.

Not only did your cookbook open my eyes to the possibilities of expanding my world from baking to cooking, but I have since bought twelve more vegan cookbooks, all of which I use everyday. Well, I don't use ALL of them everyday, but I use at least one or two a day.

My only beef is that the recipes are too huge! I'd been a single mom for eight years, and recipes yielded enough for me to open my own Chicago Diner in my tiny studio apartment in Los Angeles. Now I'm married and I feed three people, including myself, but it's still a little bit of an awkward amount of food.

Thanks for inspiring me to love cooking and facilitating the feeling of being an artist at least three times a day.

Love,
Orchid Cameron