Prepare to be Amazed Green Smoothie

I follow a raw food website/blog: learnrawfood.com by Jennifer Cornbleet
 and they were featuring this smoothie made with spinach. I eat a spinach salad almost every day and like to get another dose of all the jam-packed nutrients through a smoothie....why not if you are willing to experiement? There were no pictures, so I was picturing a green smoothie in my head, but was pleasantly surprised that it came out a lovely purple, because of the blueberries...duh! But here is the great part: you cannot even taste the spinach....if you did not see the pictures your tastebuds would be fooled as well!

Here is the recipe:

1/4c. water

1 sm. ripe banana

1c. frozen blueberries

1/2 orange, peeled & sectioned
1/2c. spinach leaves

Blend & Enjoy....its that simple!

Satisfying Beef Barley Stew

I recently went to Williams-Sonoma "Soup for Supper" cooking class, and instantly feel in love with the Beef Barley soup. These classes are great because they are FREE. They actually make the soup in front of you, giving you tips and best of all: give you a sample....just to wet your palette. They also made a Carrot Ginger soup and let us try their jarred Tuscan White Bean Soup they sell in the store....yum, that was my lunch.

What I love best about this soup: very tender beef, the mushrooms give it an earthly balance and barley...very healthy :) Pair along side with a grilled cheese sandwich....soup for supper!

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/beef-barley-soup.html  <--link to the recipe
**I did not use the butter in the recipe, I sauteed my onions & mushroom in olive oil

My adventures in Raw Almond Milk

I have been reading up on raw food, and wanted to try making Almond Milk, have tried different brands of commercial almond milk and was curious to see what the home-made version tasted like. It is a little bit of a process but super easy, here it goes:

1 cup raw almonds, soaked in water 8-12hrs
Drain almonds, in food processor add 2-3 cups filtered water and blend till creamy and uniform.

Using a cheese cloth strain the mixture over a large bowl or pitcher, allow to strain till milk runs clear.

So after my milk finished straining, I looked at the remains of almonds called "almond pulp" and had to find a recipe to actually make something out of it. Throwing it away seemed like such a waste! And behold, after doing a Google search there are many things you can use this almond pulp...in smoothies, in banana bread batter, but I decided to try to make granola out of it. So I spread the almond pulp over a baking sheet and toasted it in the oven on 350F for about 15 min to dry it out. Mixed in whatever I had handy in my pantry: rolled oats, cranberries, and sunflower seeds (next time I will put shredded coconut and dried pineapples), and lots of honey and cinnamon. I put it back into the oven for another 30-40min until golden and dried out. The result....a great nutty granola....who knew??

Spinach Souffle Success

I have a cookbook titled Omelette's, Frittatas and Souffles. I have successfully made the first two, and decided to conquer the latter. Bought some souffle ramekins and was on my way.

Recipe  servings size: 6-8

3/4c. shredded cheese: Gruyere, cheddar, mozzarella, whatever is on hand
1 small onion

1 bunch (1 lb.) fresh spinach, chopped
1 c. milk
3 Tbsp cornstarch with 3 Tbsp. water
fresh herbs of choice: parsley, dill, thyme
salt & pepper to taste
6 eggs, seperated
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar


Preheat oven to 375F, grease your ramekins with cooking spray and sprinkle ~1Tbsp cheese on bottom.
1. Saute onion in some olive oil until translucent and tender, add spinach until wilted ~1min.
2. Transfer onion mixture to food processor or blender and add egg YOLKS and pulse until just blended.
3. In saucepan scald milk, add cornstarch/water mixture using whisk continuously stir until it starts to thicken. Add onion mixture to milk, stir until uniform, take off heat.
4. In metal mixing bowl beat egg WHITES until foamy, add cream of tartar and beat until stiff, glossy peaks form
5. Fold 1/4 of egg whites into onion/spinach mixture, gently stir. Then  GENTLY fold this mixture into the rest the remaining egg whites.
7. Divide evenly amongst the ramekins, smoothing out the surfaces.
8. Bake 30-35min. until puffed and golden brown.

**I used this recipe with 4 eggs and divided the rest of the ingredients by 2/3 bc I have only 4 ramekins
**The beauty of this recipe is that you can subsitute the spinach for 1 1/2c. broccoli, 1 1/3c. mushrooms or 1 1/2c. asparagus, just made sure the veggies are chopped and follow the rest of the recipe! :)



Complete Brunch Menu:
-Spinach Souffle
-Home-made Corned Beef (beef brisket cooked in slow-cooker ~9hrs completely submerged in water with 2Tbsp of pickling spice and crackled black pepper...its that simple).
-Classic oven potatoes
-Rye bread with olive oil margarine

This should keep you full for hours!!