Drinking 'o the Green

Green smoothies and the #flushot. Any one that follows me on instagram has seen these pics. Whether I post a pic or not, they have become an almost daily ritual for me. So for St. Patrick's Day, I'm going to tell my experience with green smoothies plus show some of the various mixes I have come up with.

I think there are a couple of reasons first of which is my wife bought a VitaMix blender. She had gone to some blending and juicing deal with some friends and they all became quite interested. I had made many fruit smoothies in the past and I figured our old blender was good enough. I even tried to stop her because I knew how much they cost. Well she bought it and with my cooking obsession I have become the one that uses it the most.

Secondly I am not much of a breakfast guy. It's tough when you don't eat eggs. Cereal gets old quick with me and I prefer variety over the same old thing. I had heard of these smoothies with veggies in them and it seemed interesting. The mrs had even bought a certain Green Machine bottled green juice before but that didn't interest me much. My kids even liked it. I guess I wanted to make these by myself with ingredients I can see. Not processed in a big plant.

Well I threw myself at Google and discovered a whole world of green smoothies and their health benefits. I even signed up for a 3 day smoothie challenge deal at terawarner.com that emailed me many facts and recipes for smoothies.

A lot of people shy away from the thought of a green smoothie. Spinach, kale, lettuce etc blended together with fruits. Eww! That's what I thought also until I began making them. They can be very fresh tasting plus you can always experiment with new combinations of ingredients. They don't always turn out great but at least I know what's in there and can adjust for the next one.



Of course the farmers market is a great place to get the freshest, organic ingredients for smoothies. But don't let the supermarket stop you from trying. I just use my best judgement and pick the freshest looking stuff and I have even used prepared kale mix in a bag before in a pinch. If you do green smoothies very often, remember to vary your types of greens.

Could I recite what these health benefits are? No. Can increasing the amounts of fruits and veggies we consume be bad for us? I really doubt it. But as I look back at my first green smoothie pictures that started back in September, there is one fact that is very apparent to me... I have not been sick this winter.

I have watched as everyone around me at work and home has been sick for at least a few days. Some for weeks at a time with a lingering nasty cough. I'm usually good for at least 1 upper respiratory/nasal/sore throat/coughing type illness per year and that hasn't happened. I didn't get a flu shot this year. Even my seasonal allergies were no big deal. I've even heard that my skin and hair appear to be healthier.


         Don't believe that I just eat healthy all the time. I don't take pics of the late night munchies we all have some times. Chips, cookies, candies you name it. I'm normal and I like to eat all sorts of things, healthy or not. These smoothies and recently a foray into juicing and prepared fresh juice have merely increased my veggie intake.







Does increasing veggies and fruits in your diet help us to be healthier? I can't say for sure. But judging by how I have felt though, I know that it is true. So maybe give green smoothies a try. You may find yourself moving on towards a healthier lifestyle...










I might even have to work in some 'sick' days for myself as a reward for trying my best to take care of my health. After all of these natural #flushots, I just might deserve it.

Farmers market Saturday

Here's a little look into my trip to the farmers market Saturday..
It  has become my thing these days.

It started a few years ago just due to the fact that I live too darn close to several great markets. The ability to get farm fresh, local produce is so cool I think everyone should do it. I usually hit the market pretty early on a mission for unusual veggies but that's not the only thing there. Old Town Scottsdale is loaded with tourists these days and people watching is hot right now. I even met some friends this week.

There is artwork, pretty flowers and you can just walk around and act like a tourist.

                                                                     

At the market you can get breakfast pastries to go or a hot breakfast made for eating now. I've had a locally made brat on a fabulous roll and lamb chops over hummus on separate occasions before. 

I (and the family) have fallen hard for several local pastas and sauces, BBQ sauces and rubs, pickles, homemade potato chips etc. The list goes on and on. I hope to include a list of my favorites, but I'll get to that later. But for now. Veggies.

Today I bought 3 types of kale, a flowering kale, romanesco, mixed colored carrots and radishes, watermelon radishes, chioggia beets and green garlic. I'm forgetting some others I'm sure.

I get to work when I get home. I've had to teach myself a bit about storing these for use, especially the various greens that I love. They should be cut off quickly because they continue to draw nutrients from whatever root was below ground. Carrot tops seem the
most fragile so use the feathery tops in a salad or sammie at lunch.
                                                           

Here are my greens wrapped in paper towels and ready to go into plastic bags and into the fridge.
The veggies themselves go into separate bags and into the fridge as well.

After all of that work, I made this nice salad of flowering kale, beet and carrot greens, green garlic, carrot and tomato with a light vinaigrette. Not the best picture but I am hungry for this fitting finish to my farmers market Saturday.

Braising the Greens...

As I've said I really enjoy going to the farmers market and picking up super fresh organic veggies. The variety of things to pick from can be overwhelming but I just go for it. Various greens like kale, chard and spinach are a big deal here. These greens have many healthy benefits.

At the farmers market on Saturday (which happened to be the Green Out day at the Phoenix Open), 

I picked up some spigarello (a type of greens similar to kale) and several types of radishes. Now most people would throw out the radish greens but they are very tasty as well. They can even be used in green smoothies as the flavor is not intensely radish-like as one would think. However greens like these need to be used  quickly as they wilt quickly in the fridge. 

So I'm going to make a braised greens recipe.

Fresh watermelon & daikon radish greens

Spigarello

         

Now many recipes for braised greens have bacon or ham hocks included, but after the dips and munchies of Super Bowl Sunday, I'm thinking I need to do without. I like to treat these greens like fresh spinach. They will shrink a bit but not like a box of fresh baby spinach from the store. Start by washing the greens well. Cut the leaves off of the major stems as they are tough and then roughly chop them all up. 

Chop up several cloves of garlic while warming up a sauté pan to medium heat. Add about 1 tablespoon of olive oil and let heat up. Cook the garlic along with several shakes of chile pepper flakes until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Place the greens in the pan and lightly toss with a spoon to begin cooking them.  

Then season with salt and pepper and begin adding some liquid. I used a bit of my frozen gory jidori chicken stock (cue the nasty picture) and some water. Maybe a half cup total. 

I also added the juice of a mini lemon that was in the fridge for a little acid.

 

Just keep the greens simmering in this liquid for about 20 minutes while slowly backing off the heat until they are very tender. I usually have to add small amounts of water or stock so that they don't become too dried out. I sometimes even toss ice cubes in as they cook. Weird maybe, but just keep them simmering in a little pool of flavor. Check the taste for seasoning and serve. 

I think this makes a nice little veggie side to go with dinner.  

 Don't be afraid, try some of the greens at the farmers market. 

Further reading if interested in Spigarello 

What's that Vegetable

You Grow Girl 

FnB TV episode 1 about Spigarello