Comunidad Health Foods

Today is the first day of the rest of my life. For such a cliché moment, it doesn’t feel all that dramatic. I even feel pretty silly just typing that phrase. Yesterday’s graduation was a whirlwind of chaos, dehydration, disappointment, sunburn, and (despite it all) delicious food. Maybe how it all played out should have only been expected, given that they were asking a group of 3,000 22-year-olds to sit in the middle of a football field in 80 degree weather in black gowns and heavy hoods as they read each of those 3,000 names and honors aloud – in addition to many drawn-out speeches. Admittedly, it was a poorly executed ceremony. It took 2 solid hours just to award the degrees. Still, I can’t muster up pride in association with my fellow graduates, and I don’t think the poorly run ceremony is any excuse for their behavior – out of 3,000, a scant 100 of us remained by the very end (yes, they just got up and walked out as soon as they were handed their diploma holders), and I can’t even begin to estimate how few were still fully clothed in their graduate regalia as they recessed out of the stadium. Yes, it was hot and long and miserable, but this is your graduation for pete’s sake! For all of the “Pomp and Circumstance” surrounding what was supposed to be The Big Day…I felt oddly like I was back in kindergarten. I guess things don’t really change, huh?

Regardless, today still feels somewhat special. I’m not a college student anymore. I have a diploma (well, I have a diploma cover – the diploma will be mailed in a few months). To commemorate this special new path unfolding in my proverbial and cheesy journey, I thought it appropriate to tell you about this absolutely delicious Sunrise Daiquiri Smoothie (you know, like the Sunrise Smoothie, the sun is also rising in a new chapter of my life! I know, I know, I’m beyond corny. I can’t help it). It’s non-alcoholic, but I tried to mimic the flavors of a fruity cocktail in it to add an edge to the otherwise sweet flavors.

And let me tell you, this is one seriously tasty smoothie! It’s citrusy, the perfect temperature and consistency, and all around a great choice for the morning to perk you up and get you ready for the day. There are only 2 things that would make this smoothie even more-out-of-this-world: first, a VitaMix to totally pulverize the coconut flakes, which in my blender remained a little chunkier than I would have liked; second, a layered effect making first an orange and then a strawberry smoothie in the finished glass to produce a gorgeously marbled effect that would really remind you of a true sunrise. Another example of how the Martha Stewart gene is somewhat lacking in my DNA. I do have a goal this summer to work on my presentation/plating/photography skills, though, so maybe you’ll start seeing cutesy things like swirled smoothies in the near future. For now, the smoothie is just plain old pink, and it’s in just a plain old glass, photographed against a plain old wooden desk backdrop, but I like it. A lot. And I hope you do, too.

I also want to wish everyone who is celebrating a very happy Mother’s Day! I hope you have some wonderful food-filled plans set for the rest of the day. I won’t be cooking (probably a good call – after the hectic events of the past week between moving out and graduation, I’m pooped!), but I will be going out to eat with L’s family and then hopefully stopping by my grandparent’s house tonight to see them and other family members who couldn’t make it to graduation yesterday. It should be a good day!

Smoothies are really hip right now, aren’t they? It almost makes me like them a little bit less – yeah, I’m one of those people. It isn’t that I enjoy being the only fan of something, either; I just get a little put off when everyone and their mom goes gaga over one thing. I guess it’s the extremes that unsettle me. Still, even the smoothie trend that’s been sweeping over our country hasn’t been enough to dissuade me entirely. After all, there’s a reason they’re so popular – they’re delicious, and can be great for you, too! To try to buck the trend just a teensy bit without boycotting the nutritious drink entirely, I often like to go for “out of the box” flavors. At least, I’m not the kind of person to just throw random fruit together and call it a day. My smoothies need a theme. They require inspiration.

I really like to recreate some of my favorite dishes in smoothie form, which is how I got recipes like sweet potato pie smoothie and pink lemonade smoothie. My most recent creation was a work in progress, but I think I’ve nailed it: a Strawberry, Basil & Balsamic Smoothie. These flavors come together so well in salads all the time, and when I found myself with a flourishing basil plant and a bag of frozen strawberries in the freezer, I knew I had to give it a shot. I have to confess, my first attempt went down the drain, as much as it pains me to waste food and ingredients. I was too exuberant about the balsamic and even I couldn’t stomach it in the end. Round 2 went much better, and what I have for you today is a very sophistical smoothie. It’s mildly sweet with a tang that doesn’t overwhelm the rest of the drink. It’s certainly not a smoothie for everyone, but if you like these flavor combinations, consider trying it out. You may be pleasantly surprised.

 

Past Smoothie Recipes: Pink Lemonade, Raspberry Linzer, Sweet Potato Pie, Strawberry-Mango

You may also have noticed that I’m writing my recipes a little differently. I read a blog post summarizing some tips on how to write a better recipe, and I think it made some valid points. Notably, I’m going to be trying to incorporate a brief summary of the recipe at the top along with prep and cook times. I hope you like the new format!

Yesterday, I watched the documentary “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead” about two very overweight men who resolved themselves to a fairly dramatic 60-day juice fast in order to take charge of their own health and, ultimately, their lives. I had several bones to pick with the documentary – it fell victim to what many health documentaries do, and that’s oversimplification of a lot of complex processes involved in metabolism – but overall, it was an inspiring film and the two men did take a lot of precautions with their fast. They were careful, and at the end of the fast adopted a very healthy diet.

Although I don’t 100% buy into these detox diets and fasting fads – our bodies, believe it or not, do not need a “break” from digestion, and are perfectly capable of detoxing themselves – I do, myself, enjoy a good nutrient-rich drink now and then to supplement “food.” Since I don’t own a juicer, this means that I gravitate toward smoothies. What’s even better about smoothies compared to juicing (in my humble, unbiased opinion) is that you can get even more nutrients in your glass – fiber, healthy fats, and vegetable protein in particular. 

Watching the film did remind me how much I enjoy starting my day off now and then with a good power smoothie, so I thought I would share one of my latest creations with you. It may not be a mean, green, clean-eating machine, but it is nutritious and delicious, which is just as exciting of rhyme if you ask me. This Pink Lemonade Smoothie relies on lemon-flavored greek yogurt and “freshly frozen” strawberries (fresh strawberries that I washed, halved and froze myself), and gets an extra boost from some ground flax meal. I thinned it out with a little unsweetened almond milk, and resisted the temptation to throw in a handful of spinach for fear of losing the iconic pink color that I knew it needed. It’s very sweet and refreshing – a great option for the warmer months, and an even healthier alternative to standard pink lemonade!

I realized recently that I don’t often post recipes for all of the smoothies I make. It isn’t that I’m a huge smoothie drinker – I know people who have a glass every day – but I do work it into my morning routine at least every few weeks. I have posted a handful of recipes in the past, but in general I tend not to view them as recipes. More often than not, I toss ingredients into the blender and hit ‘puree,’ the ingredients a collection of flavors that I had in mind but actual measurements often fall to the way-side. I decided I should share some with you every once in a while, though, since a lot of them turn out pretty darn tasty.

One of my most recent creations I’m calling a Raspberry Linzer smoothie, though I’ll warn you that if you’re looking for a taste twin to its dessert cookie counterpart, you’ll be disappointed. This is a breakfast raspberry linzer treat, a just mildly sweet combination of almond and raspberry: no jam, minimal added sugar. You taste the raspberries and the almond milk, through and through. Originally I was going to add a sliced frozen banana to the smoothie to impart a natural sweetness, but either one of my roommates ate it (unlikely – in fact, borderline impossible), or it’s playing a formidable round of hide-and-go-seek in my pitifully disorganized freezer. So, I used some honey crème instead, but would encourage you to try the banana if you have an overly ripe one lying around. I also would recommend almond extract over the vanilla that I used. I planned to use almond extract, but the night before I had a kitchen accident that resulted in my wonderful almond extract, lid removed, flying across my kitchen floor and spilling everywhere. Cue Plan B. It still tasted very good, but can imagine that the extra almond flavor along with the subtleties of the frozen banana would take this smoothie to even greater heights.

There’s something about smoothies that draws our minds immediately to the word “healthy.” Maybe it’s the fact that they often boast ingredients like “real fruit,” “yogurt,” and even more obscurely alluring ones like “wheat grass” and “flax.” How can stuff like that be bad? The problem is, most of the commercial smoothies you get can be real calorie bombs, and a serious problem for your poor blood sugar levels. The portion sizes tend to be too big and the simple sugars – even if they’re coming from real fruit – too high. Plus, I’ve learned that “yogurt” can really just mean “frozen yogurt” which is often no better than ice cream and “real fruit” can mean “real fruit juice with a banana thrown in for good measure.”

Needless to say, you have to be careful if you’re looking for a health drink; or, you just have to make your smoothies yourself! The best part about this second option is that it’s actually a lot easier than you think. Once you have the ingredients in stock, it’s really just a matter of throwing a handful of things into a blender and mixing them up for 30-60 seconds. You can make your mornings flow even better by assembling the ingredients in the blender the night before and storing in the fridge, or even making a whole bunch of smoothies in advance, freezing them, and pulling one out into the fridge to thaw overnight. At that point, it becomes even faster than stopping at your local Jamba Juice or (I shudder to think) McDonald’s.

If you’re interested in getting started but don’t really know what to buy, here’s a breakdown of what I normally put into my smoothie:

-A protein base: Because of how concentrated the sugars in a smoothie can get, I like to match them with a touch of protein to help slow the absorption of the simple sugars and stabilize my own blood sugar in the process. I usually use around 6 ounces of greek yogurt for this, but I’ve also seen recipes that call for silken tofu. Just the other day I added in a cooled scrambled egg, even, though unless you have a really high power blender, you might be left with some egg “debris” particles that some may dislike texturally. Of course, you can also use milk/milk alternatives, regular yogurt, or fruit juice as the base for your smoothie, but like I said, I like choosing something that’s relatively low in sugar and higher in protein most of the time.

-Fruit Add-Ins: Most smoothies are going to include some kind of fruit. Bananas are great additions because they have a mild flavor (so they pair well with just about any other add in you choose) and they help to thicken up the smoothie a little. Don’t feel boxed in by the rest of the fruits out there, though – there are so many possibilities! I think it’s easy to stick to things like berries or peaches, but I’ve heard of people using apples, pineapple, kiwi – you name it! Just know how strong your mixer is before you start throwing in really hardy fruits. It’s also always nice to keep some frozen fruit around, either bought that way from the store (this is a nice option because they’re often already in good bite-sized chunks and require no prep time on your part – just make sure they’re not packed in any kind of syrup) or frozen yourself. If you use a combination of fresh and frozen fruit, you’ll get a nice, cold, thick smoothie without adding any ice cubes which can, over time, make the smoothie watery.

-Vegetable Add-Ins: Yes, I put vegetables into my smoothies, too! This is actually an excellent way to pack in a few of those recommended daily servings, because most of the time you can add them without altering the taste at all. If I have it in the fridge, spinach goes into all of my smoothies; it turns the drink green, but you won’t taste it, I promise. Any type of puree works, too, though this is more likely to alter the flavors, so either add these in lesser amounts or make a smoothie focused on those flavors (think pumpkin pie or sweet potato pie, for example). In fact, the smoothie I’m going to share with you today is a Sweet Potato Power Smoothie!

-Some sort of fat: Just like protein, fat can help slow down your digestion of simple sugars, so it lessens the load that all of that fruit and yogurt is putting on your body. Plus, there are a lot of vitamins and nutrients that require or are enhanced by the presence of fats to even be absorbed, so you’re doing yourself a disservice if you go totally fat free. 1-2 teaspoons of nut butter, flax, actual nuts, even some avocado – these are all excellent additions to a smoothie because they deliver a modest dose of healthy fats.

-Extras: Now it’s time to jazz it up! Once you have all of your other ingredients in there, consider what other flavors you might like. For something with pumpkin puree, add some cinnamon, nutmeg, and freshly grated ginger; with apples, considering a small drizzle of honey or maple syrup; for berries, think about lemon zest. These are the ingredients that don’t really add nutrients or large amounts of calories (just watch with the honey and maple syrup – 1 teaspoon is often plenty!), but they can really make the other flavors in the smoothie pop.

 

Now that you know the basic steps I use for building a better smoothie, here’s a recipe that I created for a Sweet Potato Power Smoothie. I made it for the first time earlier this year, and it really didn’t turn out well. The ginger drowned out all of the other flavors, for one thing. For another, it was excessively thick and I wound up eating it with a spoon. And then there was my brilliant idea to throw in some black beans at the tail end, except this idea came to me after I had poured it into my glass. So, instead of putting it back in the blender and mixing it all up, I just tried to mash the beans myself and mix them in by hand. I know, I know, your stomachs are turning at the thought of it. It was really, really not good at all, but I had a feeling I could get the hang of it yet, so I made one more attempt, and it was wonderful! I mean, really fantastic – it was sweet, full of cinnamon and ginger, with a slight hint of sweet potato in a way that doesn’t detract from the texture one bit. I used vanilla yogurt to sweeten it up, and ice cubes because it didn’t really require any other ingredient that I could’ve had frozen.