And another...

For tonight's dinner, since I had lovely Thai for lunch today, and don't need another meal.

A good handful of rinsed dandelion greens
1/2 pint of blueberries
1/2 cup of vanilla soymilk
1/2 cup crushed ice

Liquify in your blender, and try not to be appalled by the dark green/blue colour.

Drink with a straw and enjoy. It looks awful, but tastes lovely. Drink it soon after making it, as the natural soluble fibres in the ingredients tend to start to change its texture fairly quickly.

And it's a nutritional powerhouse, high in Vitamins A and  K, Lutein + zeaxanthin. potassium, and fibre. Blueberries rank #1 compared to 60 other fruits and vegetables in antioxidant activity.  

Did you know that dandelion's latin name is Taraxacum officinale, which means the "Official Remedy for Disorders." Dandelion green extract has been shown to induce an anti inflammatory effect in laboratory research, and protect against oxidative stress (which is implicated in disease and aging).

Green smoothies to go

Yesterday morning I thought I'd try a green smoothie for breakfast. I need more greens, to round out the other veggies I have no problem fit in. Here is my first, very own smoothie recipe, and it was great!

Take one blender.
Add 1/2 a banana
One ripe kiwi, peeled
One large leaf of kale, with the spine removed, and chopped into large pieces
Three ice cubes

Mix on "crush ice" speed until the ice is broken up.

Then , add 1/2 a cup of vanilla soy milk, and blend until smooth.

Enjoy!

You can't taste the kale, and the kiwi seeds add fabulous texture.

Dark leafy greens have lots of vitamins and minerals, as well as such as sulforaphane This is an antioxidant chemical thought to have cancer fighting properties. Kale is related to broccoli and cabbage, from the brassica family. Chopping or blending kale helps release its phytochemicals, making it ideal for smoothies!

Loving my veggie box

Thursday is veggie day. I get a gorgeous bin of organic veggies and fruits delivered to my door by Ottawa Organics. It feels pretty decadent, but it does mean that my house is stocked regularly with healthy things without any effort on my part (except for to remember to put out last week's bin each week, which I regularly miss...thank goodness they let me accumulate a few before cutting me off!).

Tonight I was about to head to my Thursday night dinner joint, as Thursday evening is my night sans kids and for resting, getting some exercise or yoga practice, and recharging before Friday and then a busy weekend with the rugrats. The Thursday dinner joint is The Table, just down the road, tasty, healthy, fresh, veggie based, and buffet. I love buffets.

However, tonight I decided to stay in, and cook up some lovely veggies just for me. Cooking for one is odd, but I'll at least have leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

On the stove as I type is the Green Door's Mediterranean Beans recipes. The Green Door, by the way, is probably my favourite restaurant in town. If only I could walk to work AND live close to it. Alas, I can't. And clearly there is a theme with restaurants that I hold dear.

I did the math while I was cooking, and it was in fact quicker to do the work to make dinner than to get in the car and drive to and from the Table. The simmering time isn't included, but that gives me a chance to update this blog here. All the ingredients came from this week's veggie bin, except the dried oregano, which I dried from an earlier one.

I must remember the next time I think that going out to get food (even if it is healthy, nearby, yummy vegetarian buffet) is not necessarily more timely than just whipping something up myself.

And now, my beans are ready, I am going to sit down and enjoy them!