Day 18 of 365: green smoothies, parsley, health, and...fudge.

Ode to green smoothies. I haven’t written one yet. But it’s coming. Just you wait. I love them!!  The smoothie I made this morning tasted different than all of its predecessors.  Think “citrus.”  I adapted it from Sarma’s favorite smoothie to suit my own taste and the ingredients I had on hand. Shall I give you the recipe? Oh yes please.

Warning: this makes a huge amount. But the good news is: green smoothies keep well in the fridge!

1 grapefruit, peeled

1 orange, peeled

1 lemon, peeled

1 mango, cut up in chucks (with or without peel)

1 banana

1 bunch parsley with stems

5 or 6 leaves of kale (I used dinosaur kale)

Water as needed.

Blend some of the fruit. Add some kale and parsley (torn up). Alternate between the fruit and greens until it’s all in the blender, pouring in water as needed.  Blend on high for at least 30 seconds. Now this may seem like quite a bit of fruit compared to greens, but my dinosaur kale leaves were pretty large and there was a lot of parsley.  Note: if you don’t have a high speed blender, you might want to peel the mango.

Another note about this smoothie…it’s very green.  Not the color necessarily, but the taste is a little more on the “green” side than I usually make.  It’s the parsley’s fault.  I don’t particularly like the taste of parsley. Even though it’s extremely good for your skin, it’s kinda bitter…but that’s why all the citrus is sooo perfect for this smoothie! It hides the taste of the parsley. 

I need to name my smoothie. Any ideas?

I decided something this morning. I love eating healthy. I enjoy knowing that everything I’m eating benefits me in some way…there’s just something about that that makes me giddy!! God designed our bodies in such an incredible way: to heal itself, to warn us, to protect us.  And He designed food just as intricately…to flawlessly correspond to our bodies' needs. It blows my mind!!  Amen?

So you know the pictures of the Halvah and fudge I posted?  Recipe time! I was iffy about the fudge…I didn’t know if it would taste any good cause it looked a little strange. But around 11:30 last night, I tried a piece. Success!! I’m still surprised when I try raw dishes or desserts and they actually taste good!! Even though I think I messed up the recipe…

Raw Chocolate Fudge

½ cup coconut oil, warmed to liquefy
½ cup raw carob or cacao powder
¼ cup raw agave nectar
1 teaspoon vanilla (gf)
½ cup chopped almonds (or variation)

Blend agave, chocolate, and vanilla until smooth. While blending, pour in the coconut oil and blend until fully emulsified. Note: I think this is where I went wrong last time. The original recipe said to blend all the ingredients together at once…which didn’t give the coconut oil to emulsify. It didn’t ruin the taste of the fudge; it just ended up looking a little funny.

You can adjust the amount of sweetener and chocolate to suit your tastes. Transfer mixture to separate bowl and stir in chopped almonds. Feel free to add other goodies…coconut, berries, etc.

Spread on a plastic wrap lined plate or dish and place in freezer to cool. Cut into squares. Store in the refrigerator.

Chow!