A New Year Super Green Smoothie

Hands up who may have over indulged ever so slightly last night then!? In fact over the last 2 weeks really.

We had planned to have a big fat breakfast today of bubble and squeak, bacon, black pudding and eggs. It's all in the fridge ready, but my insides strongly protested the idea (especially since I may or may not have snaffled a bit of cold pizza left lying around from the early hours already!)

Instead I had a hot water with lemon juice in some sort of attempt to appease the old liver and then I made the greenest of all green smoothies with whatever I could find that looked healthy in the kitchen!

It went like this:

2 handfuls spinach and 1 handful fresh mint leaves with a cup of unsweetened almond milk. Blend this up first so the leaves break down properly or you get bits. Then I added an apple, a banana for texture, sweetness and potassium and 2 celery sticks. Just in case it wasn't green enough I added 2 tspns spirulina and for energy I added a tspn maca powder.  It made enough for me and then alex to have a small glass too. 

I wasn't expecting it to taste any good to be honest but it did so thought I'd share! The mint was a good addition and went well with the apple, gave it a lovely clean, fresh taste. For a lighter option yet I could have used water instead of almond milk. 

So there we have it. Innards nicely cleaned ready for the lard up we're blatantly still going to have!

Sprouty Salad

I don't know why people don't like sprouts, other than they've only ever eaten them cooked by somebody else who doesn't like them and therefore doesn't know how to cook (or not cook) them properly.

One of the best dishes I ever made for a dinner party was a sprout salad. It was delicious.

Today, on my whole-but-still-Christmassy-food mission I decided to make another sprout salad for lunch.

Ingredients:
120g shredded raw sprouts - do not cook them!
2 handfuls chopped walnuts
abt 2 matchbox sized pieces low fat feta
1 apple cored and chopped up
1 stick celery halved length wise and chopped
handful parmesan shavings to chuck on top

and for the dressing:
1 heaped tspn dijon mustard
juice from one wedge lemon
abt 2 capfulls of white wine vinegar
tblsp ish of olive oil
tiny drizzle honey
Sea salt & black pepper
1 egg yolk - optional but makes it more creamy and increases protein content.

Normally cheese wouldn't really be considered whole food as its original ingredients have been fiddled with somewhat but both feta and parmesan are made with unpasteurised milk so I let it slip.  You could use any other cheese with a good 'bite' such as stilton too. In fact stilton is super yummy in this salad.  If you wanted some meat it goes nicely with grilled chicken or crispy bacon bits as well.

Make sure the sprouts are good and shredded...maybe give them a quick blitz in a blender to make sure.  If you have big lumps it doesn't work as well and the dressing can't coat all the little bits of spout.

Anyway, basically mix all the ingredients of the dressing, throw all the salad bits in a bowl except the nuts and parmesan.  Pour dressing over and mix up...it should just be enough to coat but no more.  Sprinkle over a pinch more sea salt and then leave for the sprouts to mellow into the dressing a bit. They can be a bit bitter otherwise.

When you're ready to serve add in the nuts and finally scatter a few parmesan shavings and some black pepper over the top.

There you have it!

The salty cheese and the tangy mustard and lemon balance the sproutiness really well and the apple, nuts and celery add different flavour combos - a bit like a waldorf really, but yummier :).

Green goddess

Since discovering green smoothies...um, whenever it was, I do like to experiment with different varieties every now and again.  This morning I fully intended to have an almond, avocado, spinach, banana and peanut butter one. Only I didn't have any spinach or bananas which made that quite tricky.

So, I bunged in what I did have instead. Which turned out to be:
A skin friendly, anti-inflammatory, slow energy burning baby avocado
Some frozen super food, iron-rich spinach I rooted out of the freezer
An apple for antioxidants and fibre
Some anti-inflammatory celery (which uses more calories to digest than it has in it)
Almond milk (always the base of choice and always unsweetened. I hate it when they sneak sugar in for no reason)
A drizzle of pure maple syrup  - not the nasty mucky 'maple flavoured syrup' kind. It's not great but it's better than sugar especially in baby drizzles.

There are so many reasons to drink green smoothies for breko. It's a great and yummy way to get more veggies in, and super nutrient rich green veggies at that, they set you up all fresh and clear headed for the day ahead, they release energy slowly, they can be drunk on the go, they're filling and they're yummy.  Plus, if you're having one of these you're not having sugar laden cereal or lard ridden bacon butties.  I do eat other things for breakkie but a smoothie is my go to especially during the week as all I need to do is chuck a load of stuff in, whizz it up, bottle it and take it with me to school.

Anyway, the result of today's experiment was clearly quite nice as this is all there was left...