Holidays Holidays!

Whoa...
I told myself I WOULDN'T let this happen.... but I DID!!!!
EEK!!!
I haven't written all month!!!!

Alas...this is what occurs when you simutaneously have a little KNITTING business on the side...
Knitting and CROCHETING...might I add...

Let's face it: December is the month for making WARM stuff... NOT for making smoothies.
I mean, of course I STILL make smoothies and I've made a TON of SOUPS that I haven't posted recipes for yet....
BUT.... I've been keeping myself busy knitting up those COZIES to keep everyone's neck warm....

#CraftWrxCozy

 

(not the best selfie ever but just wanted ya to know what I was talking about....)

 

Oh... and you can LIKE my CraftWrx page on Facebook if ya wanna see what I'm up to in the world of wool: https://www.facebook.com/craftwrx

Ok...
Now back to the FOCUS of this BLOG...

In need of a QUICK fix to get some fruits and veggies?
Well.. here are a couple of SUPER DUPER smoothies that will keep you PEPPED up during the WINTER WINTERINESS of WINTER....

 

Plain & Simple

 

1 cup pineapple juice

1 orange cut up

half a lime

1/4 cup frozen blueberries

1/2 cup frozen strawberries

 

 

Mossy

 

1 cup pineapple juice

1/2 fresh mango

1/2 cup frozen strawberries

handful spinich

Tbsp cacao nibs

 

  

Chartreuse Anyone?

 

1 cup pineapple juice

1/2 banana

1/2 cup strawberries frozen

3/4 cup mango frozen

handful baby kale

 

 

Wishing you all LOVE & LAUGHTER for 2015!!!!

And....LOTS of BROWN SMOOTHIE MAKING!!

 

 



Red Rover

A big 'ole FRUIT FIESTA this one is!
Kinda NOVEMBER-ISH....
Red like the leaves turning COLOUR....
Not that you couldn't make this in MARCH or JUNE....
Of course you could...
I'm just drawing a PARALELL here... as I was looking at all the leaves this morning.

Takes me back to my childhood...
Playing a game of RED ROVER...
CRUNCHING through all those leaves as you RUN towards the other team.... 
Trying to BUST through their TIGHTLY GRIPPED HANDS....
But you rarely make it across as you aren't really into that sort of thing....
The RIPPING through...
OR
The PROPELLING backwards if you CEASE to accomplish the task as hand....
(I never liked that game....but it's got a GREAT name!)

LOOK!

Here are some LEAVES turning colour... 
(Bonus to you if you spot the FACE)

AND...all the ingredients are colours of fall leaves.....
Can you see the ORANGE mango, YELLOW banana, and RED strawberries in these leaves???? 


I know I have GLARE here, but...meh....whatever...

 

Red Rover

(1 large serving)

1 cup pineapple juice

1/2 banana

half mango

1/4 cup raspberries

1/4 cup frozen blueberries

1/4 cup frozen strawberries

Franken-Smoothie

I think the NAME says it all...

It's GREEN...

It's kinda MESSY...

Maybe even a little SCARY...

 

But...no worries....

It's all GOOD...

I know it's not BROWN...

But it's GOOD!

And it's HALLOWEENY....

 

I didn't realize how MUCH this recipe was going to yield...

I guess I poured a little too QUICKLY....

It all started SLOSHING over the edge of the glass...

And I thought to myself...

"This is GREAT!"

"This looks totally GROSS!"

"GRAB CAMERA FAST!!"

 

 

MEGA drips = Total INSPIRATION

 

Are you gettin' the FRANKENSTEIN vibe?? 

 

Dive on in......

Franken-Smoothie

(1 really big serving)

 

1 cup pineapple juice

1 big orange

1 cup frozen strawberries

LOTS of spinach (3 handfuls?)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!

Best Juice EVER!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

In honour of the colour ORANGE... which is highly associated with HALLOWEEN...
I bring to you one of my favourite JUICE recipes...

I haven't been using my juicer much since I started BLENDING....but I got the craving for my absolutely FAVORITE homemade juice the other day...
It really IS the BEST juice!
I have tried a juicing a variety of things.....BUT
I ALWAYS go back to THIS one.

So of course I documented my experience and what do you know...The juice is ORANGE and it's HALLOWEEN today so here it is.....

 Peeled and Prepared Fruit & Veg: 

 Sooo BEAUTIFUL to me, I had to do a ...........

CLOSE UP:

The FROTH:

  

 

The PULP SCULPTING:
(That's a whole other post.....)

 

The JUICE:

Best Juice EVER!!

 

5 giant carrots

3 apples

4 oranges

chunk of ginger

1 lemon or lime

(You can use whatever ratio you like but I like to go a bit heavy on the carrots... A batch and a half will last a couple of days)

Fruit and Veggie Kick-Starter

This one is GREAT!

Not that my other ones aren't great...but this one is kinda COMPLEX in its taste...and I like that sometimes...
COMPLEXITY...
And...for you NON-banana fans.....this one is RIGHT up your alley!
(I AM a fan of the banana however...just sayin')

 

Sometimes my smoothies are created due to the availability of ingredients in the house...

Sometimes due to particular cravings...

Sometimes I just grab whatever without even thinking much about it...and

SOMETIMES.... my smoothies are created due to a LACK of COLOR in my photographs...

 

And this was such a time...

 

For some reason.... I felt this photo (see below) was just NOT COMPLETE...

It's a LOVELY photo. I took it myself...
But on this particular day... I was in need of something MORE.
More of a VARIED color scheme...
I always look at the pre-blend shots before I actually blend, to make sure I like the set up...

When I looked at this picture... I thought to myself....NOPE...something is missing...
BLUEBERRIES!!!

Blueberries would really make this photo POP!

(Not to mention... they would also taste REALLY good in this combo...)
 

Lovely Photo: 

 

 

Even Lovelier: 

 

And....IT'S BROWN!!!

 

Fruit and Veggie Kick-Starter

(1 large serving)

 

1 cup pineapple juice

1/4 cup frozen strawberries

1/4 cup frozen blueberries

1/3 cup frozen mango

1/4 cup cucumber

1/3 of a red pepper

big handful of spinach

1 Tbsp Hempseed

(you can add a bit of water if it's too thick for you)

 

 

One more thing.....

I'm curious to know what you think of the taste.

In a way...

In a STRANGE way...

It kinda tastes like SWEET and SOUR sauce to me...

In a GOOD strange way...

Green Genie

This one made a LOT...
...so you can always SHARE it with someone...
OR...
you can pour yourself a BIG glass
...and then drink the leftovers DIRECTLY from the blender as I did...

Oh...and the colour for October is...GREEN...

 

 

Green Genie

(1 really big serving)

 

1 cup pineapple juice

1/2 banana

1/2 cup frozen mango

3/4 cup frozen strawberries

2 BIG handfuls spinach

1/4 cup water

Pumpkin Pie Chocolate Milk

I LOVE the Fall.

It's my favourite season.

LEAVES turning colour...

The CRISPNESS in the air...

Being COZY...

Making PIES...

..and all that JAZZ...

 

Anyway... I found the best pumpkin pie recipe from Martha Stewart. Here it is:

 

Triple Chocolate Pumpkin Pie

You know...I never really liked pumpkin pie much cause it was always a bit too EGGY for me...

I have a "THING" with eggs...

I'll save that story for another time..

 

I actually manage to make TWO pies from the above recipe, so the pie is quite firm and not so GOOEY as some pumpkin pies are.....

 

The thing with pumpkin pies is.....you are always left with EXTRA pumpkin in the can....

And WHAT are you supposed to do with it?

For years I have been saving it in the fridge thinking I will use it somehow....

But HAVE I?

NO, I haven't...

Until NOW!!!

NOW that my KITCHEN CONCOCTING is such a prominent part of my life!

 

So...I am not a big milk drinker...

NEVER have been.

I'm probably a BIT lactose intolerant...

Even as a child...I remember when they came around at recess passing out the little red and white milk cartons...

I would CRINGE...

I would take one initial sip to be social and BLECH...they feeling I got from it...

YUCKO!!!!

Just couldn't do it....

Can you say: "MAJOR STOMACH CHURN!"

We didn't know about that stuff back then....

Needless to say, I wasn't a huge cereal consumer... although I did have the ODD bowl of rice krispies with sliced banana and strawberry jam on top.

 

So... in recent years I was thrilled to latch onto Almond Milk.

Rice Milk and Hemp Milk are in my GOOD books too.

 

Well...I made THE most delicious chocolate milk!!!

I GOBBLED it right up!

It was SOOOO good!

 

I USED THE EXTRA PUMPKIN FROM THE CAN!!!

 

Here it is my friends....

Chocolate milk that tastes like pumpkin pie and has an added BOOST of vitamin A!!!!

 

 

 

Pumpkin Pie Chocolate Milk

(1 medium serving)

 

3/4 cup milk (I used almond milk)

1/4 cup canned pumpkin

2 tsp semi sweet mini chocolate chips

1 Tbsp maple syrup

dash of cinnamon

little dash of ground ginger

(grated chocolate for garnish)

 

Note: If you want it colder you can add a couple of ice cubes