Six Reasons to Drink Green Juice Every Day

Six Reasons to Drink Green Juice Every Day

Check out this short article on the fabulous benefits of Green Juice! MMMM!!! We drink our juice or green smoothies every morning but it is still nice to be reminded of the benefits we are getting. I love doing what is more beneficial for me as much as possible and why not have that be the focus and start of each and every day!?!

So even if you don’t own a juicer you can always either make a quick green smoothie or go to a local juice store and order one up. Love it!

Here is my favorite recipe for our everyday green juice. But of course feel free to spice it up every once in a while for a change.

My go to recipe is:

  • 2 different heads of greens (kale, chard, romaine, etc.)
  • either a celery or cucumber base (3-5 stalks of celery or 1/2-whole cucumber)
  • 1-2 green apples

It is really very simple and the whole process from washing the greens, juicing to cleaning the juicer happens in less than 15 minutes! So there is no time excuse for me, unless I am truly rushing out the door and then I could always stop at a local juice place and order it up I always try to use as many organic veggies as possible. We drink these raw and we want to get the maximum benefits, so organic is the only way to go!

 

Sweet Double Coconut Chia Pudding

I love all things Chia these days. I just cannot get enough of it. It is so delicious and nutritious, I feel amazing eating it. Plus the fact that is sublimely deelish doesn’t hurt either 😉 Here is a great recipe for another Chia Pudding, this one with the beloved young coconut. It is not the prettiest of puddings but it is really tasty. To see my original Chia Pudding click here. To see why Chia is so fabulous for you click here.

chia pudding

Sweet Double Coconut Chia Pudding
Makes 1-2 servings
Recipe from Casey’s Lifestyle Raw blog

1 young coconut, flesh and water
1/2 cup coconut flakes
2/3 cup chia seeds
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch nutmeg
Pinch cloves
8 drops vanilla stevia (you could also use plain stevia and add some vanilla extract or vanilla bean powder)

Blend together the young coconut flesh and water, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and stevia until well mixed. Place the chia seeds and coconut flakes in a owl and pour the coconut mixture from the blender over the top of the dry seeds and coconut flakes. Mix well and put in the fridge to set for ten minutes-overnight. Enjoy!

Raw Corn Chowder

I always love making raw soups because they are super fast and almost always come out deeelish. Plus blended foods are so good for you! When it comes to summer one of my favorite treats is fresh corn, there is just nothing like it! This soup was so flavorful and had the most gorgeous color from the cumin and corn combo.

corn soup

Raw Corn Chowder

Around 3 Servings

1 cup fresh corn kernels + 1/4 cup corn kernels, separate
1 clove garlic
2 heaping tablespoons nutritional yeast
1/4 cup onion
1/4 cup cashews
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
1/4 cup red pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon lecithin or psyllium (optional to make the soup thicker)
1 teaspoon cumin
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon parsley
1/2 teaspoon Celtic Sea Salt
Ground pepper to taste
2 cups water

  1. Combine all the ingredients except the separate 1/4 cup of corn in a blender until smooth.
  2. Place the whole corn kernels in a bowl and pour soup over.
  3. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Enjoy 🙂

Kale Chips

I love Kale Chips!! You can make them with so many flavors or keep it very simple. There are tons of recipes out there. I prefer these simpler chips. They are gone so quick normally there is no time for a picture. But I made sure this time to take some 🙂 If you do not have a dehydrator I would suggest making these with the oven door ajar or if you want a quick vegetarian (non-raw) snack put the oven up to 350 degrees and bake these for 8-10 minutes. I am sure that would be divine too! This recipe is such a great alternative to any other kind of chips. They are crunchy, a little oily and salty; sooo super good! I have a tendency to check the dehydrator to see if they are done and munching the whole time! They are so good! I also like to use namu shoyu instead of salt because it brings more liquid into the kale rather than having to rely solely on the oil. The nutritional yeast bring such a good and cheesy flavor. So great! Make more than one batch if possible because these go QUICK!!

bowl of kale chips

Kale Chips

1 head of kale, stems removed and torn in pieces
1/4 cup of namu shoyu
2-3 tablespoons of oil (grape seed, canola, olive)
1/4 cup of nutritional yeast

Place the kale in a big bowl and then pour the rest of the ingredients in. (I normally just drizzle over, so the measurements are approximate) With your hands massage all the ingredients together making sure it is well combined and all the kale looks a little wet and nicely coated. Divide in half and place on 2 dehydrator mesh sheets. Dehydrate till crunchy, from 6-10 hours.

before kale
Pre-dehydrator Kale on the mesh sheet

after kale

 Post-dehydrator kale (with a few pieces missing from munching!!)

Flatbread Pizza with hummus, green olives, cherry tomatoes and za’atar

This was soooo good! I made the complete recipe for the crust and halved the rest as I knew there was never anyway we would eat all of this deliciousness. But I figured we could use the crusts for other recipes as they are very versatile. I love everything Pure Food and Wine and can’t wait to check out Sarma’s new cookbook, Living Raw Food! But this is recipe is from Raw Food Real World. All their recipes are pretty complicated but I am guessing that 99% of them are amazing! Due to the complexity level and the gourmet heaviness of some of the foods they are not everyday recipes for us. But when we make them we sure love them! I could see this dish being served at a fancy Middle Eastern restaurant or you can make them bit sized and serve them as hor o’dourves!!!! How fun!! So deeelish! I loved the use of Za’atar (a Middle Eastern spice blend of sumac, sesame seeds and the wild Syrian hyssop plant) in this recipe. I had bought some the last time I was in Israel and this was the first time I got to break it out and use it. Ahhhh… 🙂 The crusts were delicious and the hummus was the best raw hummus I have ever had! Such a great recipe! You could always break this recipe down and use just one component when you need it.

Flatbread Pizza with hummus, green olives, cherry tomatoes and za’atar

 pizza close-up

pizza crust on dehydrator sheet

The crust still on the dehyrdrator sheet

For the crusts:
5 cups walnuts, soaked 1 hour or more (I soaked them overnight – when soaking nuts, make sure to rinse well after)
5 cups cubed yellow squash or zucchini
3/4 cup golden flaxseed, finely ground (1 cup ground)
1/2 cup hemp seeds
1/4 to 1/2 cup filtered water
1 tablespoon sea salt

1. Pulse the walnuts in a food processor to chop into tiny pieces (like couscous), but not completely smooth. Transfer the nuts to a large bowl. Add the squash to the same food processor bowl and grind into tiny pieces, but again not completely smooth. Transfer the squash to the bowl with the walnuts. Add the flaxseed, hemp seeds, salt and about 1/4 cup of water, stirring to combine. Add more water until a sticky dough forms – like wet muffin batter. You may need more or less water.

2. Divide the batter between four 14-inch Teflex lined dehydrator trays. Using an offset spatula spread the dough to the edges of the trays. The dough can be a bit gummy and sticky, so it helps to dip the spatula in water as you spread the dough (the excess water will all evaporate in the dehydrator)

3. Dehydrate the flatbread at 115 degrees for 6-8 hours, pr overnight. When the tops are dry, flip over and peel away the Teflex liners. Dehydrate on screens for another 2-4 hours.

4. Once both sides are dry, slide the flatbread onto a large cutting board. With a large chef’s knife, cut into 3×5 rectangles (or whatever size and shape you want). Place them back in the dehydrator trays and dehydrate for another hour or more, as necessary for firm crusts.

hummus

For the hummus:
4 cups cashews, soaked for 2 hours or more (when I woke up I starting soaking them, so around 8 hours)
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 small cloves garlic
1/4 cup sesame tahini
1 teaspoon sea salt
Up to one cup filtered water

In a food processor, add the nuts, lemon juice, garlic, tahini, and salt and process, adding water 1/4 cup at a time until you get the smooth, fluffy consistency of hummus. You may need to add more water, or you may want to add olive oil for a richer hummus – just make sure it has enough stiffness so it will hold the topping on the pizza without running off the sides of the crust

olive tapenade

For Green Olive Tapenade: (You only need a half cup for recipe, so reduce if you want, or make the entire batch to have on hand.)
makes 3 1/2 cups

3 cups putted green olives
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 small handful of parsley (optional) (I used the parsley. I think it added a nice texture and color)
freshly ground pepper

1. Process the olives in a food processor. With the motor running, add the olive oil and lemon juice and process until smooth. Add the parsley (if using) and process to combine. Season with pepper to taste

2. Transfer to a covered container and refrigerate. Will keep up to 1-2 weeks.

For serving:
1 pint cherry, teardrop or grape tomatoes, halved
1/4 of a large bulb of fennel or 1/2 of a small bulb, shaved very thin on a mandolin
1/2 English cucumber, peeled, seeded and finely diced
1/2 cup Green olive Tapenade
1/2 cup Green olives, pitted and halved
2 tablespoons za’atar seasoning
fennel fronds for garnish

Spread each crust with hummus and top with tomatoes, fennel, cucumber, olive tapenade and olives. Sprinkle with za’atar and top with fennel fronds

pizzas

za'atar from Israel
My Za’atar from Israel

Superfood Smoothie

We normally make smoothies in lieu of our usual Green Juices once or twice a week. They are so yummy and such a great treat! We make so many different variations but here is our most recent one. I never measure the ingredients when I put them in the Vita-mix, so below are approximates.

superfood smoothie

Superfood Smoothie
3/4 cup Blueberries
4 ounces Acai puree
1/2 cup Cherries
3/4 cup Mango
3 stalks of rainbow chard, with the stems removed
2 heaping tablespoons Synergy Green Powder
1 teaspoon Maca
3/4 teaspoon Crystal Manna Blue green algae
1 tablespoon Lucuma powder
1 tablespoon Mesquite powder
1/4 cup Chia pudding
1 cup Coconut milk
1/2 cup water

Raw Veggie Burger

after close-up

Post-dehydrator Veggie Burger

These were really good and pretty easy. I always love being able to put food in the dehydrator at night and it is ready in the morning. I put them in the fridge in the morning and took them out before yoga to warm them back up for 2 hours (in the dehydrator) while I was at class. Perfect! We ate these alongside and on top of salads. Deelish! I would recommend doubling the recipe if you want more leftovers as these will stay for a while in the fridge. You could also not dehyradrate the batter and eat as a pate 🙂

Raw Veggie Burger
recipe makes around 7-8 patties

1 rib celery, chopped
1 summer squash, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
15  raw black olives, pitted
1 cup sunflower seeds, ground
1/4 cup flax seeds, ground
1/4  cup whole sesame seeds
2 T dehydrated onion flakes
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp Celtic sea salt
optional 1 tsp agave
  1. Process everything in a food processor until smooth.
  2. Form them into rounds in your hands and place them on Teflex sheets.
  3. Dehydrate at 115 degrees for 4 hours and transfer them to mesh sheets (peeling off the teflex).
  4. Dehydrate for 2-6 hours more depending on how chewy you want them. Enjoy!
before pic

Pre-dehydrator on the Teflex sheets
after pic

Post-dehydrator Veggie Burgers - sorry for the dark picture

Corn & Red Pepper Chips

I love love love Corn Chips. So when I had made my Super Amazing Raw Jalapeno Corn Chips I thought I had gone to heaven!! Hence, the Super Amazing part of the title 🙂 But of course I wanted to play and experiment more. I have been trying to cut back the amount of nuts in my diet, so I tried a nut-free chip. They were originally going to be just corn, but my mom was so sweet to pick me up some gorgeous red peppers and I wanted to put them to good use. These came out super tasty and could be enjoyed on their own. But I love the chips and dip meal, so of course I made a salsa with guacamole to go along with these. Michael and I both liked my Super Amazing Raw Jalapeno Corn Chips better, but these were still super delicious and nut free!

corn & pepper chips

Sorry for the super fuzzy picture, but you can at least see the Gorgeous Color!!!

Corn & Red Pepper Chips

4 cups sweet corn, fresh or frozen
2 medium red peppers
1 jalapeno
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp salt

  1. In a food processor combine all the ingredients until smooth
  2. On dehydrator tray, spread about 1/8″ thick
  3. Score diagonally left to right, then across right to left into triangles
  4. Dehydrate about 5 hours, or to desired texture

Raw Chocolate Pudding

I find that I come back to Natalia Rose’s books time and time again and always love her recipes. I have made Chocolate Pudding with an avocado before and it comes out divine (it does not taste like an avocado, only gets the creaminess from it) but I have been wanting to use more and more Young Coconuts. Love them! So here is the take on Chocolate Pudding with young coconut meat. Plus once you open the coconuts you get the water; which is the Nectar of God! It is so delicious, nutritious and very healing! mmmm Of course you can get bottled coconut water, but there is nothing like the real thing!

This was so amazing! My husband and I both had scratchy throats and this was so soothing and perfect for us! This is something to enjoy all the time; so easy and so good!

chocolate pudding

Raw Chocolate Pudding
Recipe from Natalia Rose’s  The Raw Food Detox Diet

Makes about 2 cups

Meat of 2 coconuts
6 dates
4 tablespoons Pure cocoa powder

Blend all the ingredients until smooth. Deeeelish!!!

Chia Seed Pudding

Ahhh Chia Seed Pudding!! So good!! Chia seeds have so many wonderful properties that I want to incorporate them into our daily lives. See my post on Chia Seeds: Superfoods.

This recipe was so amazing!! I know I am always making new recipes but this needs to become a staple in my house! We normally just have a juice, smoothies or fruit for breakfast, but on the weekends we like to enjoy a little more. Last weekend we  feasted on the Blueberry Flax Pancakes which were amazing. This was a little less decadent but still so divine!! This can be a dessert, breakast, lunch or dinner. It is pretty much a perfect food!

chia seed pudding

Chia Pudding
1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked for 4 hours – overnight
3 pitted, jumbo Medjool dates soaked for 1 hour in 2 cups of filtered water (Keep soak water for the recipe)
1/4 cup chia seeds
1/2-1 teaspoon of vanilla
1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
Several drops of liquid stevia to taste

Soak the cashews for at least 4 hours and rinse. In a Vita-mix or blender combine cashews, dates, their 2 cups of soak water, vanilla, and cinnamon and blend until smooth. In a medium bowl combine this mixture with the chia seeds. Whisk for 1-2 minutes. Let stand in the fridge for 10 minutes and whisk again to prevent clumps. Add the stevia to taste. You can either begin to eat it then or put back in the fridge, covered for 6-8 hours (overnight) and even more of the nutrients will be accessible then.

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