Smoothie Art

Healthy living is sometimes really hard to keep up with as you go about your life.  Even though I stay at home with my kids, I don't always have the time to get everything done that I want to every day.  One of those things on my to do list is to make sure my kids eat lots of vegetables and fruit, but sometimes that doesn't always happen the way I want.  My kids love to eat apples, but when they eat 5 or more a day that up-sets their stomach.  So one thing I do is make smoothies, like a lot of them! With homeschooling my kids, my duties with church, Cub Scouts, and my volunteer work, on top of my responsibilities as a wife and mother I do not have time to make single serve smoothies all day long.  Each of us can and usually do have 2 smoothies a day.  So what I like to do, is make enough smoothie to last us 3 days before I have to make more.  

Smoothie is something that goes rank quickly if not kept well.  I know, I've thrown smoothie cups away because what was growing in them was to gross to wash out.  Or those smoothie mixes that aren't so yummy tasting that even I will dump it into the garbage.  But I have figured out a few things, a few tips that I thought would be helpful to others.

I am going to be doing a smoothie session for the month of February and I would love to have you join me on this discovery of Smoothie Art. My Chia Seeds, Ground Flax Seeds are organic, and my Terra Greens come from doTerra.  It's a high concentrated blend of greens that when taken on a regular basis will give you a full serving of all the vegetables that you need in a day.  

 Green Smoothie Recipe            Pink Smoothie Recipe

1. Kale                                         1. Strawberries

2. Spinach                                    2. Pineapples

3. Carrots                                     3. Mango

4. Terra Greens                            4. Peaches

5. Chia Seeds                               5. Applesauce

6. Flax Seeds                               6. Water

7. Apple juice                              7. Bananas
8. Secrete Ingredient

How I make my smoothies.  I am an artist at heart, so I color mix my smoothies to make them look delicious.  This means that I always start with the Green Smoothie base first.  I pour in 3 cups of apple juice first, then put in my secrete ingredient which for this smoothie was a cup of left over California mix vegetables. (Broccoli, Carrots, Cauliflower) Then I put in 2 large handfuls of kale and spinach.  I freeze most of my fresh ingredients so that I don't have to add ice to my smoothies.  Then I go ahead and blend this batch.  Once that's well blended I add in 1 heaping scoop of Terra Greens, 4 scoops of Chia Seeds, 4 spoonfuls of ground flax seeds, and half a handful of kale and spinach each.  Then I blend it up again.  Now I put this mixture into a large gallon drink picture. Now its time to start my Pink Smoothie Recipe.  I pour in 3 1/2 cups of ice cold water ( I used filtered water from my fridge).  Then I added 1 cup of strawberries, 1 cup of pineapples, 1 cup of mango, 1/2 cup peaches, and 1 and 1/2 bananas. I mix this all up.  And with this if it's looking a bit too thick I will add up to 1 full cup more of water.  Now comes my favorite part.  I will pour the Pink Smoothie into the center of the picture right into the center of the Green Smoothie.  Then I get a big wooden spoon and mix it all together.  This smoothie will turn a little bit brownish green in color.  Which means it's not going to be yummy looking, which is why I serve my kids' smoothie in opaque Darth Vader Smoothie cups, and my husband and I get transparent blue and red smoothie cups.

This is a super yummy smoothie despite the color.  The best part of it is that it will last up to 5 days in the fridge as long as it is sealed from the air.  So what I do is turn the lid to keep the air out of the picture. But this gallon amount of smoothie only lasts my family 3 days.

If you like this, stay tuned for next weeks smoothie!

Artful Food

When you think of food what do you think of?  Do you think of the taste more than how the food looks? Or do you think about the smell of the food more than the colors of the food?  Let me paint you an image.  Think in your mind about a light bed of soft baby green spinach mixed with light tangy green  chopped Romane and Iceberg lettuce.  On closer look you'll notice a few dull teal green sprigs of kale, bright pops of red tomatoes, deep purple crinkles of cabbage, and slick slivers of yellow pepper float about this crunchy salad.  How did you do?  Could you picture this bowl of salad?  What helped you picture it most: the colors or the description of texture for each piece of food?

For me, it's always the colors.  When I go to a restaurant and order grilled vegetables I know that if they are done well there will be charred bits of blackened crisp on the outside of each vegetable.  However if what is put in front of me is mostly blackened crispy ash, that isn't going to be eaten by me, nor does it look appetizing.  Same with a pizza.  If I order a pepperoni pizza, there had better be a good amount of pepperoni on the slice that I eat (one or two doesn't work for me...I'd need 4).  The crust better be easy to chew, but firm enough not to ooze my cheese and other toppings off the crust.

It is the thoughts like those that have been filling my mind as I have been on this most recent pathway, finding out how to take better photographs.  This has led me to be more artistic with the food I cook, the food I eat, and the food I give my family.  When I plate food I want to see lots of colors, lots of variation in texture, and a good balance overall, because to me this means that I will have a more enjoyable meal.  I decided to test out a few of my family's favorite recipes on you all.  Let me know what you think in how my food looks.  Does it entice you to want to eat it?  Does it invoke a hunger for a specific color of food?  Can you see the texture?

Below I have provided you with a soup, a red pasta, a white pasta, and a rice dish.  Recipes will be in separate blog posts for your enjoyment!

Loaded Potato Soup

Garlic Tomato Vegetarian Pasta

Turmeric Curry Chicken and Rice with Broccoli

Alfredo Bolognese with Countryside Vegetables