Nourishing the Emperor One Day at a Time

Antioxidant Fig Smoothies

Day 7

I've been drinking green smoothies daily, while doing an elimination diet to determine what food sensitivities/allergies/intolerances I might have.  While I genuinely enjoy them, I know without a doubt that I cannot get them into the boys, which is a shame because they are chock full of vitamins and nutrients and fiber.

Then I saw a recipe for an antioxidant smoothie on The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen website.  I modified the recipe slightly to incorporate berries, fruit and greens I could find locally, including fresh figs.  Figs are nutritional powerhouses, with more fiber per serving than any other common fruit and more calcium per serving than milk.  Did you know that?  I did not.  They are also rich and yummy, which is why I bought them.  It wasn't until I got home and looked them up that I found out how great they are for you.  As soon as my diet is a little less restrictive, I'm going to play around with them in savory dishes.

Rainbow chard is in abundant supply in my garden currently.  It is a great source of potassium, fiber, vitamin A and has about 3-4 grams of protein per serving. It can be utilized as a substitute for spinach in many recipes and apparently, its stalks can be prepared and eaten much like asparagus, though I did not know this until I looked it up.  To think I've been growing it for years and have always just discarded them!  I'll have to try this and post on it in the future.

Actually, I don't really discard them.  Did you know you could save all the trimmings from your vegetables, including the papery outsides of onions and garlic and make a lovely vegetable stock with them?  As I am peeling vegetables or trimming them up to use in recipes, I save everything I remove and place them in a plastic bag, which I keep in the fridge.  Then every couple days when the bag is getting full, I dump them in a large stockpot and cover with cold water.  Bring it to a boil and then turn down to a simmer for 1-2 hours.  Strain and cool.  This brings me a great deal of satisfaction knowing I have not let a single thing go to waste, and keeps me in flavorful stocks which can be expensive to constantly buy pre-made.

One last thing:  drinking greens in a smoothie is incredibly good for you.  You've lost no nutrients due to cooking and they are much easier to digest.

The original recipe calls for blackberries, blueberries, italian plums, peaches, apples and spinach.  Here is my modified recipe:

Antioxidant Fig Smoothies

1 white nectarine, pitted
4 fresh black mission figs, stems removed
3 italian plums, pitted (or 1 large regular plum)
1 small container red raspberries (1-2 cups)
1 small container blueberries (1-2 cups)
Rainbow chard, rinsed and torn with middle stem and stalk removed
2 cups water

Place the fruit in a high powered blender.  Add as much chard as will fit in the blender and pour water over the top.  Blend until completely smooth and creamy.

My Notes:

Using chard gives this smoothie a distinctly 'greenie" taste.  I've read recently that spinach (especially baby spinach) is far milder and blends in with other flavors better.  However, I have an abundance of rainbow chard in my garden that I'm trying to eat before the cool nights do it in.  I also don't mind the flavor of chard or greens of any type in my smoothie.  If you do, I would suggest trying spinach, specifically baby spinach, first.

Also, you may need to blend this for 5 minutes or longer, depending on how much power your blender has.  You'll know it's ready when you can no longer see bits of green swirling around in the blender.  I turn my blender on and then go about cleaning up.  I've made the mistake of not blending greens long enough and it's not a pleasant drink.

I make this the night before and chill it in the fridge overnight to enjoy in the morning and throughout the day. 

Results:

I will attempt to get the boys to drink this today and will update their opinions later.

Personally, I loved it and am thinking about going to get another pint of figs to freeze so I can enjoy this later in fall!  It has a rich, deep flavor and texture somewhat like prune juice.

Slow-Cooker Indian Spiced Adzuki Soup

Day 2

I am going to admit up front that this recipe was made mostly for me.  I thought I could get Rowan to try it, but was highly doubtful about Max.  Moose will likely never take a bite.  I spent Thursday and Friday doing a Green Smoothie Fast, which is the kickstart to my 28 day elimination diet by The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen, which is one of my new favorite food blogs, by the way.

By Saturday morning, I was starving and in need of something laden with protein.  I also wanted something hearty and reminiscent of fall, despite the fact that it's been in the 90's the last two days.  If I could get the boys to take more than one bite, I'd be happy.

This was also basically one of those:  I have tons of stuff in the fridge that I should be eating and which is going to go bad if I don't combine it all into one dish.

After a great deal of agonizing (read about 10 minutes), I decided to call it:

Slow-Cooker Indian Spiced Adzuki Soup

2 cups dried organic Adzuki beans, rinsed, soaked and cooked until tender
4 cups vegetable stock (I used homemade.  You could also use chicken)
1/2 very large walla walla sweet onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, smashed and roughtly chopped
2 medium sized carrots, sliced in 1/2" diagonal rounds
2 celery stalks, chopped
1/2 head caulflower, roughly chopped
1 broccoli crown, roughly chopped
1 small tart apple, cored and chopped (no need to peel - I used granny smith)
1 1/2 tsp coriander
3/4 tsp turmeric
3/4 tsp cumin
2 tsp sea salt, or to taste (I used Salish Fine -which has a lovely, deep, smoky flavor and aroma)
3 large Kale leaves, rinsed and torn into small pieces (I used red kale)

Place everything except the sea salt and kale in a slow-cooker.  Add 1 tsp of sea salt and  mix everything together. Set the slow-cooker to low and let it cook until the vegetables are tender and the flavors have melded.  About 3 hours in, I would taste and decide if more salt is necessary.  20 minutes before you are ready to eat, add the kale.

Either enjoy as is, or puree lightly with an immersion blender.

My Notes

If I were to make this again, and I believe I will, I might add a teaspoon or two of ginger.  Initially, I hadn't planned on pureeing it.  I had intended it to be more like a stew.  But, as it cooked I realized there was no way the boys were going to try it the way it looked. So, out came the handy immersion blender.

Pureeing it gives it an unfortunate brown color reminiscent of something you would not want to think about whilst eating.  But, oh well. 

This cooked for a total of about 4.5 hours on low, but I think my slow-cooker runs higher than normal.

The Results:

I loved it.  But, I was also starved for something substantial, that didn't taste like fruit and greens.

I had to entice the boys by putting little bits of chicken-vegi meatballs around the outside, two Olive Oil Crackers, and two sticks of cheddar cheese sticking up out of it.

Max immediately took the cheese out of the soup and ate it, despite the fact that it had the soup on it.  He did the same with the crackers.  He then asked for more cheese and crackers and ignored the soup, except that I put every subsequent piece of cheese and cracker in the soup to begin with.  He at them.  I count this as a victory in the world of the Emperor.

Rowan actually took bites of it with the spoon off and on throughout the meal, but was also focused on the cheese and crackers more than anything else.  At least he continued to try it AND he was using his spoon quite well.  Go Rowan.

I asked Moose to try it.  His comment was, "It smells like weird diet food..."

I'll leave it at that.

Update:

This is even better the second day.  I will definitely do it again.  It would be absolutely amazing with this lovely whole grain flat bread from Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen, which is yeast free, gluten-free and vegan!