Quick and Easy Tropical Sorbet

The story behind this homemade sorbet is fresh in my memory because:
a) it's short, and
b) it literally just happened twenty minutes ago.

My daughter was coming into the house, after playing outside for a while, and she banged her top lip on the metal door, giving it a little scrape and making it swell up. So, I told her I'd make her something cold to help the swelling go down. I thought I would whip up a smoothie real quick, but my blender was in the dishwasher getting hosed down. However, my food processor was clean and available! So, I swirled together a bunch of stuff that I found in my freezer and fridge and made a sorbet, not certain how it was going to turn out. But you know what? IT WAS DELICIOUS! I thought I'd hop onto the blog and share it with you guys before I forgot what I put in it - it's perfect for a cooling spring and summer pick-me-up. I put the leftover sorbet in popsicle molds. Can't wait to try those too!

This makes a lot, so halve the amounts if you don't want more sorbet than two to four people can eat in one sitting. Also, I'm just kind of memory-eyeballing the amounts here. I did not measure this. I just tossed stuff into the food processor and hoped for the best. It's just how I like to live my life.

1 cup frozen pineapple chunks
1 cup frozen peach slices
1 cup frozen nectarine slices
1 cup frozen strawberries
1 cup frozen mango chunks
1 cup ruby red grapefruit juice
3 tablespoons agave or maple syrup, or more to taste
1/2 - 1 cup non-dairy milk, to taste

• Put everything except the milk into a large (I think mine is a 4-quart) food processor and start spinning on high. Gradually drizzle in the milk, just a few tablespoons at a time, to thin out the mixture to your desired consistency. 
• Serve it up and enjoy!

Chocolate Banana Peanut Butter Shake

It's already getting steamy in the great state of Texas. I started pumping the AC somewhere around mid-February, which means it's finally time for some cold drinks up in here! Enter this bad boy, the one containing the holy trinity of sweet flavors - chocolate, peanut butter, and bananas. Woot woot! Try it. You'll never be the same, friend.

2 ripe bananas
4 dates, pitted*
1 cup non-dairy milk
4 tablespoons smooth peanut butter
2 tablespoon cocoa powder
10 ice cubes, or more to taste

*Sometimes you can find dates at a decent price (Trader Joe's has them pretty cheap) and sometimes you can't. If your budget doesn't allow for dates, replace them with a liquid sweetener, like agave or maple syrup, about a teaspoon of sweetener for each date. Or just leave the sweet stuff out altogether! If your banana is ripe and your peanut butter has sweetener in it, you may not need extra sweetener at all. But if you can swing the dates, I highly recommend them. They add a lovely touch of natural sweetness to this drink. Some rum would be nice too...

• Place bananas, dates (or liquid sweetener), milk, peanut butter, and cocoa powder into the blender and blend until nice and smooth. 
• Add ice cubes, a few at a time, until cubes are crushed and drink is chilled.
• Makes one large glass (think Mason jar) or two smaller glasses.
• Enjoy!

Watermelon-Berry Summer Sipper

It's not even June yet, and we're already climbing up into the 90s here in the Lone Star State. We've gotten out the blow-up pool, strung up the hammock, and started hoarding ice cubes in preparation for another long, hot Texas summer.

Here in Texas, we like to say...

"It's hotter than a billy goat in a pepper patch!"

"It's so hot the hens are layin' hard-boiled eggs!"

"It's so hot I used my seatbelt buckle as a brandin' iron!"

"It's hotter than a preacher's knee!"

"It's hotter than whoopie in woolens!"

"It's hotter than a burnin' stump!"

This explains why I'm inside my nice, cool house sippin' on my Watermelon-Strawberry Summer Sipper while the husband and kid splash in the pool. Don't judge me - I took some Sippers out to them too. But I'm stayin' right where I'm at, watching the flowers grow through my window panes, while the ceiling fan laps my bangs. Ahhhhhhhhh, summer in Texas...

Flesh of half a baby, seedless watermelon (volleyball-sized)

Half a peeled cucumber

8 to 10 large strawberries

8 to 12 large fresh mint leaves (you should grow this - it's so easy!)

Between 0 (if you're good) and 3 (if you have a kid) Tbsp sugar

About 8 to 10 ice cubes

• Put all of the fresh stuff into your blender, then just top it off with as many ice cubes as you can fit.  
• Whirl away!
• Enjoy.

YUMMMMMMMMM...

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Chocolate Cherry Nirvana Smoothie

You know what's hard to take a good picture of? Smoothies!
That said, this was by far the most delicious and decadent smoothie I have ever tasted. I got the recipe from my pal, Katherine Lawrence, at her sister site Delectable Planet.

Here's the original recipe:  

Delectable Planet's Chocolate Cherry Nirvana Smoothie

It's just four simple ingredients, it's packed with vitamins, and it is truly so rich and chocolatey that you feel like you're somehow "cheating," but you're not! My daughter and I knocked it back in a minute flat. Delicious!

2 cups unsweetened frozen cherries

1 banana

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups non-dairy milk

• Blend all of the ingredients in a blender until smooth and serve.
• Makes 2 servings.

Chocolate No-Milk Shake Redux

I've been reading a fantastic book by Dr. Joel Fuhrman called Disease-Proof Your Child: Feeding Kids Right. I have underlined, starred, and dog-eared at least 80% of what I've read so far. Tons of great information!
I'm bringing this up because when I was reading this morning, I was particularly struck (stricken?) by the following passage:

"Raw nuts, seeds, and avocados are also foods rich in fat, but they contain healthy fats, important for normal growth and development, and they are rich in nutrients as well. Consumption of these foods has been shown to have powerful protective effects against disease. The results are so striking that in one study men who ate raw nuts had half the heart attack rate compared to men who did not eat nuts. Furthermore, eating raw nuts and seeds has been shown to decrease the death rate from all causes, extending life-span... Eating nuts and seeds makes us live a lot longer and prevents both heart disease and cancer. Eating walnuts, almonds, pistachio nuts, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, and many more varieties is the best way for us and especially our children, to get the healthy fats we need from nature's tasty and unpolluted source...
When children obtain most of their essential fats from raw nuts and seeds, they not only get the healthier fats, but they also receive lots of beneficial minerals and antioxidants in the process."

This got me thinking about the amount of nuts and seeds I eat. Not many! Nuts and seeds are expensive, and I can only get them when they are on sale or I find them at the salvage store, which happens but is rare. So, basically, I'll just have to give up something less essential (perhaps chocolate chips, for example) so that I can afford the dang nuts. And, even more importantly, I need to find ways for my daughter (who hates nuts) to do it too. And that reminded me of a no-milk shake recipe that I posted on here almost two years ago.

Here's the link to the original post: Chocolate No-Milk Shake

This no-milk "milkshake" is comprised primarily of raw cashews, and it truly does taste like a bona fide chocolate milkshake. I remember in the summer of 2010, right after I discovered how to make these, my daughter and I drank them daily. She had no idea she was chug-a-luggin' a bunch of raw nuts. So, it made me feel great because I was giving her something healthy, and she felt great because she thought she was having chocolate. Win-win! I'm definitely going to start making these again.

1 cup raw, unsalted cashews
1 tray of ice cubes (about 3 cups)
1/8 cup powdered unsweetened cocoa
1 cup soy or nut milk
1/4 cup agave nectar or maple syrup
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt

• Toss all ingredients, except the ice, into a strong blender and blend until smooth. 
• Add ice cubes through the hole in the lid one at a time, and continue to blend until nice and creamy.
• Try substituting maple or mint flavoring for the vanilla sometime. Both are equally yummy!
• Makes two large servings, or four small ones.
• Enjoy!

SUPER EASY GREEN SMOOTHIE

"Good morning, gorgeous!" That's what this delicious, healthy smoothie says to me when I make it for breakfast. This is the easiest green smoothie you'll ever make. And it's chock full of excellent vitamins and fiber. It will get your body going and your face glowing in the morning. Try it out for breakfast tomorrow!

2 large kale leaves, stalks removed
1 apple (I used Pink Lady), cored and sliced
1 banana
1 cup soy, rice, oat or nut milk
1/4 cup agave nectar or maple syrup
1 tray of ice cubes

• In a blender combine everything but the ice and mix until smooth.
• Add ice through the hole in the lid, one cube at a time. You can do this in quick succession.
• Keep blending until it reaches the consistency of your liking. Then pour and enjoy!

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Chocolate No-Milk Shake

Oh. My. God! This tastes just like a chocolate milkshake made with ice cream. You could easily fool any die-hard dairy lover. It's sooooo good! And, best yet, it's pretty healthy too.
The recipe calls for a cup of raw cashews, and raw cashews don't come cheap, but I got lucky and found them for 2 bucks a pound at my local salvage grocery store! Big-time score!!!
Here's the recipe...
(you are going to love me so much for this)

1 C raw, unsalted cashews
1 tray of ice cubes (about 3 cups)
1/8 cup powdered unsweetened cocoa
1 C soy or nut milk
1/4 C agave nectar, maple syrup, sugar, or stevia
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt

• Toss all ingredients, except the ice, into a strong blender and blend until smooth. 
• Add ice cubes through the hole in the lid one at a time, and continue to blend until nice and creamy.
• Try substituting maple or mint flavoring for the vanilla sometime. Both are equally yummy!
• Enjoy!

Kristen Suzanne's EASY Raw Vegan Smoothies 

Green Smoothie Revolution

Kalappange Smoothie

What is "kalappange," you ask?

Why, it's kale-apple-orange all mingled together. Oh yes! And it's fabulous.

I got the original recipe from The Cancer Project cookbook (it's the "Green Goddess"), but I changed it up just a hair by adding an apple and a teeny bit of stevia. I also like to stick in a few tablespoons of vanilla-flavored soy protein powder when I have it on hand.

Here's the recipe:

1 banana

1 bunch green grapes (red grapes have more sugar, so I avoid)

1 apple, or 1 pear (I used a Pink Lady apple in the picture)

2 stalks of kale, leaves only

1 orange, peeled of course

1/2 C soy milk

Optional:

3 T vanilla soy protein powder

1-2 teaspoons stevia, to taste

Preparation couldn't be easier. Just toss everything into a blender and mix on High for about a minute. It may look done before then, but it takes a lot of muscle to break up those kale leaves. So, be sure to wait the full minute.

Unless your fruit was refrigerated beforehand, your drink will be at room temperature. So, you can blend in some ice cubes if you like. Or just pour over some cubes. Or do what I do and serve in a chilled pub glass. Or just be hardcore and drink it straight. It's delicious no matter what.

My daughter goes crazy for it. Here's a picture of her knockin' back the batch I made this morning. Her cheeks are all puckered because she's trying so hard to suck the fruity bits through the sippy cup holes. I tried to teach her to drink it through a straw, but whaddaya gonna do....