Black Out Smoothie

I dicovered this at Yola, a cute new yogurt/juice/salad bar in DC.  Red, Matt and I made it yesterday for breakfast, but it could easily be dessert!

Ingredients

• 1 avocado
• 1/2 cup frozen cherries
• 1/2 cup fresh strawberries
• 1/2 cup almond milk
• 1-2 tablespoons cocoa powder

Blend in bullet or blender and enjoy!

mangia!

 

Eat Your Greens!

These are a couple of my go-to salads lately.  They are fairly simple to put together and have quite a bit of flavor, crunch and texture.

Super Green Salad

Ingredients

• 1 stalk romaine
• 1-2 cups kale
• 1/2 cup roasted corn (I like Trader Joes frozen)
• 1/2 cup grape tomatoes
• 1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes
• 1 avocado
• olive oil

For the Dressing:

• salt, pepper, cayenne
• 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast (optional)
• 1 lemon
• olive oil

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F.  Drizzle kale with olive oil, salt and pepper and place in oven for 7-10 minutes.

Meanwhile, chop all ingredients in place into a bowl.  When kale is crispy, add to the salad.

For the dressing: Mix olive oil, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, salt, pepper and cayenne until blended.  Pour over salad and give it a shake so the salad is coated with all the dressing.

Sweet Asian Salad with Soy-Lime Dressing

Ingredients

• 1/4 head red cabbage
• 1-2 cups crispy kale (roasted as explained above)
• 1 stalk romaine
• 1 cup strawberries
• 1-2 pears
• 1 avocado
• fresh parsley

For the Dressing:

• 1 lime
• Soy Sauce
• Olive Oil
• Rice Vinegar
• Honey
• Salt, pepper, cayenne

For the salad: Prepare the kale as explained above, and chop the remaining ingredients.  Add the kale to the salad.

For the Dressing: Blend all ingredients together and then pour the dressing over the salad. Shake and coat and enjoy!

mangia!

Color-Me-Green Smoothie

They say ‘greens’ are the best nutrition we can get. So, drink up and start your day off right!

serves 1

Ingredients

• 1/2 cucumber
• 1/2 avocado
• 1/2 of a lime
• 1/2 of a kiwi
• a handful of kale
• splash of soy milk and/or orange juice

Instructions

Chop if necesarry, blend and drink!

mangia!

BBQ Seitan with Quinoa, Avocado and Tomatoes

Ingredients

• 1 package of seitan
• 1 avocado
• 1 cup grape tomatoes, sliced into quarters
• 1/4 red onion, chopped
• 5 sprigs of cilantro, chopped
• 1/2 cup fresh corn, lightly roasted (or the frozen roasted corn from TJs is great!)
• BBQ sauce
• 1 cup quinoa
• salt, pepper to taste

Instructions

Combine quinoa with 1 1/2 cup of water in a small saucepan.  Simmer on medium heat until water is absorbed.

Meanwhile, pat dry the seitan and pull apart to small pieces (about 1-2 inches).  Lather with BBQ sauce and place in the oven on Hi Broil for about 10-15 minutes (you want to cook just a bit, but more importantly evaporate the water content).

In a medium bowl, combine the tomatoes, onion, cilantro, corn and avocado.  Add the seitan and season with salt and pepper to taste.  You can then either add the quinoa to the rest of the ingredients to make it as a salad, or serve the quinoa as a base and keep it separate.  Either way its a delicious and fresh lunch or dinner!

mangia!

Raw Chocolate Mousse

This ‘raw’ version of a chocolate mousse is a healthy alternative to the very sugary, indulgent dessert. The avocado offers the creamy texture, but you would never know it was that! At first, I had a hard time understanding how avocado would work with chocolate, probably because we primarily associate avocado with guacamole.  However, I quickly realized that the avocado alone has a very mild flavor and its actually the salt and lime that transform it to the mexican dip.  Thus, I’ve learned that avocados become fantastic fruit to add creaminess to recipes.  I started with this recipe, but changed a few ingredients and it worked great.

Pictured here, served in small cups at our Real Food Party

serves 3-4, depending on your chocolate craving

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup of hazelnuts
• 2-3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 avocado
• 1/4 cup of soy or nut milk
• 1/4 cup of cocoa powder
• 3-4 tbsp agave nectar

Instructions

Blend the hazelnuts and olive oil in food processor until a paste or ball forms.  Add the avocado and milk and blend until creamy.  Add the cocoa powder and agave to taste.  Serve alone, with berries or use in a pie.

mangia!