Friday FAQs: Spice mix uses, smoothie freezer packs, coconut milk differences, and more!

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Whew, what a whirlwind start to September we’ve had! Between home renovation setbacks, caring for a sick toddler, and the launch of my new cookbook, things have sure been lively. But I’m happy to say Oh She Glows Every Day has now hit shelves across North America (why is releasing creative projects into the world so darn scary?), the little one is in good health, and the reno situation is…well, a typical reno situation, hah. But all of that aside, we’re super excited for this month as Adriana turns 2 in a couple weeks and my due date is just days after. There’s no doubt that this month promises to bring some big changes in the Liddon household. I’m basically feeling every kind of emotion you can imagine right now.

Before I get to this week’s Friday FAQs, I’d like to let you know about some retailers carrying Oh She Glows Every Day. In the US, you can currently find the book at Barnes & Noble and Sam’s Club. In Canada, you can find the book in Costco, Chapters/Indigo, and Loblaws! More to come soon.

Last but not least, I’d like to share this week’s #osgeveryday blog tour posts. I can’t thank these lovely bloggers enough for their kind words. Be sure to check out the links below for some recipe sneak peeks, giveaways, and Q+As!

  • Mandy’s Healthy Life
  • The First Mess
  • Oh My Veggies
  • Yum Universe
  • Cookie + Kate
  • Carrie on Living
  • Wholehearted Eats
  • Detoxinista
  • My Darling Vegan
  • Vegan Crunk

 

Q1. Hi Angela. These new veggie burgers look great. I have a question about the sweet potato—in the directions you write that it works out to about 4 cups, but when making the patties you only use 2 cups of cooked potato. Is this because you are accounting for some “shrinkage” during the cooking process? Hehe. Thanks in advance!! I love your first book and can’t wait to buy the second.

A. Thanks, Melanie! Yes, you are totally correct…there’s shrinkage! Haha. 4 cups raw sweet potato (or squash) translates to just over 2 cups cooked. I hope this helps clarify. Feel free to make extra and serve it alongside the burgers!

Q2. Wondering—will your Oh Em Gee Veggie Burgers hold up on the grill??? I’m looking for something that can hold up to grilling as my parents love making hamburgers and I need an alternative for my husband and myself. 🙂 Thanks!

A. Hi Becky, I haven’t tried it yet, but I think they would! I’d suggest prebaking in the oven for 15 minutes, and then grilling on each side for a few minutes over medium heat. If you give it a try, please let us know how it goes!

Q3. Hi Angela! Love your site and cookbook. It’s helped me a ton since I met my (vegan) boyfriend almost 2 years ago. I’ve been dying to ask, do you have any more specific suggestions for using the 10-Spice Blend? I see you’ve written “pasta, potatoes, soups” but any other recipe besides your 10-Spice Vegetable Soup?? Thanks!!

A. Hi Kayla, This is such a great question! The wonderful thing about the 10-Spice Blend is that it’s so versatile; you can get really creative with how you use it in your kitchen. Aside from the 10-Spice Soup (which is an OSG cult fave!), you could use it to kick scratch tomato sauce up a notch, or add a new twist to roasted potatoes or Lightened-Up Crispy Baked Fries (The Oh She Glows Cookbook, p. 203), kale chips, Crispy Baked Onion Rings, Pan-Seared Garlic Tofu (OSG Cookbook, p. 197), or Perfect Roasted Chickpeas (OSG Cookbook, p. 220). I love adding a tablespoon or so to Endurance Crackers, and sprinkling it over toast topped with avocado and hummus. You can also try it in my Oh Em Gee Veggie Burgers and Metabolism-Revving Spicy Cabbage Soup (Oh She Glows Every Day, p. 139).

Q4. Hi Angela, great suggestions for make-ahead meals! One question…what do you mean by a ‘smoothie pack’??

A. Hey Allison, By a smoothie pack I mean that I freeze some of the non-liquid smoothie ingredients in a freezer bag. It’s a fun little trick for make-ahead smoothies! For example, you can turn my Green Tea Lime Pie Smoothie Bowl into a freezer pack. Simply place the spinach, banana, avocado, and matcha into a small freezer bag, then press out the air and seal. This can be stored in the freezer for 1 to 2 weeks. When you’re ready to use, simply add the coconut water, lime juice/zest, and maple syrup into the blender along with the contents of the bag. Blend on high until smooth (adding ice only if necessary).

Q5. I loved your homemade Bailey’s recipe, but I think I messed up somewhere by using normal coconut milk in a carton for the “light” coconut milk. Do you think that’s why it wasn’t as thick as it should have been? Thank you though, for this amazing recipe!!!

A. Hi Sierra, If you mean the cartoned coconut milk (the kind typically found near soy or almond milk in the grocery store), I do think that’s the likely culprit! Like soy and almond milk, this type of coconut milk is really more of a dairy milk replacement that is best consumed as a beverage or used in smoothies, over cereal, and so on. It’s typically watered down and contains other additives as well, and so it tends to be lighter/thinner than even the “light” canned coconut milk. In my recipes I will specify canned coconut milk, and also indicate whether I used full-fat or light. Another possibility as to why it was thin is that the liquid needed to be cooked down longer than it was. So you could always try throwing it back on the stovetop and simmering it a bit longer until the volume reduces. I hope you still enjoyed the Homemade Bailey’s, though, even if it wasn’t quite as rich!

Comment of the week:

With the release of my new cookbook, I’ve received so many warm, enthusiastic messages that I can’t pick a single one to highlight. Some of them seriously brought me to tears. Thank you to everyone who’s picked up a copy of the book, placed it on a wishlist, signed it out at the library, or simply shared their support for this latest adventure. You helped make Oh She Glows Every Day a reality and I couldn’t be more grateful. 🙂

PS—That cute little spice mix at the top of this post is the Pumpkin Pie Spice Mix! It takes minutes to throw together and you’ll be sprinkling it in everything from oatmeal to smoothies to pies and more.

Oh She Glows

Beet, Raspberry and Vanilla Smoothie Bowl

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Hey buddy, how’s your blood doing these days? Is it healthy and flowing? Full of oxygen and freshly-made red blood cells? Have you ever even thought about this?! The answer is, not likely. And that is nothing to be ashamed about. We are never really taught to think about our blood, how to nourish and take care of it, how to tell if something is missing.

When I studied Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) I learned about “blood building”, a term to describe nourishing the body with the nutrients required for ample and healthy blood. For some reason, I took a particular interest in this field, and have been a passionate blood builder of my own ever since. If this sounds dorky (it is) and a little confusing, think of your blood almost like a muscle. We are more familiar with the idea of muscle building, in that our muscles require specific macro and micro nutrients to grow and thrive. Same as blood. Pretty simple, except you can’t do it at the gym – you gotta get in the kitchen. 

The role of blood in our body is to transport nutrients, oxygen, immune cells, and hormones, along with removing toxins and waste, and disperse heat. The components that make up our blood are used and disposed of extremely quickly, so there is a high cell turnover, which also means high nutritional requirements.

Iron, folic acid, vitamin B-12, and protein are the major building blocks of blood. All of these things work synergistically to make your blood as potent and healthy as possible. Besides folic acid, you can see from the list that most of these nutrients are found abundantly in animal foods, but not so abundantly in the wonderful plant kingdom. So how do vegetarians build blood anyway?

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First and foremost eating a wide variety of fruits, veggies, legumes, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and superfoods is a good place to start. Hey wait! That sounds like a balanced diet. So if you’re already there, great. If you’re just starting out, your blood is about to get real strong.

More specifically, the best blood building foods are the darkest of dark leafy greens and their powders, such as spinach, kale, beet greens, wheatgrass, barley grass, spirulina and chlorella, and deeply pigmented red foods such as beets, cherries, raspberries, goji berries, raisins, kidney beans, adzuki beans, and blackstrap molasses. I also find that drinking a cup of nettle tea every day, which contains high amounts of iron, is really effective in helping to tone the blood.

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This smoothie bowl is a one tasty blood builder. It’s got a solid dose of greens (think iron, folic acid, and protein) from the spinach and wheatgrass, with beet, raspberry and prunes (lots of deep, dark, iron-rich goody goodies!) plus lemon for a vitamin C boost – since we can’t absorb iron from plants unless we have a little help from vitamin C. 

Although you may think that putting raw beetroot in a smoothie is a little odd, I was shocked at how utterly DELICIOUS the combination was with the raspberry. It’s altogether earthy, sweet and tart, with a divine vanilla kiss that makes me swoon. Plus can we talk about the colour?! I can practically feel it feeding my blood with all of those juicy pigments and nutrients. Gosh. Isn’t life grand?

Smoothie bowls are a divine invention because you can eat them with a spoon, and you can top the heck out of them for a real meal situation. Although I’m sure it’s just a psychological thing, I sometimes feel a bit under-fed after a smoothie in a glass. Plus I like chewing a lot, and chewing a beverage can sometimes be boring without some chunks involved. Don’t you agree? I’ve topped mine here with raspberries, pomegranate, sea buckthorn, bee pollen and almond butter, but get creative with this on your own! I’ve listed some other topping ideas in the recipe. And I will also say that taking just one extra minute to decorate your bowl delivers major self-love points and satisfies the creative genius in us all. There are no wrong answers or unattractive smoothie bowls! Go wild, you strong-blooded creature, you!

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I hope you guys are fired up to build your blood now. Happily, it involves eating and not donning spandex and running on a treadmill. Although, that is important too. The running part. The spandex I’ll pass on, thank you.

Cheers to your blood,
Sarah B.

Show me your smoothies on Instagram! #MNRbeetsmoothie

 


My New Roots

The Blender Girl’s Mystical Mango Smoothie

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Happy almost weekend, friends! Today, I’m excited to share a recipe from The Blender Girl Smoothies: 100 Gluten-Free, Vegan, and Paleo-Friendly Recipes by Tess Masters. I had the pleasure of getting to know Tess a few years ago at the Vida Vegan Con and let me tell you, she is as vivacious, bubbly, and thoughtful as she comes across online. I totally wish we lived closer so we could bond over our love for green smoothies, Vitamix blenders, and plant-based cuisine. Well, all the more reason to visit California, I suppose!

Not only is tess the force behind The Blender Girl website, The Blender Girl cookbook, and The Blender Girl Smoothies app, but her second cookbook, The Blender Girl Smoothies, was just released on June 30th. It’s packed with 100 creative smoothie recipes including a beautiful photo for each recipe. The book is divided into 4 chapters: 1) Smoothie Secrets, 2) Find Your Perfect Blend, 3) The Recipes (light and fruity; clean and green; an exotic ride; dessert), and 4) The Smoothie Pantry. Each smoothie recipe has icons that let you know whether the smoothies are nut-free, detox-approved, high-protein, immunity-boosting, alkaline, and more. She also provides a comprehensive list of pantry ingredients. This comes in handy, especially for the lesser known superfood ingredients (such as spirulina, camu powder, wheatgrass, etc.). Lastly, she dishes on her top tips for blending perfect smoothies and shares a “build your own smoothie” guide so you can create your own unique recipes.

Today, I’m happy to share her “Mystical Mango” smoothie! It’s so energizing and makes enough to share (just under 4 cups worth, although I could’ve easily chugged it all myself). I served it alongside the tofu scramble from my cookbook and some toast for an easy, satisfying breakfast.

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The Blender Girl’s Mystical Mango Smoothie

Vegan, gluten-free, grain-free, no bake/raw, nut-free, oil-free, refined sugar-free, soy-free

I fell in love with this smoothie’s thick and creamy texture and sweet, tangy flavor. It makes the perfect breakfast drink to pair with a bowl of overnight oats, tofu scramble, or chia pudding. This recipe is lightly adapted from Tess Master’s The Blender Girl Smoothies (2015) published by Ten Speed Press.

Tess writes, “With a creamy texture and exquisite flavor, this immunity blend is a fabulous for collagen formation and glowing skin, hair, and nails. Mango’s enzymes and vitamins A, C, and E cleanse the liver and aid digestion, and it’s potassium and fibre help regulate blood pressure and cholesterol. This one will make your heart happy.”

Yield
4 cups (2 servings)
Prep Time
5 Minutes
Cook time
0 Minutes
Total Time
5 Minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1.5 cups orange juice
  • 1/2 cup water, or more if needed
  • 1/4 cup avocado
  • 1/2 teaspoon finely grated lime zest
  • 2 cups frozen mango (I used an entire 300g bag)
  • Pure maple syrup, to taste (optional – I added a teaspoon)

Directions:

  1. Add all of the ingredients into a high speed blender and blend on high for 30-60 seconds, until smooth and creamy. If using the Vitamix, you can use the tamper stick to get things moving. If the mixture seems too thick you can thin it with a bit more water.

Note: Tess says you can boost this smoothie with 1/2 teaspoon wheatgrass powder, 1 teaspoon chia seeds, and 1 teaspoon of flaxseed oil.

Oh She Glows

Smoothie Bonanza – The recipe bundle

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Woot woot! We are so thrilled to present this little project that we have been working on lately! We have been turning fruit, berries, vegetables and liquids into smoothies practically every day for the past couple of years. Sometimes we make them for breakfast, other times for dessert, and always after a workout! We can’t think of a fresher, quicker and more delicious way to boost our bodies with energy. Since smoothies have become such a common meal for us, we have picked up some tricks and ideas on how to make them more interesting. Nowadays, we often add extra berries, fruit, nuts or grains to the glass to create a contrast in flavour and texture. We also tend to pour them in layers for a more interesting and beautiful drinking experience.

We have gathered 14 lip-smacking smoothie recipes into a recipe bundle that we just have released as an in-app purchase for our Green Kitchen app. It’s available for $ 1.99 and the difference from the normal (free) recipe updates in the app is that all these recipes are entirely new and previously unpublished. Make sure you have the latest update of the app and there should be a new box with more info at the top of the grid. You need to have iOS 8 installed to be able to install the update. These recipes are available in English (imperial and metric), German, Italian, Spanish and French inside the app.

We are of course bias but we feel pretty damn proud of these smoothies and hope they will give you new ideas and inspiration next time you are starting up the blender.

Here is a preview of all the recipes.

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Just like with our Green & Clean recipe pack, 6 months ago, we have also gathered these smoothies in a mini e-book. This is to accomodate those of you that don’t have an iphone or ipad but still want to try the recipes. It’s available for $ 2.99 and can be ordered and downloaded here. We are really hoping you will enjoy these!

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To give you a preview, we are also sharing one of the recipes here today. It is a fun little method of ours where the topping (muesli, granola, rolled oats, puffed grains or nuts) is placed at the bottom of the glass and then covered with a few spoonfuls of yogurt and filled up with the smoothie. A quick, delicious and slightly unusual way to have breakfast and it also looks spectacular with the different layers. In this recipe we use muesli and thick yoghurt for the bottom two layers and a simple but delicious blueberry smoothie recipe on top, but we encourage you to use this as a starting points and try the technique with some of the other smoothies in the bundle or any smoothie of your own.

Upside-Down Breakfast Smoothie

Smoothie Ingredients
1 cup / 120 g frozen blueberries
1 blood orange or a regular orange, peeled and roughly chopped
1 banana, peeled and roughly chopped
1 cup / 250 ml plant milk of choice
1 tsp ground cardamom

Layers
1 cup / 125 g muesli, granola, puffed grains or just rolled oats
1 cup / 250 ml full-fat plain unsweetened Greek or Turkish yogurt (for a vegan alternative, use coconut yogurt or organic GMO-free soy yogurt)

Add all smoothie ingredients to a blender and blend on a high-speed until smooth. Divide the muesli between two glasses. Spoon the yogurt over the muesli in each glass. Pour the smoothie on top and serve with a spoon.

Green Kitchen Stories