Smoothie Sunday: Green Pom Raspbery Smoothie

This smoothie was really good with no spinach flavor! Keep in mind that with the raspberry seeds and the pom arils, it does have a little bit of seedy granules in case that turns some people off. You can see it in the photo a bit.


Green Pom Raspberry Smoothie

INGREDIENTS
1 banana, frozen and sliced
1/2 cup raspberries, frozen
1/2 to 1 cup pomegranate arils, fresh or frozen
1 handful spinach leaves, fresh
1 tablespoon agave nectar
2 teaspoons ground flax seed
1 cup ice

DIRECTIONS
Blend all ingredients until smooth and creamy.

Smoothie Sunday: Ginger Grape Smoothie

Poor little faded Superman glass. He had an accident with kryptonite dish detergent.

Anyway, I pretty much eye-balled the ingredients in this one, so the measurements are approximate. The ginger adds a nice tang to the grape and banana. I've been spoiled and now I always want some kind of spice enhancement for my smoothies.Ginger, Cinnamon, Cayenne, etc. Yum.


Ginger Grape Smoothie

INGREDIENTS
1 cup almond milk
2 teaspoons ground flax seed
1 banana, frozen and sliced
1 teaspoon ginger
1 tablespoon agave nectar
1 cup red grapes
1 cup ice

DIRECTIONS
Blend until smooth and fully mixed.

Smoothie Sunday: Canteloupe Banana Smoothie

Ok, so I bought a canteloupe which was a bit mediocre and I didn't want to eat it plain because the taste was a bit disappointing. So I decided to make it into a smoothie rather than waste the fruit. I was actually quite pleased with the result. Just enough canteloupe flavor came through, even though it wasn't a great specimen, enhanced by the banana and other flavors. Yum!


Canteloupe Banana Smoothie

INGREDIENTS
1 banana, frozen and sliced
1/2 canteloupe or 1 cup sliced canteloupe bits
2 teaspoons ground flaxseed
2 teaspoons agave nectar
1 cup ice

DIRECTIONS
Blend all ingredients in blender until smooth.

Smoothie Sunday: Nut Butter Banana Smoothie

Recipe modified slightly from Healthy.Happy.Life. who also has an iPhone Smoothie App that is available now. Cool!

If the recipes are anything like this one, they are AWESOME! I wasn't sure about the apple cider vinegar or the cayenne, but it all worked together and was so tasty. The added cayenne doesn't make it spicy or give it a kick (unless you add A LOT) but it does give the flavor some depth. Great smoothie!


Nut Butter Banana Smoothie

INGREDIENTS
1 cup almond milk, sweetened vanilla
1 banana, frozen and sliced
1 tablespoon peanut butter (or almond butter)
1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 and 1/2 teaspoons agave nectar
1/2 cup ice
1/4 tsp cinnamon
dash of cayenne

DIRECTIONS
Blend all ingredients until mixed.

Smoothie Sunday: Kale Banana Smoothie!

I think this is one of my favorite smoothies so far, and the best part is you sneak some greens into your diet.


Kale Banana Smoothie

INGREDIENTS
1 cup vanilla almond milk, sweetened
2 large leaves of kale, de-stemmed and roughly chopped
1 and 1/2 medium bananas, frozen and chopped
1 tablespoon flaxseed meal
2 teaspoons maple syrup (or to taste)

DIRECTIONS
In a blender, combine all ingredients until smooth.

Ani Phyo & Raw Vegan Food

Ani Phyo is one of the vegan raw food gurus out there. She has written about 4 raw vegan cookbooks and her recipes are often featured in VegNews Magazine and other places that highlight healthy and vegetarian foods. You can find some recipes on her website.

Here are a couple of her recipes to give you a taste.








[I threw in a smoothie one because I haven't done Smoothie Sunday (due to broken blender) in a couple of weeks. The good news is I borrowed my mom's blender for the rest of the summer, so there will be more Smoothie Sunday recipes.]

Smoothie Sunday: StrawBana Ginger Smoothie

My blender broke. While completely inconvenient, I was definitely thinking that I needed a new, more efficient blender after making all these smoothie recipes. I'm not sure what this means for the Smoothie Sunday feature. It might take me some time to get a replacement. ::crosses fingers::

I really like the addition of ginger in this one. It gives it some bite!

StrawBana Ginger Smoothie
[from VegNews Magazine]

INGREDIENTS
1 cup frozen strawberries
1 large banana, sliced and frozen
1/4 - 1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup non-dairy milk
1 teaspoon ginger

DIRECTIONS
Place all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth and creamy. Serve immediately.

Smoothie Sunday: Date Shakes

Mother's Kitchen Vegan Date Shake

One of my family's time-honored traditions has been stopping at Hadley Fruit Orchards in Cabazon to get their infamous date shakes on the trip to California from Arizona. Unfortunately, their date shakes are not vegan-friendly, so I no longer drink them. As an alternative, Mother's Market and Kitchen offers a vegan date shake and so whenever I am in Southern California I stop by for one. Anyway, I just happen to have Hadley's Date Shake recipe and will post it for you here, veganized of course. YUM!


[Hadley's] Date Shake

INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup cookie dates
1 cup non-dairy milk
3 cups non-dairy vanilla frozen dessert
1 banana (optional)

DIRECTIONS
Blend dates with 1/4 cup non-dairy milk. Add rest of non-dairy milk and non-dairy frozen dessert. May add a banana if you like.

Smoothie Sunday: Peach Blackberry Smoothie

The original recipe from Suite101 called for mangoes instead of blackberries, but I didn't have any mangoes handy, and really you can pretty much use whatever fruit combo delights your buds. I made a few other adjustments, and the result was a nice thick smoothie. Mmmm.


Peach Blackberry Smoothie

INGREDIENTS
1/4-1/2 cup frozen blackberries
1/4-1/2 cup frozen peach slices
1 frozen banana
1 cup almond or soy milk
2 teaspoons ground flax meal

DIRECTIONS
Blend all ingredients till thick and creamy.

Smoothie Sunday: Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie

Mmmm...Peanut butter and banana!


Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie

INGREDIENTS
1 frozen banana
1 cup sweetened almond milk ¹
3 to 4 tablespoons of peanut butter
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
2 tablespoons (or too taste) agave nectar.

DIRECTIONS
Mix in blender until smooth.


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My preferred products and where you can find them:

1. a. Blue Diamond Almond Breeze SWEETENED Almond Milk (Vanilla or Chocolate)- Sprouts, Whole Foods, Fry's Marketplace
b. Silk Original Soy Milk (Plain)- Sprouts, Whole Foods, Fry's Marketplace...most mainstream groceries, even Wal-Mart carries it.

Fair Trade Cafe, Phoenix, AZ

Fair Trade Cafe is an arty little coffee shop in downtown Phoenix, just off the lightrail stop at Roosevelt and Central.

Fair Trade Cafe participates in Artlink and has a monthly rotating gallery. They are also active in Downtown Phoenix's First Friday. [First Friday is an "art walk; a free, monthly, self-guided tour of galleries, studios, and unique businesses in downtown Phoenix showcasing art by local, national, and international artists. It runs the First Friday of every month from 6pm-10pm.] Edited to add: First Fridays is going on hiatus and will not be taking place for this July or August, due to cost and heat.

This coffee shop is definitely vegan-friendly. Their coffees and teas can be made with soy milk, and they brew only fair trade certified, organic, shade grown, great-tasting coffees and espresso.

Their regular smoothies are not vegan, but they can be made vegan easily with soy milk. I asked for a vegan strawberry smoothie (below right photo) and it was completely satisfying. Fair Trade also offers a veggie hummus sandwich on their regular menu that is vegan-friendly. And I believe their House Salad is completely vegan, with romaine lettuce, sprouts, spinach, cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, celery, and sliced almonds, and served with side of balsamic vinaigrette.

The vegan desserts (cookies, bars, brownies) are labeled and vary daily, and when I was there they had vegan Banana Nut Cookies (photo right) and Brownies. The Banana Nut Cookie was a cakey kind of cookie, which I'm normally not a big fan of, but I really liked this one. So, two thumbs up.

I am not a coffee drinker, so coffee shops are usually lost on me. But my friends are coffee-nuts, so I like having places where my friends like the coffee, and I like the smoothies, chai teas, and desserts. And Fair Trade is perfect for that. Even better, Fair Trade (Roosevelt) is super easy to get to. It has its own little parking garage, and it's just off the lightrail, so chilling in downtown Phoenix is easier than ever for us vegan folk.


Fair Trade Cafe (Roosevelt)

Ranking: ****

***** awesome! Highly recommended.
**** hey, this is pretty dang good.
*** not bad at all.
** eh.
* bad. Keep looking for alternatives.


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Fair Trade Cafe (Roosevelt)
1020 North 1st Ave
Phoenix, AZ 85003
(Behind Trinity Cathedral)
602.354.8150
http://www.azfairtrade.com/cafe

Hours
Monday - Friday, 6AM-10PM
Saturday - Sunday, 7AM-10PM

Fair Trade Cafe also has a second location, but it has limited hours:

Fair Trade Cafe (Park)
424 N. Central Ave
Phoenix, AZ 85004
Civic Park/AE England Building - Courtyard Level

Hours
Monday - Friday, 7AM-5PM

Smoothie Sunday: Dark Cherry Smoothie

I wanted to use my frozen cherries, and coincidentally I found this smoothie. Perfect!

Dark Cherry Smoothie
from VegNews Magazine, by Patti Breitman

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup pitted or frozen cherries
1 frozen banana
1 cup raw, unfiltered apple juice
1 tablespoon carob powder (I used cocoa powder)
2 cherries with stems for garnish

DIRECTIONS
Blend all ingredients well. Garnish with a cherry.

Smoothie Sunday: Green Goblin Smoothie

It's Smoothie Sunday. What a delicious day. My sister does not like avocados, and yet, she pronounced this smoothie to be delicious. That should say something! Avocadoes are good alternatives to using bananas in smoothies. This recipe is super easy. Enjoy!

P.S. I know you are jealous of my wicked cool Green Lantern glass.

Green Goblin's Potion
[from Be Well Buzz [dot] com]


INGREDIENTS
1 medium or large ripe avocado
1 1/2 cup fresh pineapple (canned is ok too)
1 Tbs agave nectar¹
1 1/2 cup orange juice
2 tsp lime juice (optional)
1/4 tsp coconut meat or flavor
2 ice cubes--or a handful

DIRECTIONS
Blend all ingredients in the blender.


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My preferred products and where you can find them:

1. Madhava Light Agave Nectar- Sprouts, Whole Foods