Fresh Green Juice from Baby Spinach, Grapes and Pears

With one leg out the door, packing and getting ready for my trip to Europe  – on the first flight tomorrow morning. And, …. I am also making green juice,why?  Because, I love it and it’s easy, so why not?  But also, to stay hydrated, nourished and survive jet-lag before it even arrives.

Lots of freshly squeezed green juice helps my body prepare for the trip across time zones. But you don’t have to be travelling to benefit …from freshly squeezed green juice.

Freshly squeezed green juice is so packed with vitamins , minerals and nutrients that you can almost feel every cell in your body wriggle with joy and gratitude, as you drink it!

It’s easy to prepare and it tastes so good. Children love it and it’s a great way for us to sneak in some of the greens that we know are so good for us!

Sweet Green Grapes

Sweet Green Grapes

Fresh Baby Spinach

Fresh Baby Spinach

This is what went into the green juice:

2 bunches of baby spinach

Big cluster of sweet green grapes

4 pears

3 lemons

Ice

Lemons

Lemons

Pear

Pears

Rinse and squeeze, squeeze, squeeze everything into an irresistible green juice
— and Enjoy!

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“If life gives you lemons make some kind of fruity juice”  – Conan O’Brien

Thank you for visiting my blog!

Green Smoothie with Spinach, Mango, Lime and Mint

The atmosphere in our house is really intense – the teenagers are preparing for exams and they are studying like crazy, really hard!

Green smoothies are the perfect energy kick to feed and nourish  mind and body.

At this time of year, the stores are booming with fresh, soft, sweet and delicious mangos. They are the perfect snack and fantastic in green smoothies.

Here is a smoothie for the hard-working teens (or others) – a real kick of greens!

Lovely mangos

Lovely mangos

 

Green and delicious

Green and delicious

This smoothie is delicious. It’s sweet, intense, powerful and refreshing! A perfect way to boost your concentration and refresh your mind – as well as refreshing and anti-oxidizing your body.

Green Smoothie with Spinach, Mango, Lime and Mint 

1 good handful of fresh spinach

2 ripe mangos

3-4 twigs of fresh mint

2 lime fruits

Ice

Water

Fresh spinach

Fresh spinach

Lime

Lime

Juicy, sweet and delicious

Juicy, sweet and delicious

Fresh mint

Fresh mint

Put the peeled and roughly chopped fruit and herbs in the blender along with some ice and water. Blend until smooth, cool and fabulous.

Enjoy

Enjoy

And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair – Kahlil Gibran

Spinach Grapefruit Smoothie

Smoothies for breakfast, as part of lunch, as a snack, before dinner – smoothies for any occasion ……..

But smoothies have also become THE number one “Fast Food” in our family. In a hurry, on the go, no time to cook or even eat – no problem, spin up a smoothie and away you go. Quick, nutritious and satisfying!

Today I made a green smoothie with spinach and grapefruit. I love grapefruit, but for 12 years I wasn’t able to have grapefruit! I was on cholesterol medication and something in grapefruit doesn’t mix well with that kind of medication.

Since I changed to “balanced living” and added lots of plant-based foods to my diet and started exercising, I no longer need medication to control my cholesterol!

There are, as you can imagine, many benefits connected to that – one great one is, I can enjoy grapefruits again 🙂

Grapefruit

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Spinach and Grapefruit Smoothie 

One bunch of fresh spinach

2 grapefruits

One bunch of red or green grapes

1 banana

1  slice of fresh ginger

2 Medjool dates

2 cups of filtered water

Ice

Put it all into the blender and blend into a refreshing, smooth, cool and delicious drink.

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I hope you will Enjoy it !

Now to something completely different…..

Monday I travel back to Copenhagen to spend some time with family and friends. I am SO excited!

I will try to post while I’m away so stay tuned….

To travel is to live – Hans Christian Andersen

When I come back I will be attending THE FAMOUS AMAZING VIRTUAL VEGAN POTLUCK – on May 11.!

This is such a fun event! If you would like to join the fun by featuring one of your favorite vegan/plant-based recipes, there is still time to sign up here – otherwise – stay tuned for the event on May 11.

Thank you for dropping by, for reading and for commenting!

Happy Sunday!

Green Juicy Juice

I have been so spoiled lately!  Last weekend I went to Montreal with my beautiful daughter – just the two of us! Wow, what a treat, spending time alone with her was so precious!

Then this weekend I went skiing with some girl friends. Both of these experiences were like big-time tonic for my soul.

 

The down side is however that while traveling it can be hard to maintain healthy habits and routines. I love joining the party and eating what everyone else is eating and I treasure visiting interesting restaurants and eat whatever takes my fancy.

But I also love to get back home and squeeze myself a rejuvenating green juice. Its the perfect way to recoup and getting back into the rhythm again .

Fresh spinach

Fresh spinach

Celery

Celery

Sweet Apples

Sweet Apples

Lemon

Lemon

Pear

Pear

Green Juicy Juice

This juice is made in minutes and served on ice.

You need:

A bunch of fresh spinach

3 sticks of celery

3 apples

1 pear

1 lemon

Put it all through the juicer (or blender, but then you need to add some water) to make a delicious, refreshing green juice.

Delicious Juice

Delicious Juice

Plant-wild week-day 6

This morning I made yumilicious pancakes without milk and without eggs and without butter – sounds terrible? Well, we were surprised – they were the fluffiest, tastiest pancakes ever!  I used homemade almond milk, vanilla, banana and fresh blueberries…………………

We started the day by drinking a big glass of cool freshly pressed watermelon juice, with lime and lots of fresh mint from the garden. So refreshing!!

Breakfast

Banana, blueberry pancakes

Almond milk:

1 cup of raw almonds

3 cups of water

vanilla

Put the ingredients in the blender and blend into a really tasty delicious milk – you can add dates to make it sweet. If you don’t have a high power blender, it is a good idea to soak the almonds in water first, to make them soft and easier to blend. This milk is so, so, so delicious.

Pancakes:

1 cup of organic unbleached flour

1 1/2 cup of almond milk

2 teaspoons of baking powder

a pinch of sea salt

2 tablespoons of raw sugar

1 ripe banana

a good handful of fresh blueberries

Add the flower, the baking powder, sugar and salt in a bowl – mash the banana and mix it with the almond milk. Now mix the banana and almond milk with the dry ingredients – add the blueberries.

Fry in either olive oil or coconut oil.

Enjoy with extra blueberries, maple syrup and your favorite cup of tea – or coffee!

Snack

Mango/raspberry smoothie with almond milk and hemp hearts

1 mango

3 cups of fresh raspberries

2 cups of almond milk

ice

2 tablespoons of hemp hearts

Blend in to a delicious smoothie

Lunch

Guacamole with grilled tomato bread

4 ripe avocado

1/2 small red onion

1 clove of garlic

freshly squeezed juice of one lime

freshly squeezed juice of one lemon

1/2 red chilli

one bunch of fresh cilantro

sea salt

pepper

Mash the avocado, add lime and lemon juice, add freshly squeezed garlic, add the finely chopped red onion and some finely chopped fresh cilantro. Add the finely chopped red chili.  Season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.

Cut slices of good stale bread – put them on a baking tray, drizzle with olive oil and cut thin slices of tomatoes on top. Sprinkle with sea salt and put them in an 350F oven and bake till they are golden or grill them first on one side – then add the tomato and the sea salt and grill again.

These little breads are perfect with the guacamole!

Dinner

chickpeas and lentil curry with cauliflower, spinach and cilantro,  served with mango chutney and naan bread

1 cup of chick peas

1/2 cup of green lentils

2 tablespoons of finely chopped fresh ginger

4 shallots

3 cloves of garlic

600g of tomatoes

olive oil

2-3 teaspoons of good curry

2 teaspoons of tomato paste

1 l of vegetable stock

one bunch of fresh spinach

one head of cauliflower

one big bunch of fresh coriander

Bunch of spring onions

Soak the chick peas ahead of time, for at least 4 hours, rinse and drain them.

Chop the tomatoes. Finely chop the shallots and the garlic and saute in a big pot, add the ginger then the curry and saute for a minute.  Add the tomato paste and the fresh tomatoes and then the chickpeas. Saute with all the spices and then add the vegetable stock. Cook for about 10 min. then add the green lentils. Cut the cauliflower head into smaller pieces. When the chickpeas and the lentils are almost ready, add the cauliflower. Cook for 5-8 min then add the spinach, cook for a min. and add the finely chopped fresh coriander.

Serve the dish with fresh lime on the side, chopped spring onions on top, some mango chutney and a piece of whole wheat naan bread.

Plant-wild week-day 4

Day 4 – This morning I went for an early morning run along the beach while the sun was rising, thinking, I can do another day of this! Another day eating greens, vegetables, fruits, nuts, grains – everything that supports my body and fills me with this zippy wonderful energy!

 

Breakfast

Rawfood musli with blueberries

This has become a breakfast stable in our family – we eat it almost every day. It is so tasty and creamy. I came up with this recipe because I wanted to make a healthy version of an old favorite that had both full fat yoghurt and cream in it!! This tastes just as good and just as creamy and sweet as the original, but without the guilt!

In the blender/food processor add:

1 cup of raw oats,
2 good handfuls of raw almonds
1 big apple cut into chunks
6-8 Medjool dates ( more or less depending on how sweet your tooth is)
1 cup of filtered water
Blend it all – not too much because it is nice if it keeps it’s crunchiness

Enjoy with either fresh berries, banana or dried fruit in the winter – today I served it with fresh blueberries from the garden.

The Good-Morning Smoothie is made from fresh raspberries and pineapple today.

Variations.
You can add a little less water and add an orange – orange and dates are a perfect match. You can also add a bit of cinnamon or cardamom

Morning snack

A delicious green smoothie made from fresh kale out of the garden, peaches, pineapple, lemon, ice and 2 cups of water

Lunch

Delicious vegetable wraps with garlic/ginger dipping sauce

Rice paper

1 avocado

1 red pepper

fresh spinach

2 carrots

1 zucchini

1/2 cucumber

3 spring onions

Fresh basil

fresh coriander

fresh basil

fresh mint

Rinse and cut everything into strips of julienne.

Prepare the rice paper – one at a time. Take a clean tea towel and make it wet, place one rice paper on the wet tea towel and fold so it is completely covered with the wet cloth. Leave for about a min. Over the sink, wring out the water and carefully place the soft rice paper so you can fill it and roll it. Fill it with spinach leaves, a little avocado, carrot, red pepper, zucchini, spring onions and alfalfa sprouts, add some fresh basil leaves, some coriander leaves and some fresh mint. Roll them together and cut them in halves and arrange them on a plate along with the garlic/ginger dipping sauce.

Dipping sauce

juice of 1/2 lime

4 small lime leaves

thin slice of fresh ginger

1 clove of garlic

2 spoons of hoisin

1//3 cup olive oil

1/3 cup water

4 spoons of braggs

Blend it all together and serve with the vegetable rolls

Dinner

Baked zucchini and eggplants- served with new potatoes and green salad with fennel

I found these gorgeous looking green and yellow zucchini and some beautiful eggplants. I decided to make a really tasty dish that i think is perfect for summer with ripe tomatoes, fresh herbs and all you need to make this dish amazing. So this is my take on the Turkish specialty, Imam Bayildi – baked zucchini and eggplant topped with a spicy fresh tomato sauce, served with little new potatoes gently baked with herbs and garlic and a green salad with fennel.

2 eggplants

2 zucchini

600 g fresh ripe and chopped fresh tomatoes

4 cloves of garlic

4 shallots

1 teaspoon of ground cumin

2 tablespoon of chopped fresh oregano

2 tablespoon of chopped fresh thyme

3 table spoons of chopped big leaved parsley

1 tablespoon of tomato paste

1/2 cup of water

Finely chop the shallots and the garlic, gently saute them in oil til they are soft, add tomato paste,the herbs and the cumin. Add the tomatoes and the water. Cook for about 15 min. Season with sea salt and pepper, set aside. Add the parsley.

Cut the zucchini and the eggplant in halves on the length wise. Gently brown them in a bit of olive oil – on the inside. Place them in a baking dish on some baking paper and add the sauce on top.

Bake in an 350F oven for about 45 min

You can eat them right out of the oven but they taste amazing at room temperature too.

Potatoes

It is season for new and delicious potatoes – I love new potatoes!!

I prepared them like this

I washed them and cut them in to quarters and put them onto a piece of baking paper, drizzled with olive oil, sea salt and pepper, added some fresh thyme and some fresh rosemary – packed them in to little parcels and baked them in the 350F oven for about 45 min. They tasted so good!!

I served everything with a green salad with some fresh fennel

The dressing is a classic that has been in my family forever – we use it, let me just say, a lot
The trick is to use the best ingredients – the better the ingredients the better the dressing. So in other words don’t use the cheapest hot dog mustard.

2 spoons of good balsamic vinegar
a teaspoon of good Dijon Mustard
a pinch of sea salt
one clove of freshly squeezed garlic

Mix this – then add a little olive oil while you constantly stir, add more olive oil while stirring – continue doing this till you have a thick, dark yummy dressing. You can add a little maple syrup for a sweetness if you like. This salad dressing is so good and so easy to make.

Plant-wild week-day 1

I am excited! This is the first day of our 7-day plant-wild adventure.  I am really looking forward to eating plant-based for a week! It will be awesome, and  I can actually feel how every cell in my body is shouting harray and  jumping with joy!!

I’m also hugely grateful to my family for being in on this too – what a great thing to do together.

I am excited to see how we feel after a week, tanking up on heaps of greens, fresh summer fruits, nuts, grains and delicious vegetables.

So lets get started  – Here’s the first day’s goodies. I can hardly wait!!

Breakfast

Green good-morning smoothie:

2 apples

big handful of fresh spinach

1/2 cucumber

big handful of green grapes

1/2 an avocado

2 cups of water

a handful of crushed ice

Blend it all into a smooth delicious morning drink

Mango “yoghurt”

A while ago I made a raw food yoghurt with banana and avocado it tasted so good! This morning I am making a mango version of that. It is so simple and it taste so fresh and good!

1 big mango

2 avocado

a fresh squeeze of lemon

Add all ingredients in to the blender and blend into a smooth and beautiful, creamy breakfast treat

Serve with chopped dates, chopped walnuts and some fresh berries

Lunch

What is better than soup, made from the ripest local tomatoes and with basil from the garden?

It is really easy to make too, which adds to the joy of making it.

Tomato soup:

6 very ripe big tomatoes

4 shallots

2 cloves of garlic

1 l of vegetable broth

1/2 cup of cashews soaked in water

Lots of fresh basil

2 sun dried tomatoes

one bay leaf

Chop the onions and garlic and saute them in a pot with some olive oil – saute til they are soft and clear. Chop the tomatoes and add them to the sauteed onions and garlic. Add the bay leaf and cook till the tomatoes are soft. Add the vegetable broth and cook for about 10 min at low heat.

Blend in the blender with 3/4 of the fresh basil, the sun dried tomatoes, and the soft cashews to make it creamy.

Savour with salt and pepper and serve with a chunk of great bread, with a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar to dip it in

Dinner

Wok fried vegetable served with cardamon rice:

I love everything Asian – Serve me Asian fusion and I am in heaven.

Marinade:

3/4 cup soy sauce

1/3 cup sweet chili sauce

2 tbs sesame oil

2 1/2 inch of fresh ginger

4 cloves of garlic

one bunch of spring onions

2 tbs of white wine

Finely chop the fresh ginger, the garlic and the spring onions – in a bowl mix the soy sauce, the sweet chili sauce, sesame oil and white wine – mix well and add the chopped garlic, spring onions and ginger.

For the stir fry – use any of your favorite vegetables

I used:

one bunch of green asparagus

1 red pepper

4 shallots

400 g of brown mushrooms

big head of broccoli

Fry everything separately in a wok, drizzle the marinade over the portion just before each sort of vegetable is almost ready. Put it aside and stir fry the next vegetable, making sure they all stay crisp and colorful. When all the different kinds of vegetables have been stir-fried to perfection and the marinade has been added – mix all vegetables together.

Serve with Jasmin rice cooked with some green cardamom pods and sea salt.

I got lots of great feedback from the family – no one turned their nose up, no one pushed the plate away – someone even said, while eating the tomato soup: “did you put cream in this”?

I feel nourished and full of energy & looking forward to tomorrow & another day of plant food!!

Go to Plant-wild day 2 here

Worlds healthiest “fast food”

Are you busy and think  it takes too much time and effort to prepare healthy food?

Green smoothies are the easiest and healthiest “fast food” ever. When I am really busy and don’t really have the time to prepare  a nutritious meal – I make a green smoothy! It has everything in it that my body needs, the nutrients, the proteins and the fibers – it keeps me glowing and energized for hours on end. I make a big portion, put it in the fridge and even when I’m heading out on the road, away all day, I can bottle it and take it with me to enjoy later.

This recipe has

Fresh spinach

Mango

Grapes

Celery

pear,

Lime

Kiwi

And filtered water/ice cubes

Cheers to your health!

Green Smoothies are:

  • easy to make and easy to clean up afterwards
  • loaded with nutrients and proteins
  • full of fibers that keeps you full and satisfied
  • a perfect way to reduce/eliminate cravings for unhealthy food
  • a good way to balance your blood sugar
  • easy to digest and assimilate
  • a great way to alkalize the body helping to fight disease
  • a great way to lower cholesterol naturally
  • an energy booster
  • boosting your immune system
  • great way to help lose weight
  • an easy way to get  greens and fruit – in fact it is difficult to eat your way through the amounts of greens and fruits we need, but by juicing or making smoothies, its easy.
  • supporting your overall health – both physical and emotional.

Cheers to your health