Making popsicles. With smoothie.

There are many recipes for smoothies. With yogurt or without. With green leaves or without. With milk or without. How to make it without stressing out?

Simplicity is the key. What works for me now is to make smoothie for breakfast with ingredients I have on hand. Overripe bananas, frozen blueberries, may be an apple that looks less then perfect, may be some kale or lettuce leaves.

Blueberry banana flax seeds smoothie in mason jars with reusable straws

Blueberry banana flaxseed smoothie + popsicles

Ingredients
frozen wild blueberries, 2-3 cups  (I move them night before to refrigerator, so the smoothie will be cold, but not freezing)
bananas, 2-3 ripe (sometimes I use frozen, if I don't have fresh)
flax seeds, 1/4 cup (any kind, you may soak them overnight to make nutrients more absorbent)
1/2 - 1 cup water
apple, 1 (optional)
green leaves, to your liking (optional)

Note: the quantities are approximate. Substitute for other berries or fruit on hand. As long as you put fruit and some water, the result will be a yummy smoothie.

Method
Put everything in a blender. Blend on high for 45-60 second using strong blender, like Vitamix or Blendtec. If using food processor, consider to omit flax seeds, since they wont be crushed.

Serve in glasses or mason jars with reusable straws. Mason jars allow easy storage of leftovers - just put the cover on. I use it later for snack time. My son loves reusable straw made of glass and my daughter prefer one made of stainless steal.

Blueberry smoothie in popsicle mold

Any leftovers?
Make a popsicle. Pour into popsicle mold (BPA free), cover and freeze. Perfect on a hot day!

Welcoming warm weather. With frozen bananas.

The weather here at East Cost got warm few weeks ago. It was for a short time and it is sunny and crisp now. But warm weather is a first hint to get prepared with cold treats. Frozen bananas covered with chocolate is an amazing treat. And plain frozen bananas is a perfect treat, since they are so fast to make. And fast to go! And yes, no preservatives, colors, sugar, dairy and whatever.

Peeled bananas in container; banana close up

Plain sweet pleasure and perfect frozen treat.

Frozen Banana Popsicles

Ingredients
Ripe bananas

Method
Peel bananas, break in half, put on popsicle sticks. Freeze in container to prevent smashing.

Note: to cover in chocolate -  melt chocolate over double boiler and dip solid frozen bananas. For best results coarsely chop chocolate better melting and use quality dark chocolate with 70% cacao. Eat immediately or refreeze. 

Pickled cabbage

Russian Sauerkraut (квашенная капуста)

Pickled cabbage is an excellent source of vitamin C. It is a fermented food and has active probiotic cultures to aid healthy digestion, similar to yogurt.  I love adding pickled cabbage to salads or to serve it as a small dish side. For me it is the easiest serving of vegetables available.

The recipe I provide here for pickled cabbage is for small jar, simple enough to prepare in 20 minutes. It is not a project that takes hours as when my parents made it. Sure, they prepared it to last for the entire winter in almost commercial amounts!

Packed cabbage in a jar; lemon squeezer; shredded cabbage and carrots mix

 

Pickled cabbage (Russian Sauerkraut)

Ingredients
cabbage 2 pounds
carrots, 2 small
sea salt, 20 grams (2% to the weight of vegetables) make sure salt has no additives, as they might interfere with fermentation process

3 days after
honey, 1/2 teaspoon (preferably raw)

Method
Wash cabbage head. Remove outer leaves and any damaged leaves. Using sharp knife or food processor, shred the cabbage. Shred the carrots. Mix cabbage and carrots together. Mix with salt and press with your hands to break and soften vegetables until small amount of juice is released.

Tip: Use small Mason jar to pack the cabbage using hand lemon squeezer.  The recipe is enough to fill 24 ounces canning jar. Put 1 cup of cabbage and carrot mix in and press it into bottom of the jar to pack tightly. Use lemon squeezer.  Continue with the same method, putting one cup of the mixture at the time till you fill the jar. There should be some juice on top. If the cabbage is relatively dry and there is no juice, cover with small amount of boiled and cooled water. Cover jar with paper towel and a rubber band and leave on counter for 3 days. After 3 days, take small amount of liquid with spoon, dissolve honey in it and return it back to jar. Place jar in refrigerator. Ready to eat after a week, best aged for 3 weeks.

For salad, my favorite combination is pickled cabbage, cooked beets, arugula and scallions, seasoned with olive oil, lemon juice and freshly ground black pepper.

For kids lunch, pack pickled cabbage as is or mix with cubes of cooked beets. Season with extra virgin olive oil or sunflower oil for better vitamins absorption.

Healthy chocolate balls. With dates, almonds and coconut.

Do you want something sweet and satisfying, yet healthy and delicious?
Make chocolate balls with almonds and dates.

Vegan and almost raw chocolate balls. Why almost? I am out of raw chocolate powder. I didn't let it stop me and used regular cacao powder instead. If you can get your hands on raw cacao powder, by all means go for it. It is an excellent source of manganese and iron.

I am happy when my children eat chocolate balls. The reason is that every ingredient is nutrition dense - soaked raw almonds, hemp seeds, unsweetened coconut, goji berries, dates, raw cacao. I serve them for snack and for breakfast.

Chocolate ball, covered, ingredients, chocolate date almonds mass

Raw chocolate snow balls

Ingredients

For 'dough':
almonds, raw - 1 cup
dates, pitted 1 - 1 1/2 cups (I used Medjool extra moist dates)
raisins, 1/3 cup
raw cacao powder,  2 table spoons
vanilla extract, few drops (optional)
shredded coconut, 1/3 cup 
goji berries, 2 table spoons 
raw shelled hemp seeds, 2 table spoons (optional)
cacao nibs, 1 table spoon (optional)

For coating:
1/2 cup  shredded coconut

Method

Soak nuts for 12-24 hours in cold water in refrigerator. Drain. Nuts can be kept for few days at this point.  Process nuts in food processor until coarse ground. If you process everything together, nut pieces will end up big and you will need to open food processor and move the dough closer to knife and operate it again. Add the rest of dough ingredients and process to sticky mass.  Put coconut for coating in a small bowl. Take small amount of dough and form it into bite size ball with your hands. 

Place balls, one at the time, into shredded coconut bowl and rotate it gently to cover in coconut. Do the same with the rest.

Enjoy or refrigerate. Chocolate balls will keep well for few days.

Served!

Another coating idea - use cocoa powder.

If you or your family member has a nut allergy or no nuts are allowed in lunch box sent to school - almonds in the recipe can be replaced with raw sunflower seeds. Use the same method to prepare, including soaking of the seeds for a shorter period of time. 5-6 hours is enough.