Green week part 4: Breath of fresh air

Now, because I never have time to blog when I want to or the kiddos are calling when I'm done with whatever I'm going to blog about I usually just write it down for later.  That being said, DH likes to touch everything that is not his, like juice recipes so 2 of my green juices from this week are no longer.  But, I do have another to share with you all.  This one we call Breath of fresh air.

Breath of Fresh Air

1 cucumber
1 green apple
2 celery sticks
1 cup of spinach
1/8 cup of parsley
1 kiwi

Juice and Enjoy!

The kiddos, DH and I all think this ones a keeper.  This drink isn't very strong at all, and anytime the kids drink it all up, we like to keep it!   DH thought maybe I should share how the name came about for this one.  So here it is, DH read somewhere that parsley helps neutralize bad breath, hence the "breath" of fresh air.  Now, how true that is, I have no idea.  But I liked the name so we're going to roll with it ;)

Green Week part 3: Freggie Delight???

We have another one for the week.  And while the name looks like something the kids would have come up with, full credit goes to my DH.  DD did end up agreeing with the name so 2 of their votes is enough for me to let it be named.  So here it is...

Freggie Delight

2 cucumber

2 kiwi

4 celery sticks

2 large green apples

2 handfuls or 4 bunches of spinach

Juice and Enjoy!

Another keeper for us.  DD and DS said they didn't like it but I think it was just because of the looks of it, she still drank it all up as did he.  DH and I thought it tasted great!  I will say this though, this is one of those drinks you need a blender bottle for, unless you plan to keep mixing it or drinking it as fast as you can.

We're going green this week: part 2

This week we're going green...juicing that is.  We decided that the sometimes our juices look too good, so as a family we decided to go green for the week.  Only green juices, and we'll post the good ones for you to try.  Now I should also mention that I let my kids come up with some of the names of these things so they feel involved in this.  Plus, it motivates them to drink it if they get to name it.  That being said, they decided the Green Dream was going to be the name of this one, so here it is.

Green Dream Juice

2 small or 1 large zucchini
1/2 pineapple
1 green bell pepper
2 celery
1 cup of spinach

Juice and Enjoy!

Everyone in the house liked this one, and its in the books as a keeper.

Going green part 1: Refresher Juice

This is the first day of our green week, more on that next post.  We tried another new juice using some fruit and veggies from our basket.  DH wasn't too sure about it at first but once he saw DD and DS drinking it all up he was ready to give it a try.  Here it is...

Refresher Juice

1 cucumber
1 yellow squash
1 pomelo (peeled)
1 large green apple

Juice, pour over ice and Enjoy!

Everyone in our house liked this very refreshing juice so its definitely a keeper for us!

Mean Green Juice

Time to share another juice.  This one I needed to get me through my day of cleaning and getting rid of toys and clothes from the kids rooms.  It always takes forever to go through that stuff and this gave me just the energy I needed.  Here it is...

Mean Green Juice

1 pomelo (peeled and make sure the pith is gone so its not sour)

4 whole key limes

2 red apples

6 celery

4 bunches of spinach

4 strawberries

handful of parsley

chia seeds (optional)

serve over ice (also optional)

Enjoy!

Spinach and Potato Soup

Its been cold lately so soups have been a major thing on our menu.  Between our baskets, of fruits and vegetables, from this weekend, we ended up with 4 bags of potatoes.  So we made soup.  Our basket also came with spinach, and our add on had onions so it was perfect for what we had in mind.

Spinach and Potato Soup

4 cups water
6 red potatoes
1 onion
1 can evaporated milk 
2 tbsp butter (to sauté the onions, optional not necessary)
1 bunch spinach 
1 pack veggie broth (you can use canned but we used condensed for this soup)
Parmesan Cheese (also optional)

Slice the potatoes and put into pot with 4 cups of water.

While you wait for the water to boil slice onions and saute in butter.  Now, for this part you absolutely don't need to saute it in butter but well, I like it better that way.  Instead you could just add it to your pot of water with the potatoes.

Let the potatoes boil for about 15 to 20 minutes.  If you decided to sauté, once the onions get soft stick them in with the potatoes.  Add the veggie broth.  Bring back to a boil.

Add the evaporated milk and let boil for another 5 minutes, then add the chopped spinach for the last 5 minutes.

If you'd like top Parmesan, or even some cilantro or parsley.

Serve and Enjoy!

DD, DS, DH, and I enjoy this soup very much on these cold winter days.  Pair it with a nice side salad and you're good to go.

What came of our mexican basket...

So we have been ordering produce baskets the past few weeks, and this week we went with the veggie lovers, which according to them was Mexican theme.  A few of the things that came in this basket were tomatillos, jalapeños, chipotle jalapeños, and avocados.  I have never in my life tasted these tomatillos, or made them before, so again it was time to throw some things together and hope for the best :)  I guess I should add that I normally don't use jalapeños or chipotle jalapeños either.

Anyway, this is what came of it...

Mexican soup (or as Mexican as its ever gotten in my house)

1 cup of corn
1 cup of black beans (do not use dry beans unless you've already soaked them over night)
1 chipotle jalapeño, chopped
1 green jalapeño, diced (this one was fairly young with no "stretch marks" on them...sorry don't know the right term to use there)
1 small onion, chopped
4 tomatillos, husked and chopped
4 to 5 green onions
4 smaller sized garlic cloves, minced
Cilantro (I just grabbed a few stems from the bunch)
Parsley (a few of the bunch as well)
1/2 the juice of a lime
6 cups vegetable stock
2 tsp adobo
1 packet of sazon
1 tbsp canola oil
avocado

Chop, dice, or prepare all vegetables.

In a large soup pot add the olive oil and heat on medium heat.  Add the onion, green onion, celery, tomatillos, garlic, cilantro, and parsley.  Stir.  Add the juice of half a lime.

Let cook about 10 minutes until the white onions start to look translucent.  Stir occasionally.

Add the adobo.  Stir.  Add the vegetable stock.  Bring to a boil then reduce to simmer.  Simmer for about 15 minutes until the veggies are tender.  You can stop at this point, or if you're anything like me, the color just isn't right and you'll add a packet of sazon.  

Add the corn and black beans, then stir, bring to a boil.  Let cook about 5 more minutes.

*Note:  For the kids I stopped here and served theirs, for mine and DH's soup I now added the regular jalapenos and the chipotle jalapeños, both had a bit too much kick for the kiddos :)

Serve, garnish with avocados, and Enjoy1

Ok, so this wasn't bad at all for my first try using these ingredients together, even DD who supposedly doesn't like avocados ate it all up today.  But there is something I would suggest that I will for sure do the next time I make this.  Rather than adding the avocados, I would add some shredded cheese then a bit of sour cream a guacamole.  I think thats the only thing that could improve this soup.  So, Maybe next time :)  But give it a try and see what you think!