Tropical Smoothie, Rawlicious Kale Salad with Garbanzo Mash, and Blogger Exchange

I have been back drinking my Green Monster smoothies since somehow I have been getting pretty hungry in the mornings and it has been a great excuse to get my greens in while I can. I recently started calorie counting and realized that I am really close to in adding way too many fruits. You know what that means? I am going over my sugar intake even if it means natural sugars. My fruit servings are being "wasted" on the morning smoothie, when I should save some for the evening when I actually crave them. I was good though today. I realized I was way over so tomorrow I start a new day with a more balanced day. Right? Right!





From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen


One of my smoothie recipes that I enjoyed recently came after creating the Tropical Steel Cut Oatmeal from last week. I mentioned that I had a papaya that was not so tasty as I had hoped, so I included it in my Green Monster smoothie of the day. Did you know that papaya has awesome enzymes that help your digestive system? I know this because since I do not have a gallbladder, I was told that I would need to take enzymes for the rest of my life. Why get a prescription for them if I can get them through natural foods? If you find a papaya, make sure to include it once in a while for a morning detox. Here are the following ingredients:





From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen
2 cups papaya
1 cup almond milk
1 cup packed spinach
1 cup mango
protein powder
1 Tbsp unsweetened shredded coconut
1 Tbsp cacao nibs
1/3 cup water
Place all items in a blender and liquefy. Imagine yourself at a nice beach while you are at it.





After a long morning looking at reports, I decided that I wanted more greens for the day. I had heard of many recipes for raw kale salad but I had never eaten or tried to make it myself. I had only had steamed or mutilated, if you know what I mean. I have yet to try to make Kale Chips, which apparently is the new craze.





I took Monster Kale leaves and removed the stem and washed the leaves well and them chopped them. I made sure that the water was drained from the leaves. I placed the leaves in a bowl along with 1/2 cup of sun-dried tomatoes and added 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil and massaged the kale leaves and tomatoes for about 3 minutes. It softened the leaves. I then added sesame seeds and umeboshi plum vinegar and made a garbanzo mash as my protein.





WOWZERS! Y'all gotta try this recipe. It was so delicious and healthy. It was probably the best salad that included kale that I have ever had. It is a complete meal and even can be enjoyed for dinner.





From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen


Rawlicious Kale Salad with Garbanzo Mash





serves 1 big portion or 2 small portions





2 cups kale leaves, stemmed removed

1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes in natural form (not packed in oil)

1 Tbsp sesame seeds

2 tsp Eden Foods umeboshi plum vinegar

1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil





Garbanzo Mash





3/4 cup cooked garbanzo beans

1 Tbsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp black pepper

1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil





Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Using a potato masher, mash beans leaving a few beans, somewhat in whole form.





Assembly





Place salad on plate and top with garbanzo mash. Enjoy!!



This past week I also enjoyed a lovely surprise in the mail. I did a foodie exchange with a Jessica from Dairy Free Betty. She lives in a very cool spot in Canada where there are some great hiking trails. She sent me lots of great goodies for me to try. The funny thing is that she received my package the SAME day I received hers! It was fun.





There was lots of different vegan chocolates, Indian sauces, fruity snacks, teas and so much more! Even though these exchanges can get expensive it makes it worth it doing it once in a while.



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From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen