Recipe: Green Tea & Spinach Smoothie With Mixed Berries

This simple and delicious smoothie is great for those who need a pick-me-up to start off the day. Green tea will give you a boost without the jittery effects of coffee - plus it's much gentler on your system, and provides helpful antioxidants as well as energy. Spinach packs a punch of nutrition and protein, while the berries offer extra antioxidants and tasty flavor.

Green Tea And Spinach Smoothie With Mixed Berries
(Serves 2-3.)

(Photo credit: Shoot First, Eat Later)

Ingredients:

2 green tea bags
1 cup water, hot
3 cups spinach
1 cup raspberries, frozen
1 cup other berries, frozen
1 cup seedless grapes, frozen

Directions:

• Steep 2 green tea bags in 1 cup hot water for 2 minutes; discard tea bags. Cool for about 5 minutes.
• Put all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

Why You Should Include High-Fiber Foods In Your Daily Diet

In today's American diet full of fast food and sugary snacks, it can seem hard to find foods that are actually good for you.  But if you want an easy way to be healthier and feel better, then you should try adding fiber to your diet. 

Fiber is a material produced by plants that we can’t digest.  So why would we want to eat something we can’t digest?  Insoluble fiber dissolves in water and gives your food a thicker consistency.  This makes you absorb sugar into your blood stream more slowly, which can be helpful for moderating or even avoiding diabetes.  Soluble fiber absorbs water, but doesn’t dissolve it.  This makes your stool moist and helps clean out your digestive tract. 

idealized curves of human blood glucose and insulin concentrations during the course of a day containing three meals; in addition, effect of sugar-rich meal is highlighted; (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The most notable benefit from eating high fiber foods is that it can help calm or even prevent certain diseases.  People diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome, or IBS, suffer from chronic abdominal pain, along with other symptoms such as constipation or diarrhea.  High fiber foods may ease these symptoms without the use of prescription drugs.  Because fiber clears unwanted material out of your colon, it also has been proven to reduce the risk of colon cancer.  If this isn’t enough of a benefit, a high fiber diet has also been advocated for people with high cholesterol because it has been shown to lower overall cholesterol levels. 

Nowadays, people get a lot more processed and refined sugars in their diet than the body was meant to handle.  When we eat simple sugars, our insulin response is triggered causing our blood sugar levels to drop.  This can lead to weight gain because our body stores these sugars as fats.  Fiber slows the absorption of sugar into the body and reduces the insulin response, keeping our blood sugar at reasonable levels instead of bouncing it up and down throughout the day.  High fiber foods are recommended for people with hypoglycemia and diabetes to help steady blood sugar levels - and it may even help keep you from developing these conditions in the first place. 

Berries (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In addition to making us store fat, our insulin response leaves us feeling drained, tired, and wanting another sugar pick-me-up.  The more sugar we have at once, the lower our blood sugar drops afterwards, and the faster we get hungry again.  Fiber is a great way to stop this cycle in its tracks.  It keeps us feeling fuller longer, so we end up eating less.  Plus, what we eat is just a little healthier.

So why not add a little extra fiber to your diet?   It’s not as hard as it sounds.  You can find lots of tasty high fiber fruits (pears, apples, blueberries, strawberries, oranges, raisins, and dried peaches, figs, and apricots), grains (whole grain pasta and bread, bran cereal, and oatmeal), legumes (black, lima, and baked beans, lentils, and assorted nuts), and vegetables (carrots, baked potatoes, sweet potatoes, artichokes, peas, turnip greens, and Brussels sprouts - and lots more) that taste great and are good for you.  Just add a few of these foods to your diet every day, and you’ll be healthier and feeling great in no time.  Happy eating!

Recipe - Summer Berry Breakfast Smoothie

For nearly the past 10 years, throughout the summer, I have smoothies for breakfast almost every day. I got into the habit when I lived in Texas, and the bounty of fresh fruit was nearly continual (I often had smoothies year-round there). After I moved to Ohio, fruit was less plentiful, but still abundant in the summer, so this became my summer routine. As are most of my "recipes" that I have come up with myself, measurements are merely figurative, and ingredients can vary widely.

Image via WikipediaBelow is a basic idea of my "typical" summer breakfast, but feel free to make your own additions, subtractions, and substitutions, and adjust quantities as desired. I use different types of berries on a regular basis, or sometimes combine several. Before peach season, I leave out the peach and add more berries. Depending on the size and amount of the fruit used, this can make anywhere from 2 1/2 to 4 cups, but usually runs right about 20 fl oz, or just under 3 cups. You can also use frozen fruit (I often use a combination of fresh and frozen - e.g. fresh banana and peach with frozen berries.) - I will often stock up on berries when they are on sale, and wash and freeze them in ziplock bags so I can easily pop them in smoothies later.

For those who want more bulk to their breakfast, you might try adding flax or chia seeds, protein powder, or more coconut oil. I am not big on breakfast anyway, and sometimes it is all I can do just to drink the whole thing, so this is plenty for me, and I don't get hungry until right around lunchtime.

Summer Berry Breakfast Smoothie (serves 1 -- or 2 small eaters)

Banana, peach, and strawberry.

Ingredients:
1 ripe banana
1 ripe peach
5-6 large ripe strawberries
1-2 handfuls blueberries or blackberries (optional)
6 oz plain yogurt (I use my own home-made, from fresh, non-homogenized milk I get in my CSA share)
1-2 TB honey or agave sweetener
1 TB organic extra-virgin coconut oil (or more, as desired)
1 TB chia seeds (optional)
6 oz fruit juice (I have used everything from orange to grape, but my favorite is orange-pineapple combo)

Directions:

• Peel banana, break into sections, and place in bottom of blender or food processor.
• Wash peach well, cut into segments, and place on top of banana.
• Wash berries well, remove stems/hulls (if applicable), and add to container.
• Add yogurt, honey, coconut oil, chia seeds (if using), and juice. Add more juice if desired. I like to add juice just until it fills up all the air holes in the container, but doesn't cover the fruit entirely.
• Blend/process until smooth (I use a nifty contraption called a Ninja - which I LOVE! It is much faster, neater, and easier to clean than a blender. Plus it's not as noisy, and does a better job - you don't have chunks left over like some blenders leave behind in the bottom.)
• Pour into a glass and drink immediately. (These don't seem to taste very good after refrigeration - you need to prepare right before drinking. I haven't tried freezing them, but might be tasty.)

Let me know what you think, and feel free to suggest your own additions below!

Recipe - Strawberry Surprise Freezer Jam

To wrap up our week on the delicious topic of berries, here is a tasty way to preserve some for the colder months. Freezer jams are easy because they don't require an intensive canning process, and they will keep quite well in the freezer, and even in the refrigerator for some time. Often, like this one, the fruit is not cooked, which gives it a fresher taste, and also keeps the color vibrant. This one has a special and unusual ingredient that makes it a bit more interesting. Give it a try, and feel free to post your comments and suggestions below.

Strawberry Surprise Freezer Jam:

Image by Esalota via FlickrWhat You'll Need:
1 pt boxes of fresh strawberries, washed, drained and hulls removed
2 1/2 C of fresh pineapple, peeled and finely chopped
7 C sugar
2 pkgs (1 3/4 oz) powdered pectin
1 C cold water
4 pt freezer containers with lids

How to Make It:

1. Place strawberries in a large mixing bowl. Crush the strawberries with a potato masher.
2. Measure out 2 1/2 C strawberries and place in a separate bowl.
3. Add the pineapple to the strawberries.
4. Slowly add the sugar and stir until well combined.
5. Place the cold water in a saucepan over medium heat.
6. Add the pectin.
7. Stir continuously until water begins to boil. Boil 1 minute. Remove from heat.
8. Pour the water mixture into with the fruit.
9. Stir well to combine. Continue stirring 4 minutes.
10. Pour into the pint freezer containers and cover.
11. Let stand at room temperature for 24 hours.
12. Freeze after 24 hours.

Jam will stay good in the freezer for up to 6 months. To use, remove from freezer and allow to come to room temperature, about 1 hour. Cover and refrigerate for up to 3 weeks.

More Delicious Jam Recipes:
   

Video - Getting Creative with Berries

With all the great berries available this time of year, here is a fun video with some really creative and unusual ways to use different types of berries. This one will make your mouth water for sure!  (Click on the link to view the video.)

Image via WikipediaGetting Berry Creative (video)
It's berry season once again, and for those who may be looking for new recipe ideas to highlight the summer season, Chef Jacques offers up some berry creations.
Publish Date: 07/21/2011 3:00
http://cookingupastory.com/getting-berry-creative