Smoothies and vegan protein

[antbuko]

Thanks for that tidbit about flax meal, Pat, I did not know that. I will check Wegman's next time I go. I wonder if you grind flax seeds if that makes it flax meal or if the meal has more ingredients. I'll have to google that.

ETA: Yep, it is! So Sherry you can grind the seeds if you can't find the meal. That's what I'll do if Wegman's doesn't carry the meal, but I'll be my Wegman's does. They have an excellent heath food department. Oh, a Wholefoods recently opened up by me. I'm sure I can get it there too.

ETA Again: You can also make hair gel with flax seeds!

[Rivercat]

Originally Posted by Pat58

I saw a really great idea on Facebook today - this woman posted photos of how she makes "starter caps" for the freezer. When she gets home from market she blends the greens that go bad the quickest - for example, a blend of kale, cucumber and celery - with half cup of water. She pours that into muffin tins and freezes her starter caps, pops them into a plastic bag. Then when she's ready to make her smoothie she has the pre-processed greens ready to roll and nice and frosty too. If I ever get through the snow to the organic co-op for greens I'm going to give this a whirl!

What a fantastic idea!

I have a tub of Hemp Pro 70, but rarely put it in smoothies. It tastes better than it smells.

[sherry7899]

Thanks, Helen! Wegmans does have the flax meal according to their site. I just do not think it is refrigerated. They have an excellent natural foods section. I love that store!

Thanks for the tip on the hair gel .

My DH has a coffee grinder, so I could grind the seeds I already have.

[cherimac]

Originally Posted by sherry7899

Cheri-are flax seeds and flax meal the same thing?

Thanks!
Sherry

I see Oat answered. Flax meal is ground, whole flax seeds. And yes, the whole seeds aren't digested but people often buy them to grind as needed, to keep nutrients fresh. I keep Bob's Flax Meal on hand.

I make my own nut butters and find that smoothies without any protein powder so much more appealing.

[sherry7899]

Thanks, Cheri!

I just bought this book which has a lot of nut butter recipes. It also has recipes that use the homemade nut butter-they all look delicious

http://www.amazon.com/DIY-Nut-Milks-...butter+recipes

She has a blog here:

http://mywholefoodlife.com/2014/08/2...hocolate-cups/

If I am remembering correctly, you like dark chocolate peanut butter cups? (from the Secret Santa gift exchange when I was your Santa )
This recipe looks very good!

as does this one:

http://mywholefoodlife.com/2013/05/0...t-butter-cups/

I want to try her recipe for homemade Biscoff spread:

http://mywholefoodlife.com/2014/08/1...cookie-butter/



Sherry

[antbuko]

Bumping this thread, because I am so loving my morning Nutriblasts. I follow David's (the Nutriblast infomercial guy) concepts for creating my smoothies. There is also a transitioning diet plan in the recipe book that came with the Nutriblast. It really helps you to transition to more vegetarian and even vegan, food sources and less animal sources. It also transitions you to eating more raw foods.

Anyhow, this morning I added 1/4 of pumpkin seeds, and some chia seeds too. The pumpkin seeds really add a nice flavor. My greens are mostly kale and/or spinach.

I've been scanning the internet for ideas as well and some of the blogs have really good suggestions for combining different foods so that you have a complete protein in your smoothies. Another blogger gave good suggestions for which fruits and vegetables pair well in terms of flavor and texture.

And whoever suggested nut butters, excellent suggestion. Almond butter is absolutely divine in a smoothie.

[Pat58]

Oooh, pumpkin seeds, good idea!

[sherry7899]

Helen-
The book I mentioned earlier in the thread has a smoothie recipe that uses almond butter. I will try to post it later.

[cherimac]

I have heard cashews are good to use too-make things creamy. Avocado is another great option.

And I am chuckling about my iPad auto-correcting Pat's name to Oat. It just now did that too. I mean. Pat is not an uncommon name so I wonder why it does that?