Blog / vitamineral green

This week's question: Would you be willing to share your fav greens smoothie recipe? I'm trying to do better :) —M This week's answer: Hello there M! First here's a basic green smoothie recipe is: (serving one) a good couple handfuls of greens (lettuce, kale, chard, spinach, edible weeds in the summer, green sprouts, etc - stay away from the more bitter greens for green smoothies like arugula as they dominate the flavor.) so it would be about 1 cup packed or 2 loose cups. 1/2 cup of fresh or frozen berries (can substitute with pears, peaches, apples, oranges, pineapple, mango or any fruit you like) - feel free to add more if you want. 1 banana 1 1/2 cups water Blend up and drink. This is the basic green smoothie and can be added to and varied. To make it my favorite (and particularly as it gets colder out), I like adding a heaping TBSP green powder like Vitamineral Green to get a whole lot of green nutrition added. I'll sometimes add a TBSP maca. I'll typically add some coconut oil to mine, some vegan protein powder during colder months, hemp or nut milk instead of water sometimes to make it really creamy. Sometimes I'll add a sweetener if the fruit isn't sweet enough (particularly when kids and husbands are sharing with me. Sometimes we can tolerate new things better when they are sweet. So that would be a tsp of agave or honey or maybe a date or two.) Also, I add some chia for those lovely omegas! And last but not least, every couple/few days, I'll add a little sprinkle of cacao nibs to the smoothie too. But that's the basics. They are yummy! Also good to note that lettuces like romaine won't turn the smoothie totally green so it is a good "starter" smoothie for people who get weird about the color. Also note: REMEMBER TO CHEW YOUR SMOOTHIES! (Chew your drink and drink your food!) Have fun! I also just have to say that my favorite smoothie is the one that I'm drinking! They all taste great. This morning's smoothie had: banana, local org blueberries, local greens, Vitamineral Green, coconut oil, chia and some medicinal mushrooms like reishi. OH and I put in a bit of sunflower seed butter this morning because I was hungry!! I drink about 32 ounces of green smoothie throughout the morning. Take care, Linda +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Ask Linda! Please feel free to submit your questions to linda AT vt-fiddle.com. Questions don’t have to be completely raw food related but please bring questions on health, recipes, diet, weight issues, nutrition, parenting, nursing, pregnancy, spirituality or whatever it is you’d like to ask. I’ll do my best to answer and will most certainly learn from this as much as I can give.

Been having a fun dialogue with a lovely someone about all things raw/living food. I really love these kinds of conversations particularly because these peeps are as into it as I am. That makes it fun and me not coming across so much of a "pusher." LOL! It's quite an interesting place to be in when you are into something more than other people around you. It helps, I guess, to be in a bigger population of people - the % is greater than you'll find actual people into what you are. So, my population of excited raw peeps comes to me virtually. But I don't mind being the neighborhood health food freak. LOL So today's herbal concoctions and food so far: this AM had hot cacao with medicinal mushrooms, vitamin C, and non-GMO soy lecithin just for some added creaminess. Had some Immune Builder Tincture by Sandra Lory, Healthy Woman Elixir by Sandra Lory (Mandala Botanicals), Dragon something-er-other drops to build my shen. For my lunch I am having a green smoothie: bananas, kale, vitamineral green, E3Live, chlorella tabs, vitamineral Earth, spirulina, chia, tahini, coconut water. It's quite heavy but for the cold weather, it feels right. Hey, I'd like to give a shout out to Jensey at GoRawMe. She is doing her first workshop tomorrow! She's ordered some of my god & goddess butters and some of our nut milk bags: v-shape nylon and 9 x 12 nylon. I want to wish her luck and thank her for her first order with us!

Pat came by when I was making a smoothie for the kids (afternoon snack and my lunch) She's really good with the camera and took some nice pictures. I'm putting lovely kale into the pitcher along with some bananas and frozen blueberries. our eco-friendly packaging! 8-) So green it's almost black! YUM! Love this kind of green smoothie. Here's the recipe: 3 very ripe bananas 10 oz frozen blueberries 1 1/2 cups fresh kale 2 Tbsp chia seeds 1 handful whole cashews 2 rounded tsp Spirulina 2 rounded tsp VitaMineral Green fresh water drizzle of agave (optional) Blend in the VitaMix until smooth. This very large recipe makes almost a full pitcher in the VitaMix and serves 4. My kids, husband and I had this in the afternoon. It was delicious!

Hello Good People! I hope this newsletter finds you well and happy. Things have been busy busy with our nut milk bags! May has been a wonderful month so far. We made our first delivery of our 12 x 12 hemp nut milk bags to Vita Mix in the middle of April and are just so excited about that. Vita Mix is a great company and we're totally thrilled to work with them. We're selling our nut milk bags to lots of people/companies/places and SOOO happy to offer high quality bags so people can make their own juices, nut milks, seed milks and easy sprouts. And let me honor them now: Cafe Gratitude, our first wholesale customer; Matt Monarch, VitaMix, SimplyRaw, Rainbow Grocers, Catch a Healthy Habit, the Green Umbrella, Raw New England Community, Essene Health Bread/York Raw Food Group, and loads of other individuals, groups, stores. In fact, I really need to put a page on the website with this to show our deep gratitude and support. Great news also is that we've found a source for biodegradable bags! So all our products will be in biodegradable packaging - not just our food! YIPPEEEEEEEEE!!!! I have to tell you that I've had some serious spring fever (which is why you haven't heard from me in a month!) We've been having great weather (yay! Sunhine!) and I've been walking between 4-7 miles each day. This is major for me as even last year, I didn't have the ability to do this without great pain. I had an injury to my hip about 8 years ago and went to different health practitioners for it. One doctor told me that I was going to be in pain for the rest of my life. I said, "NO I'M NOT!" and went to a different doctor. In this past year, I've made great strides (literally and figuratively) with regards to my hip/leg pain and I'm WALKING AGAIN! I am so very grateful to have mobility, flexibility and to be pain-free, I can't even begin to tell you. For me the missing link was exercise and I can tell you that my *whole* self is happy to be doing this again. Other great news is that Matt's asthma is soooo gone! He's had asthma since he was a young kid and he said the other day that he's very happy to feel as if he has normal lungs again! This is great news. I always knew his lungs would be healthy and clear. This is a testament to the vegan diet - raw vegan with lots of healing greens. Low-fat, minimally processed, whole vegan foods. That's where it's at, baby! We're both just looking and feeling great and soooooo grateful in the process. Baby steps! This is a journey and it takes as long as it takes. It's all good stuff! ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ RAW FOOD HAPS THIS WEEK AND BEYOND • Raw food deliveries made to Hunger Mountain Coop and a St. J's Food Coop yesterday. .We now have our raw food in St. Johnsbury! Wonderful wonderful! They are even carrying my gRAWnola! Please support your local coops and ask for more raw food! • Our downloadable recipe book - over 70 smoothie, juices and soup recipes: http://vt-fiddle.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_id=52 • NEW IN STOCK: Healing Cancer from the Inside Out DVDs are here as well as their RAVE Diet books and EATING DVDs. This Mike Anderson guy is another guy that I'm happy is around doing what he's doing. Advocating for a low-fat, whole-food, plant-based diet is great. I saw his DVD on cancer and immediately wanted to support him. I've gotten calls and emails from people who want a copy for themselves, so I'm very happy to have that available for you. The China Study books are also in stock and are a must-read in my opinion... PACIFICA PERFUME, CANDLES AND LOTIONS ARE HERE!!! I'm sooooo excited for these. They smell great and the lotions are beautifully emolient. WiseWays Herbal products are also in stock! Sea Chi skin care products are here and are as gorgeous as ever!! And more new items are coming... Books and audio books by Dr. Joel Furhman as well as heavy duty 9-tray dehydrators in white. Please contact me if you are interested in getting any of these items. With everything we sell, items can be picked up or I can mail them to you. ALSO IN STOCK: Health Force Nutritionals, bulk nut butters, Artisana butters, Fruits of the Earth superfood powder, Maca Force Vanilla Spice, really raw oats, raw nori sheets, chia seeds, turkish mulberries, dandy blend, wasabi powder, kelp noodles, dandelion leek miso by south river, garlic red pepper miso by south river, Eating for Beauty by David Wolfe, Naked Chocolate by David Wolfe and Shazzie, Sun Warrior Biofermented Rice Protein powder (in natural and chocolate flavors), marine phytoplankton, lucuma powder, yacon slices, really raw cashews, artisana coconut butter, tibetan goji berries and Vitamix pitcher replacements. If you have an old vitamix blender, you might want to consider a new plastic pitcher to replace the one that was made with bpa plastic - it also comes with a new lid that stays on so your hand doesn't have to rest on top when you blend. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ FUN THINGS TO READ

• What are pea shoots? (They're in my recipe below) Well Mister Peter Burke can tell you about soil sprouting and how to grow them yourself! He's the man! http://www.thedailygardener.com/snow-pea/

• Matt has been updating the website: http://vt-fiddle.com/shop/index.php?main_page=products_new - althought this is tax week so bear with us... I updated the how-to use our nut milk bags pages:

http://www.vt-fiddle.com/rawfood/how_to_make_nut_milk.php - how to make nut milk http://www.vt-fiddle.com/rawfood/how_to_make_nut_milk.php#nut-mash - nut mash recipes http://www.vt-fiddle.com/rawfood/how_to_make_juice_with_nut_milk_bag.php - how to juice http://www.vt-fiddle.com/rawfood/difference_between_nylon_hemp_bags.php - pros/cons of using hemp vs nylon filtering bags http://www.vt-fiddle.com/rawfood/care_use_of_nut_milk_juicing_bag.php - care and use instructions The recipe page is up but doesn't yet look pretty so you'll just get a teaser on that one! :-p Also the sprout page will be updated SOON, when I come back from my little vacation... • Please check out our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Worcester-VT/Vermont-Fiddle-Heads/63781489465?ref=nf - Become a fan and check out photos, events and notes. MM-kay? Also, check out the blog. It's pretty again! http://vt-fiddle.com/blog/

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

AND NOW FOR THAT RECIPE So yesterday, I got a facebook message that someone wanted a heavy duty green smoothie. She wanted greens because I think she waas feeling under the weather. So this is what I made her (and Matt and myself.)

So Green it's Black Smoothie • 1 huge bunch pea shoots (check out link above to grow your own) • 2 bananas - very ripe • 3 shots wheat grass juice • 2 small pears • 1 rounded cup red raspberries • 1 rounded tsp VitaMineral Green (tons of greens, minerals, enzymes, probiotics) • 1 rounded tsp Spirulina (she said she wanted protein) • filtered water • 1 tsp agave (optional) In the VitaMix, place ingredients in the pitcher (you may have to pack the greens down) and fill with enough filtered water to fill to the 6 or 7 cup line. Blend for about 30 seconds or until everything looks to be very well blended. This will fill up almost the whole pitcher. Pour into your favorite glasses and enjoy! The red raspberries and the green greens make the smoothie turn very very dark in color. So it's not the prettiest smoothie ever but it's hella delicious and nutritious! TIP: Chew your drink and drink your food! Remember that digestion starts in the mouth and even though you are drinking, practice "chewing" your smoothie. Enjoy!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Have a great week and Please contact me for information or other raw goodies (both bulk and prepared.) in joy and in health, Linda Vermont Fiddle Heads 18 Worcester Village Road Worcester, VT 05682 802-223-2111 802-408-1000 (fax) http://www.vt-fiddle.com P.S. Keep checking back on the shop. Adding products as we speak! http://vt-fiddle.com/shop/ P.P.S. Need some bulk food items? Or great reading/educational material? Hella awesome skincare products? We've got: Healing Cancer from the Inside Out DVD, Pacifica Perfume, Candles and Lotions, WiseWays Herbals, Sea Chi skincare, The China Study book, Joel Fuhrman books and audio, heavy duty dehydrators, new products by Health Force Nutritionals, really raw oats, raw nori sheets, chia seeds, turkish mulberries, dandy blend (a dandelion coffee substitute), wasabi powder, kelp noodles, dandelion leek miso by south river, garlic red pepper miso by south river, Eating for Beauty by David Wolfe, Naked Chocolate by David Wolfe and Shazzie, Sun Warrior Biofermented Rice Protein powder (in natural and chocolate flavors), marine phytoplankton, lucuma powder, yacon slices, really raw cashews, artisana coconut butter and goji berries. Please contact me if you are interested in getting any of these items. With everything we sell, items can be picked up or I can mail them to you.