Despite the fact that my Vita Mix is still en route (at last check, it was in Ohio) I decided to dive into green smoothie-ville this morning. Since I still have a cold, I thought a super dose of greens might help. I had two very ripe bananas, so I chopped ‘em up and tossed them in the blender. I added a handful of pineapple chunks, a handful of goji berries and two handfuls of baby spinach, as well as a cup of filtered water. Although my current blender is a standard Target issue Hamilton Beach, it did pretty well. I poured a glass full and put the rest in the fridge to take to work. The first glass was, well, strange. It was a weird mustard color with red spots. It was room temp and very thick, and although the flavor was okay, I wasn’t loving it. I chugged it anyway, with plans to tweak the rest of the batch. Before I left for work, I added another cup of cold water to the mixture still in the pitcher and gave it another whirl. This, coupled with 30 minutes of cooling in the fridge, helped immensely. And I found that the more I drank, the better it tasted, so that by the time I got to the end I wanted more. So, all in all, a pretty successful experiment. I do have to say it left me with a weird taste in my mouth, though. I’m curious to see how this works with other greens. Next on my list: kale and rainbow chard.

I love pineapples. They’re one of my favorite fruits. But, since they tend to be big and prickly, I usually just buy the pre-cut chunks in the little plastic containers. However, when my husband was at the store yesterday, they were out of pre-cut ones. So he brought me a whole pineapple. My first one ever. The only problem now is that I don’t know what to do with it. How does one core a pineapple?

Well, thanks to Health.com, I have the answer:

1. To prepare a fresh pineapple, start by cutting off the top and bottom so that the fruit sits flat on your work surface.
Then place the pineapple upright on a cutting board, and, using a sharp knife, cut thick strips from the sides, from top to bottom, to remove the brown skin.
2. Cut away any “eyes,” or brown spots, that remain. Slice the pineapple in half lengthwise and then into quarters.
3. Cut out the core from each quarter.
4. Then, slice pineapple into ¾-inch-thick pieces.
Check out the original article for photos of each step.

For more on the fruit sushi recipe, click here.

I recently stumbled upon an ultra-cool website: gliving.tv. It’s all about living a green life, and includes smart, eco-friendly fashion choices, sustainable home upgrades (composting toilets, anyone?), green cars, green (and not so green) celebrities, music reviews, hard news stories and more.

I’m most interested in the Green Chefs section, which features recipes and videos for a variety of organic and healthy fare, most of which is both raw and vegetarian. I watched videos (iTunes also has podcasts) for making raw fruit sushi, raw Jamaican jerk kabobs, and organic chocolate martinis. There are also recipes from a handful of guest chefs, including notable raw foodists Matt Amsden and Sarma Melngailis, as well as gliving regular Vanessa Sherwood.

I got my juicer at Bed Bath and Beyond.

When it comes to food, I’m prone to giving up things: meat, soda, dairy, cooking…About six months to a year ago, I also gave up juice. For one thing, it’s generally pasteurized, which is a no-no in raw food land. For another, it’s pretty high in sugar, and I prefer to just eat fruit so I can get the tasty juice and the filling fiber.

But when I started my raw food journey last summer, my first purchase was a juicer. It allows me to make fresh, healthy, raw juice whenever I want to. It still lacks fiber, so I don’t overindulge, but sometimes fresh juice is a refreshing alternative to water. Right now, I’m fighting off the flu, so I made myself some juice today that was delicious. Here’s my recipe:

2 or 3 organic apples (I used Ambrosia and Red Delicious)
2 organic navel oranges (I had one regular and one blood orange)
1 organic lime
A handful of organic pineapple chunks
A chunk of fresh ginger, or a pile of freshly grated ginger

I ran the whole thing through my Breville juice fountain, and poured it over crushed ice. I’m hoping the vitamin C and the ginger will combat my cold, and that the fluids will keep me hydrated as I lie here sweating!

Since Lindsay is into green smoothies (I’m waiting to make them until I get my new Vita Mix blender!) and I’m into Sarma Melngailis, I thought I’d share Sarma’s green smoothie recipe.

Sarma is a vegan raw foodist. She is also president of OneLuckyDuck, which sells raw ingredients and supplements, and owner of Pure Food and Wine, one of New York’s premier raw food restaurants. She co-authored the book, Raw Food Real World, which is beautiful and filled with fascinating recipes (I can’t wait for my new ice cream maker to arrive so I can make her raw vanilla ice cream.)

Sarma is a guest blogger at the raw foods blog We Like It Raw (which is a really interesting blog–check it out!), and her most recent post includes her recipe for green smoothies.

Sarma’s Giant Thick Green Shake Recipe

This is what I put in my Vitamix. I generally consume at least this much each day. There are endless variations, and you can add all sorts of supplements if you want, or not. I get a little carried away sometimes on that end, but you can leave them all out. By the way, notice they’re called “supplements” and not “substitutes”… I don’t think one should feel okay about eating green powder instead of fresh greens, but if you’re just supplementing, why not? I like sweetness so I throw in stevia and vanilla. You could use agave, or toss in a mango, or a ripe banana. Oh, the fun.

Ingredients

1 grapefruit, peel cut away
2 lemons, peel cut away
2 limes, peel cut away
2 cucumbers, peeled n chopped
1 splash aloe vera juice
2 tablespoons thawed E-3 Live or powdered crystal manna
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons liquid stevia, or 4 to 5 packets powder stevia
A squirt of green tea extract
1 heaping tablespoon green powder
A wee pinch of Himalayan crystal salt
Now, stop here and blend the above to get your liquid base going… then add the following in batches, blending as you go, stuffing in as much green leafy goodness until you can fit no more.
1 bunch of parsley or cilantro, or both, stems and all
1 big handful sunflower sprouts if you can get them
1 bunch or more of kale, swiss chard, rainbow chard, collards, spinach, watercress or any combination of dark greens (dinosaur kale is my favorite).
Pineapple is also great as a fruit base.

Store whatever you don’t consume right away in a tightly sealed glass mason jar.