My favorite website, Go Fug Yourself, now has a book. Filled with celebrities. In hilarious outfits. Go forth and buy!

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.

“Eat crap = feel like crap.  Eat fruit = feel fresh and yummy.  Eat chemicals = get weird diseases.  Eat natural = be naturally healthy, like we’re supposed to be.”

-Sarma Melngailis

I’m in the midst of reading a book titled The Ultimate Tea Diet, by Mark “Dr. Tea” Ukra. I’m not that far in, but essentially Ukra is a tea expert, and the book is about the benefits of tea (actual tea, not herbal tisanes). He talks about how tea can both boost your metabolism and decrease your appetite, as well as the numerous available tea flavors. He even provides recipes that allow you to cook with tea, which I didn’t even know was possible.

It’s funny that I’m reading this book right now, because I’ve recently started drinking more tea. The Republic of Tea has some specialty roobios tisanes that I’ve been trying, but my favorite is Pomegranate tea. Trader Joe’s has a delicious pomegranate green tea that you serve cold, and I’ve been sipping on The Republic of Tea’s Pomegranate Green Tea Superfruit Tea when I need something warm. I bought the loose leaf canister and a tea infuser, so I can make it one cup at a time. I just stir in a bit of raw agave nectar for sweetness and I’m good to go with a yummy, antioxidant-rich blend. Delicious!

I have a problem with flax. I know it’s good for me, and provides some of the essential Omega-3s, but I can’t find a method for taking it. When I buy the capsules, they languish in the cabinet with the rest of the vitamins I forget to take. Oil? It migrates to the back of the fridge and slowly goes rancid until I find it several months later. Ground seeds? Great the first time I open them. Then they sit, unused, waiting for me to notice them and come up with a recipe that can use up an entire large bag of flax. Grrrr.

So, I was thrilled to find a new solution. Enter Carrington Farms Flax Paks, individually packaged servings of flax seeds. Each packet (you get 12 in a box) contains a tablespoon of ground flax. And they last for 18 months. Oh, and did I mention they’re organic? At last, a flax solution I can work with.