Green smoothies and cookies

Part of the adventure of our new, healthier lifestyle is trying out recipes.  Some go straight into the trash can but some are keepers.  Some recipes we've even shared with friends, who aren't vegan, and they love the recipes!

We make a green smoothie from the Forks Over Knives book and it is really delicious and satisfying.  What a great way to get a big dose of veggies and fruit in one tasty drink!  Especially since it includes kale, one of those veggies that are incredibly good for us but not so easy to fit into our diet. Blueberries, spinach, flax seeds -- all good for you and all contained in one simple, quick drink.

So we have a green smoothie several times a week and my husband bragged about them at work so much that a coworker has now started making them for her teenaged sons and herself.  She even makes them ahead of time, puts  them in the fridge (with a lid on the container) and her sons drink them when it's convenient.

Our most recent find is a recipe for cookies that are to die for!  They're sweet, they're moist and chewy and it is suggested that you eat them while they're warm, so hey!  Good excuse for eating ALL the cookies at once!  Well, maybe not. You might do better to freeze the ones you don't eat immediately, then, when you want one, just pop it out of the freezer and into the microwave for about 30 seconds (or use your oven to warm them up, I just like the speed of the microwave).  Warm and gooey deliciousness in no time!

I took some over to my parents and they enjoyed them, especially the gooeyness.  These would, I think, be  good for anyone on any kind of eating plan, except of course someone allergic to peanuts. They're called Chick Pea Cookie Bites and they're made from chick peas (aka garbanzo beans), peanut butter and chocolate chips.

These cookies do not contain flour, sugar or eggs and they're very simple to make.  I won't claim they're low-calorie, because they do contain peanut butter and chocolate chips.  But everything in these tasty tidbits is allowed on the Forks Over Knives eating plan, so we are extremely happy about them!

Here's the recipe for Chick Pea Cookie Bites (from the website texanerin.com)

1 1/4 cups canned chick peas (garbanzo beans), well-rinsed and patted dry with a paper towel
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp. natural peanut butter
1/4 cup honey (we use agave nectar, same amount)
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt in peanut butter is unsalted
1/2 cups chocolate chips (we use semi-sweet)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine all the ingredients except for the chocolate chips in a food processor and process until smooth.  Make sure to scrape the sides and the top to get the little chunks of chick peas and process again until they're combined.  Put in the chocolate chips and stir by hand if you can or pulse once or twice.  The mixture will be very thick and sticky.  With wet hands, form into 1 1/2-inch balls.  Place onto a Silpat or parchment paper.  If you want them to look more like normal cookies, press down slightly on the balls.  They don't rise much, so they look pretty much the same going in the oven as they do coming out.  Bake for about 10 minutes.  Yields about 14 cookies.

As I said above, these are best eaten warm.

*One note: The recipe calls for natural peanut butter and I thought I'd let you all know that we now make our own peanut butter, in our Vitamix blender.  Cheaper than store-bought peanut butter and absolutely delicious.  Not as creamy as Jif or Skippy, but plenty creamy enough to spread on toast.  We buy unsalted, dry roasted peanuts.  It takes 3 cups to make a pint-sized Mason jar full of peanut butter.  Very simple to do and good for us.

Here's the green smoothie recipe from Forks Over Knives:

Gene's Green Machine Smoothie
(makes 2)

2 cups plant-based milk (we use soy)
1 banana (optionally frozen)
1/4 cup frozen blueberries
2 large leaves of kale
1/2 cup spinach (raw)
1/2 cup English cucumber (optional)
1/2 Tbsp. flax seeds and/or 1/2 Tbsp. hemp or chia seeds
1 date, optional
Ice (optional, but it makes the drink colder, so we use it!)

Blend all the ingredients until smooth and no chunks remain.  Add more milk or water to get the consistency you prefer.

And when it says "no chunks remain", listen up!  You don't want chunks of kale or spinach in your drink.  So blend, blend, blend.  We do not use the date or cucumber, we do use flax seeds but not the hemp or chia seeds.  I prefer to give you the original recipe and you can adjust to your tastes, but just so you know, we have made a couple changes.

I hope you enjoy these recipes and if you try them, please let me know!