I’m not going to lie, I’m about 1 kale leaf away from turning into a Green Monster.
We have a serious overgrowth issue going on in the garden.
Meet MONSTER kale…just in time for Halloween…
Flashback to May 2011:
Madness.
The peppers continue to grow even despite this cool and rainy weather!
As well as the cucumbers and onions.
Eric likes to surprise me by picking colossal garbage bags full of kale and leaving them on the kitchen counter. “Look what I picked for you!!!”
I don’t have the heart to tell him I’m about to hurl at the sight of kale right now. All I could think about was that I had to eat all of it.
“This will be great for freezing, thank you!”
I quickly stuff the bag of kale into the freezer, heaving my body weight against the door so it would shut.
The door pops open, exploding with kale. This could be an issue.
While the kale waits for me to love it again, I’ve been experimenting with some other greens in my smoothies. Greens I’m not sick of at the moment.
Like Parsley.
Much like my Cherry Basil smoothie, adding fresh parsley into my smoothie was also a fun twist! Fresh herbs are said to be detoxifying & cleansing for the body and are brimming with antioxidants, making them a great addition to any smoothie.
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Herbal Green Monster
This fresh tasting Green Monster packs in detoxifying lemon juice, wheatgrass powder, and parsley while lightly sweetened with fruit. Add some protein powder and/or nut butter to make a meal out of it. If you aren’t a parsley fan, I suggest trying my Cherry Basil smoothie which is also good. You can also start by using a smaller amount of herbs and then use spinach or kale to top it up.
Yield: 1 serving
Ingredients:
- 1 cup non-dairy milk (I used almond milk)
- 1 cup packed fresh parsley, big stems removed
- 1 tbsp chia seeds (or ground flax)
- 1 very ripe pear (or use a banana)
- 1/2 frozen banana (optional)
- 2 tsp fresh lemon juice (add leftover juice to water or tea)
- 1 tsp wheatgrass powder (optional)
- 1 serving Protein powder and/or nut butter (optional)
- 2-3 ice cubes (it’s best very cold)
1. Add all ingredients (starting with the almond milk) into a blender and blend until smooth. Serve and enjoy!
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Going, going, going….gone.
Even though it’s Fall outside, nothing beats starting the day with greens.
Just have a hot tea on hand…
I’ve been drinking herbal tea this week after finding out that the tannins in caffeinated tea could be irritating my stomach lining. I cut down my caffeinated tea to just 1 or 2 cups a day now.
After two days of withdrawal headaches, I’m now feeling really good!
Thanks for the great discussion going on in the My Journey To Naturopathy post. Very interesting to read about your experiences!
You are brave! Kale is crazy enough in green monsters but herbs too!! LOL!
yum!
I really can´t believe how addictive caffeine is… so glad I am not doing caffeine. Herbal tea is wayyyyyy better, anyways :)
Could you include kale leaves in soup…or do you they’d be too bitter? That might be a delicious recipe…just sayin :)
Yes kale in soup is really good! I hope to make some this week :)
I love using herbs in green smoothies. My fav combo is mint, cucumber, and blueberry, though it’s more of a warm weather thing. Cilantro and pineapple is really nice too.
That does sound really good :)
Don’t’ we love autumn in Ontario and green monsters? :-) Love the new banner, by the way. It’s gorgeous!
Thanks :)
Feel free to send the extra kale my way. :) I’d love some home grown kale, I have never even tried it before!
I don’t know if you have mentioned this before but have you ever considered making a cookbook? You are my favorite blog and inspire me to eat healthy by your creative recipes and beautiful photography. You show just how fun and delicious healthy eating can be. seriously you need to make a cookbook!
Thank you Layla! I do plan on writing cookbooks (I’m working on my proposal right now actually!)
I’m not adventurous enough to put kale in my smoothies, but an herbal green monster does sound quite interesting. I know that you did a prep-ahead lunch series, but I was wondering if you could do a 30 minute meals series? I’m sure you haven’t seen my blog but I just got a job and and now I’ll be living on my own, without much time to spend cooking and I’d love some quick, easy, healthy recipes.
Thanks for the suggestion Alex!
I love kale in smoothies! Italy is amazing, but I do miss smoothies. I keep threatening to not to home… my mom would have to ship my Magic Bullet. :)
Oh man. I HAVE to try this. <3 Well done Angela. =)
CONGRATULATIONS!!! just found out you got the GOLD for your Mushroom Walnut Pesto Tart! I haven’t made it yet, but I will soon.
Really? I hadn’t heard, that’s great. Thank you for your support!
I just found out about your Green Monster and am SO excited to tell my dad about it and to try it out! My dad is really not supportive of the lifestyle that I am trying to transition to (Since I was 10 I’ve been slowly transitioning towards veganism to avoid letting my dad realize what I’m doing, and am now 17 and getting closer having finally made the jump to vegetarian!), and I think if I show him this concoction and let him see a different it makes in me (a different I’m hoping to see, at least, based on all of the raving reviews Green Monster recipes have gotten) he might start to see that I can do this and that it really can be good for my health!
Thank you for all of your wonderful recipes and for sharing so much about how you maintain your vegan diet. You’re inspirational :)
x
culinarilychallenged.blogspot.com
I’ve never thought about putting herbs in a Green Monster before- what a great idea! Will also add a nice punch of flavour!
Hey Angela sorry sorry sorry I haven’t commented in a while, I’ve been so busy with uni but I’m still here reading, and I still love your writing and your photos are as gorgeous as always :-)
I just had to comment to say that I had my first ever green monster today!
I’ve been meaning to for ages and I finally have :-) Thanks for the inspiration!
Hey Sophie! I hope your uni studies are going well. No need to apologize!
Glad you tried the GM’s :)
Wow I never thought about adding fresh Basil or Parsley. Wow what a wide world there is out there. SO trying this tomorrow morning for Breakfast!
Freezing greens like spinach, kale and chard works great when you have lots and plan to use it in smoothies… The nutrition of these leafy greens will hold for about 30 days in the freezer after that it’s starts to held south! ;) I also just use it frozen in smoothies – no need to defrost! Yum!
I always have parsley in the fridge but never thought of using it in my green monster. I need to try it though! Do you think it would still taste nice if I also mix mint or basil in it or will it mix the flavours up too much?
Hmm I’m really not sure how it would taste with both. Maybe just use a tiny bit of each and add other greens like spinach?
So far, I have been sticking with the fruit smoothies, supplemented with some Vega Smoothie Infusion. I just put my pre-gym smoothie recipe on my blog. But, I would like to get into some more green smoothies…did you find it hard to transition away from sweet?
Wow. Great idea. Thanks, Angela. I love your blog but have never commented on it before. If thou I made tons of recipes from it :) It happened to be that I am on 21 day raw cleanse inspired by Crazy Sexy Life by Cris Karr and this smoothie would be a great one to try. Like many people here, I’ve never thought of adding herbs to my drinks before. It will be interesting.
One more commnet – what kind of tea do you drink that it irritates your stomack? Have you tried some Japanese green teas, like kukicha, genmaicha, and hojicha? They tend to be lower in coffein due to the way they are processed. Just a suggestion :)
I was drinking jap. sencha allll day long. Oddly enough my stomach feels better on herbal tea
Hi
I’m a noob at this, and have only a blender, not a juicer but would love to have beets in there somehow. Have you tried that and what would you suggest I do? Or should I just make Borscht. … .