Almond Chai Moon Juice

At night, fill a pint sized mason jar 3/4 full of water.  Then add the following ingredients:

Small Handful of Almonds

2 dates (pits removed)

1 fig

2 black peppercorns

1 cardamom pod

1 Tbs. pumpkin seed

1 tsp. poppy seed

1/2 piece of ginger (optional)

Allow it to soak overnight, preferably in the moon light.  In the morning there are two options:

A) Gently warm all the contents (not to a boil), then put them in a blender and mix them up at a high speed.

or

B) Strain out most of the water, boil 1 cup of milk with all the contents, then blend at a high speed. 

We have been doing option one and also using more water, about three cups. We use our Vitamix blender.

Future Moon Juice recipes to try: at Well and Good.

*Note: some of the links in this post are associate links (if you click the links I might get commission). Opinions are my own. You can click the links in the ingredients to add them all to your Amazon cart.

Vitamix Wild Rice Soup

INGREDIENTS
2 tbsp butter
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1/4 cup chopped onions
2 tbsp flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
1 cup cooked wild rice, divided use
1/4 sliced almonds, divided use
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup half and half
1/3 cup fresh parsley
6 ounces cooked chicken, diced
1-2 tbsp dry sherry

DIRECTIONS
1. In a small skillet, melt butter.  Saute mushrooms and onions (5-6 minutes).
2. Add flour, salt, and pepper. Continue cooking, stirring, to create roux (1 minute).
3. Add onion mixture, half of rice, half of almonds, chicken broth, and half and half to the Vitamix and secure lid.
4. Select Hot Soup program.  Start machine and allow to complete cycle.
5. Select Variable 2. Start machine and remove lid plug. Drop in remaining rice, almonds, parsley, chicken and sherry.  Blend 5 more seconds.  Serve immediately.

Makes 4 cups.

COMMENTS
A little too blended, thick and creamy for my liking. Also even though it's a quick soup to make, it requires a lot of clean up because of the prep for the mushrooms, onions, rice and chicken.

Fresh Orange Smoothie (“Orange Julius”)

A healthy orange smoothie made with FRESH oranges, and your choice of milk and sweetener. Enjoy this fresh orange smoothie ("Orange Julius") recipe today!

Prep: 5 mins Total: 5 mins

Ingredients:
4 fresh oranges, peeled
2 cups ice
1/3 cup milk (your preference - regular, soy, coconut, etc.)
1-2 tablespoons honey (or agave or your desired sweetener), if needed
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a blender, and blend until smooth.  Add more ice if you would like.

Recipe  from http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/fresh-orange-smoothie-orange-julius/

Notes: I thought it needed to be strained of pulp and/or add milk to the recipe.

Smoothie Peanut Butter Banana

Makes approximately 26 ounces

3/4 cup water

1/2 cup plain greek yogurt

1/2 cup milk

1 banana

1 cup greens (lettuce/kale/whatever you have)

1 tablespoon peanut butter

Smoothie Turmeric Tonic

Smoothie Orange Beet Mixer

Smoothie Sweet Bok Choy

Smoothie A Pear of Beets

Smoothie Sweet Potato Apple Bake

We used Cinnamon instead of Allspice

Smoothie Berry Protein Bash

Green Applecado Smoothie

INGREDIENTS
1 banana
1 cup water
1.5 cups kale
1/2 avocado
1 apple

DIRECTIONS
Put all ingredients into Vitamix. Set to smoothie setting on Vitamix and let program run to completion.
Good the next day. If you want to drink immediately replace water or some of fruit for frozen.

NOTES
Serves 1 (approximately 20 ounces)
It was very thick. Try more water.
Future Avocado recipes to try: http://www.healthysmoothiehq.com/avocado-smoothie-recipes

Hummus

Yield: 3.75 c ( 360 g )
Total Time: 11 Minutes

Ingredients:
15 ounces canned chick peas (garbanzos), drained
15 ounces canned chick peas (garbanzos), with liquid
1/4 cup (35 g) raw sesame seeds
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup (60 ml) 2 lemon juice
1/4 cup water (possibly change recipe to use less water)
1 garlic clove, peeled
1 teaspoon ground cumin (double this portion)
Also good to add Paprika
Salt, to taste

Directions:

1. Place ingredients into the Vitamix container in the order listed and secure lid.
2. Select Puree setting.
3. Let the whole program run.
4. Recommendation to add olive oil and paprika or cayenne pepper or something to add a special flavor! Maybe roasted red peppers or olives.

Lasts 4 to 5 days in fridge. Can freeze also.

Cost: 

$4.65 for 4 cups

2 - 2 cans chickpears

.65 lemon juice

2 sesame seeds

Blackberry Pear Smoothie

Ingredients
1 Cup (240 g Plain Yogurt
2/3 Cup (160 ml) Water
2 Bananas, Peeled
1 Pear, Halved, Cored
1 Apple, Halved, Cored
2 Cups (280 g) Frozen Blackberries

Directions 
1) Place all ingredients into the Vitamix container in the order listed and secure lid
(2) Select Purée Program
(3) Switch machine to Start and allow machine to complete programmed cycle

Nutritional Information
Per 1 Cup (240 ml) Serving: Calories: 142, TotalFat: 1 g, Saturated Fat: 1 g, Protein: 4g, Fiber: 6 g, Carbohydrates: 31 g, Sodium: 38 mg, Cholesterol: 4 mg

Servings 
Approximately four 15 ounce smoothies

Cost
$10.00 for all ingredients, or $2.50 per serving

5.5 frozen fruit
1 yogurt (buying bulk)
1.50 apple
1 pear

1 bananas