Beetbox Juice and Butternut Bisque

Beetbox juice

Here are two healing liquids from my winter sickness recovery. Inspired by Kris Carr, I drank a healthy, raw juice this weekend. Juice bars are few and far between in DC but one has recently opened downtown, steps from the National Mall. Protein Bar, a Chicago-based fast-food health chain, has a handy Penn Quarter location at 398 7th Street NW.

Their beetbox juice (above) is a blend of apple, cucumber, beet, carrot, and ginger. This drink was a light and attractive mix, not too earthy or challenging. Protein Bar seems serious about their juice. They have a sign posted at the counter that warns customers to expect a wait of up to fifteen minutes due to the dual-disc juicer process. And they give you a buzzer for your juice!

I'm definitely going to go back for more juice-ups and to try the food. It looks like they have many vegan menu options. (Plus they have large Sriracha bottles on the condiments table. Always a good sign.) Protein Bar also offers blended drinks, including some with funny names that are interesting to compare with their Chicago menu. For example, "Wrigley Peeled" becomes the "Federal A'Peel."

Butternut Bisque
This bisque is from Crazy Sexy Kitchen, the January VegCookbook Club pick. It is a sweet and soothing broth, just the thing for a sore throat. The book's recipe features pumpkin as the main veggie but also recommends squash and sweet potatoes as alternatives. Good thing, because we had a huge butternut in our kitchen, just waiting for soup-making. The recipe also calls for onions, roasted garlic, veggie stock, maple syrup, spices, and wine. The resulting butternut bisque didn't produce the bright orange-hue that a pumpkin soup might, so I used an Instagram filter.