Drink Your Greens Smoothie

Today's smoothie is from July's VegCookbook Club pick, Eat, Drink, & Be Vegan: Everyday Vegan Recipes Worth Celebrating by Dreena Burton. I didn't get to this smoothie in July, although other Clubbers did. I did love the "But Where Do You Get Your Protein?" smoothie that I made.

If you haven't heard of VegCookbook Club yet, I highly recommend it. It's a relaxed and inspiring year-long version of VeganMoFo. You can join in any time. Look, I'm still pining for this recipe from July!

The current month's selection is Vegan Indian Cooking: 140 Simple and Healthy Vegan Recipes by Anupy Singla. It even has a free PDF version available here! I am going to try a smoothie recipe or two from this cookbook. However, I think I need to upgrade my blender first.

Drink Your Greens Smoothie
I used spinach rather than kale for the greens. However avocado also adds to the emerald hue. What else is in it? Fresh OJ, cantaloupe (my new favorite freezer item), banana, and agave. This lovely smoothie really did make me want to drink my greens. I think more green smoothies will be coming this month.

Vega Energizing Smoothie

Vega Energizing Smoothie packets have taken over the checkout area of my local Whole Foods. In fact, I was standing in line with green smoothie ingredients when first I noticed them. I've read Thrive, the book by Vega-formulator and front man, Brendan Brazier. (It's a great gift for aspiring athletes.) But I haven't experimented with the Vega product line.  

So in the name of my VeganMoFo smoothie theme, I decided to give this ubiquitous smoothie product a chance. Of course, I had to get the Choc-A-Lot flavor. However, it comes in other flavors, including Bodacious Berry, Oh Natural, Tropical Tango, and Vanilla Almondilla. 

The smoothie was simple to prepare. You simply blend the powder pack with water or another liquid. I opted for equal parts unsweetened almond milk and water. The result wasn't chalky or cloyingly sweet, as I expected it to be. It also wasn't very tasty. To me, the flavor was almost metallic or chemically. Perhaps it's an acquired taste? I'm not a fan of stevia, which is an ingredient.   

The other ingredients listed are impressive. A single packet packs in loads of plant-based protein, flax seeds, greens, and digestive enzymes. All for $1.99.  After drinking the smoothie, I didn't feel "heavy." I also didn't have teeth full of seeds and fibers, like I do after berry-rich smoothies.

I'm sorry that I didn't enjoy this smoothie experiment more. The Vega smoothie is totally vegan. Dairy, gluten, and soy free too. 

Quick smoothie tip

Freeze your bananas in chunks for easier blending and portion management.

I went home for the holiday weekend and was making smoothies with my parents. My Dad gave me a whole frozen banana for the blend and I was taken aback. Surely, he knows to chunk up his smoothie bananas?

I picked up this habit because I don't have a powerful blender. These smaller pieces of frozen banana are easier to cream into submission. Plus, I can portion out managed amounts for single or double batches.

What are your smoothie tips?

A smoothie and book pairing

Here's a delightful summer smoothie inspired by my current read. I'm finally making time for Frank Herbert's classic science fiction novel Dune. Drink as you "observe the plans within plans within plans."

Spice Smoothie

Blend the following:

• 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup frozen cantaloupe
• 1/2 frozen banana 
• 1 Tbsp ground flax seeds (optional)
• 1 tsp maca powder (optional)
• 1 tsp spice (for example, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ground ginger)

Serves 1.

A seasonal smoothie at Juice Joint Café

For VeganMoFo 2013, my focus is smoothies. September is still too hot for cooking in the District of Columbia. So I'll be embarking on no-cook, blending adventures instead, experimenting both at home and about town. 

Above is a rose-colored smoothie from DC's Juice Joint Café, located at 1025 Vermont Ave NW. Juice Joint Café is a downtown, weekday lunch and breakfast spot which specializes in, you guessed it, excellent fresh juices. Juice Joint also offers some delicious juice-based smoothies. Their website touts the fact that the smoothies are made with 100% juice and whole fruit. So there are no added sweeteners or artificial crap. 

This special seasonal smoothie was a blend of watermelon, strawberry, banana, and apple juice. I ordered the smallest size, a 16-ounce cup for $5.60. This filled-to-the-brim smoothie was so thick and nourishing that it could have been a meal in itself. It was cold, sweet, and refreshing.

Juice Joint also makes some fine vegan food items, which are hard to resist. So I ordered the daily lunch special, a stir-fry wrap, as well. This piping hot wrap was incredibly messy. There were loads of veggies, tofu, and brown rice inside the thick, rather gummy spinach tortilla exterior. The stir-fry flavors were clean--a hippie-inspired mix of Braggs, garlic, and ginger.

If you find yourself in DC, thirsty for a smoothie or hungry for a healthy, colorful lunch, do check out Juice Joint Café. Note to tourists: it's not far from the White House and has outdoor seating. The café's FAQ page also promises that they'll be open on Saturdays soon!

DC's 100% Vegan Food Truck

100% Vegan Food Truck

Angela from The Veracious Vegan blog, recently reviewed one of the many vegan food trucks of Portland, Oregon. Well, look out, Portland. The District of Columbia now has a 100% vegan food truck: Woodland's Vegan Bistro!

Like many cities, DC has been having a food truck renaissance. It's heartening that a cruelty-free truck can take a prime position in the food truck cavalcade. When I visited last week, the Woodland's VB truck actually had the longest lines in Farragut Square. I doubt that's merely due to novelty or health motivations. Operated by folks behind the former Everlasting Life Cafe, this truck serves delicious soul food and other veggie delights.

Decal detail

Overwhelmed by the possibilities of an entirely vegan menu, I ordered the platter combo--one entrée and two sides for $11. It was like a mini-Thanksgiving in August; a copious amount of piping hot food. The container was too heavy to schlep back to the office, so I feasted on the park grass.

Platter combo

This platter was the bomb. The BBQ drummies were a messy revelation. The sweet, tangy sauce made these mock chicken drumsticks sing. For sides, I ordered the collards and the sautéed cabbage. Both were excellent quality with rich, savory flavors. 

There was still a crowd at the truck when I left. And they were doing a brisk Vitamix business. I didn't order a smoothie but I'll be back to try those and to scout out the rest of the menu for sure.

To find the truck on the busy lunch hour streets of WDC, you can follow the truck on Twitter, @WoodlandsVB. They'll also be at DC Vegfest. 

And you can visit the brick and mortar location of Woodland's Vegan Bistro at 2928 Georgia Avenue NW, which I clearly need to do ASAP. Plus, they have revamped their website and Chef Mickiyah Woodland has a promising blog. 

Woodland's forest motif

Betty Goes Vegan in August

It's the end of the month and I never did locate a copy of the August VegCookbook Club pick, Betty Goes Vegan by Annie and Dan Shannon. However I bet there will be plenty of copies at DC Vegfest, when the Shannons present their much-anticipated cooking demo. That's Saturday, September 28th at 2ish. (Full schedule here.)

I did make a couple of items from the authors' recipe-rich website. The recipes are playful takes on the All-American dishes engineered for General Mills' Betty Crocker brand. These veganized versions were created for "The Betty Crocker Project," the initial blog challenge that spurred the Betty Goes Vegan cookbook.

Here's what I made:

Cowboy Caviar
This recipe is for "the Hostess with the Mostess." It's a colorful and quick combination of crunchy veggies and tender, cooked beans that can serve as a salad, a side, a condiment, a dip, or taco fodder. I loved this recipe because it required no cooking, of course. I think you could vary the canned ingredients to feature what was fresh and in-season. Fresh cilantro and ripe avocado seem key.  

BLT Crostini
A wacky recipe but not without its charms. These faux "cheesy" crostini are meant to be baked on a pizza stone but I cheated and cooked these in the toaster oven. I used local heirloom tomatoes for the "T" and smoky tempeh for the "B." The wispy lettuce leaves looked attractive but didn't provide much flavor. Maybe something peppery like arugula or watercress would work here?

Orange, Agave & Mustard Dressing  
This dressing accompanies a spinach salad recipe. I've been looking for an oil-free dressing and this one is a nice marriage of zesty orange and zippy mustard. However, I thought the agave was too sweet and cloying, even when reduced by a third.