– by Stacey Terry
Friday’s are definitely martini time.
Apparently Thursday’s are “forget that you left your good camera at Glen’s house the night of the fiddle concert and now you’ll have to take a picture of your most awesome-est green smoothie creation EVER with your not-intended-for-this video camera”. Shucks. 😉
The pictures may not do this green smoothie recipe justice, but you’ll find this creation, or one you adapt yourself, is the perfect way to start your weekend with an exotic drinking experience your liver will love!
Spoiling Your Cat May Prove Beneficial to Your Health
This all happened quite by chance. On Tuesday I edited a great post on the benefits of parsley. On Wednesday, up went the article about exciting Thai fruits like dragon fruit. Seeing as how I’m a proud “green smoothie nerd”, as my friend Susan puts it, now my salivary glands and my brain start having a conversation about some potential green smoothie experiments.
Thursday, I decide that my precious little purring furball would probably appreciate some fresh grass on top of her supper, so I go outside to clip her some (yes, she’s that spoiled).
And while I’m in the sunshine, I notice how many dandelions are growing around the building. And yup… the salivating starts again. So… after I clip some grass for her bowl, I start clipping for ME!
I pull lots of fresh young leaves from dandelions that have yellow flowers but that haven’t gone to seed. Ideally, to get the dandelion greens when they’re the least bitter, you should harvest the leaves even before the flowers appear, but I’m not picky. I know that the more bitter the leaves are, the better they are for my liver. I decide to clip a couple of the yellow flowers too.
Then, as I’m walking back to my building, I remember that down the little embankment by my building are some wild raspberry canes. I gingerly scoot down and start picking a number of the young leaves off the canes. Having listened to many of the Healing with Herbs teleseminars, I know that these leaves have many medicinal benefits. My kitty’s little bowl is now heaping with free wild greens from the back yard.
Feeling pretty smug with my green treasures, I head on up to blend some supper. I didn’t really have a plan. I rarely do. I just knew I wanted my dragon fruit, my parsley and my backyard treasures. I threw all my ingredients, and a few extras, into the blender and out came a gorgeous green elixir.
Now… as I was cutting my dragon fruit in half, I thought, “You know, these shells are soooo beautiful. They’d make excellent little cups to drink out of!” When you’ve been drinking green smoothies for a long time, sometimes you need some novelty to keep things interesting. This idea got me excited!
I was actually trying to take a picture of the shells with some green smoothie inside at first. After spilling BOTH of them on my window ledge (Quick math lesson: 2 round bottomed fruit + 1 straight window ledge = 15 minutes of washing green smoothie off your walls), I went looking in my cupboards for a new idea.
Turns out, half of a dragon fruit shell fits perfectly inside one of my martini glasses. Yaaaay! Now I can enjoy the visual beauty and the novelty of drinking out of the dragon fruit shell without slopping all over. A few garnishes with parsley and fresh raspberries, and oh my yes!! It’s Martini Time! Mmmm…
This is a green smoothie recipe that does have a hint of bitterness from the dandelion greens and flowers, so if you like yours sweet, you can skip or reduce the amount you use.
Dandy Raspberry Dragon Martini
by Stacey Terry
Ingredients:
- 1 banana
- 1 dragon fruit
- 1 apricot, pit removed
- 1 bunch parsley
- 1 handful wild dandelion greens
- 2 bright yellow dandelion flowers
- 1 small handful fresh, young raspberry leaves
- fresh raspberries and parsley for garnish
- water as needed to blend
Directions:
Cut your dragon fruit in half (whatever way will yield you the deepest “cup”), scoop the fruit into your blender, and save the shells. Add in your other fruit and blend with water. Add in your greens a handful at a time and blend until smooth.
Place your dragon fruit shells in two martini glasses. Pour your green smoothie into the shells and garnish with your favourite ingredients.
Curl up with your kitty and purr over your parsley!
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If you’re looking for more lovin’ for your liver, be sure to sign up for the Full-support 21-Day SUPER Green Smoothie Detox coming this July with Matt Monarch and Angela-Stokes Monarch!