Pumpkin Patch Part Seven: Hogwarts Pumpkin Juice

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows- Part 1 has been out now for one
week. We went and saw it opening day with all the 16-year old girls
dressed in their Gryffindor best. As big Harry Potter fans, we had a
good time and it was actually one of the first times we didn't go to
the midnight showing the night before...

But to tie up the pumpkin patch series and as an homage to Harry
Potter I made some Hogwarts Pumpkin Juice.

I've never had raw pumpkin juice and it reminded me of carrot juice in
a way. First I tried peeling the pumpkin before shoving it through my
juicer, but it didn't seem to make a difference so I just cut the stem
parts off, scooped the seeds out and pushed it through.

It is not something you can drink straight-- well, at least I cannot.
Instead I made it a juice blend. You can either juice these with it or
add them in after.



I used a smaller pumpkin or about 3-4 cups chopped raw pumpkin
1 cup of fresh apple juice or apple cider
1/2 cup fresh orange juice or 2 table spoons of orange juice concentrate

Over my Christmas break I am going to try to re-read all the books
because I nearly forgot everything that happened!

If pumpkin juice really isn't your thing, no fears I'll be working
on a butter beer recipe soon!

P.S. I hope you had a beautiful, loving, and compassionate Holiday!

Green with Envy

From my endless reading of foodie lit, cookbooks, and online food
postings I've been reading more and more about the holy green
smoothie. Now I'm a little green to this pure green smoothie fad,
but I'm no stranger to adding veggies to my fruity blends.

I must admit that I am the ultimate smoothie master. I conquered
the secret recipes of jamba juice and have gotten people addicted
to my concoctions.

I talked to my Mom on the phone a couple days ago and she said that
my little brother was begging everyone to make him smoothie like I
used to do for him all the time. My Mom told him that she didn't
know how to make a good smoothie and he told her that it's easy,
"you just have to put bananas in the blender".

I was putting some veggies in with the fruit when I was on a
liquid diet last year after getting all four of my wisdom teeth
surgically extracted in one go. Don't worry, I'm still a wise guy.
I remember drinking gallons of smoothies and a lot of carrot soup.
For some reason, none of my smoothies never had even a slight
green tint. I guess I wasn't adding enough X.

So I gave it another whirl.

First shot....

4 leaves of kale, 2 bananas, a handful of ice cubes and about 6
strawberries- thinned out with some OJ


Second shot...

4 leaves of kale, 2 bananas, a handful of ice cubes and 1 small
mango- again thinned out with OJ.


The second was definitely more 'green' tasting. I like almost always
using bananas because it helps retain that thickness and prevents
a lot of the separation that you get in some smoothies. If you're
at all adverse to eating your greens this really is a great trick.
The colour may be a bit... unusual, but you really cannot taste
the veg at all. It tastes pretty much like a really bitchin' fruit
smoothie.


Now they do look pretty similar, but the second was a much richer
green and probably could have been blended longer. That is one thing
to remember! Blend longer than you think you should or else you'll
get a little bit of stringy fiber. We were in a hurry this morning
though, like the usual Monday morning rush.

My only qualm was that I should have frozen the bananas, mango and
berries beforehand, that way I wouldn't have had to add the ice.
For me, a smoothie being cold is essential. Warm smoothies make
me wanna hurl.

Ideally, I'd like to keep up having a smoothie, preferably green if
I can mix it up enough to not get bored, every morning as a new
routine. My next try is going to include avocado, so stay tuned.

I've Gone Bananas!

Its been a few days since I've been able to post, but lately I've

been going wild with bananas. We had a good haul from one

of our trees and they all just ripened at once. They are sweet

william bananas, so they are on the smaller side but really

really flavourful.

I cannot tell you how bored I am of banana bread and quick

breads. I made a butt-load of papaya bread and I was the only

one eating it, so I let off on baking that stuff very often.

Last night I made a Banana Salsa, which was pretty wild

and have just resorted to making smoothies.

I had some frozen strawberries that were super sweet and

ripe when I froze them, so I blended them up with some

of the bananas I quick froze. About two bananas, a handful

of strawberries, and 8 0z of plain unsweetened soymilk.

Ahhh classic. The key to the best smoothies is freezing

the fruit first. It is so much more refreshing and the body

is a lot nicer. Warm, frothy smoothies are the worse.

But I went bananas over this...