Green Smoothies

Lately my husband, Bill, and I attended Vegetarian Summerfest, always an inspiring and motivating event that vegetarians and vegans look forward to attending every year. One of the sessions we enjoyed was a demonstration by a delightful couple, Rae Sikora and Jim Corcoran, educators who make presentations to schools and other groups on health, compassionate living, non-violence and ethical consumerism, among other things. At Summerfest they demonstrated how to make a green smoothie in the blender.

Did you know that kale is the very best thing you can eat? Second to that is collard greens. How many times do we cook these veggies? Usually I just see kale as a garnish to be thrown away, and collard greens have never been a part of my diet. So because of that presentation, I now am beginning to make smoothies highlighting those two highly nutritious veggies. Drinking one of these smoothies each day will ensure that your body will benefit from these healthful foods. Here is how Rae and Jim did it:

Instead of water, use watermelon and/or other melons as the liquid. Then remove the stems from the kale and collard greens and put only the leaves into the blender. Add about a half a lemon and/or other citrus fruits (rinds removed but leave the white part on), and as many other fruits and veggies you can fit into the blender. The lemon adds a nice flavor. Make the kale the "star of the show," but if the blended smoothie is too bitter for you, add some pineapple juice or some other sweeter fruits.

Jim told us that each veggie has its own unique set of phytonutrients, but when you combine the veggies, the combination makes even more phytonutrients. For example, for demonstration purposes, let's say that each veggie has one phytonutrient. When you put two veggies together, you don't just get two phytonutrients, but you actually get three because of combining the two together. Isn't that interesting?

Anyway, back to the green smoothie -- pour the blended fruit/veggie combination into canning jars and screw the lids on. You can freeze these (leave a little space in the jars) or take them with you to work.

There you go! This is a really great way to get some good nutrition for the day and it's easy and fun too!

Rae and Jim were so delightful together as they had fun creating their concoction at Vegetarian Summerfest. By the way, this was their one year anniversary, because they met four years earlier (at Summerfest) and they got married last year (again, at Summerfest!) What a romance!

Here is Rae and Jim's website: www.PlantPeaceDaily.org, and here is a link to the fantastic Vegetarian Summerfest, sponsored by the North American Vegetarian Society: http://www.vegetariansummerfest.org

Let me know if you give green smoothies a try, dear readers.

Until next time, best wishes, Bonnie

Sister Becoming Vegan and BYOV

I am so excited about this! My sister, Carol, has decided to become a vegan! She said that she didn't realize what an impact Vegetarian Summerfest had upon her until she made this decision a few days afterward.

Her reading, too, impacted her decision. I gave her a lot of books to read on the subject, and she bought some at the Summerfest too. Some books, about slaughterhouses, especially moved her to take action. In addition, she wanted to change for health reasons, as we see how our Mom is doing in her later years.

One of these days I will write down the titles of all of the books, but only after they are returned to me, so I have record of them. Many are quite remarkable.

Since becoming vegan, one colleague Carol works with said, "Carol, you are getting skinny." (By the way, have you read "Skinny Bitch"?) Carol has lost 5 pounds in a short amount of time. I forgot to say that she is eating not only vegan, but low fat vegan - my goal as well. She doesn't want to eat many processed foods, so she is cooking veggies like crazy and she also bought a juicer!

Victoria Moran (see my other post for info about her) says that she always makes herself veggie juice every morning that includes apples and kale, as two of the ingredients. Kale makes me so happy, because I know when I eat it I am doing something wonderful for my body.

One day I began eating kale off a veggie tray. It was supposed to be a garnish just to be pretty under other salads or fruit or something. But I found kale to be okay just eaten raw, and it is great torn up with some delicious balsamic vinegar (the best kind from Williams Sonoma), salt and pepper on it, and nothing else. You can make a big salad - in a company sized salad bowl - and just eat that and feel really good about it. Does that sound weird? Another thing that Victoria said was that sometimes people say to her "are you going to eat all of that salad?" And she says "yes, and I may also eat another one after this one!" She has a good attitude!

My sister, Carol, has the right idea, though, trying to not eat processed foods. I, on the other hand, eat just about nothing but processed foods. I love beans, and they are readily available. Just open a can! Today I had Hormel Veggie Chili (one gram of fat) and Bush's Baked Beans (zero fat) and a veggie dog. Oh, I'm bad! It was good, though!

I will tell you one more funny thing -- my daughter, Holly, invited me to a July 4 cookout. She said it was BYOV -- do you know what that stands for? Bring your own veggie burger!

Until next time -- I hope to hear from you soon! Bonnie

Vegetarian Summerfest in Johnstown, PA

My sister, Carol, and I attended Vegetarian Summerfest in Johnstown PA this year. I had been wanting to go for many years, and this was my first experience with it. What a remarkable event it was! How wonderful it was to hear the superb speakers talk on a variety of topics. Many of the speakers are authors and they had fine credentials as well.

My most life changing experience at the summerfest was the informative and persuasive session given by Jeff Novick (http://www.pritkin.com/articlelist/novik.shtm). This dietitian advocates adding no extra oil to your diet, as all vegetables have some oil in them already. He also proved to the audience that olive oil was not as good for you as we all believe.

And to think that I always thought slathering on the olive oil was a good thing!

Anyway, because of the summerfest, I have chosen to eat not only vegan, but low fat vegan - not an easy task, to be sure, especially when on the road.

Another terrific program was given by Victoria Moran, who spoke on staying youthful. Here is her website: http://www.victoriamoran.com/. Her book is called "Younger by the Day," and she not only spoke eloquently about the topic, but she is a stunning example of a beautiful vegan. In fact, after seeing many of the people at the event, it keeps me on the path in even a more dedicated way.

I would love to hear from any of you who are transitioning to becoming a vegan. Take care, Bonnie