Orange is the New Green Smoothie

I just happened upon this delicious combination. Maybe using the Whole Juice cycle is what makes it so silky, but truly I think the pith of the orange has something to do with it.

My New Favorite Smoothie

2 large seedless navel oranges, peeled and separated into quarters
1 medium carrot, cut into three inch pieces
5-6 lettuce leaves, leaf, romaine or cos lettuce

Place all ingredients in Blendtec. Run Whole Juice cycle. Serve.

The Whole Baba Ghanouj

1 medium eggplant (approximately one pound)
1 tablespoon capers
2 cloves of garlic, peeled
juice of 1 small lemon
fresh ground black pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375. Trim the stem and quarter your eggplant. Brush the largest cut sides with olive oil and place on a baking sheet. Prick numerous times with fork or knife. Bake about 45 minutes, or until very soft.

When eggplant is cool enough to handle briefly, toss it into the blender with the capers, garlic and lemon juice. Leave the peel on. Run on Sauces/Dip cycle. Serve immediately, while still warm, garnished with pepper, or chill for later.

I love baba ghanouj, but I always thought scraping out the eggplant pulp and discarding the skin was sort of tragic. I liked this dip. If you like a creamier dip, you can add the traditional tahini or olive oil. You could also roast your garlic with the eggplant, for a sweeter, mellower flavor.

Mistakes

This is what happens when you attempt to make scallion pancakes -- those delicious, crispy appetizers commonly found in Korean and Chinese restaurants -- but add the scallions at the wrong step. I was going for big visible pieces and got a nice tasting but uniformly green batter. There were other things that needed tweaking, but I'll be giving it another try, so look for the recipe soon.

Orange Creamsicle Smoothie

Ingredients:

1 medium carrot, trimmed and cut into 3-inch long pieces
1 large seedless navel orange, peeled and quartered
1 cup cooked great northern white beans
1/2 teaspoon of alcohol free vanilla
1/3 of 1/4 teaspoon of powdered stevia extract (that's 0.083 teaspoons)



Method:

Place orange and carrot in Blendtec jar, run Whole Juice cycle. Add remaining ingredients. Of course, if you lack stevia you can use your sweetener of choice. Similarly, if you can't find alcohol-free vanilla, you could try a non-dairy vanilla-flavored milk or yogurt, keeping in mind this will add sweetness as well as change the consistency. Run on Smoothie cycle. Serve.



This is a thick smoothie. I liked it. My roommate tasted it and wasn't as pleased with the consistency. We agreed that another orange or an apple added at the Whole Juice cycle would probably improve it in both flavor and texture. Be careful with the stevia; you could even go less and you definitely don't want to go more.