Kale, Pineapple, Lime & Coconut Smoothie!

Kale, Pineapple, Lime & Coconut Smoothie!

 So, I accompanied a friend of mine to Costco last weekend and as many of you probably know, you could practically live off of the samples there...good thing I went hungry! I sampled some bruschetta, frozen yogurt...and then it happened. The Vitamix demonstration!! Good god! I've wanted one of these magnificent machines for a while, they can do it all! It's an industrial powered food processor, blender, juicer, ice cream maker, soup maker; they're awesome...and over $500!
This didn't stop me from stalking the sweet lady providing me with one delicious sample after another. The first one I tried was fresh kale, pineapple, lime and coconut. Yum! I could've kissed her on the mouth! I knew I had to come home and try to recreate this fine elixir with either my juicer or blender as soon as possible. I opted for the blender as I have yet to try kale in my juicer but I'm sure it'll work just fine. The blender just offers faster clean-up and I wanted to pretend I had a Vitamix!

 I started with a bunch of kale, a fresh pineapple, one lime and some Coconut Almond Milk.

I recently found out that the way to check a pineapple for ripeness is to tug on one of it's leaves, if it comes out easily, it's ready!

Chop up your pineapple and toss it in the blender.

Chop up your kale and toss it in there too! 

Here's another cool tip I learned recently. If you need the juice from a lime but don't want to waste the whole thing, just tap it! 



Always roll your citrus between the palm of your hand and a hard surface before slicing to get the most juice out of it, but this time, rather than slicing, just poke it with a toothpick and squeeze out only what you need.

Then plug up the hole with the toothpick and store in the fridge...GENIUS!

Add your Almond Coconut Milk

And GO!!

Behold! The healthy goodness of fresh, local ingredients...GET IN MY BELLY!!

  Kale, Pineapple, Lime & Coconut Smoothie! 

 SERVES 1

2 Cups Pineapple, chopped
1 Cup Kale, chopped
The Juice from 1 Lime, to taste
1/2 or so Almond Coconut Milk
A banana would be awesome in here too!

Grilled Mahi Mahi with Roasted Beets, Sweet Potatoes and Crispy Kale

 

 Oh man, this one's so good and sooo easy!

Start off with roasting your root veg. You could really throw anything in a little foil packet and roast it up but today I went with beautiful golden beets, red beets and sweet potatoes.
Crank up your oven to 450.

Just look at how lovely these golden beets are! Yum!! Pull out a large piece of foil and place it dull side up always. It took me forever to remember that for some reason, but if you think of the dull side as the non-stick surface than it should be easy to remember to always put the shiny side down.
Now pour a little olive oil onto your foil.

Slice up your veggies. You can do them in big chunks if you like, just remember that the thinner you slice em, the faster they'll cook!
I cubed my beets but cut my sweet potatoes in wedges just for a different look.

 Place them on your foil and sprinkle with S&P and a little for oil over the top. I added some chopped fennel root too...yum! Then shake em up in there to be sure that the oil coats all of your veg.

Wrap up your packet reeeal tight!
Then put it in the oven for 30-45 minutes. They're done when you can ease a fork right into your veg and if you leave them in there even longer, they just get better!
Be careful when you open it, the steam is just packed in there ready to escape!

While your veggies are steaming, cook your kale.

I get a lot of questions about how to do crispy kale properly. There are a few ways you can do it, but I've found that sautéing is the best and that slow and low is the way to go.
I like to use coconut oil for many reasons, one of them being that it has a high burning temp so it won't brown your greens too much. Add a few tablespoons til melted then turn the heat to low and add your kale. You can either chop it up or cheat like I do and use kitchen scissors. Just grip the bunch tightly in one hand and snip off the kale into your pan. You only need to add S&P to your kale and stir it occasionally and it really brings out the natural buttery goodness that's hidden inside of these greens. The longer you sauté it, the crispier it will get...you'll be hooked!

Kale shrinks down significantly while cooking so don't be afraid to add more as you go.

Get yourself a nice piece of fish. Today I chose Mahi Mahi, which has more of a meaty feel than your average whitefish but I think a nice talapia would be awesome with this dish as well. 

Just season with a little S&P and grill that sucker up!

Pull out your packet and observe the caramelized goodness.

 Plate your kale, add your roasted veg and set your fish right on top!

 You're good to go...dig in!!!

 Grilled Mahi Mahi with Roasted Beets, Sweet Potatoes and Crispy Kale

SERVES 2

1 Pound Mahi Mahi
1 Golden Beet
1 Red Beet
1 Sweet Potato
A few pieces of Fennel Root
1 Bunch of Kale, chopped or cut
Olive Oil
S&P

 

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