Monday, March 19, 2012

Kale Smoothies=yum!

The last time I was at Costco I grabbed a big bag of organic baby kale.  It's pre-washed and, like everything at Costco, comes in bulk.  I don't love cooked kale, but I figured I'd find a way to use it.  I love that it's high in iron, calcium, vitamins K, A, C, fiber, etc...
So I've been experimenting with various smoothies in our Vitamix.  Our favorite so far:

1/2 cup (or so) frozen Alaskan wild blueberries ;-)
1 organic apple
1 organic carrot
1-2  organic banana(s)
1 kiwi
2 Tbsp flax oil
1 large handful of kale
About 1/4 cup water
A sprinkling of stevia (if needed)

Although I've been making and drinking them daily, I needed to preserve the kale, as I wasn't using it fast enough.  Typically kale is blanched before freezing.  For various reasons, I didn't want to blanch it so I scoured the Internet for information on freezing without blanching.  With the Internet, perseverance pays off; if you look long and hard enough, eventually you'll find what you want to read. ;-)  I read that it's not necessary to blanch so I tried freezing it in a pillowcase (advice from the old days).  It's worked really well, although I haven't steamed it, as we use it raw in the smoothies.