Tag Archives: agave nectar

Very Berry Sorbet

23 Jun

This week summer started officially, according to the calendar, because in Puerto Rico summer started since April, during Holy Week/Easter.  We have been feeling the heat for weeks…

To celebrate the “official” start of summer, our friends at Serious Eats encouraged us to share with them our favorite frozen treats in a feature Ice Cream Social.  I am a social person… and I have been meaning to make a berry sorbet for the longest time, so what better excuse than to share it with all my Serious Eats friends.

The cool thing… it only has 4 ingredients if you count the water and you only need a food processor and a freezer to make this sorbet.  I do not have an ice cream maker because my kitchen is so small I do not have the space for another gadget, so just like Alton Brown we need to multitask.  And nothing beats this in the natural and refreshing department – it only has berries and agave nectar…  Take that Häagen Dazs!!!!

 

VERY BERRY SORBET

8 frozen strawberries
24 frozen blackberries
¼ cup of water
1/3 cup of agave nectar
 

 

  1. Dissolve the agave nectar into the water.
  2. Place the frozen berries in a food processor.  I cut the strawberries in quarters to make them more even in size with the blackberries.

  1. Pulse your food processor a few times to start mashing the berries.  After a few pulses, let it process normally and pour the water and agave nectar mixture through the chute on the top.  You’ll see how the berries will turn into a slushy.
  3. If you’re not fond of sorbet with seeds, pass the mixture thru a sieve to remove as much of the seeds as possible.  If you don’t mind them, skip this step.
  4. Place in an airtight container and freeze for about 2-3 hours before serving. 

 

This recipe made about 2 cups of sorbet and it is super easy and super refreshing…  I use frozen berries I buy fresh and freeze them myself.  It’s super convenient to make smoothies at home and certainly to make this frozen treat.

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SS Smoothie

10 Jul

As you may have noticed, I’ve been making myself a lot of fruit shakes and smoothies lately, especially during the preparations for my yoga retreats.  I need to go thru days of preparations where I eat only salads, fruits and juices.  So when we have to prepare, fruit shakes are a great way to go.  Plus, it’s more appealing to me than eating one fruit at a time.

So the BB Shake does not feel too lonely with the quirky name… here comes the SS Smoothie.  This one has strawberries and spinach.  And again, the fruit flavors are sooooo awesome; you can’t taste nor see the spinach in the final product.   This shake is also very good friends of the Stealth Shake.  As you can see, after two attempts of incorporating spinach into my shakes, none of them have turned out green yet.  

 

 

THE SS SMOOTHIE

3 strawberries, quartered
A handful of fresh baby spinach
1 cup of pomegranate juice
A big squirt of agave nectar
3 cubes of ice
A bit of water , if the smoothie is too thick

 

  1. Mix everything in your blender…  and enjoy.

Here’s a picture of the spinach and strawberries before blending – trying to give you proof that indeed there’s spinach in the mix and that I did not make it up.  Another lesson… Madelyn, needs to get a glass jar for the blender so the blog pictures can look better.  Same goes for the plastic cup I used to drink it.

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BB Shake

5 Jul

We definitely need to integrate more fruits and vegetables in our diets.   I’ve heard the saying that we need to eat “the rainbow” – eat food from all the colors of the rainbow throughout the day.

Let me give you an idea for purple… the BB Shake.  I am sorry if I am turning into Rachael Ray naming the inventions I create in the kitchen.  To be honest, I do it so I can keep track of them.  Because if I’d name everything only by the main ingredients it contains, the picture folder names would be ultra long.

No matter how I name it or you want to call it, this shake is GOOD!!!  The B’s come from the Banana and the Blueberries in the recipe.  So it’s basically a Banana Blueberry Shake.  You can make it vegan or not… just play around with the ingredients and enjoy a great breakfast drink full of antioxidants and potassium.

 

 

 

THE BB SHAKE

1 banana
1 handful of blueberries
¾ cup of pineapple juice
½ cup of yogurt or kefir – I use the plain kind, but vanilla would also work nicely
A big squirt of agave nectar
2-3 cubes of ice

 

  1. Mix everything in a blender.

 

If you rather not consume anything dairy… this shake works equally well without the yogurt/kefir.  If the shake is too think, add a bit of water or extra juice and it should loosen up.

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Stealth Shake

26 Jun

I’ve been reading a lot about Green Shakes on the media lately… shakes that include a special, very nutritious ingredient to boost the nutritional value of the shake you’re drinking.

I was intrigued to know how this concoction would taste and I decided to give it a try…  I added all the ingredients I saw in a TV segment, but I was hesitant.  So before I turned on the blender, I added some berries to make sure the taste would be appealing to me.

The result…  The Stealth Shake.  All the nutrition of the green ingredient and all the fruity taste.  A very successful experiment indeed.

 

 

STEALTH SHAKE

1 banana, peeled and sliced
1 handful of fresh baby spinach
1 handful of blueberries, washed
2 strawberries, hulled and quartered
1 cup of pineapple juice
A squirt of agave nectar
2-3 ice cubes

 

  1. Mix everything in a blender for a few minutes and enjoy!!!

 

Can you see the spinach??  And believe me – you’ll not be able to taste it either!!!!  It tasted super fruity and delicious.  A shake filled with antioxidants, this is a great way to include spinach into someone’s diet without them even know it… 

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Agave Nectar

23 Jan

I learned about Agave nectar when I attended the Conscious Gourmet cooking seminar this past April.  I am sure I walked past it a million times in many health food stores, but I usually consume honey or brown sugar to sweeten things and have not had the need to use anything else…

 agave-nectar.jpg

At the seminar we discussed refined sugars and all the potential health conditions it’s associated with, such as:

Candida
Depression
Crohn’s Disease/Colitis
Ulcers
Hypertension
Gallstones
Kidney-stones
Even, Cancer

So based on this information, why not use and consume a more natural and non-processed form of sweetener?

Agave nectar is made from the same plant Tequila is made.  Cool, huh?  So because it’s a plant-based sweetener, it’s also vegan.  Another cool thing about agave nectar is it has a very low glycemic index.  This means that when you consume it, it will barely increase the glucose levels in your blood, therefore not increasing the production of insulin nor activating the fat storage system.  Hey, I learned this from my sister who is a diabetic from the age of 15 and an endocrinologist.

Just to give you an idea of the glycemic index of different foods:

Corn Flakes         119
White Bread       112
Rice                        83
Honey                   83
Apple                    54
Peas                      32
Agave nectar     27

Agave nectar then is great for those people who are diabetic, are watching their carbohydrate intake or blood glucose levels or even watching their weight.   You can see how my friend Kathleen lost about 45lbs. this last year and agave nectar is one of the few sweeteners she now uses.

And don’t underestimate its sweetness.   Agave nectar is sweeter than table sugar, but it’s not processed or contains any chemicals.  Actually, you should use about ¼ to 1/3 less amount of agave than you would sugar or honey.   You use it the same way you would use honey – to sweeten beverages, desserts, hot cereals, smoothies, yogurts, etc.  I even use it to sweeten my Spinach Crepes recipe.

Check out agave nectar the next time you go to your local health food store.  Try it, you’ll not be disappointed…

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