Smoothies

Cassidy & I have been on a alkalizing detox program for a little while. She did it to improve her health and lose some weight; I did it to support her and also to get a start with my new gluten free eating plan. I think gluten has been giving me digestive trouble so I decided to removed it from my diet, along with dairy and sugar which I gave up a couple of year ago. The 21 days alkalizing detox plan is basically gluten free, dairy free, and sugar free plus lots of other restrictions. Some days I feel like a rabbit while I'm munching on baby carrots, cucumbers, and celery sticks. . . .
The best thing that we learned from the detox program is that I discovered some really yummy non-dairy smoothies. We started the program at the beginning of December; what a terrible time to embark a new eating challenge! I felt like there was no way I could help Cassidy to get going since December was the busiest time of the year for me but I managed to come up with a plan.

To save time, I peel and cut up the fruits in advance (approximately 1" chunks), measure and store them in zip lock bags in the freezer. Since I always make two large smoothies, each bag contain 16 oz of fruits.
When I make smoothies, I just pull out one zip lock bag, break up the frozen fruits a bit, dump them in our VitaMix Blending Station blender, add almond, rice, or coconut milk beverage to 16 oz mark and start blending. Usually a little more liquid is needed to keep the blender going until the frozen fruits and non-dairy milk are blended smoothly. I prefer the coconut milk (Silk PureCoconut original) with my smoothies but almond (Blue Diamond Almond Breeze Vanilla, unsweetened) or rice milk (Kirkland Signature Organic Ricemilk original) works well also.

Below is a list of smoothies flavors that we love.

Mango Pineapple
8 oz mango
8 oz pineapple

Pineapple Kiwi
3 large kiwi
enough pineapple chunks added to make 16oz

Pineapple Peach
8 oz pineapple
8 oz peaches

Pineapple Raspberries
10 oz pineapple
6 oz raspberries
1 Tbs agave

Raspberries Peach
10 oz peaches
6 oz raspberries
1 Tbs agave

Blueberries Raspberries
8 oz blueberries
8 oz raspberries

"Frosty" smoothie treat
1 cup Vanilla Almond Milk (Blue Diamond Almond Breeze sweetened, or other brand) place in ice tray and freeze into ice cubes
2 Tbs baking cocoa
1 Tbs agave
1/2 cup Sweetened Vanilla Almond Milk

Breakfast Green Smoothie
1/4 cup almond meal
1 piece of fresh ginger, 1/2' thick
1 cup fresh baby kale
1 cup fresh spinach
8 oz mango
8 oz pineapple
6 oz coconut water

Pumpkin, Apple, and Chive Biscuit and other variations

I am not sure if it is "old age" or my liver is no longer functioning well, gluten has been giving me digestive trouble. Couple of year ago I removed dairy and refine sugar from my diet and now gluten is gone. At this rate, pretty soon I will not be eating anything . . . maybe only veggie and fruits. . .  :-(
With my new eating plan, I've been on the lookout for gluten free recipes and I discover a blog called The Urban Poser by Jenni Hulet and absolutely love just about everything. Everything looks so yummy delicious and it's mostly dairy free and gluten free. I almost pinned every photo onto my Pinterest.

The original recipe is called Pumpkin, Apple, Bacon, and Chive Biscuit from The Urban Poser but since bacon is not on the alkalizing detox plan which is  dairy free, gluten free, and sugar free and Cassidy thought the biscuits are too "eggy" (can anyone tell that she doesn't like eggs), so here I am changing recipes.

Dry ingredients:
1/2  cup coconut flour (original recipe called for 1 cup coconut flour, the biscuit is very falls apart easily)
1/2 cup gluten free flour
1/2 tsp baking soda (original recipe calls for 1 tsp baking but I think the final product tastes too much of baking soda)
1/4  tsp salt

Wet ingredients for pumpkin biscuit:
1/2  cup coconut oil, softened
2/3  cup fresh roasted pumpkin puree (butternut squash, acorn squash...)
4-8 Tbsp of coconut milk beverage (depending on the moisture content of the squash)
1 egg
2 Tbs chive chopped, thinly sliced (or dehydrated)
1/4 cup very finely chopped tart apples
(1/4 cup bacon pieces)

Since there is no added sweetener in this recipe, I came up with a different version of the biscuit - apple cinnamon - to be enjoyed while we are on the detox challenge. It's very yummy! Cassidy likes it better than the pumpkin version.

Same dry ingredients as above and add 1/2 tsp cinnamon and a pinch of all spice for apple cinnamon biscuits. 

Wet ingredients for apple cinnamon biscuit:

1/2  cup coconut oil, melted
2/3  cup unsweetened apple sauce
1 egg

1/4 cup very finely chopped tart apples

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F.  Combine dry ingredients, shift, and set aside.

In a separate bowl combine the coconut oil, pumpkin puree (or apple sauce), coconut milk (for pumpkin biscuit only), egg, and beat till smooth.  Add the flour mixture to the batter and mix well until no lumps. Add apples and chives (or apples for apple cinnamon biscuit) and mix well. The batter should not be too thick, a little on the soft side but still be able to hold together. Add more liquid if needed as it may vary depending on the texture of the pumpkin puree. Use an ice cream scoop to scoop and drop batter onto the oiled or parchment paper lined baking sheet.Makes about 8-10 scones.

Bake for about 20-25 min or until slightly golden. Do not over bake of they will be dry. Best eaten same day or while still warm. Can store in airtight container and reheat in toaster oven or microwave before serving.

Gluten free flour recipe from The Art of Gluten Free Baking:

1 1/4 C (170 g) brown rice flour
1 1/4 C (205 g) white rice flour
1 C (120 g) tapioca flour
1 C (165 g) sweet rice flour (also known as glutinous rice flour or under the brand name, Mochiko)
2 scant tsp. xanthan gum