fresh veggie delivery

Tags

beets, cooking, food, food delievery, Green Earth Organics, health, healthy, healthy eating, organic food, organic vegetables, potatoes, vegetables

Recently I decided to try out something new and ordered vegetables online. The whole thing started when Green Earth Organics popped up in a conversation I was part of on a facebook networking page and because I liked what they said I decided to check out their website.

I loved the idea of a box of seasonal, organically grown vegetables delivered straight to my door and their prices were reasonable too. The boxes on offer come in different sizes and different contents: large ones for families, ones picked for juicers, one with purely Irish produce,  and one filled with favourites. They even have bags of fruit and an array of other healthy products.

Since I live on my own I opted for a small box for the test run and this morning a white van pulled up outside my door delivering a box filled with freshly picked vegetables:leeks, beets, broccoli, potatoes, carrots, onions and parsnips. Green Earth Organics even added a handwritten note and recipe to help inspire their customers what to cook.

Now I can’t wait to cook the vegetables and find out if they taste as good as they look. So tonight I’ll be enjoying some fresh beetroot and I see some yummy vegetable soup over the weekend.

I can’t believe how excited I am about this but I have to say I am impressed how easy and efficient my online vegetable shopping experience has been. So I’ll possibly be seeing more of the friendly carrot Green Earth Organics has on their logo as I think I may become a regular customer: fresh vegetables delivered directly to my door is just to good to pass up on.

a box filled with healthy vegetables

creating kale chips

Tags

baking, carb-free, cheat, cooking, eating, food, healthy eating, kale, kale chips, vitamins

Even the busiest person has to eat and since eating alone can been alone can be a little lonely I decided to invite my wonderful artist friend Dragana over for dinner last night.

A roast chicken and some salad was the obvious choice for me. After all, while the chicken happily cooks in the oven you can do other things, only a bit of basting now and then. As a salad lover (and knowing that Dragana always loves my homemade dressing) chopping up, dicing and mixing whatever salady stuff I find in my fridge into a concoction of healthyness is something I do most nights anyway.

However my guest has decided to go carb-free for a while, so any rice, pasta, potato or even carrot side serving was out. Not wanting to give up on something a little crispy I decided to make some kale chips, something I haven’t done in a while but always find yummy.

An additional bonus – kale is one of those super foods that is high in vitamin K, A & C followed by lots of manganese, fiber, calcium and a whole slue of other healthy qualities. And while of course it’s always best to steam vegetables, drizzling them with oil, salt and spices and letting them bake in the oven isn’t a bad option either.

So, if you want to try it yourself, just make sure you tear up the kale leaves into manageable sizes (cooks more evenly), get rid of any big stems (they end up tasting like sticks) and wash them. Once dry (I lie them out on a towel and dab to make sure all the water is gone), sprinkle with oil and spice (I put oil, about a tablespoon full, into my hand and massage the oil into the leaves, I do the same with the spices), put into the oven for about 10 at 150 degrees, toss once, back in for another 5-10 minutes.

The results are crispy, not burnt and really yummy!

before the oven

yummy crispiness after the oven

green smoothie

Tags

food, green smoothie, health, healthy eating, helthy food, smoothie

the perfect green smoothie

yummy and healthy

I love making myself smoothies for breakfast, there is something so satisfying about all that fruit mixed in with almond milk and some cereal toppings. It isn’t just a very tasty way to start the day but a very healthy one too.

My preferred mix is blueberries with a banana, maybe some strawberries (or other berries), a pear or a peach and some spinach. Yesterday, however, I tried something a little new.

Instead of having an early morning smoothie I decided to have a lunch one, so I mixed it up a bit. I still used almond milk and spinach (fresh but from the freezer) but I added some celery, a kiwi, some cucumber, a small pear and a banana (it just makes for a better consistency).

This yummy green smoothie was not only the perfect mix of sweet and savoury but really refreshing – the kiwi added a bit of zing, the celery a bit of bite and the cucumber made the whole thing crisp.

Now I think that my morning berry smoothie may have a bit of competition!