A green smoothie for chocoholics

Who said that green smoothies taste as greens? If you still think it, you should try this one. It’s a green smoothie…for the people who don’t like green smoothies ;)

 Before trying my first green smoothie, I was quite skeptical too. Lettuce? Cucumber?? Cabbage???? I must confess that at the beginning my smoothies really tasted like greens. In fact, they were inedible. I remember that I throw half of the second I did (a especially awful one), although I hate throwing food.

My mistake was adding too much greens, water instead of juice and no avocado or nuts for the moistness. I also discovered that reserving some of the fruit and nuts (and not blending it) adds much more texture. I like to find something I can bite in my smoothie. Another thing that can spoil you creation are too bitter greens. To avoid it, I don’t use the outer leafs and remove the stems. 

Using juice instead of water also makes a difference. If you don’t aim for a 100% raw smoothie, you can use any non dairy milk too (by the way, as you have already seen this not a 100% raw smoothie either. Does anybody know if raw chocolate exist?). Try with freshly squeezed orange, lemon or even grapefruit juice. Sometimes I throw some cereals on top, or pieces of crackers (have you tried a sweet smoothie with savory crackers? Delicious!) Although I have never tried it, I suspect that coconut milk will add a nice texture too. Frozen bananas are a staple for me when it’s about smoothies, but you can also try other frozen fruits.  In short, be creative!

Choco-green smoothie Although this can be a green smoothie for chocoholics, in my case I didn’t add too much chocolate. So if you are a real chocoholic, consider adding a little bit more. Or add too some cocoa powder, although I think that extra chocolate will give a better flavor. Mine was 85% cocoa, because I love dark chocolate (99% is something out of this world). I would like to try it too with vegan milk chocolate, but I can’t find it here =( **If you want a 100% raw smoothie, omit the chocolate 1 medium nectarine (reserve ¼) ½ Apple juice (any juice can be used instead) ¼ avocado 4 dates (reserve two of them) 4 leafs lettuce 4 leafs cabbage 1 cucumber 4 Tbspoon black currants (reserve 1 Tbspoon) A couple of squares of a chocolate bar (reserve one of them) 1 Tbspoon honey, agave nectar or any other sweetener of your choise (yeah, although I am vegan, I eat sometimes honey, because agave is impossible to find here : ( Also, it’s veeeery expensive) Water (as much as needed) For decoration (optional) A handful of nuts (I used pumpkin seeds) A few peanuts covered in chocolate Put in a high speed blender all the ingredients except the reserved ones. Do it slowly: I add first the juice and then some of the vegetables (if you don’t put any liquid, it will be almost impossible to blend) , like the cucumbers and lettuce, pulse, add more greens and fruits, pulse again, until you finish blending it all. Add as much water as needed. I don’t like my smoothies very liquid, because it would not hold the nuts and pieces of fruit on the top. Chop the reserved nectarine, dates, black currants, the chocolate and nuts and mix together. Pour the smoothie in a cup or bowl, and decorate with the mix. Finish with some peanuts covered in chocolate (you can use too any kind of chocolate covered nuts instead. Almonds are delicious, as well as covered raisins)

Yesterday I went to Barcelona, to Asian House (it has got the most comfortable library I have ever seen). I tried to do some photos of the city, but then I realized that I had 5 minutes to arrive to the train station. I did them in a hurry, and as you can imagine the results were not the best. Also, it was very sunny and I couldn’t see anything on the LCD screen, and therefore couldn’t adjust the exposition time =( Nevertheless, I decided to post them anyway. Enjoy the photos! (I was going to add the photos I did on the beach, but I thought that there were already too much. In the next post ;)

On the top left corner, La pedrera, by Antoni Gaudí. I visited a cuples of times the roof, but I don't have any photo =O On the right, Paseo de Gracia. Although it's impossible to see on the photo, on the corner of the street there is a shop of Burberry. Actually, Paseo de Gracia has become a showcase for the most expensive brands: Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, Escada, Dolce Gabbana....

Asian House, inside view. There was too much people in the library, so I didn't dare to take a photo : ( On the right corner, at the bottom, a shot of a open air café in Paseo de Gracia (Passeig de Gracia in Catalan), the center of the city. A nice place to sit under its umbrellas and drink a cup of coffee, but not suitable for tight budgets: last Saturday I met there with the teacher who is helping me with my research project and she paid almost 8€ for two tiny cups of coffee and a croissant. I am sure that in other countries coffee (and other things) are more expensive, but this is really expensive for a country where about a 60% of the population earn 1.000 € a month (they are the so called "mileuristas", from "mil" (thousand) and euros). A cup of coffee doesn't cost less in Starbucks, but at least there you get a good, filling amount it =S

My foot and the skirt I bought on the sales =3

No, I won't never get tired of Starbuck's :) It's one of the best places to study for me. I am not joking! I work more and better in Starbucks than at home =S