Fun with Food Processors 2: Venergy Drinks

If I had more business acumen, I might try spinning Venergy Drinks into a retail shop. Like Jamba Juice, except...with a different name. And different ingredients. In fact, I did wonder briefly whether I was making a mistake putting this up online - until I realized that I only have three confirmed readers so far (hi gals!) and that places like Jamba Juice do you one better, and let you see all the ingredients and exactly how to make it, free with any purchase.

For the record, these aren't completely like Jamba Juice. I am also ripping off V8.

These are highly customizable, and excellent if you are like me and getting a box of seasonal organic produce once every two weeks. It's basically a smoothie with vegetables in it. It's one of the single healthiest things you can consume, with the caveat that your body reacts differently when you chew something than when you drink something and so it's probably not great for your digestion. I've actually noticed these are really filling, but that actually seems like a pro, rather than a con.

General guideline is that you want about a 1:1 balance of fruit to vegetables, something juicy enough to make it drinkable (or add water), and something other than fruit or veggies to give it flavor (in addition to the spices listed below, I've also tried peanut butter). If the fruit doesn't give it enough sweetness on its own, add honey or agave nectar.

Venergy Drink 1 (aka V8*)
1 grapefruit
1/2 cucumber
2 carrots, peeled
3-4 handfuls of blueberries
1-2 handfuls of grapes
1 inch piece of scallion
1 tsp ground ginger
2 sprigs of fresh parsley
1 tsp of honey

Venergy Drink 2 (aka V12 - pictured above)
1 peach, pitted
1 large orange
2 carrots, peeled
1/2 cucumber
3-4 handfuls of blueberries
1-2 handfuls of grapes
1/4 cup of salad (mixed greens, cabbage, chard, lettuce, etc)
1/4 cup of broccoli
1 tsp cinammon

Go easy with the spices, a little goes a long way and you can always add more. For the record, of the two above I preferred the second one - the peach has so much fructose in it that I didn't need to add anything else to it to sweeten it. I made one this morning using apple and nectarine but had to add about 2 cups of water to get it to be liquidy enough.

* I am using the apparent V8 definition of what constitutes a vegetable, as their recipe includes the herbs parsley and watercress, as well as tomatoes - which, despite what the Supreme Court might tell you, are a fruit.

Novelties: Veggie Pizza with Portobello Mushroom Crust

This was one of my more inventive ideas - along with Venergy Drinks, coming soon. I still think it is theoretically possible to pull this off, but I'm not convinced the effort is worth it, since you can cut the stem off a portobello to make a mini-pizza anyway.

The basic idea, though, was to make a pizza crust without using dough. I've played around with roasted portobello mushroom dishes and decided that if I threw some mushrooms in my food processor and added some oil, I could make a crust. I threw in a few cloves of garlic, because why not get that in the "crust" directly if you can?

Ingredients:
2-3 portobello mushrooms
2-3 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup (maybe? Eyeball it) olive oil
1/2 cup tomato sauce, or canned diced tomatoes with basil and oregano
diced veggies/toppings of your choice
cheese of choice - enough to cover

Then the toppings are just like a basic pizza. You could theoretically do whatever you want.

I baked it for over an hour at 350 degrees. The "crust" never cohered, and burned a little around the edges. Although you couldn't eat it like a pizza, which was my main goal, it still tasted pretty good.

I'm thinking an egg or something else with emulsifiers might work better to bind it if I try it again. I may try to make the crust thinner, too. Pre-cooking or drying the crust may help as well.

Fun with Food Processors 1: Sun-Dried Tomato Tapenade

Tapenade is a French word for "delicious on bread." Typically its made with olives. This recipe adds sun dried tomatoes because it's cool like that.

Ingredients:
Olives
Olive oil
Garlic
Sun dried tomatoes
Lime juice (optional)
Paprika
Salt and pepper to taste

You can probably do this in a blender but I recommend a food processor instead. If you're not sure about the operation, just remember that ingredients go inside the food processor, and body parts stay outside.

I haven't put in measurements because I usually eyeball it. I go for a roughly 1:1 ratio of olives to sun dried tomatoes. I recommend draining the olives first so that the salt from the brine doesn't ruin it - something I've learned from experience.

You can pick your poison as far as the olives are concerned - I've used kalamata, Spanish, and black, but the olives should be a secondary taste to the tomatoes. And the garlic. Mmmm, garlic.

If your tomatoes came in a jar with oil in it, you can use some of that oil in the recipe. If they are dry (like mine were, above), you will need to either add some water or some olive oil to get the consistency right. I'm not sure about the lime juice, but I had some around last time I made it and figured it might fill out the flavor some. It'd be fine without, though, so if you're skittish, you can omit it.

Aside from being amazing on bread, you can also use it in wraps or with eggs. It's amazing with bread, though.

Sweet Potato/Yam Fries

Potatoes are one of the biggest crops in the world (along with corn and wheat), but they are a nutritional black hole. Yams aren't exactly a nutritional goldmine, but they're way better than non-sweet potatoes - and they actually, you know, have a flavor, instead of tasting like moist spackle.

Recipes abound for baked yam fries...which I should try ones of these days. I just used the way I learned to make fries and substituted yams for potatoes (N.B. - the oil adds calories, though, so calorie-conscious folks are better off baking).

It's really easy: peel the yam, saving the peels for stock if you like. Slice it into a pleasing, fry-like shape. You should get a lot of fries from a single yam - if not, you may be using a carrot by mistake.

Heat canola oil in a large saucepan. Add fries. Cook. I will sometimes reserve the excess oil in a jar to re-use later.

These are good with ketchup or mayo (unless Vincent Vega will be joining); if your local super market stocks it and you like spicy food, wasabi mustard works well, too.

Cowboy Soup

Soup really is good food, although I think it's way better when it's not out of a can. And given how easy it is to make, why would you use canned stuff? The ease with which it is made can be summarized by the following equation:

ingredients + water + heat + time = soup

Note that I have water listed in the equation, although it's way better with stock, which is really easy to make. It's also very Earth conscious, since you make it with stuff you would normally throw away. Go green. Just not in your soup. Unless it's St. Patrick's Day.

This is basically a tomato vegetable soup. I used the stock I made in the last recipe and then made up some more with some yam peelings, some chard stems, and the remnants of a lime I had squeezed for the lime juice.

Ingredients (but really, do whatever):
2 tbsp olive oil
1 quarter white onion, diced*
1 cup diced scallions*
1 orange pepper, diced*
1 yellow pepper, diced*
5 cloves garlic, minced*
2 liters vegetable stock*
1 can unsalted diced tomatoes, with juice*
1 can kidney beans*
1 can black beans*
2 cups chopped Swiss chard*
1 tsp turmeric
2 tbsp paprika*
salt and black pepper to taste
grated parmesan
3 basil leaves, chopped

* Or more. Or less. Seriously, do whatever. Note that I did not put an asterisk by the turmeric...that stuff is pretty potent so it's one of the few spices where I err on the side of caution.

You could get by with throwing everything in a pot and waiting for the veggies to get soft and the soup to taste yummy. But I modified a recipe in How to Cook Everything, which, despite its title, has a woefully limited scope.

Heat the olive oil in the biggest sauce pan/crock pot/iron cauldron you have. Sauteé the onions and scallions until your kitchen smells yummy. Add the peppers and the garlic and lightly sauteé them. Remember Alton Brown's directives about garlic: the smaller you mince it, the stronger the flavor; and once you burn it, it's toast.

Add the stock. If you have frozen stock, melt it separately (or in the microwave). Add everything but the parmesan and basil. Bring to a boil, then reduce to low heat and cover, letting simmer for a few hours.

Garnish with parmesan and fresh basil. Makes 10 servings. Maybe more. Maybe less.