I love a good protein shake. I don’t love eating a lot of protein sans vegetables or fruit. This shake solves that issue with a healthy handful of kale. Yes, you heard me, kale.

I’ve had this gluten free, dairy free protein shake for breakfast the last three days in a row. I used kale that I picked from my garden. Starting the day off with a heaping dose of protein keeps my energy level up and helps me get in a better morning workout.

The boys are back in school, if you can believe that. They started last week. We are getting into a good groove and I welcome the routine, though I miss the houseful of boys that we had here all summer. It’s so quiet until my two arrive home with a gaggle of friends looking for food, which of course I’m more than happy to provide.

I haven’t offered them this Mint Chip Protein Shake yet, however, I will this week. And take note, this shake is not about hiding foods from your children (or adults), it’s about being able to eat something rich and smooth for breakfast that has a nice dose of fiber in it. I don’t think this tastes super kale-ish, however, it does have a good earthy flavor to it. I’m curious to see if you like it too.

Here are some other protein shakes for you:

• Breakfast Power Smoothie
• Kale Creamsicle
• Greeña Colada

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Have you seen Hallie Klecker’s new book The Pure Kitchen?

This cookbook is a lovely collection of healthy gluten free, dairy free recipes. I absolutely love the “Energizing Breakfasts” section which contains quick and easy smoothie recipes full of superfoods; the book also contains wonderful recipes such as Spring Pesto Drizzle, which is packed with healthy greens.

I had the pleasure of meeting Hallie at a conference last year, and can assure you she is every bit as lovely in person as she is on her blog, Daily Bites.

The smoothie below is a slight adaptation of the recipe in Hallie’s book for a Pure Power Smoothie. Hallie and I both like to make smoothies with protein powder in order to start the day off with a nice energy boost. This quick and healthy smoothie is great for breakfast and also makes a delicious afternoon snack.

Here are some of my other favorite quick and healthy smoothie/shake recipes:
-Nut Butter Protein Shake
-Ginger Cilantro Green Shake
-Protein Powder Piña Colada

What’s your favorite vitamix recipe?

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This dairy free peanut butter protein shake is a great way to start the day.  I like to drink it before I go to the gym –the protein (about 50 grams) gives me energy during my entire workout, and then some.

I’ve been on a major peanut butter kick lately, in fact, this is my third gluten free peanut butter recipe in the last week or so.  Earlier, I posted my Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies, after that I posted my classic gluten free and vegan Peanut Butter Cookies, and now this here shake.  I’m in Texas, y’all, hence my new accent.

We’re in Waco for my son’s Little League baseball tournament.  The thermometer says it’s 107°; in reality when we’re driving around, it’s closer to 112°.  The team could care less though.  They’ve been hoping to make it to regionals since they were 10 year olds (they’re 12 now).

Our summer has been filled with baseball and not too much else –the team has practiced 2-4 hours every day.  We won the district tournament, then went on to capture the state tournament, so we are now the official Colorado State Champs.

This week we’re here for the regional tournament.  If we win, we’ll go to the Little League World Series (an international competition), though between you all and me, that’s really a long shot!  We’re just trying to make it through the heat at this point against all of the amazing teams from the South.  Here’s a picture of our team.

Earlier this week I squeezed in a day at Jen Yu’s amazing workshop Food and Light here in Boulder.  I learned so many incredible photography and food styling techniques from Jen, Matt Wright, Diane Cu and Todd Porter.  I also met many wonderful people and spent time chatting with Averie from Loves Veggies and Yoga and Manisha from Indian Food Rocks.

It’s been busy, busy as you can gather from the above, so I’ve been relying on quick and easy gluten free breakfasts such as my:

• Protein Powder Pina Colada
• Gluten Free Granola
• Gluten Free Porridge

Enjoy the shake!

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This dark green, luscious shake is my go to drink when I need a little protein pick me up.

To me, the flavor of the kale is not that pronounced, what comes through is the creamy richness of the protein powder with the tart sweetness of the orange, thereby forming a yummy gluten-free, dairy-free creamsicle experience in a glass.  Enjoy!

I will be speaking at (the sold out!) BlogHer Food ’10 this Saturday, October 9th discussing the ins and outs of recipe writing. You can find more information about my appearance on the BlogHer event website.

Don’t forget about my giveaway for a chance to win a copy of my new book, Gluten-Free Cupcakes: 50 Irresistible Recipes Made with Almond and Coconut Flour. To be entered, head on over to my Gluten-Free Cupcakes Cookbook post. This giveaway will end on October 11th, 2011. The book will be shipped to the winner on its publication date, April 26th, 2011.

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I’m loving this gluten free, dairy free Strawberry Lime Shake made of fresh homemade coconut milk.  My boys love it too.  After I took a picture of the shake yesterday and placed it in the fridge, the boys grabbed it greedily and drank it all down.  They have a certain penchant for consuming my photo shoots like that.

Here’s the recipe so you can make your own.

If you are in the Chicago area this weekend the Gluten Free Cooking Expo (at The Wyndham Hotel) will be demonstrating some of my gluten free recipes on April 17th & 18th. You can still sign up at the Gluten Free Life Store.

Fast Recipes, a recipe website that covers news and trends in the culinary world, recently conducted an online interview with me called “Elana’s Pantry: Gluten-Free Recipes with an Almond Twist“. The interview was mostly about home cooking and of course elanaspantry.com and The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook. If you have a second pop on over and check it out.

Lastly I wanted to mention that a reader recently forwarded me a link to an online petition to encourage George Mason University to include menu items in their cafeteria to accommodate people with Celiac Disease and other autoimmune disorders. I think it’s a good cause and recommend you at least take a peek to see if you would like to sign the petition as well.

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The idea for this green smoothie comes from the amazing Sarma of oneluckyduck.com.  I recently purchased her book Living Raw Food and am loving it.  While some of the recipes can be complex, she has many that can be made in minutes. 

This Ginger Cilantro Shake is a hybrid of her Cilantro-Pineapple Shake and her Bangkok Baby.  Here is my version, a nice healthy green drink for Saint Patrick’s day.

I recently read a great article in Fast Company about the Ten Most Inspiring People in Sustainable Food.  Of course, the usual suspects such as the fabulous Michael Pollan were in it; however, they also mentioned some very unusual and fascinating people and ideas in this article including a proposed plan for vertical farming in cities created by a professor at Columbia University named Dickson Despommier. 

Here’s a big shout out to Professor Despommier –wish you had been at Columbia when I was a student there many moons ago!

After looking further into vertical farms I found another inspiring bit –a site called windowfarms.org in New York City.  This is an amazing idea!

Happy green day to all of you for Saint Patrick’s!

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I love making smoothies for myself and the boys.  During the last few months, several people have asked me what kind of protein powder I use in my frozen drinks.  My favorite protein powder, in fact, the only one I use is made of egg white and stevia and is produced by the incredible Frank Zane.

Zane’s Frank Zane Egg White Protein Powder (or protein powder of your choice) is delicious any way you serve it.  I love making a fruit filled smoothie for the boys after school and throwing in a scoop of this.  It’s high in protein (25 grams per scoop) and low in carbohydrates (1 gram per scoop).  While I’ve created this smoothie recipe using Zane’s protein powder, I have several others that I make for the boys as well, so stay tuned…

The boys love this drink and I love giving them this high protein piña colada.

Frank Zane’s Protein Powder Piña ColadaNote: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.
½ cup water
½ cup coconut milk
1 heaping cup frozen pineapple
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 scoop Frank Zane Egg White Protein Powder (or protein powder of your choice)
2 ice cubes

1. Combine water, coconut milk and frozen pineapple in a vitamix
2. Puree on high speed until smooth
3. Blend in coconut oil, then protein powder, then ice cubes
4. Serve to hungry little children or thirsty adults

1-2 servings

The boys also enjoy having this shake for breakfast. Given all the processed starchy things they eat, I like to get some of this pure clean protein into them whenever I can.

I’m looking forward to heading out to San Francisco this weekend with my husband and the boys for the Blogher Conference where I will be speaking about Best Blogging Practices.  This will be my first Blogher and I’m really looking forward to attending!

I’m hoping I bump into the Pioneer Woman at the conference so that I can thank her for featuring me on her site tastykitchen.com.  Just in case I don’t meet her there, I’ll say it now.  Thank you!

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Even though summer is coming to a close, I’m still into my green juices and smoothies; more than ever, in fact.  This is one of my favorites and I owe credit to Meghan Telpner as it is based on one of the recipes from the Green Cleanse on her site.

I’m running out to the airport with one of these in hand to refresh and revive me on the dash to Denver.  Soon I’ll be in NYC doing signings and I hope to see some of you there, while I’m in my green smoothie withdrawal.

Gluten Free Green Piña ColadaNote: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.
1 large cucumber, peeled and chopped
¼ cup water
½ cup parsley
½ cup frozen pineapple chunks
1 tablespoon coconut oil
5 drops stevia
4 ice cubes

1. Place cucumber and water in a vitamix and process on high until liquid
2. Add parsley, pineapple, coconut oil, stevia and ice and blend until smooth
3. Serve

This refreshing green smoothie is a great post workout drink.  It is hydrating, full of good greenness and a nice little dose of fat. I like to think of it as a green Piña Colada, or a “Greeña Colada.”  I feel so healthy drinking it!

Speaking of getting healthy, the winner of last weeks Friday Freebie for the GAPS Guide is Jeannette!

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My birthday party last weekend was great fun. The only snafu? Excess victuals. There must have been 1 pie per person in attendance at our gathering. And while a good time seemed to be had by all –a couple handfuls of children jumped on the trampoline with the sprinklers going under it –my refrigerator was still overflowing by the evening’s end.

Luckily, our friends Chris and Larry had their own soiree the next night and were kind enough to let me bring my extra quiche, pies and cookies to their place to serve to their guests. So, as you can see it was quite a busy weekend.

Right now the boys and I are in recuperation mode, making quick and easy snacks and meals. Yesterday, my younger son came up with this delicious fruit smoothie comprised of raspberries and peaches –very refreshing. While his version of the beverage calls for apple juice (super sweet in result), mine uses rich and creamy cashews blended with water (cashew milk), adding a bit of protein to balance out the sweetness of the fruit.

Raspberry Peach SmoothieNote: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.
2 cups (raw) cashews, soaked 4-8 hours, discard soaking water
2 cups water
1 cup raspberries (frozen)
1 cup peaches (frozen)
2 tablespoon agave nectar or honey
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 ice cubes (if you want it colder)

1. Place cashews and water in a vitamix and process on high speed until creamy, about 1 minute
2. Add raspberries, peaches, agave and vanilla and blend until rich and smooth
3. Blend in ice cubes if desired
4. Serve in tall glasses

Serves 2

You can always make this without soaking the cashews, however it will be much creamier if soaked prior to making the smoothie. Also, be forewarned that I made this in my Vitamix and cannot vouch for the results when using a regular blender. I highly recommend the Vitamix; I use mine at least once a day and it may be one of the best major investments I have made –ever.

I drank a lot of this tasty, refreshing smoothie this afternoon; it’s delicious and quite filling! Enjoy.

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