Strawberry, Ginger, and Kefir Smoothie

I don’t drink smoothies that often, but yesterday I was in the mood for something creamy and sweet! This smoothie was everything I wanted – creamy, fruity, sweet and a little tangy. It was great for my post – workout snack, and for breakfast this morning! This recipe makes 3 small servings, or 2 large servings.

Makes 3 servings.

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups milk kefir
• 3 cups frozen strawberries
• 1 inch piece ginger
• 2 large carrots
• leaves of 4 mint sprigs
• 1/4 cup honey

Instructions

Peel the ginger and the carrots and chop each into large chunks. Combine all the ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth. In the beginning you may need to use the crush ice function to crunch the strawberries. Pour into a glass and enjoy!

Quick Tempeh Bites

Hello again! I’ve been on a short hiatus – Jake and I have been doing some traveling this month, and I have also been experimenting with recipes for the pumpkin challenge – more on those in a later post! For now, here are some quick tempeh bites for lunch or a snack to share. Sometimes when I am working from home I am in the mood for a warm lunch, but something quick to keep my energy going. This was a perfect quick meal, and it is really flexible towards whatever veggies you want to include. You can add a side of rice and kimchi or other pickled vegetables, like radishes or carrots.

Serves 1.

Ingredients

• about 4 oz. tempeh (half a package)
• 1 1/2 tsp soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp palm sugar or granulated sugar
• oil for frying
• 1/3 cup vegetables like red bell pepper, green beans, carrots, etc – something with a little crunch
• 2 green onions
• 1 tbsp cilantro
• pinch chinese five spice, or substitute cinnamon (optional)

Instructions

Cut the tempeh into small bites of whatever size you’d like to eat. I cut mine into about 1/2″ dice. Add these to a skillet over medium heat with a little bit of oil, the soy sauce, and the sugar sprinkled over top. Stir this occasionally so they don’t stick to the skillet while you prepare other ingredients.

Dice your vegetables (I used some leftover red pepper I had, but any vegetables with a little crunch will do) into a dice of a similar size as the tempeh. Set aside. Slice the green onions thinly, using the white and tender green parts, set aside.

Now, your tempeh should be browning and will have absorbed most of the liquid in the skillet. Add the diced vegetables and stir them into the tempeh to incorporate. If you think the tempeh seems too dry, add another dash of soy sauce. Add a sprinkle of five spice, if you are using it – I like just a bit of this, so just be careful to taste after you add a bit to see if you’d like more. Cook everything together until the vegetables have just started to wilt and the tempeh is a nice brown color. Remove from heat to a plate and top with the green onions and cilantro.