Strawberry Chia "Daquiri" - Non-Alcoholic Health Smoothie Inspired by Alcoholic Beverage #2

Until recently I had never tried chia seeds. I never even thought of them or even associated them with the terra cotta housewares known as Chia Pets. However, on a whim I bought a pack of chia seeds (or salvia hispanica) not knowing what to do with them, and I found out some interesting things on wikipedia. First of all, the sprouts of these seeds are the namesake of the ever famous Chia Pets. Secondly, these seeds are often put into Mexican beverages for textural purposes, and the result is known as chia fresca. Hey then, I thought -- why not put them in a smoothie. Thus continues the "Non Alcoholic Health Smoothies Inspired By Alcoholic Beverages Series" with the Strawberry Chia "Daquiri".

Strawberry Chia "Daquiri"
The texture and sensation of a strawberry daquiri, but with chia seeds and no alcohol!


Ingredients:

1 pkg. fresh raspberries
1 pkg. fresh strawberries, tops cut off and cut in half (save a few whole strawberries for garnish)
1/4 cup pomegranate juice
1 tbsp. chia seeds
4-6 ice cubes

1. Blend raspberries, strawberries, pomegranate juice, and chia seeds.
2. Pour beverage into glasses.

Non-Alcoholic Health Smoothie Inspired by Alcoholic Beverage #1: "Mojito Smoothie"

In honor of the smoothie season of summer a new Cfook'd feature is beginning! Cfook'd will be featuring "Non-Alcoholic Health Smoothies Inspired by Alcoholic Beverages". Green smoothies are quite popular at the moment, and The New York Times' Martha Rose Shulman has been featuring some awesome smoothie ideas with nuts. Nuts in a smoothie! However, sometimes when one drinks a smoothie one wants to be reminded of their favorite alcoholic beverages without actually drinking their favorite alcoholic beverages. Thus, this new feature is launched. You can choose to douse the "Non-Alcoholic Health Smoothies Inspired by Alcoholic Beverages" in actual alcohol if you desire. However, this may somewhat negate the intended healthiness of the smoothies that Cfook'd will be featuring.


Non-Alcoholic Health Smoothies Inspired by Alcoholic Beverage #1: "Avocado Mojito Smoothie"

Ingredients:
1 avocado
1 cup spinach
2 kiwis
3 mini cucumbers (or 1/2-1 large cucumber)
1 sprig mint
1/2 teaspoon lime juice
1 - 1 1/2 cups water
Optional:
1 tsp. honey
lime slice to garnish
crushed ice to pour smoothie over to enhance Mojito effect. However, this does inhibit drinkability when the ice starts to melt.

1. Slice avocado, cucumber, and kiwi.
2. Put everything in a blender.
3. Gradually add the water and blend until there are no chunks of avocado.
4. Pour over crushed ice and add garnish to optionally enhance the Mojito effect.

Fusion Chinese / Polish Stir Fry Pilaf

Fusion cuisine is neat because you can mix all kinds of things together. If you want to put kimchi inside of a tortilla without it seeming weird to other people, you can do so if you tell them that it is "fusion" cuisine because "fusion cuisine" is very hip right now.  Today I cooked something that for purposes of this post will be called "Fusion Chinese / Polish Stir Fry Pilaf".

Fusion Chinese / Polish Stir Fry Pilaf

Serves 5-6 (or 1-2 at various points in time if you plan for leftovers on following days)

Ingredients:
1 red cabbage - cut into strips
1 white onion
7-8 carrots - cut into strips
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
6 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 1/2 teaspoon honey
1 cup of cooked sausage - sliced
3 cups of pilaf food mix (or rice or some other grain) of your choice

Step 1- Chop onion into small units. Chop cabbage into strips and peel carrots and cut them into 3 inch-ish strips.

Step 2-  Heat 5 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large skillet. Add the chopped onion and basil and cook for 2-3 minutes. Then add the carrots. Cook for 5 minutes, and then add the cabbage and cook for 10 more minutes or until just a slight bit of vegetable crispness remains.

Step 3- While the vegetables are cooking, make the pilaf, heat the sausage, and prepare the Asian-cuisine-inspired sauce. Cook the pilaf food (or rice or some other grain) according to the directions on the package, and heat the sausage however you heat sausage. For the sauce, mince the garlic, and mix it with the 1 remaining tablespoon of olive oil, the soy sauce, and the honey.

Step 4-When the vegetables are done cooking, remove them from heat and pour the sauce on top of them and mix well. Then, put some vegetables on the pilaf food or grains when they are done cooking.

This dish was evaluated as being quite edible, and good as well. Having accidentally purchased a package of "mini sausages" which rather ressemble "cocktail weenies" instead of the regular kind of sausage, I felt that it would be prudent to use them up by putting them in this dish. However, you can use any kind of sausage for this dish, and for a vegetarian version, simply omit the sausage.

Cfook'd is all about "fusion" and "hip food movements", and will feature more recipes involving such things in the future.

Welcome to Cfook'd.

Hello. Cfook'd is a blog about food and cooking. Its mission statement is to provide quality food explorations and recipes to readers of the blog and to inspire people who cook food. But what is "cooking"? Philosophically, it is not much more than heating things for consumption. Boiling, baking, steaming, grilling, microwaving food. However, the word has evolved to a sense where it can also imply not heating things up for cooking, but preparing foods in different ways, be it by chopping and dousing with sauce, dehydration, or letting something wait and gel (albeit  I do understand there is heat involved in the gelatin-making process, I am simply giving examples of the whole spectrum that the word "cook" can inhabit). Bringing up gelatin, however, brings up an important point. Cfook'd is not only a blog for carnivores and gelatin-eaters -- I intend to feature specialized recipes for the vegetarians, vegans, gluten-free people, wheat-free people, various people who avoid specific foods (not all of my recipe creations will have the same ingredients), raw foodist, "local food eaters", and other people who eat specific foods. In short, Cfook'd is a food blog for everyone who eats food.