Buddy's Hotel Survival Smoothie

This year on tour I brought my immersion blender.  I've been experimenting with creating different power packed plant based smoothies to fuel me through our performances of ELF!  I've been looking for a super power packed combination and I think I've found a great mix of hemp seeds, nut butter, and chocolatey green goodness to start my day off right.

All you need are these ingredients, an immersion blender, a plastic mixing cup, and a spoon!

Serves 1

• one banana
• 1 cup of almond milk
• 3 heaping spoonfuls of hemp seeds
• 2 heaping spoonfuls of peaunut butter
• 1 spoonful of Cacao Green Superfood powder (Amazing Greens)
• 1 small cup of ice

1. Blend the hemp seeds with 1/2 cup of the almond milk until it's a creamy consistency.
2. Add the peanut butter, superfood mix, the banana (broken up into small pieces), and the remaining almond milk and blend until thoroughly mixed.
3. Add the ice a little at a time until ice is blended through the mixture and enjoy!

quinoa salad w. hemp & hummus crackers

Peacefood, a vegan restaurant in the UWS, has a "Fluffy Quinoa Salad" on their menu that always seems to be one of their most popular items.  It's looks delicious, but it's always hard for me to bring myself to shell out $10+ for a salad that I know I can make at home for a fractions of the cost.

For the Quinoa Salad:

It really couldn't be simpler.  I found a box of garden vegetable quinoa at my local store and cooked it ahead of time according to the directions using vegetable stock instead of water.   

Chill the quinoa in the refrigerator until cold.

Assemble a salad of darks greens and whatever extra veggies you like.  Here I used a mix of baby kale and other greens and sliced baby portabella mushrooms.

Break up the chilled quinoa with a fork and toss 1/4-1/2 cup quinoa  with the greens depending on how much quinoa you want. 

Dress if needed, I found the veggie quinoa flavor to be enough. 

For the Crackers:

Use four whole wheat crackers, like Ak-Mak.
Spread a light smear hummus of your choice  onto the crackers.  I used jalapeño & cilantro.
Sprinkle with hemp seeds and enjoy. 

been pollen, PB, and cacao nib crackers

Looking for a power snack?  These crackers are packed full of protein and whole food nutrition.  Wheat crackers fill you with fiber, peanut butter and hemp seeds provide a protein punch, bee pollen is a whole food full of mineral and nutrients and is a natural defender against seasonal allergies, and cacao nibs add in some antioxidant power while providing a hint of healthy chocolately goodness.  Eat this as an afternoon snack to keep you going til dinner or add them to any breakfast or lunch meal as a sweet satisfying side snack.  

What you'll need:

• Low Fat Whole Wheat Crackers - I used Ak-Mak 100% Whole Wheat Sesame Crackers
• Natural Peanut Butter - Try getting the fresh ground kind that most supermarket deli's are providing now.  The only ingredient...ground peanuts!
• Hemp Seeds
• Bee Pollen
• Cacao Nibs

Simply spread the peanut butter on the crackers and sprinkle on hemp seeds, pollen, and nibs to your perfect taste proportions and enjoy!

chia & hemp tacos

It's so easy to sneak extra nutrition even into some of your guiltier pleasures.  Case in point, tacos!!!  Add a superfood boost to your "meat" filling of choice with chia and hemp seeds!

Chia & Hemp Tacos

Serves 4

• 1 package of mexican style veggie grounds
• 1 palmful of chia seeds
• 1 palmful of hemp seeds
• 1 package taco shells
• Taco fillings, we recommend:
• Baby kale
• Tofu sour cream
• homemade guac
• tomatoes
• black beans

Simply heat up the veggie grounds in a nonstick skillet and mix in the chia and hemp seeds after removing the pan from heat.  Serve with your favorite taco toppings and enjoy your Taco Tuesday fix while enjoying the extra boosts from some of my favorite superfoods.