Smoothies That Combat Free Radicals July 03 2014

If anytime we need more lycopene in our diet, it would be in the summer.  Lycopene is found in red pigmented fruits, and it is used to fight free radicals to slow down our aging.  

While it is important to apply a good quality sunscreen when engaging in outdoor activities, it is also important to replenish our body with loads of fruits and vegetables.  Some variety of fruits for the summer would be watermelon, berries, papaya, and tomatoes. 

One of my mom's cherry tomato vine has put out about a hundred clusters  of tomatoes -- that's about 800 cherry tomatoes!!  Boy is that plant super productive. With that many tomatoes, even after giving some to family and friends we still have a couple buckets left of them.  Thus, I have been making all sorts of food with them such as some quickly pickled tomato, cucumber salads, roasted tomatoes, even smoothies.

Above shows you the last tomato smoothie I made, and I drank some with a celery that substituted a straw!  I grow a celery variety that has hallow stem so it's pretty cool that I can use it as a straw.  If you are interested in this smoothie, see the recipe below.  Otherwise, if you are not a fan of tomatoes, or if you have arthritis, including too much tomatoes in your diet is not recommended.  Some options for you non-tomato fans are watermelon with coconut water smoothie, strawberry smoothie, papaya with milk or almond milk smoothie.  You cannot go wrong with any of these classic healthy beverages!

Ingredients:
as much ripe tomatoes as you like!
1/2-1 stalk of celery
1/2-1 stalk of Ashitaba (optional)
1 small piece of kelp seaweed (this adds the savory taste)
1 shot of vodka (totally optional!  Just fun if you are hosting a party)

To make:
Blend all ingredients except for vodka in a blender. I would add voda for individual glasses when it is ready to serve. Not everyone wants to drink! ;D