Glowing Green & Getting Clean : Quinoa Carrot Beet Risotto

This weekend marked an epic change in my life. When stacking up on summer reads a few months back, I discovered a book called The Beauty Detox Solution by Kimberly Snyder. Liking the reviews and the fresh take on health, wellness, and beauty-from-within, I added it to the queue on my Kindle along with a stack of great new healthy living and eating books, all of which I will be sharing with you in the coming week. I devour books on health and wellness like, well very healthy green juice filled, candy and it’s not uncommon for me to get up very early with my dogs on a weekend, finish a book by breakfast and another by lunch! But when The Beauty Detox Solution appeared one morning last month at the top of my virtual-bedside stack, everything changed.

This is the first healthy eating book I have found that focuses concretely and understandably on digestion and food combinations. It’s well researched, edited, and truly brilliant. And the real proof of it’s validity is in the shockingly almost immediate results! The very basic premise of Certified Nutritionist to the stars, Kimberly Snyder‘s eating solution is to optimize the body’s absorption of all good things, by insuring that we *gut* out all bad things by making continual cleansing a part of the everyday, and not some extreme crash fast. Getting as much as you can out of what you put into you, sure, but also understanding the power of alkalinity and how the body reacts to what it finds in it’s stomach is at the core of this healing and healthy way of eating, enjoying, and living.

Rarely am I blown away, but today I am. However the real proof, the real power, can only be fully understood by testing it out for yourself. Whatever it is your are looking to improve: weight loss, bloating and gas, belly fat, energy, muscle and joint pain, arthritis, sleep disorder, SKIN, hair, under eye circles, brightness, lightness, anxiety, my gosh you name it you can make it better through this glowing lean solution to food.

So today I’m joining in Kimberly’s Beauty Detox Challenge, and encouraging you all, my lovely readers, to join us too. It’s simple: 10 days, 10 Glowing Green Smoothies, 10 days of Glowing skins, stomachs, and smiles. I’m going to provide the recipe for my own seasonal take on Kimberly’s Glowing Green Smoothie bellow, which will yeild enough juice for a nice glass of GGS for each of the 10 mornings. I am also linking you to her recipe, and more info on the challenge and of course her terrific Glowing Lean program. So again, that’s 1 recipe that will give you 10 morning meals, or at least a nutritious kickstart to your day. I promise you that when you accept this small 1 glass challenge and commit to 10 consecutive days of drinking one every morning you will see and feel such immediate results that you may never be able to stop!

So in preparation for this #GlowingGreenSmoothie #BeautyDetoxChallenge, I gave a little Babelicious Brunch yesterday for my few friends who are joining me in the challenge. Because EVERYTHING is easier when you do it with friends. When everyone arrived I poured them each a fun glass full of my summery take on the GGS so that we all could sip/”chew”and digest as we chatted before sitting down to a sun-filled superfood beauty-detox-solution-approved lunch. I made the ladies a new recipe of mine that is quite possibly one of the best things I have ever tasted. Truth. This quinoa risotto is vegan, GF, DF, Soy-Free, protein packed, digestion friendly, and unbelievably delicious, satisfying and, if I may say so myself, stunning to serve! Let’s just say that if there were any skeptics at my table prior to taking that first bite, you would be hard pressed to find one sipping their green smoothie today, and basking in the glory of their newfound growing glow. Now, my TriColor Quinoa, Red Beet and Carrot Risotto…

Quinoa Carrot Beet Risotto
Makes 2 large lunch size serving, try to serve a fresh leafy green salad prior

Ingredients
2 cups, Ancient Harvest TriColor Quinoa (soaked in water overnight, rinsed and drained)
2 cups Beet Juice*, raw cold pressed and 2 cups low sodium vegetable broth (you can use more juice and less broth just make sure you have 4 cups ready to go)
1 tsp/1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 a leek, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
pinch cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 cup, shredded carrots
1 tsp Braggs Liquid Aminos

Garnish: 1 heaping tablespoon per serving of sliced Kimchi (homemade or I like Mother in Law’s Napa Cabbage Blend & fresh Italian leaf parsley, chopped) Finish each plate with rinsed fresh sprouts (I like clover and arugula sprouts best)

*I often have left over raw beet juice blends in my fridge, you can make your own raw beet juice from a juicer, or try the Better Beets blend from RAAW

Method
1. Heat the olive oil on medium in the base of a small-medium dutch oven (I love my Le Creusets and who doesn’t) then sauté the leeks until slightly softened, 1-2 minutes, before adding in the minced garlic and 2 cups quinoa. “Toast” the quinoa, garlic, and leeks for about a minute, stirring to give the quinoa a nutty flavor.
2. When the garlic has become slightly translucent and you can smell the quinoa’s warmth, add in in 1 cup of the vegetable stock and stir with a wooden spoon, making sure any bits of flavor on the bottom of the pot release. Keep stirring occasionally and turn heat to medium to allow the quinoa to soak up the liquid gently.
3. As the quinoa takes on the liquid and has only a bit of stock left loose in the pot, start adding in the beat juice 1 cup at a time (the key here, as in any risotto, is to let the grain suck up the liquid slowly to round out flavor and texture and lusciousness).
4. Now add in the ground spices and keep stirring frequently, continually adding in the beet liquid/stock as the quinoa absorbs it. This should take about 15-20 minutes depending.
5. At about 15 minutes, add in the shredded carrots and season with salt and a touch of cayenne pepper. Stir to warm and soften the carrots a bit (they will still maintain a slight subtle crunch which I really like in this texture) Then add the tsp of liquid aminos which will immediately boost all the flavors in this fluffy textures decadent detox dish.
6. Once the quinoa mix has reached a risotto-like consistency turn off the heat and cover to keep warm (be sure not to dry it out too much, but if you do add a little more juice or stock or filtered water when warming or rewarming for a crowd to regain it’s texture and lightness)
7. To finish, add the chopped kimchi and parsley just before plating. Serve one heaping ladle full of ruby red risotto in the center of a shallow pasta dish or bowl, and top with a nice pinch of sprouts for color and elegance.

My Glowing Green Summer Smoothie
adapted from the original recipe by Kimberly Snyder here
Makes about 80 ounces of juice

Ingredients
3 cups filtered water
1 head organic romaine lettuce, washed and roughly chopped
1 head or heaping huge handful organic spinach or baby spinach, roughly chopped
1/3 bunch parsley, rinsed well stems included
1/3 bunch cilantro, rinsed well stems included
3 organic celery sticks, chopped
1 organic apple (sweeter not tart, I like organic Fiji apples), cored and chopped
1 organic pear (any kind as I love pears), cored and chopped
1 heaping cup chopped organic pineapple
1 cup chopped organic english cucumber
Juice of 1 organic lemon
1 organic banana, broken in roughly 3 pieces

Method
1. In a high speed blender, a Vitamix or Blendtec for example, pour in the water add the romaine, spinach, parsley, & cilantro and blend until smooth, this should take 30 seconds.
2. Then add the celery, apple and pear and blend again until smooth- this may take 1 minute or so. Follow by adding in the pineapple cucumber and lemon juice and blend again on high for another 1-2 minutes to get it very smooth. Look at the texture and see if you need to add a 1/4-1/2 cup or so more of filtered water as you add in the banana which will thicken the texture slightly. Blend again for 20 seconds to combine.
2. Measure out 10 even servings, or 10 glasses and freeze 9 in tightly sealed or double seal ziplock freezer bags. Drink you first glass immediately, trying to chew the smoothie as much as you can to promote digestion. Each evening before going to sleep remove one bag from the freezer to thaw in the fridge overnight for the perfect start to the next day!