rhubarb-vanilla-beet smoothie
Last summer, when I was trying to stock an emergency pantry, I stumbled upon vegetable powders at a couple of websites. At one particular website, I was trying to meet a minimum order to get free shipping on powdered milk. I added some beet, carrot, and spinach powder to that order and have been experimenting with adding these powders to a variety of foods to boost nutritional value.
I have since discovered that I can make my own vegetable powders at a savings, using my dehydrator and food processor with fresh vegetables. I'll be processing some of our garden surplus as powders later this growing season.
You may wonder -- why bother with vegetable powders when fresh or frozen veggies are so easy to use in cooking? I'm aiming for 6 to 7 servings of fruits and vegetables every day. To reach that volume, I try for 2 servings at breakfast each day. My standard breakfast is a small cup of homemade yogurt. To add vegetables, I add some carrot powder, along with honey and vanilla for flavor. For my birthday, my son gave me some blueberry powder. So, I've been adding some blueberry powder along with the carrot powder. There's almost 2 servings done for the day. And it's delicious. Carrot powder has a mild taste and a small amount of texture.
Later in the day, I make myself a smoothie with the handy Ninja smoothie blender that my husband picked up off the "free" table at work. Beet powder has more flavor than the carrot. However, when mixed in a smoothie, such as the above rhubarb-vanilla-beet smoothie, I don't taste it at all, yet I'm getting the benefits from beet root. (I used leftover cooked vanilla rhubarb with beet powder and a small amount of water.)
When I make pizza sauce, unbeknownst to my family, I add a spoonful of spinach powder to the tomato paste and seasonings. A little dark leafy greens slipped into a pizza dinner without anyone noticing.
I also make myself juice drinks, using apple juice as a base then adding carrot, beet, and spinach powder and shaking well. This is my "recharge" beverage when I'm working out or a quick, last-minute vegetable with lunch on a particularly busy day.
Yes, I could cook, puree and add vegetables to the same foods, but I like the powders for a couple of reasons. They're super easy to use, no on-the-spot cooking and pureeing. They don't add water content to foods that I don't want thinned, such as my yogurt breakfast. Alternatively, sometimes I want to actually thicken a soup or sauce. Vegetable powders have a slight thickening effect, as well as add flavor and nutrients.
I still consume most of my fruits and veggies un-dehydrated. Powders are just one more way to boost the nutrients in my foods.
Have you ever tried vegetable or fruit powders?
