What have I gotten myself into now? My husband ask me this often. Cultured vegetables: shredded cabbage and other veggies that are packed really tight into a glass jar, sealed, and left on the counter to ferment or “pickle”. Why do this? The fermenting process creates friendly bacteria that break down the sugars and starches and turn them into lactic acid (fuel for you muscles and tissues). Donna Gates the author of The Body Ecology Diet speaks high praises about these veggies that contribute immensely to healing and building your inner ecosystem.
Of course after reading her book, I was gun-ho for these probiotic super veggies. I made them with no thought of me disliking them because I had to wait a week for them to ferment. One night dreamed they were ready, I ate some and like it. That got me a tiny bit excited to try them. As the week went on I started to worry, I don’t like pickles and I didn’t like any of the vegetables I was fermenting (cabbage, carrots, and kale). Then my husband opened a jar…the sour smell made my stomach cringe and cramp, I put the tiniest bite in my mouth and gagged all the way to the sink. I’m sure it doesn’t help that I am pregnant.
My solution, besides letting them sit on the counter for months…put a small amount of them in my smoothie and slowly increase the dosage. My kids and I enjoy this smoothie recipe from the Blendtec recipe book.
Creed has named it The Black Smoothie (spoken in the tone of Captain Barbossa)
3/4 c water
1 banana
2 scant TB of cultured veggies (my addition)
2 c spinach
1 c frozen berries
The Blendtec blender is a fabulous addition to any kitchen and I would highly highly recommend getting one, especially if you are serious about getting more greens and cultured veggies in your diet. It makes the smoothest smoothies with hardly any effort.
Fields4ev 
