My name is Dee Dine and my goal on this blog is to share healthy recipes with wholesome, simple ingredients. I know I feel great after eating a dessert that is actually nourishing, so I thought I'd share my easy recipes.
I have authored two 4-ingredient healthy cookbooks, I am also a nutritionist for Wikihow, and I have an educational background in nutritional science with emphasis on immunology. I'm also a mom of three, plus a few fur babies, living in Washington DC.
On GSG, otherwise known as Green Smoothie Gourmet, I share nourishing healthy recipes with few processed ingredients and always under ten ingredients. Although my recipes are always dairy free, plant based and vegan, I make them so that anyone will love them regardless of diet.
Quick Q&A
Why did you name your blog Green Smoothie Gourmet?
You can guess! Because I started my healthy cooking journey making green smoothies. Then I expanded to include juices, desserts, snacks and even a few savory meals.
What is the most important tool I need to start cooking healthy?
I suggest a blender! You can make most of my recipes on my blog with a blender. Some need cooking, many do not.
Do you have to be vegan or plant based to eat your recipes?
Not at all! Several members of my family are not vegan and not even dairy free, and they are my first taste-testers, and my biggest fans of my recipes. And many of my recipes can be converted to dairy if you prefer. My focus is to use healthy ingredients overall that are single ingredient foods and less processed.
How It Began
If you are tired of reading about me, stop now, lol, because I'm going to talk about how I began my blog back in 2016.
Since college, I had leaned toward eating whole foods and less processed. I was a good student, but then I failed an organic chemistry exam because I'd been eating so badly. I changed my diet up then and there with a refurbished blender. I also added a slew of nutritionist classes. I managed to graduate, and continue on to grad school, with my blender and much healthier nutritionally. Then, later, as my three girls came along, I began creating recipes, focusing on shorter ingredient lists, eating the rainbow, and cooking healthier. Then, I eventually launched this blog.
In our house now, the mad morning dash involves subways to downtown DC offices and schools. So the time shortage is real and making our smoothies and shots, and lunches the night before is a given. Lunches are loaded with energizing yet healthy drinks, snacks and desserts, all of which you'll find plenty of on this blog.
Eating for the win is important to me. It's too easy to eat something that does not contribute to a daily nutritional profile and then to feel terrible later. I like feeling good after I eat, and I figure most people feel the same. But I love chocolate and dessert, so I have lots of desserts and protein snacks such as hostess cupcakes, samoa cookies and twix bars. Oh my goodness, try the hostess cupcakes! They are even mentioned on Wikipedia.
Who Can Eat My Recipes
Everyone! I mostly share healthy breakfasts and drinks, snacks and desserts, with a few savory meal recipes as well. My recipes can be eaten by everyone, including those with no specific dietary requirements, and those who eat vegan, non-vegan, vegetarian, dairy-free, and refined-sugar-free, and mostly gluten-free, and reduced or even no sugar. And many of my recipes are no-oil, and friendly for a paleo or Whole30 or keto diet. In my recipes I stress the use of single ingredient foods, and occasionally I'll recommend reputable food brands including this one with whom we share a mutual respect.
I hope you can find something on my blog that you like, and if you want to drop a comment and share your ideas or variations, I'll see that first.
Dee xx
3 Personal Facts About Me
I have the best family. They are my anchors, my cheerleaders, the color in my day and my taste-testers, and that includes our pets.
I love reading (and writing) cozy mysteries. In fact, I have started writing my own culinary cozy mystery series to be published this year. I am about to write the sixth book and it's a seven-book series. If you want to be an ARC reader, join my newsletter, I call for them occasionally. It's a culinary cozy mystery but also a thriller and action combined. David Baldacci, beware. Lol.
Random things I love: yellow raincoats, fresh Christmas tree stumps, children's picture books, fun socks.
My Cookbooks With 4 Ingredients
Both have 4-ingredient recipes and are color-coded for the healthy area they target, such as fiber, protein, immunity, sleep, etc.
1. Crazy Healthy with 4 Ingredients: Desserts & Snacks
2. 4-Ingredient Smoothies & Juices: 100 Easy Nutritious Recipes for LifeLong Health
