I'm back. The two and a half-year hiatus I took from my blog does not mean I haven't been cooking...The past couple of years I've been experimenting with an even healthier diet, including lots of raw food and nearly nothing processed or packaged.

Last year, I found out that I am intolerant to soy, so all of my forthcoming posts will now be soy-free. When I first learned this, I was pretty disappointed...I've never been a huge consumer of soy products, but I used to enjoy soy milk and tofu at times. since I stopped eating soy, I've never felt better...and since soy is such a processed food, I am happy to leave it behind.

For the past week or so, I've been babysitting a Vitamix. If you don't know what those are: they are pretty much supercharged blenders that can blend nearly anything. An entire apple? No problem. A whole beet? Easy. I hear it can even handle an avocado pit, although I have not yet put this to the test.

So here's my first recipe of the year (ahem, decade...). It's nothing but a simple smoothie that sounds strange but is chock full of nutrition and actually quite delicious and refreshing.

One word of caution: If you don't own a high-performance blender, like the Vitamix, you might want to chop up some of the ingredients before they enter the blender. I don't want to be responsible for breaking your kitchen appliances...

• 1 small-medium beet
• 3-4 cups cubed watermelon (seeds are fine)
• 3-4 leaves swiss chard or kale
• 1/2 small cucumber
• 6-10 large mint leaves (depends how minty you want it)
• 1 small orange
• water (approx 1 cup water, might need more depending on your blender)
• 1 pinch of stevia or tbsn of honey

Blend, Enjoy. Invite a friend over...this should make 3 servings.