greening my kitchen...and my tummy

I know you're thinking I should just give up the "food" blog and start one just for green smoothies, but what the hey, I'm all for integration...

I've found that for green smoothies, the best way to layer it all up is to put the mushiest, juiciest fruit at the bottom, add some juice (or water), and put the harder veggies or fruit, like carrots, near the middle. After I liquefy it all, I then add my leafy greens.

This one had honeydew melon, cilantro, celery, cucumber, carrots, apple, apple juice, blueberry-pomegranate-veggie juice, bananas, clementines, plain yogurt, frozen marion blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries, wheat germ, and spinach (spinach not shown because I hadn't blitzed it all yet).

And just to show you that I do put other substances besides green smoothies in my bod...

One of my favorite snacks of all times: ants on a log! My mom used to make these for us--just slather some all-natural peanut butter (no sugar or sweeteners) on celery sticks and then top with raisins. Mmmmm, mmmmm, good!

What was your favorite snackage as a kid?

One more question--my soon-to-be-two-year-old wants me to make him a "chocolate milk cake" for his birthday. Any ideas for me?

long time no see mamatouille

I'm sure you know how it is when you move--you're not really up to your usual prowess in the kitchen. That's how it was with me anyway when we moved here to Seattle a couple of weeks ago, and I'm still not all there (or anywhere, for that matter).

So this actually was my first real meal that I made, and it was just thrown together with what I had available (foodwise and utensil/pot-wise), but we loved it so much I've already made it a second time in two weeks.

I added three cups uncooked rice to the rice cooker, about 6 boneless chicken tenders cut into bite-sized pieces, about 2 t. curry powder, 1/2 c. raisins, 2 carrots chopped in tiny cubes, a dash or two of cinnamon, a drizzle of honey, a dab of veggie oil, about 1 t. salt, and 4 c. water and cooked it as you would any white rice. Love, love, love it. And the kiddiewinks enjoyed it, too.

Our first green smoothie after we moved here: orange-tangerine juice, apple juice, carrots, cilantro, minced ginger, spinach, pineapple, baby romaine, bananas, mikan (clementines--sorry, I can't stop using Japanese!), frozen mixed berries, plain yogurt, and honey.

And I've been making them almost every day to make up for the frozen pizzas and lasagna we've been consuming!

For healthy on-the-go snackage, I've been whipping up fresh guacamole a lot lately. We do "dip-dip" (as our toddler calls it) with raw sugar snap peas, baby carrots, sliced red peppers, and crunchy salty tortilla chips. For my guac, I just mash avocados with plain yogurt, lemon or lime juice, fresh chopped cilantro, salt, salsa, and plenty of minced garlic.

"The Fresh guy" (as our preschooler calls him) is my hero--Seattle is the only city in the world Amazon Fresh delivers to, and boy am I happy about that!