To Blueberry-Banana Green Monster

This is my second Green Monster and it too was delicious. Not sure if I liked the ‘Peppy’ Carob Green Monster better because they play on different taste buds but nonetheless you should try both!

This Green Monster is great because in addition to all the green power you get from the spinach, you have banana (good source of potassium and aid in belly fat loss, and blueberries – those little blue guys that pack a mighty punch when it comes to anti-oxidants (has one of the highest values for fruits).

With all those delicious ingredients, there is no way this smoothie can’t be bad way to start your morning so give one a blend!

Ingredients:

2-3 cups spinach

1 cup soy milk

1 banana

1/2 cup blueberries

1 Tbsp. Flax

3-4 ice cubes

Directions:

Add into a blender (flax, spinach, banana, blueberries, milk, ice) and give a swirl. Angela from Oh She Glows recommends that order so that the flax and spinach are weighted down by the other ingredients and don’t stick to the sides of the blender. I have an inverted single serve blender so I just put my ingredients in reverse order of and it worked perfectly!

What are you waiting for, join the Green Monster Movement (:

Cheers

n

To ‘Peppy’ Carob Green Monster

So maybe I cheated in putting green monster movement on my bucket list, but it really is something I’ve been wanting to make and checking one more thing of a to do list made me feel great, or maybe the green monster is just that good that it has me swooning.

Oh She Glows with Angela Liddon is the gal who got all of us other gals (and gents) on board green monsters aka smoothies made with spinach. For me, I like my smoothies the old traditional way – with fruit, not the “other” produce. Well instead of joshin others on their sworn by spinach smoothies I thought I would jump on board the movement. 

I had everything I needed so after my run this afternoon I was set on making my first green monster for a late lunch. After blending up my spinach, soy and banana I went to the freezer to get my ice and all I found were empty trays – yikes. My friend B-Laud (Brittany) lives about 1/4 mile away so I quickly texted her “Are you him? And if so do you have ice?” little would I know that the first thought to cross her mind is that I hurt myself near her apartment (very plausible). We’ve known each other going on 8 years and she knows all my injury prone stories so I probably shouldn’t send a text like that next time. A good laugh now for the day.

Well B-Laud was my ice savior and provided me with a tray so I was seen running on one of the busiest roads on my campus with a tray of ice, hmmm I wonder what people’s thoughts were.

Getting home I blended up my ice and the rest of my ingredients and am now enjoying my first green monster – YUM.

Don’t wait as long as I did to try one, they are grand – and full of protein and iron, so go and get your Popeye on.

Ingredients: (adapted from Oh She Glows (OSG) ‘Peppy’ Carob Green Monster)

3 cups spinach

1 banana (small)

8 cubes ice (I wanted mine really cold)

1 cup plain soy milk

2 Tbsp. Carob Powder

1/2 Tsp. mint extract (not imitation)

1 Tbsp. Chia Seeds

Directions:

Blend it all together – very simple. I recommend blending the spinach, banana and milk adding the ice and then topping off with the carob powder, mint extract and chia seeds.

Note – the smoothie will be a dark forest green due to the spinach mixing with the carob powder.

Cheers

n

To Spinach Dip

Spinach is what made Pop-Eye strong and yet for some odd reason it never seems to be the favorite vegetable. On the contrary I love spinach – especially spinach dip (even though it’s not the healthiest way to eat it) when it crossed my mind this afternoon to make some to go with the beer bread for brunch tomorrow I immediately texted my sister to get the recipe that she uses. Simple enough it is the Knorr Vegetable Mix recipe. Or as follows (I have made a few tweaks to the packet recipe):

Ingredients:
3/4 cup mayo
1 cup plain yogurt
1 Packet Knorr Vegetable Mix
10 oz. frozen chopped spinach, thawed
3 Green Onions Chopped (I used one huge one that I get from my fav. organic vegetable stand at the farmer’s market)
(optional use of water chestnuts – I didn’t use these since I forgot to buy them)

Directions:
Mix all of the above together and put in a cute dish and let chill for a minimum of 2 hours (overnight is best)

Eat with beer bread 

Cheers

n

To Crustless Spinach Quiche

So I have really gotten into the brunch cooking shift at my co-op. It makes me feel accomplished on Sunday mornings – gets me out of bed and moving to say the least. This week I debated for awhile what …