I suppose I should back up a bit. I'm on a health kick these days after I topped an embarrassing weight on the scale. In a way, this is the start of a culinary adventure for me. I'm a picky eater. Waaaaay picky. Just introduced peas to my diet kind of picky. Ethnic foods, for the most part, are out (unless they include a lot of bread and cheese, in which case I'm all in). Part of the problem is I'm a texture-eater (whatever the hell that means). I can't stand when things are too mushy or tough. So when it comes to smoothies, I strongly dislike drinking something that requires chewing or navigating seeds.
Even so, when I went to the grocery store the other day, I saw the prettiness: peaches, apricots, raspberries. I thought, "Alright, I'll give it a try." I've never been a big fruit eater, but since arriving in State College I've at least tried things I would normally avoid. (I've also watched enough Cooking Channel to be tricked and inspired into trying new things. Jamie Oliver can probably get me to try anything except anchovies at least once. I'll give him that.)
Today I decided to break out this huge Disney smoothie maker Mom bought me years ago. (It's turned out to be more of a fridge decoration than a useful appliance.) I tossed in ice, a peach, two apricots, a handful of raspberries and a cup of orange juice. I dispensed, I drank, my face puckered like all hell... back into the blender goes the mix, add two teaspoons of sugar.
Although the smoothie wasn't bad, I just couldn't get past the seeds. Once again, the smoothie won. But then I realized I was hungry, and that's when the magic happened. I got out some chicken and got it cooking... then I cut up my last peach... then I strained the smoothie and added balsamic vinegar. I toasted and made a bed of slivered almonds and next thing I knew I had the best freakin' piece of chicken I've ever put in my mouth. No, really. That ish was delicious!
At that point I realized, "I want to tell someone! I must overshare!" So here I am, oversharing my meal on my blog and possibly beginning a new trend: Stuff Mel Eats. I probably won't do this often, but be warned that I might start talking about food other than ice cream. (Frozen Friday happened quite frequently last year, despite the lack of posts regarding it.)
In other unrelated news, two days until the semester starts. I have one chapter essay done, one to go, and a bunch of other stuff to catch up on. Meetings are already starting to pile up for next week, syllabi are showing up online... ahhh, beginning again.
Toodles!
- Mel(li) :)
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3 comments:
Okay, here's Lauren's Magical Health Recipe for smoothies:
First, peel a banana. Cut it into several (3-12) pieces. Freeze it for an hour or overnight (in a Ziploc bag works or a tupperware).
Now that your banana is frozen, put these things in the blender in this order:
1 cup milk (I use almond milk, because it's gross to drink from cow boobs IMO)
1-2 handfuls of fresh spinach (STAY WITH ME)
1/2 - 1 cup blueberries, strawberries, or mixed fruit
pre-frozen banana
optional: handful of carrots optional: 2-4 ice cubes
BLEND.
Pour into opaque cup. Insert straw. Thank Lauren.
:)
Hi Melanie,
The secret to a great smoothie is yogurt. You need to find a kind you like that doesn't have a ton of sugar in it. I like to also add a scoop of protein powder.
This combo makes it protein-packed and you can mix in whatever else you can stomach.
I hope all else is fantastic!
Lauren: I'm going to guess that fresh spinach tastes nothing like cooked, mushy spinach, right? 'Cause cooked spinach is big on my list of no-nos. LOL THAT said, I'm going to give this a try! Yay!
Bob: I was thinking about yogurt when I was making my smoothie. I'm going to give it a try. And protein powder is a great suggestion! Thanks! Other than that, all else is good. I'm backed up on all the work I didn't do this summer, so my semester "started" last week already. Fine with me, though. Better to be busy than bored. :)
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