Woman in Real Life

In anticipation of the spring weather that doesn't seem to be coming around here, I have been consuming a lot of morning smoothies. Generally, I use whatever fruit I have in the fridge or freezer on any given day.

I happened to have some pineapple one day and I thought it might add a nice tropical touch to my smoothie.

I threw about five chunks in a Magic Bullet cup and added a banana, a handful of frozen strawberries, half of an apple and some orange juice.

Before I get to this week's What I Ate Wednesday, I have two winners to announce. Congratulations to K.S. Barrett, the winner of Lucy's delicious vegan and gluten-free cookies. Congratulations to Brenda W. too! She won the Crofter's organic jam. I have sent you both emails. Enjoy these wonderful products!

This week I have been consuming smoothies almost every morning. I have been experimenting with smoothies that don't contain non-dairy milks for a change. This one, above, is pure fruit and water (I think so anyway. Sometimes I forget what I threw in there.)

Happy What I Ate Wednesday! So far I haven't made any Christmas cookies. If I had, I would be forced to show you lots of photos of all the cookies I nibbled on while I was baking. That's still to come.

In the meantime, a look at some of the stuff I ate this week. 

I like my smoothies to be a little (or a lot) sweet. So, rather than going totally green, I added a bit of veg and a lot of fruit to my breakfast smoothie today. The result is this delicious yet healthy green-ish smoothie.

We all know that January brings with it a desire for better health and wellness. Those of you who have been to a fitness centre in the month of January have witnessed the phenomenon firsthand.

I now find myself torn between a desire to exercise and eat more healthfully and an inability to resist clearance-priced Christmas goodies, particularly chocolate. My compromise is to go to the gym three times a week, eat healthy meals and treat myself to a little snackie once in a while (okay every evening).

Keeping in mind my quest for good health, I was intrigued by a green smoothie recipe that came to me via an email from VegNews magazine. I have long enjoyed making smoothies, but I tend to load them with fruit and even sometimes maple syrup, because I like them sweet. Today, however, I find myself a convert to the “green smoothie.”

I imagined this recipe would appeal more to the adults in this household (because of the kale), but I decided to have my nine-year-old son sample it first. He immediately pronounced it a “fail,” because the kale was still in very small chunks like “pulp.” I processed it more (it takes some time in my blender) and that did the trick. He found that he actually liked it. Bonus.

While I was trying to take a photo of it, I knocked my husband’s portion of the smoothie over. (I had already consumed mine.) Not fun to clean up, and no smoothie for him today. Good thing he's not home right now.

What You Need:
3 cups kale
1 banana
1 orange
1 pear, sliced
1 cup grapes
1 cup non-dairy milk
5 cubes ice (I added a couple more.)

What You Do:
In a blender, process ingredients until smooth.