The Green Monster

Well, I'm pleased to report that I've already downed two spinach shakes since my last blog, thanks to a much-appreciated recipe and a boyfriend willing to drive to the ends of the earth to find almond milk for me at 11:30pm (to my shock and dismay, the Loblaw's closest to my house doesn't carry it. Nor does the Loblaw's second-closest to my house. I know right? They have room for an entire organic food section, but not a single carton of almond milk...L-A-M-E.)

Anyway, I was excited to try my very first one yesterday morning. A little too excited, actually. In fact, it was my main motivation for getting out of bed before 9am. I bounced out of bed, made my way into the kitchen, and gathered the ingredients:

2 handfuls of spinach
1 banana
3 ice cubes
1 cup almond milk
1 spoonful some kind of nut butter (in my case I went with Nutella over peanut butter...subconsciously, I feel it was because I was trying to compensate for what I thought the taste of the rest of the ingredients would turn out to be.)

I carefully loaded them into the blender, in the order the recipe instructed (liquids first...then ice...then spinach...then banana). I took a long, hard look at it all sitting in there for a minute, reflecting on the fact that this whackball mixture of ingredients would soon be sitting in my stomach. "Oh well...here goes nothing!" I optimistically thought to myself. Then I pressed the "blend" button.

I watch my blender skillfully turn this weird salad into a green milkshake. And I mean BRIGHT green. The kind of green that made my entire family gasp as I entered my dining room with it. "What IS that?!?!" asks my mother in disgust. "It's a spinach shake", I say casually, as if I'm already an expert on the subject. "Get that away from me! Even the thought of it is making me feel ill" responds my mother. My sister is gazing at it with intrigue, while my dad is quietly laughing. I'm not sure if my mother is joking or not, so I try to clarify: "Really? I can drink it in the other room, if you'd like...." "No, it's fine..." she says "....but that is just gross." She makes one more face, and then goes back to reading the newspaper. This commotion makes me feel like even more of a champ, for taking the leap into the unknown and bravely going where no Farragher has gone before. Then I realize I haven't actually tried it yet. "Well, here it goes" I announce... my family looks back up and watches, in horror, as I take the first sip. "Hmmm." I say. I lick my lips. I process it for a second. "Not bad. Not bad at all!" I report to them that just as the recipe said, you really can't taste the spinach. Personally, I find the almond milk taste too strong. But otherwise, it tastes just like a creamy banana smoothie. No problem!

Today I had another one. This time I adjust the ingredients slightly:

2 handfuls of spinach
1 banana
1/2 cup almond milk
1/2 cup regular milk
4 ice cubes
1 half-spoonful nutella

Much better. This morning, without being overpowered by almond milk, I actually enjoy it. I drink the entire blender-ful again, smiling to myself as I think about the vast array of nutrients I'm downing in the process. Tomorrow, I'll try peanut butter instead of nutella to see if I can up the health-value of it even more (by downing the sugar content). But hey...this is a good start.

Until next time,
Janine