Day Twenty six

Have you ever bought a bunch of lettuce with the thought of eating salads everyday? Have you ever opened your refrigerator five days later just to see the lettuce still sitting in the bag, now partially wilted and no longer salad worthy?

Every week I tear up a few heads of lettuce, wash them well and spin them dry. I keep these instant salads in a large rubbermaid container in the fridge. And while I do eat a lot of salad, some weeks I just don't get to all of it before it loses its crispness or starts to oxidize on me (you know, that weird brown color you see in the veins of the lettuce? Oxidation, baby). So, you have this handful of lettuce that's not really appetizing for a salad, but its not exaclty bad yet either. What do you do with it? Care to guess where I'm going with this?

That's right! You throw it in a blender! If there is too much for a single smoothie, place it in a ziploc bag and throw it in the freezer. Trust me, your blender doesn't care if your greens are fresh from the ground or partially wilty and frozen. So, today's smoothie:

• 2 large handfuls of spinach
• 2 large handfuls of mixed lettuce (leaf lettuce & romaine)
• squirt of flax oil
• lots of frozen mixed fruit (a mixture of peaches, strawberries, pineapple & red grapes)
• about 4 cups of water
• 2 bananas

I won't lie, the lettuce has a much greener taste than the spinach. But I'm really enjoying it. Its refreshing & not sickenly sweet. However, if you are new to smoothies in general, you may want to start slow when adding new greens.