Day Sixty Six

Good evening internets! I've gotten some good feedback about doing a green smoothie cleanse, so keep an eye out tomorrow. My Monday Musings will include the where, when, hows & who's of the cleanse!
Today's smoothie:

• 2 banans
• 1 10oz bag baby spinach
• handful of fresh pineapple
• handful of frozen strawberries
• water

Have I mentioned that my friend's husband went to Hawaii last week? He brought back a case of pineapples. YUM! Our farmer's market starts next month and I. can't. wait!!!!

Three Day Green Smoothie Cleanse, anyone?

I've been thinking for quite some time that I'd like to do a green smoothie cleanse. I think a 3 day one is all I'm willing to commit to at this point, but it would still be fun. Anyone want to join?

A true cleanse would mean only green smoothies and water for 3 full days. I, however, will be doing a slightly altered version. I will have a morning milkshake (raw milk, egg yolk, cacao powder, raw agave & ice) and then green smoothies the rest of the day.

Anyone, anyone???

Day Sixty Five

I'm finally starting to feel better. The sun is shining, my family is healthy. I have much to be thankful for!
So, I've always been intimidated by fresh mangos. Just wasn't sure how to handle cutting them up. So, like all things in life, when I'm curious about something I turn to YouTube! What? You don't? Don't lie. So, I bit the bullet and bought two fresh mangos this week. And oooooohh, doggie! I'm so glad I did! I used the technique in this video. My mango was a little soft, so my dices weren't quite as pretty as his, but for my first attempt I was very satisfied. I loooooove mango salsa and am so pleased that I can now make my own and not have to rely on processed salsa out of a can!! Today's smoothie:

• 1 mango, diced
• 3 handfuls of spinach
• approx 8-10 large frozen strawberries
• 2 c water
• a few sprays of coconut oil

Let 'er rip! The fresh mango tastes ssooo much better than frozen!!

Day Sixty four

My family seems to be on the mend, but this was my worst day yet. I hope tomorrow will start the upswing. I know that while I'm sick I should be drinking even more green smoothies than normal, but I have zero energy and zero motivation. I took a two and a half hour nap today, I haven't done the dishes in about three days and in order to even make a smoothie today I had to clear a spot on the counter. Things aren't lookin' good in the green house. But never fear, I did make a smoothie today:

• 2 c water
• 1 banana
• coupl'a big handfuls of spinach
• about a cup or so of fresh blueberries
• approx two peaches worth of frozen peach slices
• agave

This might be one of my new favorites. I'll add it to my list of faves on teh left hand side of the blog. Enjoy!

Day Sixty Three

The other day at the mall I bought the kids a fruit smoothie and the inhaled it. It was a peach & strawberry smoothie, so when I spied frozen peaches today while shopping I thought I'd try to recreate a green version at home. It was a hit!

• 2 cups water
• 1 banana
• 3 big handfuls of spinach
• frozen peaches (about the equivalent of 2 peaches)
• 8-10 frozen strawberries
• agave

Its delish and a nice change of pace from what we've been having lately.

Day Sixty Two

Well, oldest son has strep AGAIN, youngest son has a cold, husband is home and just feels "crummy" and my throat hurts. Bleck. Oh, and remember what my dog ate yesterday? All of it came (quite literally) squirting out sometime in the middle of the night. So I've spent the better part of today scrubbing floors & walls and the crate....fun times. Fun times. Green smoothie take me away!!!!

• 2 c water
• 1/2 c pineapple juice
• 2 pineapple spears
• 3 bananas
• 3 big handfuls of spinach
• ICE

My throat is so sore nothing tastes good to me. I'm just chugging the smoothies down because I know they'll help me get better. But what I really want to do is go back to bed.

Monthly Update

Do you guys remember a while back when I was featured on the Green Smoothie Queen's blog? Well, she's featuring updates on my progress each month. Go check out my latest update. She also does regular challenges to help people develop the green habit. Go check her out. She's cool, like me : )

Day Sixty One

Today was HELL. Well, it started out ok, it was just busy. And that's ok, I can handle busy. It wasn't a planned busy so that threw me off a bit. Then we threw in a dr's appt for my oldest (he hasn't had a smoothie in weeks) at 5:15 pm so that really threw me off. Then the strep test came back positive and we waiting for 90 MINUTES at the pharmacy. That make me cranky. When we got home, we found the dog had some how gotten out of his crate (I might have, maybe, sort of, been in a hurry and didn't latch both latches when we left...) and remember those girl scout cookies I mentioned yesterday? Well, I don't have to worry about them tempting me anymore. The damn dog ate them all. One box was saved, because he knocked it under the table. Damn dog.

Anyway, I had lots of smoothie left from yesterday so that's what I'm drinking now. Tomorrow will be a better day. It has to be, right? RIGHT?

Day Sixty

Phew. Monday's are tough around here. I finished off the little bit left of yesterday's smoothie this morning and then didn't even get within five feet of my blender until after 10 pm. I fired up the vitamix and then sat down and watched Jake make the biggest mistake of his life propose to Vienna and let me just tell you, from one pilot's wife to, well, you guys. That girl does not have what it takes to be "sometimes single". She's in for one rude awakening once she moves to Dallas and they enter into what the rest of us know as "the real world." But hey, maybe she'll surprise us all, but I'm not holding my breath ; )

• handful of frozen strawberries
• 1 lb bag of frozen pineapple
• 2 big handfuls of spinach
• 1 quart water
• 1 banana

It was very good, but it didn't go so well with the Thin Mints I was eating. ; )

Do you experience mid day slumps? Does three o’clock hit you like a brick wall nearly every day? I've always been told, “oh, you have young children, you’re supposed to be tired!” Well, I no longer accept that. I now know my mid day (mid morning, mid evening…) slumps were (and sometimes still are) a direct result of the food I put into my body.

Speaking of which, I had some serious motivation issues this weekend; both with my smoothies and with life in general. It still takes me by surprise to realize just how much the food we eat affects the rest of our lives. After the pizza incident, I made fajitas for dinner the following night and I did not serve a salad with it. Two dinners in a row with no raw foods and heavy on the white bread and boy was my body pissed! Friday I got up early and took the kids to the pool in a futile attempt to get in some sort of a workout, but the rest of the day I was useless and cranky, exhausted and lethargic. I didn’t even make my smoothie until after the kids went to bed that evening. I snacked on processed junk all day and just felt like crap. Saturday was more of the same. The boys and I were invited to a friend’s house for dinner and I knew the menu would be lasagna and salad. I took marinated cucumbers and filled my plate to near over flowing with salad and cucumbers and then had just a half a piece of lasagna. I drank water most of the evening and finally Sunday morning I was beginning to feel human again. I nourished my body with lots of healthy, raw foods throughout the day yesterday and spent some time outside at the park to soak up some needed vitamin D from the sun’s rays. By the end of the day I was feeling much better and ready to tackle this hectic chaos that my family calls Monday. I woke up a little, um, puffy this morning but otherwise feeling so much better.

When I’m feeling a little sluggish, I no longer reach for the coffee pot. My vitamix is my new “dealer” and green smoothies are my drug of choice! So the next time you find yourself reaching for a cup o’ joe in the middle of the day, why not reach for a green smoothie instead? If you don’t find your energy rebounding, I’ll buy you your next cup of coffee (j/k, sort of.)