Green Smoothies!

...have changed my life! Well, in my mind they have. By secretly blending spinach, kale, and any other green in my fridge with some water, then adding regular smoothie ingredients (berries, banana, oj, plain yogurt, wheat germ, flax), you CANNOT TASTE THE GREENS. If the smoothie is dark enough, you can't even SEE them. Ta da! Miracle. I can get major amounts of phytonutrients down Maggie's picky little throat, and she has no idea that her conniving mother has just fed her a major helping of vegetables. We all have one smoothie daily, and already my nails are growing better, I feel healthier (again, maybe just in my head, but still), and I crave less sugar (minus the baguette with Nutella I had for breakfast and lunch today). And I just know that my family is eating better, which gives me a considerable amount of warm fuzzies.

Warning: if you actually read the Green Smoothie book, you will be enlighted, inspired and also completely terrified because of the crap you and your family have eaten all your lives. I lost a good 2-3 nights' sleep dreading the future cancers/obesity/lack of chewing capability my family was all going to suffer for our former bad habits. But in the light of day, (and once I got an actual night of good sleep), I realized that you take what you want from stuff like this, make the changes you're ready to make, and go from there. Baby steps. Or in our case, green baby steps. Otherwise you just go crazy, burn out, or go right back to the old bad habits. And eat a whole container of Nutella in one go. Oh wait, I already tried that today... time to put myself back on the wagon!

I'm so excited to grow this smoothie stuff in my garden! Spinach, beet greens, butterleaf, carrot tops... I have so many plans for you! If only it weren't blizzarding out there today, I'd go plant them right now... patience, precious, patience. I live in Idaho, after all. Living in Idaho does have its perks though- a kindly neighbor brough over a tractor load full of old elk poo last week which I joyfully tilled right into my garden. Seriously, who gets excited over elk poo? Me, that's who! Especially as it's a fabulous natural fertilizer and now I don't have to buy any from Walmart. I love my country life!