Day 1: Green Smoothie Challenge

Smoothie on the left is Smoother than a Brazilian and on the right is Cotton Candy. YUMMY!

My dessert last night was raw macadamia nuts (I'm hooked) and raw cacao maca ice cream - it was divine! These foods will be the hardest for me to part from at this time, as I've slowly become dependent upon knowing they'll be eaten by me every day in some form. The culprits are: raw nuts (specifically Brazil nuts, macadamia nuts, and cashews), cacao in any form (nibs or powder for me), and dates. I've grown an addiction.

We (my brave green lover and I) started the morning in a dash to the farmer's market to pack as many greens as possible into our reusable bags. To keep things relatively simple here, I'll just list off the green leafy vegetable that I included in the recipe, as we grabbed many different kinds of kale, chard, and lettuces (plus bags full of perfectly gorgeous spinach) - and I don't remember all their individual names. I'm using pears, apples, plums, and other greens and veggies from our weekly CSA delivery. The market was a great start to rev the green glory engine!

Green Wreck (Morning Smoothie):

1/2 cup purified water
4 bananas
1 large ripe mango
1 pear
1 apple
1/2 bundle dandelion greens
1/3 bundle parsley
1 big handful spinach
1 T Vitamineral Greens
1 T Azteca Spirulina

At first, my green smoothie let me down. This was likely because there were not any dates anywhere near as far as I could see. But, I realized why I am doing this (I KNOW I need it) and that the stringy green things that hang over your mouth as you gobble it up are what it's all about. So get over it, right? And I did. Green magic started to happen.

I've snacked on an apple, half a pear, and a few nibs of (No, not cacao!) kale today, and have drank my green superfood powder (Vitamineral Greens) in purified water throughout the day - but not much because I feel so hydrated w/ out this!

Smoother than a Brazilian (Afternoon Smoothie): taken from one of the recipes given in this challenge by the raw divas - although I did change it somewhat by using Brazil nut mylk instead of water as the base (nut mylk is part of this program, at least for Day 1 & 2). Oh, and a small spoonful of local, raw honey :) Believe me, if you saw this morning's smoothie you would treat yourself to some healing honey too!

2 cups homemade Brazil nut mylk
2 cups red grapes
1 cup frozen blueberries
4 bananas
One handful of kale
One handful of spinach
spoonful of local, raw honey

Cotton Candy (Evening Smoothie):
1.5 cups homemade Brazil nut mylk
3 bananas
2 cups frozen strawberries
1/2 pineapple
2 handfuls of spinach
spoonful of local, raw honey

And so, we have ourselves a delightful dinner and dessert, all in one! I'm looking forward to tomorrow - whereas last night all I could think about was how I was going to miss my 'favorites' and rationalizing my way out of this 5 day commitment. This challenge is typically 3 days, but I like to be extreme and add my own spin to it. Life has gone on temporarily without them ... and I've survived ... and thrived!