he liked it! hey, mikey!

Several weeks ago our daughter-in-law, Meggie...just love this girl who loves the Lord and loves our son; we couldn't have hand-picked a wife for him any better!; good reminder that trusting God is always the best option :-)...here they are...just too precious for words!...makes my heart hurt that New York is so darn far from Tennessee...but, I'm not going to grumble or complain...or weep...right now... :-)

Anyway...several weeks ago Meggie shared that she and Josh had begun a morning ritual called the "Green Smoothie" and she posted the recipe on her blog.  This really didn't come as too big of a surprise considering she and Josh are the most health conscience people I know...and "green smoothie" just has that "good for you" ring to it. 

Side note:  Anything that starts with "green" is definitely NOT anything that comes from below the Mason-Dixon Line.  All names and titles below the M-D Line begin with "fried"...now, you fellow southerners, don't be gettin' all defensive...you know it's true!

Back to the "Green Smoothie".  When I read the recipe my first thought was...when pigs fly is when that becomes a morning ritual at our house.  You see, Sweet Husband will do "green" as long as its green beans that have been cooked in bacon grease all day long.  Yep...they're "smooth", too...'cept in the South we call 'em slap yo' mama good!

But, Saturday morning as I prepared my grocery list, I had a flash of bravery (or was it insanity?) and I decided we should at least try the "green smoothie".  Meggie had said it was "good for Josh's cholesterol" and "nice for your digestion"...and Josh is only 27!!  Imagine how good and nice it would be for 50 and almost 50 year olds!!  We definitely needed to try this "green" thing.  And the sooner the better...

Sweet Husband enjoys going to the store with me, so he was along for the ride as I prepared to launch us into this new world of "green".  He wasn't too fazed when I put several different kinds of fruit in the cart.  But, when I reached for the flax seed, he thought aliens had overtaken my body between aisles three and four.  I assured him I was still fully in charge of my faculties and that he wouldn't even be able to taste it.  He muttered something under his breath about pop tarts remaining his breakfast food of choice.  I pretended not to hear him...as I grabbed another bag of flax seed.

So...this morning I got up and readied the blender for the smoothie makin's.  Talk about a full blender!!  Whoa!  My blender motor sounded a little strained at first...and I think I smelled an electrical burn...but, eventually everything was churning nicely...and thick-ly.  (I'm not real good at describing healthy stuff...)

Right after I poured Sweet Husband's smoothie into a glass he entered the kitchen.  He took one look at it and said, "There's no way I'm gonna drink all that!"  I said, "Well, just try it and see what you think."

He took a spoon (it's thick, I'm tellin' ya!) and scooped some into his mouth.  "Not bad," he said, "Not bad at all."  I proceeded to clean up the mess I had made...acting like I was not at all surprised that he wasn't gagging and threatening to hurl all over the kitchen floor.

He left the kitchen to gather his things to take to work and he returned, reached for his smoothie and said, "I'm gonna need to put this in a bigger glass to take with me."  What!?!  Hey, Mikey!  You like it?!?

I'm so proud of Sweet Husband!  So proud, in fact, that I might give him an extra spoonful of 'nana-puddin' tonight!

In the mean time...here's the recipe for green smoothies.  Try it...you might like it!

Green Smoothies

Splash o' OJ or Cranberry Juice
-Fill blender to the top with loosely packed spinach or kale
-2 carrots (very important for consistency...per Meggie)
-2 bananas (either 1 big and 1 small or 1 1/2 big)
-4 tablespoons Flax Seed (this is the "good and nice" part)
-A healthy handful / pour of frozen blueberries (if you use enough it won't look like you're enjoying a broccoli shake)
-Any other fruit you have lying around and have an early morning impulse to throw in.  Including but not limited to:
-Frozen Pineapple
-Strawberries (frozen or fresh)
-Kiwi
-Frozen Mango (I actually used OJ w/ Mango in it...I know...I was daring this first time around!)
-5ish ice cubes

ENJOY!!