Today's my day, all day long. It's my day every Thursday, now.
At first, I felt guilty for signing my kids up for preschool on the same day-- all day, every week, in the summertime, no less.
The first day they were both gone was actually kind of excruciating for me. It was way too quiet. I felt lonely. I missed them. I (as mentioned above) felt guilty.
It was the first day I'd been alone all day in, if my memory serves me correctly, just over five years since my oldest was born!
I also didn't know what to do with myself that day. I ended up engrossing myself in bills and spreadsheets on the computer, and since there was no one around me nagging me that they were hungry, forgot to feed myself lunch. I was so happy to pick them up at the end of the day and embrace the loud, dirty, crazy messiness that is my little boys again.
But that's not happening today. I'm on my third week of this schedule and I've got the hang of it now. I'm completely happy that it's silent around here. And happy that I got to make my smoothie today with espresso in it.
'Cause if I make smoothies tomorrow when my boys are around, you know they'll want some...
And trust me: they do not need the espresso.
the veggies (er, fruit and stuff):
- 2 large (lungo) shots of espresso, or about 3/4 cup strong coffee, cooled for as long as you can stand it
- 1 1/2 cups frozen raspberries
- 1/2 cup plain greek yogurt or silken tofu
- 3 generous TBS chocolate syrup
the love:
- Throw it all in the blender and mix until smooth. This makes one large smoothie or two small ones. But, it's best enjoyed alone in complete, glorious silence-- so you should really drink it all yourself.
Owen's always pretending to be a spy these days. According to him, a spy is someone who goes on a secret mission. There are two types of spies, depending on the intent of their mission: good and bad. I'm pretty sure he learned this from watching Cars 2.
I've gone on my own secret mission lately: to sneak more green vegetables into my kids (and myself and Brock). While my kids might beg to differ if they ever found out, I consider this a good mission so I'm calling myself a good spy. This smoothie recipe is the result of my good spy efforts.
My cover was almost blown the other day when I was making these and Owen saw the contents of the blender pitcher just before I fired up the blender.
"That's not lettuce in there, is it Mom?" asked Owen. "I don't like lettuce."
"Lettuce!?" I laughed nervously, "That's just the stuff that makes it green. Don't be ridiculous -- lettuce in a smoothie?!"
Hmm... Lettuce-- I hadn't thought of that...
Anyway, Owen seemed satisfied by my answer and I managed to avert that disaster. And, I was so excited to see both of my kids happily slurping down their smoothies. Brock and I liked it too-- it was fruity, slushy and sweet, but not crazy sweet, like some smoothies. And I couldn't taste the greens! Woo hoo! Get out the "Mission Accomplished" banner and the flight suit-- I was ready to declare it a success...
Until I made them the next time and Oliver didn't want any. Drat! At least the rest of us were still excited about them. But for Oliver, I had to go super-stealth: I dumped it in an opaque sippy cup with a little extra juice and called it juice. And, voila-- he happily slurped it down and my mission was again accomplished. Whew-- that could have been embarrassing, with the banner and flight suit and all...
the veggies:*
- 2 cups lightly packed spinach**
- 2 cups lightly packed torn kale, stems and tough center veins removed
- 1/2 avocado, scooped from the peel
- 1 cup plain or vanilla Greek yogurt
- 3 cups frozen mangoes and/or peaches***
- 2 cups apple juice
the love:
- Combine all the ingredients in a blender until smooth, pulsing to break up any larger frozen fruit chunks.
tips:
*If someone's on to you and you need to go super-stealth, you could try my method above (mix with extra juice and serve in an opaque cup) or you could hide the green-ness of this with the bold color and flavor of berries. Let's call them Smoothies Rojos: Substitute the mango and peaches with strawberries and raspberries, and the apple juice for cranberry-raspberry juice. You could also use vanilla or strawberry yogurt instead of plain to sweeten it a little more.
**I like to buy the big 16 oz clamshell packages of pre-washed baby spinach for this-- it's super-convenient (just throw it in the blender), and much cheaper per ounce than the smaller clamshells.
***A combination of both fruits is nice-- it seems to have a more complex flavor that covers up the greens a little better.
