Happy Friday! I hope your week is going well. The temps cooled off a little this week, and we’ve had a break in the humidity which has been pretty refreshing and delightful. In case you missed it, earlier this week I shared the recipe for my plant based queso dip. I’m loving that on everything. For real, I’m eating it right now. Once again I’m stopping by to share some of the things I’m loving this week. Tell me what things made you smile this week in the comments!
Green Smoothie Creations
So Matt’s pretty great. Amazon’s not…at least at keeping secrets, that is. He ordered a very generous birthday gift for me (which isn’t until next month…Amazon Prime Day for the win) and marked it as a gift. Just an FYI, that does not mean it will be delivered in subtle packaging. Quite the contrary, in fact. One day I got home to find a box labeled VITAMIX in big bold letters on every side of the box. I really like gifts to be a surprise, but there was no avoiding this one.
Since the cat was out of the bag with this one, Matt encouraged me to start using the VitaMix early. Typically I would still wait, but really it’s benefiting both of us that I didn’t put up much of a fight.
I’ve been using my old blender a lot since I’m making my pesto and queso dips all the time. I prep a batch on the weekend, so Matt gets to experience the battle with my blender. I turn it on, it makes a VERY loud grinding sound as if it’s working hard doing it’s one job, ya know, blending. Except nothing moves. So I shake the entire machine back and forth as it screams as if it were dying and I eventually get a half turn. The process is repeated. Many times. Now you know what goes on behind the scenes with recipe creating. I didn’t ask for a blender for my birthday, but in retrospect it’s becoming very clear why this beautiful, generous machine arrived at our door step.
Anyway. Now that I’m the very proud owner of a VitaMix I’m loving creating green smoothies. So far the VitaMix handles anything I throw at it effortlessly with a gentle purring motor. It’s kind of life changing. I love that I can add ingredients that I would normally want in a green juice and create a green smoothie version. All the nutrients without losing the fiber.
I shared my first green smoothie recipe creation on Instagram. It’s packed with vegetables (cucumbers, celery, cauliflower, and spinach). I also added matcha powder, lemon juice, collagen powder, and chia seed powder for a dose of protein, anti-oxidants, omega-3’s and caffeine. It’s a great way to pack in all sorts of goodness into one glass. I’m thinking the green smoothie would be a great alternative to my amazeballs for a mid-afternoon snack to provide a boost when my energy levels start to plummet. I also want to get some spirulina for my next green smoothie for an extra dose of green goodness. Apparently Autocorrect doesn’t think spirulina is a thing. Stay up to date with your superfoods, Autocorrect.
Dates with tahini and sea salt
This has rapidly become an obsession. Nourished By Nutrition posted about this combo on Instagram and within an hour of seeing her beautiful photo I had tried this combo. Gah, it’s so good. I love dates with almond butter and peanut butter for a sweet, candy-bar like snack, but I had never tried tahini. It works. Very well.
It’s a good thing I have a giant Costo-sized container of dates, because I’m enjoying this snack on repeat. Before a workout, as an afternoon snack, as dessert… The key is to make sure you have awesome dates: the kind that when pulled apart are gooey, caramel-y goodness. Costco has Sun Date Medjool dates, and they’re the best. If you’re looking at this photo and thinking there’s no way this combo is delicious, just be wild and crazy and try it. It’s a treat.
National Ice Cream Day
Did you guys know last Sunday was National Ice Cream Day? That’s a holiday you don’t want to miss. Before I reined in my sweet tooth I literally ate ice cream every night. I’m a fan. When my mom was pregnant with me she enjoyed a lot of ice cream, so I feel like it was inevitable that I would adore it, too. Now it’s more of a periodic treat, but I certainly had to celebrate.
Technically we got fro-yo, but I think that counts. We tried out Menchies, because it was close to where we were doing some errands. I got the original tart and a little chocolate, and both were good. Side note: remember when fro-yo was everywhere? They seem to kind of be a dying breed. If you’re local and missed celebrating NICD some of our other favorite (real) ice cream spots are Carolina Cones and Two Scoops Creamery. It’s never too late to celebrate an important holiday!
Good news for Jameson
I mentioned last week that Jameson had surgery. He had four lumps removed and a dental cleaning. He has been a champ through the recovery and wore his soft collar as if that was totally normal and routine. One day he did casually walk up to me with the above situation. That’s one way of wearing it. He was feeling the off-the-shoulder look after days of wearing it the same old way. Such a trend setter. This is not how I actually recommend your dog wear an E-collar.
Anyway, this week all of his biopsies came back benign so that’s cause for celebration. Definitely my favorite news from this week! Just a few more days and we’ll be able to play ball and go for walks again. That will be Jameson’s Friday Favorite.
What made you smile this week?
What are your favorite smoothie ingredients?
Did you celebrate National Ice Cream Day? What did you get??
What do you think about the date/nut butter combo?
FYI: Some of the links included in this post are affiliate links. That means as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases (theoretically, haha). I only link to products that I own and love. Thank you for stopping by and for your support. <3
Leave a Reply