green smoothies

Everyone's talking about green smoothies lately, and I have to admit I've hopped on the bandwagon. Not only do they help me to use up the produce in the fridge before I have to toss it in the compost, but I actually feel better on the days that I drink them.

Yeah, I know. It sounds like propaganda, right? It's just vegetables, fruit, and sometimes water!

Maybe it's the chlorophyll content in the vegetables. After all, a mango-banana smoothie doesn't make me feel the same way... adding some spinach or kale to that combination makes a big difference. Maybe it's the vitamin content, or maybe there's more oxygen in the leafy greens? Maybe it's all in my head?

Either way, it's been getting me to eat more vegetables and that's always a good thing.

Here's a few of my favorite green smoothie combinations:

• kale, apples (1 or 2, depending on how sweet they are), and a big handful of mint *** #1 FAVORITE ***
  
• pineapple, collards, and banana
• green grapes and celery
• cucumber, tomato, avocado, and celery (savory smoothies are still good! Think gazpacho)
• pomegranate-blueberry juice, pineapple, spinach, banana, and blueberries
• parsley, pineapple, apple

Sometimes I add ice, but usually just 1/2 a cup of water in the bottom of the blender (unless I use juice in the smoothie) is enough.

Weekend at the farm + Menu Plan Monday

We had a nice, relaxed couple of days this weekend. Saturday we went to our CSA's community day at the farm. This was Chickadee's first visit to the farm, although Munchkin has visited there several times. We got to see their new baby goats, pick blackberries, meet the farm dogs, and the kids climbed all over the straw bale forts. Chickadee had a great time pulling handful after handful of straw out of the bales!



Father's Day breakfast was the traditional cinnamon rolls and orange juice, and the girls presented Daddy with a bound picture book titled "Daddy's Adventure Book" (inspired by the scrapbook from the movie Up!). The book showed pictures of him with the girls (mostly Munchkin since Chickadee is less than a year old, and has had fewer years to accumulate pictures) from 2001 to the present. He cried and said it was the best present ever. :)

The rest of the day was spent dismantling Munchkin's bed and rearranging her room in preparation for her new bed arriving tomorrow morning. She has slept in one of those lofted beds with a ladder and a slide for the last 6 years, but she's a bit too big for it now. While she's going to miss her old bed, she's pretty excited about the new one.

Breakfasts:
eggs & cold cereal/toast/waffles, sausage or bacon, radish hash browns

Lunches: leftovers, green smoothies, tuna salad and crackers, Monterey Chicken quesadillas, cioppino (maybe... we have some in the freezer and only two of us like it, so it's a better lunch option than one for dinner)

Monday: pulled smoked pork w/ BBQ sauce, collards, cornbread
Tuesday: linguine with chicken & Alfredo sauce, salad or broccoli
Wednesday: veggie chili (from freezer), salad or broccoli
Thursday: Teriyaki Tomato Rice & Beef, zucchini
Friday: Leftover Buffet or grilled sausages, peppers and onions
Saturday: Blackberry Balsamic Chicken (Dream Dinners entree from freezer), salad, cornbread
Sunday: soup (canned or a simple homemade veggie soup) & grilled cheese sandwiches

For more meal planning ideas, go to I'm an Organizing Junkie!

This week's menu

Kind of an odd week -- trying to use up things in the freezer, so we have to make sure we schedule enough time for thawing. We're seeing Up! one night this week (thanks to Diaper Days at Camera Cinemas) and I have a meeting on Friday, so we also have to schedule around those events.

Monday: Italian sausages and hotdogs, sauteed mushrooms with peppers and onions, carrots
Tuesday: pizza (from the pizza place next to the movie theatre)
Wednesday: Orangey Asian Chicken (from freezer - never got around to this last week), rice, stir fried asparagus with onions and mushrooms
Thursday: stuffed shells (from freezer), summer squash, garlic bread (if there's any left in the freezer)
Friday: leftovers? (or dinner out, depending on length of meeting)
Saturday: Monte Cristo Chicken (from freezer - Dream Dinners), veggies
Sunday: Breakfast for Dinner (using waffles and sausage from freezer)

For more menu planning ideas, go to I'm an Organizing Junkie!

Finally - Menu Plan Monday!

It's been a while (again) since I posted a menu... for the past few weeks we've kind of followed one that was hurriedly jotted down on paper, but I'd rather get back into the habit of posting these again.

Monday: Corned Beef Casserole (minus the cheese and potato chips), summer squash
Tuesday: ham & beans (from freezer), sauteed greens, cornbread
Wednesday: turkey soup with rice & vegetables (made with meat and stock from $0.49/lb. organic turkey backs that I bought on Christmas Eve and cooked over the weekend), fruit
Thursday: steak (cut from $1.49/lb. beef tenderloin purchased 2 months ago, sauteed fava beans & carrots (a variation on this recipe), Israeli couscous
Friday: Orangey Asian Chicken (frozen Dream Dinners meal - and yes, it's really spelled that way!), rice, stir-fried mei qing choi (similar to bok choy) & whatever other vegetables we need to use up
Saturday: The elder child keeps asking for pizza, and I may just give in. We have a couple in the freezer that I could pull out.
Sunday: canned soup & grilled cheese sandwiches or Leftovers Buffet

Breakfasts: frozen waffles (because they're taking up a lot of room in the freezer), eggs & toast, corned beef hash (made with radishes instead of potatoes)

Lunches: tuna salad or PB&J sandwiches, frozen veggie "chicken" nuggets with ketchup, leftovers from dinner; apples or chips or pretzels on the side

For more menu planning ideas, visit I'm an Organizing Junkie!