A green smoothie, some ramen and a couch
A Green SmoothieThis morning I made a green smoothie. My cravings for green are pretty strong and very consistent, usually encouraging a giant salad at lunchtime. But occasionally I want green for breakfast and so I blend them, with a frozen banana and milk then whatever ingredients I have around that sound appealing. Today it was Medjool dates (oh! fancy) and some maca powder. My green was tender baby spinach. I topped it off as I always do my smoothie bowls, with coconut oil and toasted seeds, which combine into a hard brittle of delicious sorts. Plus a sprinkle of sea salt. Green craving satisfied.
My Green Smoothie
Serves 1
Ingredients
1 frozen Banana, sliced
1/2 cup Milk (any variety you like)
1 big handful Baby Spinach
1-2 Medjool Dates, pitted and chopped (depending on their size and your preference for sweet)
2 teaspoons Maca Powder
Toppings: a drizzle of runny coconut oil, toasted sunflower/pumpkin seeds and a little sea salt
Optional: add 1/3 cup soaked rolled oats and/or 1/2 tablespoon almond butter for a bit more bulk.
Method
1. Blend the banana, milk, spinach, date and maca in a food processor until smooth. Taste and adjust for texture and flavour as desired (more milk for a thinner smoothie, a little honey for sweetness, etc).
2. Drizzle the runny coconut oil over the smoothie and immediately sprinkle the toasted seeds and sea salt. Place the smoothie in the fridge or freezer until the coconut oil hardens to for a "brittle" with the seeds. Crunchy goodness, friends.
Now, let's jump back to yesterday...
Some Ramen Ben arrived home late from a meeting quite hungry, so I made him some noodles. The dude loves his noodles, especially those packet ramen, but as the years tick on and he pushes the big three zero, he's finding himself a little sensitive to highly processed foods. I don't think this is such a bad thing, as it encourages him to stay away from crap and favour whole foods, and luckily he agrees. But you've still got to have ramen, right?
Recently I discovered what everyone else on the Mornington Peninsula already knew, that Mount Eliza has a bonkers great Ritchies. I could browse those aisles for hours, and indeed I do, it's legit "job research". For this I am thankful/poor. On one of my research trips, I discovered some expensive but hard to resist organic noodles from Germany, made only with organic wheat, semolina and salt. This is what I used for Ben's lunch yesterday, which was a quick and terribly inauthentic ramen made using some fabulous chicken stock from The Stock Merchant I was recently gifted to sample (thank you, folks!). This product really is stellar, made using free range chickens and simple ingredients (they also have beautiful beef and vegetable stocks and even sustainable crab stock). If I'm not making my own stock, I love having quality, more expensive (i.e. made with actual chickens!) stock on hand to keep that nourishing, homemade feel alive. So, in with this lovely stock I threw those fancy noodles. I poached an egg in the hot simmering broth, then added fresh ginger and a little tamari (yes, that's as "ramen flavour" as it got), and lastly a bit of lettuce. Ben was stoked.
A Couch I took yesterday and today off work to finish unpacking. A lofty goal, indeed, but I'm really kicking some goals and I'm certain it has nothing to do with the three cups of coffee I'm averaging before noon. Tomorrow we get our coach delivered, our first grown-up couch purchase that wasn't from an op shop or in the $300 IKEA range. It's so comfortable I can't handle it.
That's all I wanted to say today, really. A green smoothie, some ramen and a couch. Happy Friday, folks. We're having our favourite lamb shank and lentil soup for dinner tonight and this weekend we have friends staying. Good things. I hope you have a swell weekend too. I'm off to pour myself another cup of coffee and finish unpacking.