Green Smoothies Revisited

Over the past week, I've experimented with different fruit blends for my daily green smoothie. They've all tasted good, but some of them were quite a bit less aesthetically appealing than others. The blueberry-strawberry smoothie I made looked even more revolting than the strawberry-banana smoothie of the day before. I decided that if I wanted a good-looking smoothie, I needed to stick to yellow and orange fruits. Today's smoothie is made of bananas, peaches, a dab of yogurt, and kale. The strawberry is a festive garnish. Now, the smoothie looks more like a glass of guacamole.

Hey! It's an improvement.

"Green indeed is the colour of lovers"*

Lucia's preschool teacher eats a raw foods diet and offers fresh fruits and vegetables to the children during snacktime. Lucia's favorite snack is the "sushi" made with veggie pate plus cucumber and carrot slices rolled up in dried seaweed sheets called nori. If food is wrapped in nori, there's a chance Lucia will try it.

No one in the House of Glee has any plans to toss out our cooking pots or cover our burners with cutting boards. If we're fanatic about anything, it's our dislike of artificial sweeteners and hydrogenated fats.** Still, we are open to new ways of getting more fresh vegetables into our diets with as little discomfort as possible. Today, we tried the Green Smoothie for the first time. I blended bananas and strawberries, then threw in a handful of fresh kale.*** The mixture turned green. I'm a fan of green, so I was undeterred. I took one sip, then another. The mixture tasted like a strawberry and banana smoothie. That's it. There was no kale taste. Really. I would not joke about such a serious matter. One of the hardest things about my era of vegetarianism (1991-95) was my displeasure in eating minimally-prepared vegetables.

I'm not implying that you should go grocery shopping immediately to get the ingredients for a drink that will rejuvenate your blood cells, make your eyes shiny and your fur glossy. I'm just thrilled to have an alternative to salads. I'm not a big fan of salads unless they're mostly meat, nuts and fruit.



*Shakespeare: Love's Labours Lost. It's one of the few lines I remember from that confusing little play, but it made an impression.

**Actually, Brad the Gorilla and I are the only ones with strong opinions on artificial sweeteners and hydrogenated fats.

***Lucia's teacher recommended starting out with kale, which is mild when blended with fruit. Other fresh greens have much stronger tastes.

Green Sleeves: All My Joy

I'm lucky. Among my three chief pleasures (writing, playing guitar, sewing), I can actually work on sewing projects with Lucia in the room. When I'm writing or playing guitar, she tries to stop me by climbing on my lap and holding down the keys or strings. As long as she is allowed to roll the bobbins, lay her dollies on my sewing basket, walk across the fabric on the floor, make the buttons drive around in little cars, Lucia is content to let me sew. That is why I now have a new dress:



I did not sew this dress by myself. Seattle-Jane, my transplanted friend from New York, helped me sew it. She was instrumental in its actual creation and completion. Thank you, thank you, Seattle-Jane. As a tie-in to the storytelling and song theme of this blog, here is a list of "green" songs:

Green Grass Grew All Around
Green Grow the Rushes O
Greensleeves

It's a small list. Now, I've got to make lunch for Lucia.

I Know Where I'm Going

I'm learning this song on the guitar:

I know where I'm going
I know who's going with me
I know who I love
And my dear knows who I'll marry.

I have stockings of silk
And shoes of bright green leather
Combs to buckle my hair
And a ring for every finger.

Feather beds are soft
And painted rooms are bonnie
But I would give them all
For my handsome winsome Johnny.

Some say he is bad
But I say he's bonnie
Fairest of them all
Is my handsome winsome Johnny.

I know where I'm going
I know who's going with me
I know who I love
And my dear knows who I'll marry.

You may listen to the tune here.