New York, I Love You (plus a Shrek-inspired treat)

In case my not so encryptic message on Friday didn't make it entirely clear, I spent the weekend (or around 30 hours of it at least) in my home away from home, New York City. It was glorious. I've officially been gone long enough to have nearly completely forgotten all the things I found abhorrent and am left only with fond memories of snow, fashion that feeds my soul and food that feeds my belly.

A quick synopsis of my trip told through food.

Pinkberry parfait with my bestie Emily. Oh how I have missed both of you! Yes, it was 20 something degrees outside. Nothing can keep us from our fro yo.

life changer alert: grilled cheese tomato soup dumplings

seared tuna with my latest obsession, parsnip wasabi puree. helloooo umami

There was also a lot of chocolate in bar, fondue, pudding, martini, donut, and cupcake form. I hope you'll understand that in order to get in before it was devoured in full, I had to put down the camera and play a quick game of survival of the fittest.

Needless to say, I woke up this morning coming out of a food coma and in dire need of some heavy duty food cure. I settled on one of my more recent obsessions (just before I met and fell madly in love with parsnip wasabi puree), a green smoothie.

Don't cringe dear ones. I have not, I repeat not, abandoned tastebuds in favor of waist line. As a matter of fact, I've spent the past week working up the most perfect of perfect tasting green smoothies so I can confidantly present you with a good for you and your tastebuds product.

Green smoothies are great nutritionally speaking because they set your digestive tract right on track first thing in the morning, while also packing all sorts of energizing vitamins, fiber, and protein into a pretty little Shrek colored glass. I swear to you I don't need coffee til just prior to lunch.

The hard part comes along when you want to get enough spinach in there to do a thorough job but come just short of ruining a heavenly flavor.

Voila - you'll find below a vanilla, banana berry super thick smoothie with absolutely zero (I swear on everything holy and dear) spinach flavor.

so green and happy. those flecks are blueberry by the way, not spinach.

Ingredients

so simple. it takes me a total of 7 minutes to get this ready and get the two of us out the door

1/2 cup raw spinach
1 tbsp flax seed or flax meal
1/2 large banana
1/4 cup fresh blueberries
1 tbsp non fat greek yogurt
1/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1/3 cup ice

**UPDATE - it is best to use a very ripe banana. This is great because you can put any browning bananas that are ick to eat in the freezer and safe for your smoothies. If the banana is under-riped and you use it, it may have a slightly funky taste.

To Do

place all ingredients except for the ice into the blender and blend thoroughly for 2-3 minutes

add ice and blend for another 2-3 minutes or until completely smooth

poor little ingredients...no idea they're getting ready to meet their maker

Alterations - Endless

No greek yogurt? Substitute in another plain yogurt flavor.

No yogurt at all? You can leave it out. Primarily, it adds a smooth thick texture and not much flavor.

No almond milk? Substitute regular milk, soy milk, coconut milk or even water.

Hate blueberries? Either leave them out or replace them with orange, pear, or another berry of your liking.

If you want to get creative, add a tablespoon of peanut butter or some cocoa powder for an added flavor pow.

Nutritional Goodness

In what amounts to be around 1.5 cups of liquid depending on how thick you prefer it, you'll get 15% of your daily calcium need, a full 8 gram serving of protein, 32% of your daily Vitamin A need, 21% (5g) of your daily fiber need, and 23% of your daily Vitamin C need all for a measley 150 calories.

To make it your breakfast in full, double in size. I just prefer to have this when I wake up, wait an hour or so and then have an apple and eggs.

As it's now been an hour or so, I'm off to get my apple and eggs.

xo,
L