Beet Green Smoothies

I've been on the hugest cooking kick lately. Mocha Pots de Creme, meringue cookies, tinga, corned beef and fried potatoes, bread pudding...you name it. Since receiving my new Ninja blender, I have gone even more nuts. Smoothies mostly, but a couple other interesting little experiments too. Last night I was reading a blog by this lady who has a whole bunch of Ninja recipes (Test Kitchen Tuesdays: Healthy Eating and Healthy Living for a Happy Life! I know, not my typical kind of thing). She talks about adding greens to smoothies to boost the whole "health factor." I scoffed. Lady, ain't no way I'm ever drinking a green smoothie. Nice talking to you. Then I read her post about how to disguise green smoothies to fool hapless husbands and children. I have neither, but I thought if it's possible to fool my own hapless self, I could be healthy without feeling like, well, a rabbit. She said to use a couple chunks of beet and the greens, plus fruit. The fruit masks the flavor of the greens, and the beet masks the color. I came home from the grocery store today armed with a bunch of beets and some peaches. I thought I had spinach at home already, but I didn't. A bright idea and a speedy google search later, I rested in the knowledge that the beet greens on my beet bunch would do just as well. A cup of milk, some beet greens, a peach, a couple chunks of beet, and a glop of honey. Into the ninja and blended. My hopes were high. It was a pretty smoothie. Beet red, literally (sorry, couldn't resist). And then I tasted it. It tasted like pureed beet greens. Back when I thought I was going to like it, I was preparing a little bit for this post that ran something like this: "For those of you that are worried at this out-of-character enjoyment of something that's actually healthy, fear not. I'm not going off the deep end. There will still be nights when I make a box of tuna helper and accidentally eat all of it in one sitting." Now that speech is obviated by the fact that my smoothie is terrible. I mean, it's not inedible, but it's only my stubornness that has me still drinking it right now. I'm on a pendulum swing between contempt for myself ("Come on, Em...did you really think you'd like a green smoothie?") and betrayal by that clever wordsmith who talked me into this ("You said I wouldn't taste the greens! You lied to me!"). On a more positive note, the texture is absolutely perfect, and I have great confidence that when I return to my fully sane state and make smoothies with fruit and yoghurt and sugar, I'll be pleased with them. 

Reasons Why I'm Happy

1. This morning as I was backing out of my driveway, I saw kitty pawprints on my back windshield. I love it so much when that happens. Why, you ask? Because there's something beautiful to me in the notion of a little cat creeping up onto the roof of my car in the middle of the night. It reminds me of some of my favorite MewithoutYou lyrics: "A cat came drifting to my porch from the outside cold, and, with eyes closed drinking warm milk from my bowl, thought, 'Nobody hears me, nobody hears me; I crept in so soft. Nobody hears me, nobody hears me,' as I watched six steps off." 

2. During work I was talking to the 13 year old girl I tutor about my grad school plans. Our relationship is still a little tentative, as I've only been working with this family for about two and a half weeks. She said, "If you get into school, will you still get to work with us?" It warmed my heart considerably. 

3. After work I went to the grocery store to take advantage of a sale on milk. Lo and behold, roses were also on sale. This never happens to me. I love roses and I never buy them, and I GOT TEN ROSES FOR FIVE DOLLARS AND THEY'RE SO BEAUTIFUL THAT YOU MUST FORGIVE MY TEMPORARY LAPSE IN GRAMMATICAL CORRECTNESS!!!!!!!! They. Are. So. Beautiful. 

4. When I got home my Ninja Master Prep Professional was waiting on my doorstep. I wasn't expecting it till Friday, and there it was in all its glory. 

I promptly made a ridiculously delicious strawberry peach mango raspberry smoothie.

I'm also planning to take full advantage of its ice crushing capabilities. It came with a little pamphlet that has a couple of recipes, one of which is called Mocha Frozen Fusion Lite. Since I resent anything with the term "Lite" in it (aside from my distaste for anything fat or sugar free, I don't even consider "lite" a real word), I fully intend to replace the skim milk with 2% and the "No-calorie sweetener" with good old sugar. And then it will just be Mocha Frozen Fusion FANTASTIC!

In spite of headaches and some brief periods of having to focus on things that stress me out, it's been a good day.