green monster

I stumbled upon another blog (thank you, Google Reader suggestion box) last week that talked about Green Monsters smoothies. I was intrigued and had to give it a try. This girl has done lots of variations, but the one I tried went as follows:

2-3 c. spinach

1T. ground flax

1T. peanut butter

1 banana, frozen

1c. skim milk

Note to self: peel the banana before freezing. I had to use a paring knife to get the peel off, much like peeling an apple. After a little googling I learned that I can peel the banana and freeze it without it going brown or getting gross.

Surprisingly, this smoothie was really good. It made about 8-10oz. and basically tasted like a pb/banana smoothie. The texture was smooth, with only a little residual grittiness leftover from the flax and pb (and not enough to bother me). All in all, definitely worth a repeat. I ate this with half a cup of Kashi Wild Blueberry Clusters cereal and I was full for a good 4 hours. I can see it being a good afternoon snack as well. Any suggestions for other additions I could try? I have some chocolate protein powder I could throw in there I suppose... but it's old, I never really liked it, and I probably should just pitch it anyway (looks like I answered my own question there).

Dave and I also had gnocchi last night, which was fabulously delicious. I used some leftover homemade spaghetti sauce rather than the can of pre-cut tomatoes. Next time I'd like to use whole-wheat gnocchi, but I couldn't find any at the store this time around.

That's two posts for today. Be sure you scroll down to read Dave's report on playing with cats!