Green Monster

I had been looking for something to take with me for breakfast after crossfit in the morning, since I refuse to get up at five am to have breakfast before leaving. (For the record I do eat a granola bar and about half a cup of juice before crossfit, my tummy isn't ready for a full meal). I figured a homemade green monster would be the perfect meal. Here's what I put in mine:

2 cups spinach
1 T flaxseed meal
1 banana
1 1/4 cup vanilla almond milk
2 cups ice

(make sure to do it in that order to weigh down the spinach so it blends all the way)

Ta Da! Breakfast

I tried blending it the night before and freezing it, but it froze solid and I couldn't drink it until one in the afternoon. I found just getting everything set out the night before saves me enough time that I don't mind blending it in the morning. One of those Blender Bottles they sell at suppliment stores are the perfect container (leave the spriny thing out). The smoothy will start to separate after about an hour or so, so something that is air tight to shake it back up in is beneficial. I have some home grown strawberries to add to it this week. I can't wait!

Kale Chips

First of all, sorry I've been such a slacker. My lack of racing this year has equaled a lack of posting. I'll try to do better.

So I have heard about this magical vegetable call kale. It is supposed to help you live longer, feel better, and it will probably give us the ability to fly as well. I have also heard a lot of people don't like kale because it is bitter and gross. Due to this Kale scares me. I don't want to ruin my beautiful smoothie with a gross bitter vegetable. I had heard from some of my facebook friends that kale is absolutely delicious in chip form. So the next time it popped up in my organic bin I decided to not substitute it out and to give it a try.

Making kale chips is really easy. You take one bunch of kale, cut the ribs out (basically the stuff that is not the green leaf). Then you dress it in olive oil and salt (mix it up in a bowl like it is a salad). Then you lay out the leaves on a baking sheet, like I did in the picture below.

You then bake it on 350 for twenty minutes, until crisp. My first batch turned out only okay. I think part of it was the type of kale I used (see above it is extra veiny) and I thought it would be good to put bacon salt on it (not good, it was/is gross). What I do love is how it crunches and then disappears in my mouth. I can see how it is an addicting snack. I can only describe it similar to popcorn.

I have yet to try kale in my smoothies. I really like my spinach smoothie so I think I am going to stick with that. I'll try to post that recipe next week.