friday breakfast: cup o' green & a pot o' gold

Happy (early) St. Patrick's Day!  Even though technically my dad's family is of Scottish descent, everyone is Irish this weekend, right?  Plus - as a Scot, I've heard you're supposed to wear orange on St. Patrick's Day, but I am avoiding orange, remember?  (In all actuality, you probably don't remember, as yesterday's post got a whopping 31 hits, total.  As opposed to my peanut-butter banana ice cream post, which got 78 hits in the first two hours.  I wonder which one y'all liked more.)

In celebration of the fine day, I bring you.....not corned beef or Irish soda bread.  Not Guinness or Bailey's cupcakes....though you could have this breakfast with an Irish coffee, if you'd like.  No, I bring you a delicious, healthy green breakfast smoothie to start your day, before you go and wreck your liver and clog your arteries in honor of St. Pat!  And, there's a pot of gold along with it!  Light, fluffy scrambled eggs. 

Before you have a seizure because I am suggesting you start your day off with green slime, hear me out.  This is a "normal" fruit smoothie with just a couple of handfuls of spinach added in for good measure.  I promise you can't even taste it - even my coworker has gotten her one-year-old hooked on these smoothies.  They taste great while providing a bevy of benefits from the added vegetable boost.  Excuse me for a second or ten as I extoll the virtues of my favorite leafy green.  Spinach boasts ridiculous levels of Vitamin K (one cup provides 1110% of your daily needs!), Vitamin A (300%), manganese, iron, folate, calcium, and even Vitamin C (goodbye, orange things!)

I add whatever frozen fruit I have on hand.  I prefer using yellow fruits because the smoothie retains that nice, bright green color.  Using red and blue fruits, like berries, is fine, but it looks a little gross if it starts to separate.  This may be okay if it doesn't bother you, or if you're drinking it out of an opague travel mug, but otherwise, expect to get weird looks.  I add Greek yogurt to the smoothie to make it a substantial, protein-filled breakfast-on-the-run, or I leave it out if it is accompanying another breakfast item (like these scrambled eggs).

I won't insult your intelligence with a recipe for scrambled eggs.  I have a lot more faith in you than that.  But if you don't know how to scramble an egg, email me and we can chat.

May the luck of the Irish be with you today and every day!  And may the luck of the Irish be with my Hoos today in the tournament!

Green breakfast smoothie
Serves one or two

1/2 frozen banana
1/2 - 3/4 cup frozen yellow fruit (e.g. pineapple, mango, peaches)
2 handfuls baby spinach
6 ounces Greek yogurt (optional)
1 cup almond milk or water (bump up to 1 1/2 cups if using yogurt)
6 ice cubes

1.  Combine all ingredients in a blender. If you're OCD and you need a specific order, load spinach first, then fruit, liquid/yogurt, and ice - the heavier ingredients will weigh down the spinach and keep it from sticking to the sides.  Blend, changing proportions until reaching your desired consistency, until smooth. Pin It Now!

back-to-work monday

Happy Monday!  How was everyone's weekend?  I, for one, am grateful that I am employed and at work today after the threat of a government shutdown.  Don't get me wrong, it would be nice to have a few days off, but I gotta make them dollar dollar bills.  But it's a moot point now, and we're good for the next six months, I guess.  I'm sure next year they'll go through the same thing.

But now, the highlight of your Monday....a quick recap of the weekend in food.  As I previously mentioned, Thursday night Brittany's Mom (Miss Cleo) and Aunt Elizabeth (Delta Burke) gave us a tarot card reading.  They were in town visiting from Atlanta and they love their Tarot cards!  As I said before, I was a complete skeptic, but I went in with an open mind and actually ended up getting too into it by the end.  Take it with a grain of salt, or take it as Gospel, but either way you look at it, it's all in good fun. 

We had plenty of wine to ease any nerves, and noshed on hummus, cheese, fruits, crackers, and cured meats (well, everyone else did).  There was a great brie, mozzarella, and a sharp white cheddar.  Those were paired with flatbread, crackers, and a whole wheat baguette.  We also had some delicious hummus and a fruit plate.  I will admit that the plate of proscuitto and sopressata literally made my mouth water - it was actually the first plate of meat I've seen that I really, really wanted (which is weird, because I wouldn't count those meats as my favorites!)  It was actually pretty funny to hear everyone's readings - my friends and I are all at such pivotal points in our lives, albeit all for different reasons, and it was interesting to see how the cards' meanings changed in different "positions" and applied to everyone's scenarios. 

This was my Tarot card reading.  Of the ten cards, six are cards of the "major arcana."  There are only 22 major arcana cards in the whole deck (of 78).  Miss Cleo thought it was tres interesante to see so many major arcana appear in my reading - apparently these cards are very strong, and with deep meanings.  Strong cards for a strong personality, she said.  Needless to say, everyone thought this was quite appropriate.  The reading itself didn't tell me really anything I didn't already know about myself or this hilarious sequence of events that comprises my life, but it was funny to see that a lot of my past and present was reflected in the meaning of the various cards.  Don't count me in as a believer just yet, but I'm interested to see if any of the future predictions will hold.  It was a lot of fun to see what the Tarot thinks the future has in store.

Friday night we had Happy Hour to mourn a possible furlough, celebrate the end of March Madness, and toast to a coworker getting into a neat graduate program.  I got hungry so I grabbed a crepe from Crepes on the Walk - oozing with swiss cheese, spinach, tomatoes, and avocado.  Saturday I made banana pancakes (but I cheated - I used a buttermilk premix!)  I also went to Cactus Cantina for Lindsey's birthday and had the best vegetable fajitas ever!  The platter included not only the traditional peppers and onions, but also mushrooms, zucchini, green onions, corn, potatoes, and even ginger and bean sprouts (not exactly Mexican, but whatever).  Obviously the platter was served with pico de gallo, guacamole, rice, and black beans (a nice alternative to refried beans, which are generally not vegetarian).


After dinner, I met up with Laura and Mauri, two friends who were visiting from NYC.  We sang karaoke, Laura's favorite pastime, at Cafe Japone.  Sunday was spent writing, grocery shopping, cooking, doing laundry, catching up on emails and trip planning....all the things I normally try to do on Sunday to make me feel like a productive human.

My most loyal commenter finally makes it on the blog (!!)

Quick PSA:  There are only two more weeks for the 40-day Vegetarian!  I've gotten so many great suggestions for blogs, magazines, and websites to gather inspiration, and I really appreciate all of the support and ideas!  I've sometimes had trouble getting the ingredients, though.... zucchini and eggplant are expensive and flavorless this time of year.  I'm keeping my eyes peeled!
This week on the blog, another yucky childhood vegetable gets a makeover, a boring fish filet gets dressed up, and Thursday's post is still TBD.  Enjoy your Monday!



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