Zanybah

May 12//

“Something that makes you happy: This handsome fella.”

Finn wasn’t around so I just took a photo of this guy instead.  Alright, fine.  I tease.  Levi was very kind and after I took a couple of photos he didn’t like, he willingly took one himself.

This guy, also known as “Mr. Steady”, has become one of the greatest blessings in my life.  I thank the Lord for him daily and strive to do my best by him.  We’re quite a pair, us two, and we’re learning a lot together.  Through the high and low, he never ceases to bring happiness into my life.

May 13//

“Mum: Today, Momma educates us on today’s holiday. ‘Happy Mother’s Day!! See? It’s like Merry Christmas, Happy Easter and Happy Shamrock Day!!’ What the heck is Shamrock Day?”

My mother is a riot.  And not only that, she is one of the few people I truly admire and will forever cherish.  She blasts away the stereo-typical homeschool mother and although she won’t admit it, she clearly reflects the Proverbs 31 woman every day of her life.

Even in the midst of being upset with her, I always retreat back to the comfort of knowing how wise and loving she is.  How when I’m an adult, I want to be so much like her.  Happy Mother’s Day, Momma.  I love you.

May 14//

“Grass: Does Minecraft count? The beautiful grass surrounding my Adventure Time treehouse made 100% in survival mode. LIKE A BOSS!!”

A new trend of mine is the video game, Minecraft and this television show, Adventure Time.  Inspired by the tree fort Finn and Jake live in on Adventure Time, I sought out a plan to create the very structure in Minecraft.  100% in survival mode.  Meaning each block, each tool was created from scratch.  Raw materials.  Basically, this project took a couple of months.

After printing out some blueprints of the tree fort, I tweaked them to fit my needs.  I finally finished the structure and I am completely in awe of the turnout.  Soon, I plan to create a video elaborating on the structure.

May 15//

“Love: This is the very first photo @mightyth0r sent me of himself. After a week or two of talking online about Minecraft and Fantastic Mr. Fox, I think I was due for a photo like this.”

In the beginning of February, Levi kinda stalked me.  He wouldn’t leave me alone about my interest in Minecraft and even proceeded to buy me the full version of the video game.  From that point on…I was alright, talking to this guy.  We talked about our common interests at the time, which happened to be Minecraft and the movie, Fantastic Mr. Fox.  Weeks later, I received my first photo from him.  This syrupy one.  Which, of course, remains as one of my favorites.

Today was our last official day of co-op.  It was lovely, besides the fact I only had a few hours of sleep and participated in all my classes half-asleep.  I’m becoming quite the zombie.

After co-op had ended, I expected to walk out the doors of the building, look up the sky with a huge smile plastered on my face and hear “Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows” play in the background.  Instead, I walked out of the building, my raccoon eyes boring holes through everything I looked at while I sluggishly walking to the ‘burb.

In route to the house, that must-anticipated moment caught up with me.  I started humming some perky songs to myself and dreamily looked at the sky.

Alright, quick interruption.

Have you ever thought about why we look at the sky all dramatic-like when we’re experiencing an extreme emotion?  Here’s a scenario for you:

The rain falls hard against the windows of your car.  Sitting in the backseat, you plug your earbuds in, blaring “Iris” in your ears.  You begin to slowly blink, pulling your hoodie over your head while leaning against the window.  You force tears as the rain trails down the windows and you imagine yourself in a movie.

Have you ever done that?  No?  Crap.

Anywho, so I kinda…had a few “oh!” moments.

“No more geography lesson plans…OH MY GOOSH!!  NO MORE LESSON PLANS!!  [insert reckless giggles here]”

“Yo, I’m finished with math for the day.  Wait.  IT’S OVER!!  HUZZAHH!”

Let’s just say I was (AND STILL AM!) pretty dern excited.  No more school means a lot of free time.  Which makes me particularly happy seeing how I have a new “101 Goals in 1001 Days“.  LET’S KNOCK OUT THEM GOALS IN FULL BLAST, DAWG!!

Obviously still high from the news.

At the beginning of this month, I took on a challenge.  The Photo A Day: May challenge.  As time-consuming that challenge is (hard to believe, I KNOW IT!), I have taken on yet another challenge.  Oh, yes.  The 101 Goals in 1001 Days challenge.  I’m living on the edge, overcommitting myself and all.

The rules are simple, easy to follow.

1// write a list of 101 goals
2// accomplish those goals within 1001 days (which turns out to be 2.75 years)

I am convinced, the most difficult part of this challenge is coming up with the 101 goals.  But after you write about 20 down, you get kinda high and start writing the most cray cray things down pretty dern quick, positive you want to accomplish them.  Prepare to feel the need to dance like a maniac when you write down the 101th item on your list.

Since I will be blogging my progress, it only makes sense to share my list with you.  Feel free to skim over it, read each one or whatever floats your dress.  As I proceed, accomplishing my goals, I will cross them out like so.

my 101 things:

1// run four 5ks (0/4)
2// reread all my favorite books
3// illustrate all my drawings
4// only buy clothes I adore (this means no jean shorts and the boring essentials I dread, but buy anyway)
5// collect a whole Moleskine full of my favorite vegan recipes
6// print 50 of my favorite photos I’ve taken (0/50)
7// reach 5,000 songs in my iTunes
8// picnic by the lake
9// visit 10 different thrift shops (0/10)
10// make a fancy breakfast for my family once a month (AT LEAST!)
11// leave Post-its all over town (at least two pads)
12// sing in front of a large group of people
13// watch 25 documentaries on topics I know nothing about (0/25)
14// sing with someone playing the guitar on the side of the road
15// get filthy in the mud at the steampunk creek
16// plant a small garden outside or inside
17// copy artwork by 10 different artist, broadening drawing skills (0/10)
18// order two packages of Jaffa Cakes from Britain
19// send England friend, Bethy, a package from America
20// teach Duffy how to bake
21// photograph each meal eaten for an entire month
22// go to England
23// try 30 new teas
24// go camping at least 5 times
25// watch Fantastic Mr. Fox with Levi
26// make salsa at least 10 times
27// write 50 letters to people I either don’t know at all or barely know (0/50)
28// run 5k in under 15mins
29// go to the beach at least 4 times (0/4)
30// learn to do a cartwheel
31// every day, for a week, write a sweet email to someone
32// ask 20 friends for book recommendations and read them all (0/20)
33// make 30 music mixes/playlists on CD (0/30)
34// find music sung in any language but English
35// sleep in a completely messy bed
36// photo shoot with Finn
37// make at least four good online friends
38// grow hair out completely
39// make at least 2 large posters for someone (0/2)
40// press leaves and wild flowers
41// make a notebook as a gift for someone
42// read 2 biographies (0/2)
43// get nose ring
44// make “cute & lame” shirts with Erin
45// set up blog reader feed to keep updates with favorite blogs
46// read a book aloud to a friend
47// jump into the lake (yes, I am aware this is illegal)
48// adopt a venus fly trap
49// drink more mint tea
50// gather photos of dream home
51// finish journal
52// write a list of names I like
53// read at least 5 classic books (0/5)
54// take 50 photos – all of random people I don’t know (0/50)
55// interview strangers
56// host a hide-and-seek at IKEA
57// ride a mattress down stairs
58// develop a steady blogging habit
59// bake someone random muffins
60// find out all my friends’ birthdays
61// ride all the roller coasters at Six Flags
62// make a stamp
63// watch 25 movies of my friends’ choosing (0/25)
64// list 101 things that make me happy
65// eat snow!!
66// organize my iTunes into playlists
67// post monthly “photo an hour” posts
68// use the word “brilliant” more often
69// interpret 10 songs into ASL
70// finish Bastion
71// master a recipe for vegan pancakes
72// get license
73// write my testimony
74// get another piercing
75// give 3 people nicknames and make them stick (0/3)
76// make peanut butter pie
77// stop biting lips
78// get braces off
79// convert chalkboard wall into an art wall, pining and taping things to it
80// set up Finn’s toy that hangs from the ceiling
81// manage YouTube subscriptions
82// go to a farmer’s market
83// watch the sunrise
84// learn Napoleon Dynamite dance and perform at the talent show
85// host a tea party
86// do the Sprite and banana challenge with Jewels
87// bust watermelon in half by banging it with my head
88// plank the Sam Houston statue foot
89// watch a Jerseylicious without laughing
90// get rid of bacne
91// dance with random people in public
92// beat Levi at Spot-it!
93// get a proper blog design done
94// buy a crap-loard of pens from Tokyo Pen Shop
95// go play laser-tag
96// photograph the steampunk creek
97// make scup for 5 people (0/5)
98// for a whole week, write down every thought
99// collect a piece of handwriting from each of my friends
100// proceed with my anti-makeup phase
101// do a chin-up

If you decide to take on this challenge, do let me know and comment a link to your list!!  I’d absolutely love to see other people’s lists and ideas.

Hullo, m’dears!!  If you’re interested and unfamiliar with the Photo a Day challenge, you can read all about it at my first Photo a Day: May post!!  Every 4 days, I will post the current four photos I have taken and uploaded to Instagram for this challenge.  You can follow me on Instagram by searching “zanybah” or view/subscribe via email here.

May 8//

“A smell you adore:  This shirt…’nuff said.”

The description is self-explanatory.  This shirt reeks of heaven.

May 9//

“Something you do everyday: Brushing of the teeth. In all seriousness, about 5 times a day. One word. Braces. Also, I hate sharing toothpaste so I carefully label my hygiene items.”

I’m fo’ really not that bothered by my braces.  Before I got them, I was terrified, though.  I had friends telling me awful tales about the pain, the dramatic cleaning routine, all the horrifying stories you could imagine.  Let’s just say, I had a completely different experience!!

I had a sore mouth for a few days, but it eventually went away.  I have not experienced any discomfort since then, especially when I decided to brush my teeth 5 times a day.  When I woke up, after breakfast, after lunch, after dinner and again before I went to sleep.  My gums appreciate the daily massaging with the toothbrush and in return, cooperate with me.  Thank you, gums.

Here’s a horrifying braces story for you.  At the Kroger checkout, I had a band on my braces shoot out of my mouth and hit the cashier in the face.  Luckily, he didn’t notice.  But everybody else did.  There were many a’giggles.  In full honesty, I enjoy my braces.

May 10//

“A favorite word: Rest. I’m a sucker for a good night’s sleep, pajamas and kitty snuggles.<3″

Early morning is my favorite part of the day.  Looking over at my alarm reading, “5:00am”, snuggling Finn close to my face through half-open eyes, watching the sun come up, shining bright through my large windows.  Sometimes I just want to film what I see, record the feeling and edit in some Bon Iver song in the background, replaying the footage during the day when I’d like to feel that cozy peace overwhelm me.

May 11//

“Kitchen: My hot tea bearers. They were a bribe/gift, actually…”

Hot tea is, by far, one of my favorite comforts.  I always start the morning with a cup or two of tea and usually end the day in the same manner, putting on the kettle.  Wether in a huge mug reading, “Daddy, you rock!” or in a dainty little cup, I love feeling the warm cup pressed firm against my palm.

These lil cups are a gift bride from my mother years ago.  Walking in Target, she asked me if I would watch Duffy and Kenny for the evening.  I paused for a moment, thinking about my somewhat crappy day as we walked past the Starbucks in Target.  She pranced over to their shelves of mugs and cups, pulling a package of three lovely tea cups from a bottom shelf.  With a smile plastered to her face, she proceeded to the Starbucks checkout, asking again if I’d watch my younger siblings as she made payment.  Long story short…I watched them for the evening.

Have a grand day!!

Hullo, m’dears!!  If you’re interested and unfamiliar with the Photo a Day challenge, you can read all about it at my first Photo a Day: May post!!  Every 4 days, I will post the current four photos I have taken and uploaded to Instagram for this challenge.  You can follow me on Instagram by searching “zanybah” or view/subscribe via email here.

May 4//

“Fun: Exploring different perspectives of things…”

Sitting at the picnic table by the lake, I wrote about my thoughts on transitioning to a vegan diet.  I had begun to explore different perspectives of health, asking friends and the internet questions about what they consider healthy and unhealthy.  I later began to ponder the thought of how blessed we are to know everyone has different perspectives on things.  Different perspectives keep things from being dull.

May 5//

“Bird: I strongly dislike the whole ‘put a bird on it’ thing so…I drew one instead…”

That morning I glanced at the prompt for the day.  I literally *headdesk*ed and quoted, “Put A Bird On It“.  I cannot stand the latest obsession people have with birds…I truly do not understand.  So I just drew a monstrous bird in my journal.  It was a lovely addition to my journal entry for the day.

May 6//

“You: Hullo, I’m Emelie.  I’m white as White-Out.”

This prompt seemed dull to me and I wasn’t feeling very creative.  So I explored what other people had done for their photo a day post.  Nobody else seemed to be feeling creative either, posing with the world famous duck face and holding up peace signs.  I considered holding up my Star Trek Vulcan salute, but retreated to just asking my mother to take a photo my pasty legs standing on a manhole instead.  I know.  Creative.

Have a fantabulous day!!

My main goal for 2012 is to transition to veganism.

To be a hard-core vegan you must:
1// not consume any animal product
2// not purchase items made of animal products
3// not purchase products that have been tested on animals

My goal is not to go all “save the whales” on everybody.  My intention is just to obtain ultimate health and I believe this is the route to go.  Therefore, I will only be following the first rule.  Do know, I have no belief humans should not consume animals products and I do not believe it a sin to eat a steak or a huge bowl of ice cream.

Genesis 1:29
“Then God said, ‘I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.’”

Based on this scripture, I believe the first people were vegetarians.  In the beginning of Genesis, man’s relationship to animals are companions and to fruits and vegetables are food.  This scripture does not support that humans ate vegetables and fruit ALONG WITH meat, but only vegetables and fruit.

Genesis 9:3
“Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.”

At this time (after the flood), God is giving humans permission to consume meat.  The, “NOW give you everything” hinting towards the fact they were not granted to eat just anything beforehand.

My conclusion on the Biblical perspective is that we are granted permission to consume meat.  If we glance back up at the first rule of veganism, it reads that we must, “not consume any animal product”.  That does not just include meat, though.  This includes dairy.  I have not yet found any scripture pro or against consuming dairy, but I am still searching.  I am very skeptical in this area, acknowledging we are the only mammals who continue to consume milk after being weaned.  Based upon the research I have read based on a diet consisting of dairy, I am anti-dairy.  Our bodies are not able to absorb all the calcium people claim milk has and have only negative effects on our bodies.  Organs and all.  Perhaps I will elaborate on that subject another time.

“…any other animal product” also includes foods such as dairy-free candies and baked goods.  For example, gelatin (in products such as gummy bears and Jell-o) are made from the collagen in pig and cow bones, hides and connective tissues.  Animal bones are also used to bleach and process foods such as sugar.

So the things I will not be consuming are the following:

1// meat & fish
Pork, chicken, beef, fish, etc.  No meat what so ever.  In Texas especially, this will limit the meals I am able to consume.  Luckily this is not as much of a challenge.  About a year ago, I went vegetarian for a month.  It formed a habit of eating considerably less meat.

2// dairy
This includes anything containing milk.  This can be butter, yogurt, ice cream, sour cream, etc.  Here is a good resource for a list of items that contain dairy.  You’d be uber surprised at what contains dairy.

3// eggs
Eggs are not necessarily an animal product, but an animal byproduct.  Therefore, not vegan.  This will most certainly be difficult for me, being the kind of person to grab a boiled egg and almonds on the way out the door.

4// sugar
No artificial sweeteners, pure cane sugar, brown sugar, etc.  This is due to the animal collagen in the bleaching and/or progressing of the sugar.  This also includes honey, being an animal (or bug, whatever) byproduct.  Following this, I will be limited in the amount of sweets I eat.  As in, no more desserts.

You may be wondering, “What the heck is there left to eat?!”.  Then I would reply, “Erm…a whole heck of a lot!”

Such as:

1// vegetables
This is the most important part of a vegan diet.  The high consumption of {FRESH} vegetables.  Deep-green vegetables obviously being the best choice, yellow-orange vegetables coming into a close second.  If your plate looks like a rainbow when you’re finished preparing your meal…you’re doing a fantabulous job.

2// fruit
A large variety of {FRESH} fruits are your best-friends.  Apples are the “perfect fruit”, containing the perfect balance of fiber called pectin and antioxidants such as quercetin and polyphenols.  You cannot go wrong with any fruit unless you consume a ridiculous amount.  Again, our “rainbow” rule applies!

3// nuts & seeds
Nuts and seeds have a high fat content so they need to be eaten in moderation.  A palmful is a daily serving.  Again, moderation.

4// legumes (beans & peas)
I know very little about legumes, but I do know beans are usually a very good source of protein, but need to be eaten like nuts and seeds.  In moderation.  This is one area I want to learn more about.  My lack of knowledge about legumes bothers me so I will most likely be eating very little legumes in this experiment until further notified.

5// grains & pasta
Grains: whole wheat (remember the bleaching of regular flour), oats, rye, brown rice, cornmeal, etc.

Pasta: made from whole wheat, corn, spinach, artichokes or soy flours.

Usually, vegans (and vegetarians) will replace their obsessive consumption of meat and dairy with carbs.  Instead of eating more vegetables and fruit, they retreat to carbs.  Only a small portion of my meals will contain grains.  This is another area I have a minimal amount of knowledge in so I will proceed with caution when consuming grains.

Applying these guidelines to my diet, I will be an official vegan!  As legit the title “vegan” sounds, it is not the title, but the health I am wanting to gain.  I am certain this will be a difficult goal to reach, but the results will be fantabulously satisfying.

Starting tomorrow morning, I will be keeping track of everything I put in my mouth.  Everything I consume, vegan or not. I am certain I will fail at times, realizing chocolate covered coffee beans (hehe…not my fault) are not vegan, but I will just beat myself up a little and move on.  A little accountability goes a long way so I will keep you guys posted on my progress.

I have been asked quite a few questions about this decision of mine and I hope this post assisted quite a bit.  If you have any questions, feel free to ask.  I am no expert, but I am willing to research just about anything and elaborate on anything related to this topic.

After my puppy love with Instagram had come and gone proceeded to grow, I stumbled upon Fat Mum Slim‘s post on Photo a Day: May, a daily photo challenge you can participate in with Instagram, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, Pinterest, Flickr, etc.  Whatever social media sites you’re apart of…it’s Photo a Day-friendly.

Daily, you take a photo of your interpretation of the prompt given for that day.  After posting your photo, you attach the tag #photoadaymay, which is suppose to make your photo “official”.  Officially apart of Photo A Day: May!!

Every 4 days, I will post the current four photos I have taken and uploaded to Instagram.  You can follow me on Instagram by searching “zanybah” or view/subscribe via email here.

May 1//

“Peace: Knowing nobody wants to eat my vegan meals. Servings made? One.”

I’m attempting to switch over to a complete vegan diet, although I acknowledge I fail at times.  I do better while I am at home, but even then there are times I pop something into my mouth without thinking.  I need to be more intentional about this and focus on the positive things to motivate me.  One being the peace I find in knowing my siblings aren’t ooh-ing and ahh-ing over my vegan meals.

May 2//

“Skyline: ‘Underneath this concrete sky…’”

I’m currently obsessing over Jeremy Messersmith’s music.  Specifically “A Girl, A Boy and A Graveyard“.  I actually stumbled upon this song on Instagram, seeing a photo of the album cover.  I had fallen in love with the album’s artwork, two skeletons being married in front of a graveyard, so I wanted a hear of his work.  Jeremy Messersmith’s music is beautiful, usually mellow and simple.  This photo reminded me of the lyrics.

May 3//

“Something I wore today: My sparkly, gold penny loafers.<3″

Anthropologie claims these “Aunt Ruth Loafers” are “bronze”, but I prefer “sparkly gold”.  Last week, I carefully selected a dress and chose these as my companions for a formal this weekend.  Thought I’d give these shoes a run today at ASL and wore them with skinnies, a vintage Nintendo controller shirt, my slouch hat and tentacle gauges.  Let’s just say I was running somewhat late this morning…

Have a fantabulous weekend, m’dear readers!!

The past few days, I’ve been a bit under the weather.  As in…I felt like I was dying.  Like someone had their hands around my throat, choking me while stuffing cotton balls up my nose to prevent me from breathing.  Yeah…something like that.  Something very similar to that.

I grew weary of feeling crappy so I popped a few pills (yes, with my mother’s permission!) and slept most of the day away after being pronounced dead sick.  Luckily, the day was not the least bit dreary and the sun shone beautifully through my windows, blinding the already miserably sick…me.  But it was beautiful.

I was active for a few hours after I awoke, aimlessly walking around the house and using the restroom out the wazoo due to my obsessive consumption of water.  I then went to sleep early that evening, awakening about five hours later than I usually do the next morning.  Not only had I slept in hooooooourrrssss later than usual, I was drenched in sweat.  Disgusted, I began to strip my bed of its sheets to prep for a wash.  I don’t sweat, people.  At all.  Like…I don’t sweat.  I’m pore-less, I swear.

It was a humorous moment when I walked out of my room, my family realizing I had just woken up.  My mother laughed, informing me Levi had text her to ask if I was alright.  I wasn’t sure if I was alright or not, to be honest.  I felt better, but I was still waking up.  I could answer that question later.  I mean…I wasn’t dead, if that’s what he was asking.  Checking my phone, I was delighted to see Levi’s texts, asking how I was this morning.

Later that day, dearest Levi brought me these beautiful flowers.  I thanked him through a stuffy nose, hugging him and trying my best to avoid smearing boogers all over his black shirt.  Poor chap.

I think these flowers are magical and healed me.  I’m diggin’ them.  At night, I have to put them in my closet or Finn will get all cozy with them and try to eat them.  Kind of afraid the flowers would kill him if he snacked on them.  Oh, well.

Moral of the story:  boogers stand out very well on black shirts…

Once upon a time I saw my mother blog.  She took some freaking awesome pictures, posted them on a cool lookin’ blog she designed and wrote some funny things about the photos.  Many of which included some potty jokes and what not.  It’s just what cool mommas do, right?

So I wanted a blog.  And I wanted a blog for a long time.

I never knew what I wanted to post on my blog, but I knew I wanted it to be funny and have great quality photos.  Well, one day I got a blog.  So I posted some photos I had taken with Photobooth and just typed some thoughts.  I was satisfied with my first post and had been until I compared my blog to my Momma’s.  Yes, people, I compared something of mine to something of my Momma’s.  Don’t be surprised.  Around here, we admit how much we like our Mommas.  I LOVE my Momma!!  And when someone disses on them…we beat them up.

Anyway.

I wasn’t very satisfied so I changed a bunch of stuff, tweaking my blog this way and that until it was as similar to something of “quality”.  Then I stopped posting a lot because I wasn’t quite happy with the way things were a’lookin’.

Then I took a shower.  Yes, I took a shower.  And I thought about my blog.  I don’t need to compare it to anyone’s blog.  I mean, a blog design needs to have standards like people need hygiene standards, but it’s MY blog!!  I can stank it up however I want.

I realized a few things.

1//  I don’t need to have some weekly post like my current attempts at Instagram round-ups.  I’m not too terribly good at being consistent with things.  Why act like I am and try to schedule something weekly?

2//  I’m poor.  I cannot afford some fancy camera like my mother and take awesome pictures.  I have an iPhone now and I can use it to take decent quality photos!!

3//  I can use contractions and the word “crap”.  I have always tried to be more…proper and not use contractions, but I can use them here.  CONTRACTIONS ARE WELCOMED.

4//  I don’t know how to use Photoshop well and I don’t really want to.  I edit my photos with iPhoto and Instagram.  If I have a HUGE zit — zap, iPhoto has got me covered.  If the photo is too dark and I want an unusually unnatural light — zap, Instagram has got me covered.

Basically — I’m just going to post how I want to post now and not worry about being all fancy-like.  Thank you for reading all this purge.  That is, if you made it down here…

One of my breakfast preferences are green smoothies.  They’re fast, simple, healthy and unbelievably filling!!  I like to make two smoothies at a time, refrigerating the second serving in a mason jar for the next morning or later that day.  The most definite factor about these smoothies are their health benefits!!  You’d never drink one of these and feel guilty, I tell you!!

All the smoothies I make are from, “the Everything Green Smoothies Book” by Britt Brandon with Lorena Novak Bull, RD.  Although, recently, I have been making up my own smoothie recipes based on the knowledge I gained after reading this book.  Usually, I pick a simple smoothie recipe as my base and tweak it until I am satisfied with the product.

The smoothie pictured above is made from the following:
1 cup unsweetened almond milk (soy milk is welcomed as well!)
1/2 cup frozen peaches
1/2 cup frozen mixed berries
1 banana
2 cups raw spinach

If you have read previous posts of mine, you are familiar with my strong dislike for dairy products.  I’m not a big fan of soy milk either, though.  Especially after some recent research on soy.  That, I will share another time, though.  So I believe unsweetened almond milk is the best choice for this.

The frozen fruit is what keeps the consistency frosty and determines the flavor of the smoothie.  As my love for these green smoothies increase, so has my love for bananas.  One banana is always required for a smoothie, adding the sweetness and smoothness no other fruit could contribute.  It replaces any artificial sweetener or sugar you’d think necessary.

When I first saw a smoothie recipe from this book, I was taken aback at the ingredient every recipe seemed to have in common.  Spinach.  I would say you can’t taste the spinach, but that would be a lie.  You can taste the spinach, yes, but it’s unbelievably bearable.  As in…it’s delicious.  I have become defensive of my spinach, I have come to know it’s the strongest factor in the recipe.

It’s wise to eat (or drink!) vegetables in the morning, giving your metabolism a boost.  An early start on the day!!  Without the spinach, a lot of the health benefits in this breakfast would be taken out.  You may be skeptical about these smoothies, but I do encourage you to give this a try!!  I’d really like to hear what you think of them.

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