It seems that you guys liked my post about the Zucchini Fries. I often try to prepare new foods, so I wanted to share my Spinach Smoothie recipe. It’s green, delicious and nutritious! Don’t be afraid to try it.
Ingredients: You Need a Blender
A Handful of Fresh Spinach Leaves
6 oz Yogurt OR a Cup of Vanilla Almond Milk
Banana (Optional)
Blueberries (Optional)
Strawberries (Optional)
100% Maple Syrup (Optional Sweetener)
and Ice
First, Blend the Spinach with the milk. This will prevent chunks of leaves in your smoothie. Then add ice and any remaining ingredients until smooth and creamy.
Some people say “you can’t taste the spinach.” That’s not totally true, it has a very mild flavor that’s easily over-powered by the fruit flavors. I found this smoothie to be refreshing and filling.
You can also add strawberries, but I heard it turns it brown. I liked the vibrant green color, so I stuck the strawberry on the side. This smoothie is quick and easy, and can be tweaked so many ways. If you use frozen fruit, then you don’t need the ice cubes.
In the smoothie pictured, I used spinach, vanilla almond milk and ice, garnished with a fresh strawberry. I did not use the syrup or yogurt because the Vanilla almond milk is very sweet.
Create your own Smoothie with your favorite fruit and let me know how it turns out!
Sometimes the gym reminds me of church. Whenever you backslide and don’t show up regularly like you’re supposed to; they are still right there waiting for you with open arms. I have not worked out in days and days and days. It’s been so hot that the heat has drained my energy. But, I decided that I could no longer use the heat as an excuse and made up my mind that I needed to go to the gym. It was much cooler outside today; it was only about 96 degrees. Although, I have been keeping busy reading and writing a lot while hiding out indoors. I even started the reading the Harry Potter Series
. I know I’m late, but I had to read the series by a lady that sold 11 Million books in one day. It’s amazing how she links every detail together in her books…I’ve got some of my own great book ideas floating around in my head, so I took a pen and paper with me to the gym. I scribbled down some of my thoughts as they came to me while I leisurely walked on the treadmill.
The sun was still beaming down on me through the wall length glass windows, and even though they had on the air-conditioning it still felt like I was walking outside in the heat. At one point I started to feel like the sun was only shining on me alone as some sort of punishment for missing so many days. I was drenched in sweat by mile two. I was really ready to leave and head home, but I figured the least I could do was walk three full miles. I managed to scribble a few more thoughts onto my paper before I was totally distracted by the man who got on the bike machine next to me. He was singing along with his music headphones so loudly. I know every once in a while we all hum the chorus, but this guy was singing every lyric and missing every note. At one point I was almost thinking I was supposed to be singing along with him. Finally, a lady walked past and asked him who he was talking to. Embarrassed, he explained that he was singing along with his music. She teased him a little bit about his “singing” voice. He must not have realized how loud he was. I was glad that she talked to him, because his off key melodies were now transformed into a quiet hum. I was so distracted by his “singing”, and the weird little muddy water sports competition show on TV that the last mile was over before I knew it. I walked a 5K on the treadmill. It feels good to stop making excuses and get back to where I belong.
Just in case you missed it… Bree Boyce lost 110 pounds and became Ms. South Carolina. I read an article about her about a week ago, but it was still on my mind. She lost weight the healthy way, by eating less and moving more over the course of several years. She even won the swimsuit competition…I was so inspired by her story, that I had to share it with you. There is truly a beauty queen deep inside of all of us if we allow her to come out… You may not win a pageant, but you deserve to feel and look like a Beauty Queen.
Here is a link to the TODAY show article if you want to read more.
At my Weight Watcher’s meeting last week, my leader encouraged us to try new vegetables and prepare our old veggies in a different way. She suggested that we try Jicama. I had some jicama when I went to Mexico back in April. I’m not really a fan of it. It tastes sort of like a cross between an apple and a potato. So, I opted to try the Zucchini Fries. I’m glad I did, they were delicious! However, I must admit that “fries” is a bit of a stretch. A better name would be “Oven-Fried Zucchini.”
Here’s the Weight Watcher receipe for Zucchini Fries:
4 Servings (8 Fries); 3 WW Points Plus
4 spray(s) olive oil cooking spray
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 1/2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp table salt (I added garlic powder and pepper too)
3/4 cup(s) dried bread crumbs, (panko-variety suggested) (I used regular Italian bread crumbs)
2 medium zucchini, about 7-inches each, cut into 4 chunks, then each chunk halved
2 large egg white(s), whipped until frothy (almost soft peaks)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425ºF. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray. In a small bowl, mix together Italian seasoning, flour and salt. Place bread crumbs in another small bowl.
- Dredge a zucchini fry in flour mixture and then dip into egg whites; dredge in bread crumbs. Place coated zucchini on prepared baking sheet and repeat with remaining ingredients; liberally coat with cooking spray.
- Roast, turning once, until desired crispness, about 12 minutes. Yields about 8 fries per serving.
Notes
- Clearly I cut the zucchini wrong. I saw great pics of the proper way to cut it Here. (But mine still tasted great!)
- Dip in Pizza Sauce or Light Ranch (But don’t forget to count the extra points!)
- Use this technique with any summer squash or eggplant. It also works great with thick-cut onion rings or even green tomatoes. For extra crispy fries, increase the oven temperature to 500ºF and knock 2 minutes off the cooking time (Mine are dark, because I wanted them crispier)
The Maintenance man dropped me off at my Weight Watchers meeting since he had to go back and forth between my apartments. I had whole list of stuff for him to do, fix the light switch, cut the grass that was starting to resemble a jungle, fix the mini blind, kill the weeds etc etc. Because we spend so much time together, people always think we’re secretly dating even though he’s old enough to be my Uncle. Not quite old enough to be my Daddy, but definitely old enough to be my Uncle. Besides, I never mix business with pleasure, it gets too messy. Anyway, at the meeting, the scale showed that I lost 4.5 pounds! I was pretty excited, even though I knew that I had really lost more if you take into account the weight I gained while I was skipping out on my weekly meetings. My Master-cleanse-ish diet is really working.
It was nice to see some familiar faces and the people who refer to me as the “lady who did the Half-Marathon.” At the end of the meeting, I was waiting to talk to the leader and overheard a fellow weight watcher explaining that she is a “big picture” person, and wants the 20 pounds gone now. Ricarda, the leader, told her to enjoy the journey. It’s a process and a journey to get there whether we like it or not, so you might as well enjoy it. That was pretty profound for me.
In the interest of keeping the Maintenance man working, I decided to walk home after my meeting. I Google mapped the route on my Blackberry phone, and to my surprise I was only 2.6 miles from my house. I walked to the grocery store across the street from the meeting to get a bottle of water, and popped in my iPod in one ear. I took her advice and decided to enjoy the journey home, even though it was hot and I would have preferred to be riding in the cool AC. I put on Jill Scott’s smooth new album, and casually strolled back towards my house.
It was really nice to just relax and walk. I didn’t really think of it as working out. The closer, I got to my house, and observed my surroundings, and I was reminded that I lived in the hood. I was a little nervous since I didn’t have Nyah the gentle giant with me for protection. I said a simple prayer and kept moving. When I was about a mile from my house, the maintenance man pulled up next to me in my truck. I kinda didn’t want to get in since I was enjoying my walk, but ultimately, I figured it might be best. He was worried about me walking alone anyway. After I got home, I read some more of my Writing Fiction For Dummies
book, while getting ideas together for my novel. Writing seems really easy until you get down to the word count, publishers and agents. It’s a lot more work than I realized. But, I’m super excited to write a best seller….Well… “Th-Th-Th-That’s All Folks!”
It seems that you guys liked my post about the Zucchini Fries. I often try to prepare new foods, so I wanted to share my Spinach Smoothie recipe. It’s green, delicious and nutritious! Don’t be afraid to try it.
Ingredients: You Need a Blender
