Smoothies!

I've been into smoothies this week. I can't seem to get enough of them. I had one for breakfast the last 2 mornings and I'm having another one for lunch! They're so tasty and versatile. Here is what I've tried and what I think about them. :)

Green Smoothie (First try)
red kale, pineapple, and banana Was good, but was kind of bitter (especially if you chewed on the pulp). Munchkin liked it!

Green Smoothie (Take 2)
red kale (I don't have any other leafy greens in my house right now), pineapple, banana, apple juice, apple, and carrot. This one was much better then the first one. I used a little less kale and the addition of the apple and apple juice made it a bit sweeter. Also, the bananas had time to ripen a little more. Again, munchkin LOVED it and she kept asking for more! (She ate more than I did!!)

Orange Smoothie
Carrot, pineapple (I used canned pineapple for all of them. It's what I had in my house and it seems to work), banana, apple and flax seed, oh and some apple juice (it was REALLY thick and I wanted it a bit thinner). This one is by far my favorite! I'm not a huge fan of kale and I think the red kale might be a bit more bitter than other kales.
I need to keep experimenting with the leafy greens. I also want to try adding some protein. Maybe almonds? Oh, I could make some almond milk and add the pulp into the smoothie. That would be delish! If you can't tell I'm very excited about smoothies. They're like the perfect food!
So what is your favorite smoothie? I would love to hear your ideas!

Happy Eating (and Drinking!)

Vegan Week Update

As you may know, it's been vegan week in our house this week. It's been a struggle to say the least. Hubby has been doing a great job not "cheating." Munchkin on the other hand has been more difficult, so we've made it vegetarian week for her. She hasn't had any meat, but she has had some things with milk and a little bit of honey. She refused to drink the chocolate soy milk after awhile, so we bought some cow's milk and I'm adding soy milk to it. My hope is that we will eventually be able to get her on soy milk all the time. The long term seems more important than the week. I would rather her have a gradual change that sticks than a week without "cheating" where she learns to hate all things vegan! Here are the things we're still struggling with. Waffles - munchkin eats a wholegrain waffle every morning and the ones without milk are REALLY expensive. Milk-which I've already talked about, and Protein. Munchkin is really picky about what she'll eat and right now she won't eat much vegan protein. She'll eat peanut butter and corn (which is really high in protein) but she won't eat much else that I know has protein. Here's a list of things munchkin will eat (maybe you can help me figure out vegan alternatives or ways to expand her horizons).
Chicken, hot dogs, rice (brown or white), broccoli, corn, carrots, pretty much all fruit, spinach if it's hidden in something, spaghetti (all pasta), tomato sauce (not tomatoes, just the sauce), a few leafy greens (she'll eat almost all of them but only a bite or 2), artichoke hearts, candy and chips. I think that about sums her up.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions. I'll try to keep you posted on how we're doing as moving towards a more vegan diet. :)

Happy Eating!

Vegan Week (a week late)

I know I know I know, vegan week was LAST week, but we had some goofy stuff happen and we're doing family vegan week THIS week! Hubby's doing well. He doesn't seem to mind too much and munchkin, well, she had to have a waffle this morning that had milk and egg, but she's been completely vegetarian. At least we're making an effort. I guess I should say at least THEY'RE making an effort. I'm just eating what I normally eat. I think the biggest change for munchkin is the milk. She's a HUGE milk drinker and I've made her go to soy milk. She really really really didn't like it, so I bought chocolate and plain and I mixed them (about 1/2 and 1/2) and she LOVES it! I think I'll keep increasing the plain and decreasing the chocolate and maybe eventually she'll get used to it. We might have a money issue if they both give up milk though. We typically go through a gallon of cow's milk a week and 1/2 gallon of soy milk. If we switch that gallon of cow's milk to a gallon of soy milk we add a few dollars to our already tight grocery bill. Maybe we'll have to cut something out. Anyway, that's about all I know right now. I'll keep updating how the vegan week is going.

Happy Eating!