WHAHOO! it could blend a broomstick!

      Devin came home with the best surprise present!  A VITA MIX!!  Whahoo!  I am still so EXCITED about it! 

      I love how it cuts my smoothie making time in half.  It blends all my ice and frozen fruit like it is already liquefied.  I Love the power!  Scott Tanner said he has a broom handle he wants to blend up.  I think it would do it, but I love it too much.  (A broom isn't worthy of my Vita Mix).  What makes it EVEN BETTER is the sweet deal Devin found it for off Craigslist.  Only $50 for my new favorite kitchen appliance.  It really does not get any better!

      Green smoothies anyone?  We still LOVE our green smoothies!  I am happy to report this news because the last couple months, Devin has accepted all the green smoothies I gave him, but grudgingly.  With New Year resolutions newly made, he is asking for them! 
      I think our green smoothies are DELICIOUS!  I have perfected my green smoothie recipe: 
1-2 cups water/ carrot juice/ fruit juice
1 Tlb Chia Seeds (similar to flax seeds in nutritional value)
6 cups (or more) Spinach
1 leaf Kale
1/2 large leaf Chard
(sometimes I will add broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, other veggies, but it does make it taste more green)
... Blend up until liquefied
Then I add...
1/4 cup Orange Juice Concentrate
1 handful of ice
(1 cup) fruit mixture
... Blend!

(See that face,  he really loves them!)

      My favorite fruit for my smoothies is strawberries and peaches.  I had frozen peaches from my peach-picking over the summer, but I used those up rather quickly.  Then I found a new frozen fruit mixture at Costco that has peaches, strawberries, pineapple and grapes.  It is my new favorite! 
      We used our last 5 lb bag of spinach up in three days.  I try not to make more than one trip to Costco a week, but having spinach on hand is our top priority.  Next time I'm considering getting two bags...
      I have also made some really awful smoothies.  For those of you who have tried or would like to give green smoothies a try, let me tell you right now what NOT to add:

• Watermelon= WORST green smoothie ever!
• If you are out of spinach, filling the blender with chard and kale is a BAD idea, it tastes like dirt.
• Rotten Banana, okay I would never put a really rotten banana in anything I wanted to eat.  I did however, put a mushy banana, the kind with the black peel, that just sits on the counter because no one wants to eat it, into my smoothie.  Edible but Nasty.  By that time in a banana's life, the only potential it has is banana bread.
• Peanut butter= just throw it away.  I didn't actually try this one.  My friend said her husband was intent on putting protein in the smoothie, and didn't believe the greens had the protein he was looking for.  She said it was Disgusting, with a capital D.

 These pictures of Bridger are a couple months old, but they are so cute.  He loves his green smoothies!