Snapshots from the Road and Green Smoothie Recipe

Just wanted to share a few snapshots from the road and an accidentally amazing smoothie that made the journey 'up' very easy for me.

Although it hasn't snowed since last week's rain, it's frozen hard and tight again, which means that every drop of moisture in the atmosphere has frozen on to any available surface. The result is so beautiful that I don't know why I persist in trying to describe the ineffable.

It was like that all the way up and all the way back. Many hours of beauty backlit by the sun. And good company! Phil's daughter and her fiance and a big, comfy car: it was a very different experience than the last couple of escapade.

Not to forget the two dogs. Buddy, who is 'super-good' and very ready to relax (when he's not on snowshoe hare hunt alert, which is what he loves most, of course) blended in perfectly with his camo blanket.

Meanwhile, Roxy, who means so well and is as good as she can be, needed to get down and explore often, although she did spend a good chunk of the trip on my lap, some of it licking all over the windows!

We stopped at a cute little mercantile for lunch on the way up on Monday: one of theses little general stores with a cafe attached and a surprisingly extensive inventory, from kitschy souvenirs to not-so-kitschy souvenirs to produce to dry goods to hardware to tools to a cafe on the side! We watched ravens and eagles performing acrobatics (didn't get the camera out in time to capture, alas) and I ate my apple and drank some tea while everyone else ate, and then dug out my green smoothie when we got back on the road.

It looks just like any old green smoothie, but not only was it delicious, it kept me full for about as long as anything can without making me feel sick! A good three and a half hours!

What was in it? Well, I had made coconut milk from that beautiful brown coconut I pictured in this post--chunks of it plus water, lecithin, a little xylitol and salt, blend and then strain. A wonderfully thick, creamy milk, unlike the colored waters I usually tend to make (I've mentioned before how weak I tend to make my nut milks: am thinking I may need to change that).

This smoothie had about a quarter cup of that coconut milk, a half cup of coconut kefir whey and a couple tablespoons coconut kefir, a couple tablespoons irish moss gel, a pinch of stevia, some lecithin, a handful of cilantro leaves, a big handful of spinach leaves, a tablespoon of spirulina, and three drops of pineapple flavor extract from Medicine Flower. I had just thrown it together before we left and was totally unprepared for how delicious, creamy, filling and generally wonderful it turned out to be. I love the taste of green, but really it didn't even taste green. It tasted like a decadent but nourishing pina colada.

I make smoothies all the time and rarely do more than mention them, but this was worth recording for posterity.

Do you love the taste of green? Or do you prefer your greens disguised?
much love