Breakfast today: Peach, Banana and Collard Smoothie

Saturday is our only day to sleep in so we took advantage of that and didn’t get up until 7 am. Some days it is nice to lounge in bed a bit longer than usual and catch up on your rest. Dan has to work this weekend so he is downtown at his office now. I have decided to try to cross a lot of things off my to-do list while he is gone; at least that is my plan now.

Dan had his usual oatmeal with wild blueberries, cinnamon, ginger and walnuts before he left the house. I haven’t had a smoothie in a few days so I opted for one of those today instead. I haven’t been eating as many dark green leafies as I should be recently so I added a couple of raw collard leaves to my smoothie today. Collards are part of the cruciferous veggie family and are more nutrition raw than cooked to oblivion like they are traditionally served in the Southern US. I find that I can add two leaves to my smoothie and I don’t taste the collard. In a light colored smoothie, like the one I made today, the collards do make the drink an odd light green color but I am used to that now. I added chia seeds for omega 3 fatty acids. Cinnamon was included for flavor and to help my body efficiently process the sugar naturally found in the fruit. Powdered ginger is something I like to include it not only for flavor (I like the little bit of zip it adds) but I for its anti-inflammatory properties. Here is the smoothie I had this morning:

Peach, Banana and Collard Smoothie:
serves 1

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons oats, preground if not using a Vitamix
2 peaches, pitted
1 frozen banana
2 collard leaves, thinly sliced
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ginger, powdered
water (necessary to achieve the consistency you like, I added about a cup)
ice cubes (necessary to achieve the consistency you like, I added about 6 cubes)

Directions:

Place all the ingredients in your blender and process until smooth. I like to have mine in a chilled glass that I keep in the freezer just for smoothies.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 307.62
Calories From Fat (11%) - 32.93

Total Fat - 3.94g
Saturated Fat - 0.51g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 16.55mg
Potassium - 1115.16mg
Total Carbohydrates - 69.54g
Fiber - 12.97g
Sugar - 40.95g
Protein - 7g

Comments:

This smoothie tastes mostly of peach and banana. Since those are two of my favorite fruits I enjoyed this smoothie. Dan is hot a huge fan of peaches which is why he had oatmeal this morning. I like to have smoothies for breakfast occasionally because they are easy to make and eat. Smoothies are the perfect portable breakfast in my mind. You know I love that this 300 calorie breakfast also contains over 2,300IU of vitamin A.

Yesterday:

From weather perspective yesterday started out almost perfect. Fall is definitely in the air. It was in the 60’s in the morning when we got up which meant a nice crisp feel was in the air when I hit the pavement. I couldn’t help be a little sad that summer seems to be coming to end. Not that I love the heat mind you but I do love shopping for local organic produce at the farmers’ market and this cool weather reminds me that local produce will soon be only a memory. *sigh*

Like many mornings I walked to the grocery store this time for organic carrots for Dan’s fresh juice. When I got to the store they had rows of potted mums outside for sale. If that doesn’t say fall is approaching I don’t know what does.

Breakfast was a small salad that included: ½ head shredded romaine, ½ cucumber, ½ tomato, salsa, fat free hummus and dehydrated leeks. I was so hungry that I completely forgot to take a picture. How long have I been doing this? *rolls eyes at herself*

Lunch was leftover soba noodle soup with mushrooms from last night.

To go with that I finished off the organic cantaloupe from the CSA topped with a peach, a few blackberries and a sprinkle of white chia seeds. We have been eating this same cantaloupe for most of the week. It may have been the biggest cantaloupe I have ever seen and it was organic.

Lunch was so filling I probably should have had less soup. I was going to add a side salad but I didn’t have room for it after the soup and fruit. I want to get another salad in before dinner. I am trying to increase my consumption of greens. We have Dan’s greens covered with his fresh juice but I don’t always eat as many green leafies as I should.

Because it was Friday that meant I had my usual errands. I checked on my parents and did a little cleaning while I was there. As always I checked to see what they needed before I took care of things for us. I was so tired today I cut things for us short.

After I got back I was relaxing in the family room in my favorite big comfy chair and fell asleep sitting up. I have never done that before unless I was sick and had couldn’t lie down due to sinus pressure. The worst part is that I slept for about 3 hours. Clearly I am more exhausted that I realized. *shakes head* I will be happy when the insomnia aspect of perimenopause eases up. Thank goodness I fell asleep at home sitting up and not while driving. This did show me why it is dangerous to drive tired. The experts always say driving while tired is as dangerous as driving drunk and I didn’t believe it. What happened today may have changed my mind. I will think twice before driving when exhausted now. Good thing I prefer to walk to run my errands.

Dinner was a simple salad (very much like breakfast) with shredded romaine, salsa, roasted red pepper fat free hummus, cucumber, tomato, a little drizzle of cashew crème fraiche, dehydrated leeks and raw sunflower seeds. When we have dinner late in the evening I don’t think a heavy meal works well.

Clearly this was not the most exciting day food wise. However the mailman delivered a very thoughtful present from a friend. My friend printed a picture of Binky from the blog and put it in a frame and mailed it to me. I thought that was so kind and thoughtful. Thank you Michelle, your surprise made both Dan and me smile. You are too sweet!

Today:

After I got everything ready for Dan to go downtown today to work I had the chance to relax for a few minutes before I got my breakfast and started my day. Have any of you seen the BBC show “You Are What You Eat”? I saw it for the first time last week and I quite enjoy it. Gillian cracks me up she is such a little spit fire. I assume no one is surprised that I would like this show or that I really do live and breathe this stuff. ;-)

I need to run for now, knock out my exercise and get busy around here. My plan is to have some time to make seitan sausages this evening for the freezer before Dan gets back from work. I have not decided which flavor to make but I am leaning toward Mexican or Italian since I make those cuisines most often. Whatever I finally make I will be back with the recipe.

I hope you are all having a great Saturday. Our weather is beautiful today so far I hope yours is too. Talk to you later.