Green Smoothie Week, Day Two

Welcome to day two -- and smoothie two -- of green smoothie week! If you are just getting familiar with Kitchen Courage, I am hosting a full seven days of green monster madness. I will create and post a new smoothie concoction each day for your blending pleasure. What's more, I'll even post your green smoothie recipes and tips! Just post them in the comments or email me at escagnel04 (at) yahoo (dot) com.

So what's on the menu for today? My Monday lunch began with plans for smoothies times two. My good friend and I have a standing Monday lunch date. Today, though, I didn't feel like shelling out up to $10 for a single meal, so I offered to make us some tea or smoothies. She accepted, and showed up on my doorstep at precisely one o'clock, beautifully pregnant and brimming with joy as always. She and her hubby (who, I should add, were married only one month before the Best Husband Ever and I, and whose friendship we cherish dearly) are expecting their first child in just over a month's time. They are very excited, and so am I! I can't wait to meet their baby.

Baby talk was obviously a priority in our conversation this afternoon. We also chatted about my own plans for children with the Best Husband Ever (wowza!), God, my feeling down about negative pregnancy tests and dubious conception issues, work, her husband's recent missions trip to Kenya (he just returned a week ago), their plans for the future and the present, our new house, and all the random mishmash that makes up a great girlfriend chat. And all of that over smoothies!

Well, that was the plan, but the reality ended up as smoothie, singular. Being very pregnant in the midst of summer's scorching temperatures caused my friend's appetite for anything except ice water to dry up. Consequently, the arrangement of smoothie-making ingredients that I set out was used only (very cheerfully!) by me. I had a rather impressive array of items to choose from -- fresh fruit, coconut and plain skim milks, yogurt, pumpkin, a variety of nut butters, and, of course, spinach. In spite of all the choices, my green smoothie ended up being quite simple and not very green at all. It was, however, light and deliciously refreshing on hot day.

Blueberries and Cream Not-So-Green Monster

1 handful ice cubes
2 cups spinach
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1/2 cup fat-free vanilla yogurt
1/2 packet stevia (or your favorite sweetener)
water/skim milk as needed

Blend, blend, blend!

Serves 1.