Vegan Green Tiredness-Be-Gone Smoothie (A little bit of everything today. . .and some knitting from my Yarnbox, too!)

I find my best smoothie recipes are those that have no recipe. Usually I have a craving for something packed with flavor and protein. I had just finished a four-miler on the treadmill and was famished. After dawdling around a bit afterward, I still felt tired. Usually my runs give me an energy boost. But given I am head-long into my mid-life "woman time" and have had a few horrible nights of sleep (which can make me cray-cray), I thought I might try a little less in the tummy today--go light on lunch and again at dinner--hoping to catch up on some much needed "good" sleep tonight. Well, smoothie was a success. Not only did it kick up my energy level, I was able to manage a yoga session after a house cleaning blitz whereupon I found myself "doing windows". And. . . I don't DO windows.

Slim Shocker Garden Stalker Smoothie (A Prayer to The Pink Sisters of St. Louis)

I've had a love/hate relationship with my garden lately. Honestly, more of the hate sort has taken hold. My first vegetable harvest was nothing short of brilliant! I carefully plucked the tomatoes, gypsy peppers (I love this pepper by the way) and cucumbers (god love the cukes, when will they EVER stop coming)--snipped my chard and yanked my munchkin carrots and radishes from the ground--all to the delight of my proud green thumb. Then this ridiculous heat and humidity left my little piece of the veggie world in tatters. I even took down my "deer prevention" wall because I figure if I can't eat from it, the least I could do was release its last remnants to the fauna of my back woods. Sigh. You could call it veggie depression. I've felt like a "stalker" in the mornings when I walk out to inspect for new blossoms, growth spurts of any kind, h-e-l-l-o, can I get a tomato? Even my zucchini has lapsed this year--only produced blossoms--not a one zuke to my name. It shames me. It really does. 

Veggie harvest hey-day. Three weeks ago.

Veggie harvest left overs from this week--for my Slim Shocker Garden Stalker Smoothie.

Vitamix Blender to the rescue.

Creamy Vegan Tomato Soup: Hello Vitamix! Hello Humidity! Goodbye Ten Pounds!

Day One. I waited like a child on Christmas Eve for dinner to roll around. I had my new Vitamix Blender unpacked. I watched the "How-To All Things Vitamix" dvd with Michael Symon (Food Network dude). I set my ingredients out for our Vitamix christening--Mr. Thyme's favorite:

Warm Creamy Vegan Tomato Soup

 1-28 oz. can whole tomatoes

5 cloves garlic

 1 package cherry tomatoes

1 chopped green pepper

1/2 avacado (for creamy texture)

1/2 onion

1 stick celery 

2 carrots

4 stems fresh basil

3 stems fresh oregano

1 veggie boullion cube

 3 cups water

fresh ground pepper

dash of chipolte seasoning

dash of cayenne pepper

Press On. Turn dial to 10. Flip from Variable to High Speed. Hold there for five minutes. Wait for steam to begin coming from the top. Viola! Soup's on--and it's warmed!  

Hello new Vitamix blender! This was purchased at a nicely appointed store (Williams Sonoma) which my credit card had never seen the likes of before. . . and won't ever again for a while. Cripes, this cost as much as my scratch and dent Maytag stove I bought two years ago. Gulp. I tried to locate a Vitamixer at an Everything's A Dollar store, but alas, they don't stock it there. Darn. Well, as you can see, my kitchen lacks space! And no, the cookbooks are not moving. And no, I don't need a fifty thousand dollar kitchen remodel--thank you very much. I love my cozy little cooking lab: a sink, stove, fridge and bookshelves.

Day Two. I waited all morning for my first Green Smoothie. The apple is not peeled, nor cored. You can toss the whole thing in! (Just be sure to peel off that sticker code.) We were in for some hot-hot-hot and humid weather. I was in for some major pounds to melt off as I spent all day Saturday and Sunday outside, planting, mowing, weeding, trimming, running, walking. St. Louis decided to skip spring and jumped right into the July-ness heat and humidity this weekend. Let me tell you, it takes stamina to be a Southern Midwestener.

Mmmm. Green Smoothie for breakfast. After a hard five-mile run with my Saturday morning running group. Starts at seven sharp. Forty-five minutes later, we are all just covered in sweat--good pound melting sweat! A smooth as silk smoothie awaited me when I got home. Deeelish!

Then Sunday rolled around. I went out to get the paper in my half fog, sleepy head self, only to stop in my tracks to look closer at this grey blob on the ground. (My specs were inside.) After I got my glasses on, I realized I missed stepping on this little punkin' pie by about two inches! OMG, he's one of the baby cardinals mama cardinal had kicked out of the nest! Ready for the new world and wondering who I was and why I didn't have chewed up bird food to spit up into its mouth. . . isn't that the most adorable thing in the world? (The baby, not the spit up bird food!)

After our smoothie and pancake breakfast Sunday, we went for a hike. (Yes, I said smootie and pancakes--we had some miles to cover!) A beautiful, lush Mississippi River waited for us. The rains we've had have contributed to some flooding along the river banks. Regardless, nothing is more beautiful than the Mississippi River in the morning. Okay, a little muddy. But still.

Who is that super energetic couple over there? They act like they've just had a green smoothie breakfast in their Vitamixer!

I spotted this blue heron along the lake in the park. (Mr. Thyme calls me "Crow Woman". I can spot things like a crow because I'm so far-sighted.) I stopped and tried to walk really close to it. My photo attempts were hard to grapple with because my specs were at home, so I handed the camera to MT and he swung the lens up just in time to capture this beautiful bird taking off in flight. They are breathtaking birds to watch and we'd never been this close to one before.