Spinach Smoothie with ginger and lime and other things I did on Wednesday

Cravings: An overall healthy day, plus a donut :-)

Yesterday I woke up and had a spinach smoothie. It was delicious! I added fresh ginger and a squeeze of lime, which I did not picture in the ingredients. Next time I will add a handful of fresh parsley or mint (whatever I have on hand, but I had neither).
Ingredients:

2 handfuls of spinach
1 can of pineapple chunks in juice (pour the whole thing in)
1.5 cups of no sugar added vanilla almond milk
1 cup of frozen strawberries
1 tbs chia seeds
half an orange pepper
1heaping tablespoon of greek yogurt

I blended all of it and then added the ginger and squeeze of lime:

Roughly peeled and sliced ginger.

Squeezed the lime in.

Re-blended. Poured into a cup. Put the rest in the fridge for later!

Yum..... (excuse the extremely tired/puffy eyes and no make up, I woke up with a massive headache).

After I made the smoothie I was in a cooking/healthy mood so I decided to do some cooking. Charlie said that he had been craving pasta since I made the beet gnocchi, so I whipped up a big pot of tricolor spirals with tons of vegetables and chicken.

Recipe coming soon.

I also started a batch of sweet potato gnocchi, but I decided to refrigerate it before rolling it and cutting it. Recipe and pictures when it's complete.

I also made a batch of brussel sprouts that are seriously the best thing I've ever had. My mom came over for a moment and couldn't stop eating them, and Katy came over and liked them, and she doesn't even like brussel sprouts!

I'll post the recipe later today.

After lots of cooking, I went to the gym with my friend Haley. I did a short cardio workout and then bodypump. Bodypump is my favorite class. I try to do it 2-3 times a week, although I had been slacking and hadn't been in a few weeks. Haley and I are both sore today. But I love it!

I realized I hadn't gotten an oil change or anything checked on my car in far too long, so I called the mechanic and he told me I could drop my car off in the evening. My dad then met me and drove me home. I was going to drop him off and take his car to go to a DG alumni event at the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art but by the time we left the mechanic it was 7, and the event started at 7, and I would have been at least 45 minutes late. 

My dad suggested we go to the farmer's market on Rampart and Vegas drive. I see it every Wednesday and can you believe I haven't gotten? I was in Heaven! My dad definitely got irritated that I was taking so long and waited in the car. I did get him to snap a picture first:

I bought yummy strawberries, amazing apricots, some white peaches, parsley (for my smoothie, and some fish I have in the fridge), and beet hummus. The beet hummus is slightly sweet and delicious.

Speaking of apricots, my sister and I would eat them constantly when we were little, when we would visit Israel for the summers. Every time we had one (and I am talking at least one or two a day), we would open it first in half and check for worms. For some reason, we believed that worms often lived in apricots. I guess this was before pesticides if we were that paranoid about worms!!!

After the farmer's market my friend from the DG alumni group texted me that they were having snacks and drinks at FIX at Bellagio after the gallery, so I took my dad's car after all and joined them. I had a glass of red wine, and then we ordered fresh donuts and I am SO glad I had one - it was definitely worth it!

We had two for the table :-)

It was so good to see some of my friends that I hadn't seen in a while. I am actually meeting up with my friend Jodi who was there to work on a red/white/blue wreath for Memorial Day!

I dropped my dad's car off at my parent's house and Katy picked me up. We stopped at the store and I bought HUGE avocados and made more chocolate/berry avocado pudding. This batch is definitely the best so far! It's also really filling.

avoca

Recipes and other fun stuff to come!

Who says superfoods can't be amazing, and thoughts on amendment 1 passing in NC

Here was my breakfast:


Oh wait a second! I was so excited to eat it, that I just demolished it instead of snapping a pic. Well here is what it was in approximations (I don't measure I just eyeball) Superfoods in pink (a super color).

Cinnamon banana overnight oats:
1/4 cup of old fashion oatmeal
2 tsp chia seeds (necessary)
3 ounces of vanilla greek yogurt
1/2 cup of unsweetened almond milk
1/2 a banana mushed in
heavy sprinkle of cinnamon
1 packet of stevia sweetener (I've heard this is a good food not sure if it's super)

Mix well and let sit overnight in your fridge. Stir in the morning and put in more milk if you want. I usually eat these cold but felt like a warm breakfast so I nuked it for a minute. It was so good. SO GOOD.

In other news, what do you all think about Amendment 1 passing in NC? My thoughts are that let's remove actual human rights for a second, and look at separation of church and state. Aren't we supposed to be protected from that? If marriage is supposed to be between a man and a woman because g-d said so, shouldn't marriage only be under g-d? Are atheists then not allowed to get married? Are people not allowed to have interfaith marriages, or just go to the courthouse or a drive through wedding w/no mention of g-d? Why is a g-dless marriage okay between two straight people but not okay between two gay people? I think that the church should make up its own mind about if they want to allow gay marriage (I know many reform rabbis that do ceremonies for example, and many that will not). However, the government allows a separation of church and state for marriages so why should gay people not be entitled to that?

Okay, that's about as political as I go. I don't want arguments or debates. That's my opinion, you can send me yours, but hostility will not be tolerated.