NWOutdoorGrrl

I was doing so well, then WHAM! I just plain forgot. Vacation has a way of distracting you too.

When Nick asked me to “bring him something special” from the grocery store, he probably didn’t mean a bag of frozen sweet cherries. I put them to good use, though, in this chocolate smoothie, which is probably closer to the “special” he was thinking of.

Chocolate Cherry Smoothie

Serves: 2

8 ounces organic baby spinach

1/2 cup unsweetened soy, hemp or almond milk

1/2 cup pomegranate juice or water

1 tablespoon natural cocoa powder, not Dutch processed

1 cup frozen cherries

1 cup frozen blueberries

1 banana

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons ground flax seeds

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Place the spinach, soy milk and juice/water in the blender and run it a little to liquefy the spinach. Add remaining ingredients and blend about 2 minutes until very smooth.

Next weekend is the annual Chilly Hilly bike-a-palooza. Depending on the weather, anywhere from 3000-6000 riders make the trek to Bainbridge Island to test their winter legs on a 33-mile, ultra-hilly road ride.

Having participated a few times, Nick and I have come to the conclusion that no amount of group riding fun is worth the chaos and danger associated with that many inexperienced riders on such a short course. The route is awesome, though – beautiful mountain views, 2,700′ of climbing (and descending), lightly traveled roads. So what do we do? Ride the course the weekend before the event. (When you do something three years in a row, does that make it tradition?)

Most of our riding friends saw the forecast and wimped out. Matt and Mark either ignored the forecast or are just tougher than most.

The weather today did not disappoint. It was chilly:

25 degrees outside ... time to HTFU

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There were plenty of interesting things to look at along the way:

Something out of Wright's workshop?

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And when the hills get to be a little too much, all you have to do, is stop to take in the view:

Seattle skyline

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No description necessary…

The sun was out this morning, so I decided that it was probably a good day for a smoothie. I wanted something sweet and choc-o-block full of veggies and fruits. The Purple Power Smoothie from DrFuhrman.com hit the spot. The best part of all? One smoothie has FIVE servings of fruits/veggies.

We buy bags of frozen fruit from Costco. The store sells bags of frozen blueberries, mixed berries, strawberries, and other fruit medleys. If you have the first three on hand, this should be a snap to pull together.

Purple Power Smoothie
Serves 1

1/2 cup unsweetened cranberry or pomegranate juice
1/2 head romaine lettuce
1/4 cucumber
1/4 cup frozen blueberries
1/4 cup frozen mixed berries
2 really big frozen strawberries
2 dates
1 tbsp flax seeds

Place everything in your blender and give it a whirl until it’s smooth.

Nutrition per serving: 277 Calories; 5g Fat (13.8% calories from fat); 10g Protein; 57g Carbohydrate; 15g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 42mg Sodium.  Exchanges: 2 1/2 Vegetable; 2 1/2 Fruit; 1/2 Fat.