Alternative Title: How To Eat a 1/2 Pound of Spinach in One Day!
As always, be sure to head on over to Peas & Crayons and check out all the blog-worthy WIAW eats this week and while you’re at it, leave some comment luv for our gracious host, Jenn!
So this week’s edition of WIAW could be considered 1. A tutorial on the great uses of spinach or 2. A confession from a vegaholic…
As you guys now know, I’m leaving for California at the end of the week. Well, after waking up this morning, I realized, I have had myself in a bit of a predicament…
A one POUND package of spinach predicament!
Well, that was until I devised a plan: Spinach-ify every meal and see what’s left at the end of the day!
Behold the plan in action…
Lemon Water and Coffee while catching up on some blog reading
“Candy”
and…
The BIGGEST and BEST green brown smoothie I’ve ever tasted, for the road!
The picture doesn’t really do it justice…seriously, that is a 32oz Mason jar!
Chocolate Cherry Almond Smoothie:
- 2 big handfuls spinach
- 1 medium-sized frozen banana (the trick to not tasting the spinach)
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh (still not frozen) cherries
- 3/4 cup water
- 1 scoop vanilla protein powder + 1 Tablespoon cocoa powder (or 1 scoop chocolate protein powder…I’m all out!)
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 Tablespoon almond butter
- 1 cup ice
- 1/4 teaspoon guar gum*
- 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum*
Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor (yes, I use my food processor for smoothies…hey, it works!) and blend until smooth!
I seriously cannot even begin to tell you how fantastic this was! There was so much depth to the flavor…at first sip it was vanilla…then a hint of cocoa…and then there was the fusion flavor of the cherry and almond!
Yeah, pretty sure I just found my new favorite smoothie!
Spaghetti Salad: Spinach, carrots, zucchini, parmesan cheese, and fresh ground black pepper to be topped with leftover (reheated) spaghetti sauce from dinner Monday night
The best I can do for a recipe for this sauce:
1 pound grass-fed finished beef, 1/2 onion, 1/2 bell pepper, 1 clove garlic, 1 can fire-roasted tomatoes, 1/2 cup tomato puree, 1/2 cup veggie broth, a squirt of sriracha and a crap-TON of spices!
Brown the beef, saute the veggies, dump everything together and let warm through while you add just about ever spice that you have in your kitchen!
Voila! Homemade spaghetti sauce!
😉
Annnnd, just when a normal person would get tired of “choking down” the green stuff…
Savory Spinachy Oat Bran topped with 1 fried egg, sharp cheddar cheese, tomatoes, and black peppa!
Pardon the less than stellar photo…who knew the sun would start going down now around 7:30pm (*sad face*)…who also knew that TWO out of the THREE lightbulbs I have for my lightbox would be dead!
Proof that I still have a LOT to learn about my camera and terms like
“white balance” and “aperture size”
Whomp whomp! 🙁
Anywho! There were a couple of green-challenged eats that found their way into my belly:
A Blueberry Bliss Luna (DEE-lish) bar pre-workout and a decaf iced Americano with a little moo juice post-workout
Final thought at the end of the day:
Whew! At least I have enough to make another smoothie in the morning! 😉
What is your favorite way to get your greens in?
Anyone else noticing nighttime sneaking up on us again? I can’t believe it, Daylight Savings is still TWO months away! I’m so not ready for winter 🙁
My favorite way to get greens in is definitely through making smoothies or just making a huge salad. I can’t wait to try that smoothie for myself I really love cherries.
I have definitely noticed the darkness sneaking up and I want it to go away 🙂
Tempted to come over and steal that blue mug. Just sayin’
Youre eats always look amazing.
I’m always grabbing handfulls of spinach when I go to the fridge, its just so good!
Your eats always look amazing 🙂
My favorite way to get my greens in is through a salad!
I eat two pounds a week. #addicted 😉
I LOVE the blueberry luna bars! They are so delicious!
I know, right?! This was my first time trying one…I swore I was eating a blueberry muffin! Definitely one of my new favorite bars! 🙂
Mmmm…I love spinach! I’ve been dying to try those spinach-ified oats ever since I saw it over on HEAB’s blog a few months ago. They look so gooooood!
Ha ha, oh I know all about having to use of veggies before vacation. And not that I’m going on vacation, but I have an overload of salad greens in my fridge right now that need some using up. Commence: operation salad overload!
Don’t even talk about Winter. It makes me feel ill.
Spinach in smoothies is the easiest/best way to get veggies in. I don’t much like fresh spinach in salads (not enough crunch!) but I always buy it fresh and then freeze it just to use in smoothies, pasta sauce or egg scrambles!
Do you have that spinach bran recipe somewhere on your website? I’d love to try it.
mmm I am officially craving spinach! I love eating them via smoothies and salads (duh). I gotta try savory oats one of these days!
I love your pic for spinach oat bran! So beautiful! Is it delicious? Did you just blend some spinach and cook like normal?
Happy WIAW!
mew… over here on the West Coast we have light until after 9pm in the height of summer – simply the BEST. we are noticing it’s more like 8:30 lately – not completely dark but not really light anymore… I do love fall, though, so despite the darker evenings I do welcome it. I like what October smells like! 🙂
YUM spinach. that’s all I have to say – I LOVE me some spinach!
I agree…the smell of autumn in the air is wonderful…just not ready for the cold that follows it! So jealous that you still have daylight so late in the day on the West Coast…oh wait, I’ll be there in 2 days and get to enjoy it too! Yay for me! 😉
And we can NEVER have too many greens! Am I right? Or am I right? Lol
I love the sound of that smoothie! Chocolate+cherries is the best combo ever! And the rest of yor meals looks delicious too!!
Amazing eats, especially loving that homemade spaghetti sauce!
That is hilarious and awesome. I was pretty confused by your dinner picture until I read the caption, at which point I thought it sounded delicious!
I hate when the days get shorter 🙁 *sigh* it means winter is right around the corner. Can’t it stay summer forever?
I’m SO impressed with your green consumption!!! haha yay for not letting spinach go bad!
Love the idea of spinachy oat bran topped with an egg! I usually go for green smoothies, but I might have to give that a try.
It’s so good, Jess! Definitely give it a go!
Your savory oat bran looks awesome! At first I thought it was a big bowl of creamed spinach 🙂
Haha! Hey, that wouldn’t be bad either! I love creamed spinach! 🙂
i still cant get over the cock sauce in the sketti sauce. obv have to try it =)
two words: awesome eats!!
I don’t have to get too sneaky with my greens. I get them in all the time. Love that you used almond milk in the smoothie. I bet that was a nice touch! Love the savory oat bowl…YUM!
Ikr it gets so dark so early! I remember in the winter, it would get super dark at 5pm! it’s so crazy 😛
Ugh, I’m SO not ready for sundown at 5pm! 🙁 It’s so depressing!
Augh gosh don’t remind me of winter. I’m living in a new town where it SNOWS and the white stuff is completely foreign to me. Not sure if I’ll make it!
DUde, I’ve got a huge pound of spinach I need to use up myself! Thanks for the idears 🙂
As usual, love your keen sense of humor 🙂 Can’t wait to laugh it up with you in a just a few short days….
I don’t dare share my economy- size package of spinach with anybody: what can I say, I’m a avid veggie lover. Looks like we’ll need two containers of spinach plus lots of other greens between the two of us 🙂
Have you tried spinach oat bran with banana and PB? OH so good; another thing we’ll be trying! Oh, and chocolate- cherry- almond is my favorite smoothie combo as of late; just hate the brown swamp color!
Spinach Thoren is my favorite way to use up a LOT of spinach. It’s so yummy and healthy. Here’s a recipe link: http://www.marthastewart.com/316544/spinach-thoren
Oh wow, that sounds fantastic! I love how it uses unsweetened coconut with savory spices! I’ve been meaning to experiment more with Indian cuisine too! I’ll have to give that a try!
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