End of Summer Delights

Jesse is back in school and that is a BUMMER!

 

The good news is that we had one last hurrah before the summer ended.

 

We visited a little place that our peeps from the east side like to call Dunkin Donuts.

 

Yeah. It's kind of a big deal around here.

 

And yeah, it's as delicious as people say it is.

 

We've also discovered smoothies.

 

Oliver calls them "Smoovies," and everyday after nap time he comes up to me and says,

 

"Can we have a smoovies for dinner, Mom?"

 

(That is, when he's not asking for brownies, waffles, or pizza)

 

It all started when some friends from the ward helped Jesse fix up our car for the state safety inspection. As payment, they asked for smoothies. So we bought a bag of frozen fruit from Sam's Club and invited them over.

 

We had an immersion blender, which I loved because it was perfect for soups, and I LOVE me some soup. But that's beside the point...I use the past tense "loved" because after two smoothies, my beloved immersion blender took its last breath, leaving me with a big bag full of frozen fruit and nothing to blend it with.

 

We headed to Wally's world to see what they had. We picked an inexpensive Oster blender, used the last of our gift cards, and brought it home hoping that it was decent.

 

Don't worry, Barbara the blender turned out to be a CHAMP!

 

Since that purchase we've had at least two smoothies a day. You could say that we are out of control.

 

Mostly we just use milk, frozen strawberries and a little bit of banana. It makes a smoothie so thick and perfect. Usually I don't require any sugar, but a guy I know named Jesse has a sweet tooth and thinks every smoothie he sucks down should taste like dessert. So in sweetening my smoothies, I've found that I prefer honey over sugar. 

 

Today I got brave and tried Peanut Butter and Banana together.

 

I used:

 

1 cup of milk

1/4 cup peanut butter

a big glob of honey

and 1/2 or so cup of ice.

 

It was so rich and delicious and exactly what I wanted. I only wish that I had thought ahead and frozen the bananas because it wasn't as frosty as I like 'em.

 

Anyway, I'm thinking maybe...just maybe...I'll try throwing spinach or kale in with my frozen fruit and see how it goes. Supposedly, you can't taste the green stuff. So the end result is still tasty and delightful but is slightly healthier. We shall see.

Any thoughts of the subject of healthy smoovies?