food, smoothies and such

Well, Emma got her smoothie today. Actually 3, since nobody else wanted any. I made it with frozen cantaloupe, honeydew, red grapes, strawberries and pineapple. Then I put in some fresh blueberries and a banana. A little bit of water and a cup or so of orange juice (we love Simply Orange). She loved it. I think it's great. All of those fruit servings! Now that we have a blender I know that she will be wanting them everyday. That's fine with me.

I think tomorrow I will blend some fresh strawberries, banana and non-fat milk. Yogurt is good in smoothies. Now I'm on a mission to see what else I can use my blender for. I already plan on making some tomato basil soup when I find just the right recipe.

I think I want an ice cream maker....can't you make sorbet with one? What exactely is sorbet? I thought it is like fruit ice cream.....hang on, gonna google.....

"a frozen dessert made from sweetened water flavored with iced fruit (typically juice or puree)"

well, not quite what I thought. I need to play around with this contraption to see what all I can do with it.

I have to say that my favorite kind of blog's are the ones about food. I am not a food adventerous person, but my tastes are changing (at an almost alarming rate) and I am open to trying new things. But I love to see what other people do with food. I love menu's and seeing what food people group together. Odd I know.

We went to Central Market last night to get groceries. On the way there, Aaron and I started talking about Lent. Last year we had good intentions on participating. I was going to go 24 hours without food once a week. That didn't work, so I switched to no eating after 7 pm. That didn't work either.

Aaron gave up meat. And he went the whole 40 days without breaking down. I couldn't believe it. That man has some willpower! This year he is thinking about doing a total fast....just liquids. We will see. I have decided to give up red meat. That I can do. That leaves me with fish, pork and chicken. Totally do-able.

But for me, it isn't just for Lent, I want it to be a lifestyle change. I don't want any red meat. I'm already kind of grossed out by it. I know I can do it because I once became grossed out by chicken and went like 2 years without eating any. Not on purpose though.

So we got to Central Market and looked at their salads. Aaron tried to get me to go for the spinach blend. Dude, it looks like leaves!!! I can't do that. I bought a tri blend of iceberg, romaine and green leaf. Oh, I only like iceberg....kind of stuck on it, that is why it's a deal for me to branch out and try new things.

I also got a couple little containers of blueberries and strawberries. I put some blueberried in Emma's smoothie, but I actually bought them to make blueberry pancakes. I have a whole wheat pancake mix that I have yet to try. Banana's on top would be perfect.

Since I know that I will on occasion crave a hamburger I picked up some spicy black bean burgers from Morningstar Farms. I have loved those since they first came out with them. I also got a pizza one that has mazzerella, tomatoes and basil. Awesome, sounds great. And I also grabbed an eggplant parmesan. If you have never tried eggplant parmesan, try it!! I always thought the eggplant would be mushy, but it actually has a meaty texture and taste great.

Bought some whole wheat penne pasta and some Central Market brand Primavera pasta sauce. It has tomotoes, carrots, celery, zucchini and red and green peppers in it. Oh my gosh, that sounds so good!

The meat department has their pork roast on sale this week half off so I got a big ol' roast for just over $5. I am slow cooking it with mexican seasonings so I can shred it and make burritos.

If you have never been to Central Market, or you have been and haven't tried their tortilla's. stop reading now, get into your car and drive there immediately!!!! They make their tortilla's right in the store, right in front of you and most of the time you can pick up a package that is still hot. Talk about fresh!! They have them in plain, butter, whole wheat (my choice) and a southwestern style.

After Central Market we went to Walmart. In the produce section they have these little bags of beggies that you microwave and it steams them with a little butter already inside. Same concept as the frozen steam veggies (I have a ton of those in the freezer). I got small potatoes and a squash blend.

Here is my menu plan.....penne pasta with primavera sauce with some steamed squash mixed in....plus a little feta cheese thrown in too. I love feta cheese. Yes, it's made from goat's milk. I didn't know that the first time I tried it and I was hooked so I didn't even care when I found out for sure. Plus a salad with some italian dressing. But not just any italian dressing, Olive Garden italian dressing!!

I love their salad dressing. I used to work there a very long time ago and unless they have changed things, you would not believe how little salad dressing they put in those big ol' bowls. If the salad is for 2-3 people, it's like 1 tbsp and for more people than that, 2 tbsp max. They never put more than that on there. That's great and it prevents me from drowning my salad in it.

This chick has an awesome food blog. It's stuff I will probably never try but wish I had the courage to. http://nomorecreamofmushroom.blogspot.com/ People like this inspire me to try to eat healthy.

I want to try Indian food and Thai food. I think I would like it, but I am terrified of trying it. Probably because I assume that everything will be really spicy and I don't like super spicy food. One of these days I will work up the courage.