Fresher is definitely better!

It's a beautiful first day of spring in San Jose -- even if, according to environmental score cards, Santa Clara County is pretty high on the toxic totem pole with regards to “Toxic Chemicals Released by Factories, Power Plants and Other Industrial Companies" and "Worst Toxic Waste Sites (Superfund Sites)” as found on http://scorecard.org/index.tcl – oh well, what can you do? Stop breathing?? I know! Keep drinking green smoothies!

When it comes to green smoothies, the fresher the better. I learned that from drinking some of the green smoothie concoction I had put together with a lot of the not so fresh spinach we had in the fridge. The stuff that started to turn was sitting in a carafe. A couple of sips and down the drain it went. 

Besides being the first day of spring, it's also the start of the Persian New Year. Happy Nohrooz to all the Iranians living in Iran and living abroad. There is a very nice Persian woman working at the public library branch I frequent and she is trilingual: Farsi, Deutsch, and English. I wish I could do a Vulcan mind meld of her brain's language centers and effortlessly speak all three languages. And one or two more mind melds to toss in French, Italian, and Spanish, and then I would be all set. ;~))

Today I walked into the local Smart and Final store and thought I was in the wrong place. The outside sort of looked the same, but the inside was COMPLETELY changed around. It would be like walking through your front door and encountering a totally different layout of all the rooms in your home. Takes a little getting used to. The store's new layout, however, makes it look more like a traditional supermarket and less like a small Costco. I was able to score all the ingredients for fresh green smoothies at a lower cost than if I were to do the same shopping at my friendly supermarket about a mile away. 

Today's smoothie:

1 cup Bolthouse Farms Green Goodness

1 cup Bolthouse Farms Organic Carrot Juice

2 red delicious apples

1 large banana

½ cup frozen blueberries

3-4 ounces baby spinach leaves

1 kitchen sink (ha ha ha, not really)

In order to blend everything together, I mix all the liquid and fruit ingredients, pour out a couple of cups, blend the spinach leaves and/or salad greens in with what is left in the blender; then, after the greens have been mixed in thoroughly, I pour back the couple of cups that I had removed initially and blend it all once more. Results: a fairly fast green smoothie to put together, super easy cleanup and a filling tasty meal in a drink that is quite an energy boost.