hurrah for days off! (a salad.)

ok, i have salads every day. but something about slowly preparing one for lunch today made me want to post. and, well, jodie mentioning my blog last night and i admitted i have kinda abandoned this guy lately because of my annoyances with photo allowances. i'm using photobucket now and going to roll with some posts while i have the inspiration!
so, today's salad!

cut up and thrown in:
-several leaves of romaine
-an avocado
-a yellow carrot
-a small handful of pea shoots
-a stem of fennel
-a couple radishes

blended as dressing:
-splash of hemp seeds
-spoon of tahini
-a bit too much filtered water (1/4 cup? would definitely start slow next time)
-a splash of apple cider vinegar
-juice of one lemon
-half a big clove of garlic
-leaves off one stem of sage
-a few chunks of dulse (shells washed off ^_^)

delicious! 
i'm a garlic and sage fiend lately. (on top of my avocado and radish OCD). loving it!

i am so sorry, vitamix.

dear vitamix,
i stupidly used the tamper today in my vitamix without the lid! i don't know WHY i thought this was a better idea than taking some lettuce out of the blender.
long story short: i have shattered the end of my tamper and the blades don't want to turn so much anymore. i tried out my dry container and that seemed to work after a little bit of a warm up.
i am worried that i have damaged the motor and wet container!
what can i do?
i realize the warranty (i purchased my machine in january 2011) doesn't cover stupidity, but i am hoping i can repair my machine rather than have to save up for a new one! is there anywhere local i can take my vitamix in for repair? what are my options?
i love my vitamix!
i appreciate any advice you can give me.

sigh. so i am juicing again. for now. not as easy and quick as putting it all in the blender.
the website says i should get a response within 4-5 days. it appears i am not the first person to do this and it sounds like they have excellent customer service and that this broken drive socket repair could be $102. if it's that, i am soooo relieved. we'll see!

p.s. can't help but feel like my blender has cut me off from green smoothies. it was like, 30 days? that is IT!!!

day 29 of 30 green smoothie days in a row

today's smoothie was a head of romaine lettuce, 2 rainbow carrots, a nub of ginger, an orange, a pear, and 1.5 frozen bananas.

loved the texture of this one! didn't use any water, like yesterday and that helped keep the smoothie portions to 2 glasses. just had to blend in a couple stages to get everything to fit in the blender! i think the orange pulp and carrots really helps pull the textures together to make a smooth smoothie type blend. the frozen bananas help as well, of course.
not sure i like the ginger in this one which is weird because i love it in my parsley blend from earlier this week and i love it in a frozen banana/mango "tropical" style smoothie. who knows.
think i gotta pick up some kale today to do a kale/orange/banana drink tomorrow, like the simple yet delicious drinkme smoothies you can get in the freezer section of organic grocery stores. ^_^

day 23 of 30 green smoothie days in a row

happy st. patrick's day!
as good of a day as any to have a GREEN smoothie.
green beer though? ech! never understood why someone would want to add food dye to something.

too bad mine today didn't look so green. i didn't even think of it when i added frozen raspberries (been cleaning out the freezer!) and a frozen banana to the head of romaine with 1 cup of filtered water...

day 22 of 30 green smoothie days in a row

today's smoothie was some remaining collard greens, romaine lettuce (i feel like i haven't used romaine in awhile), an asian pear, 2 kiwis (they were getting kinda soft), mint leaves (not as much as yesterday) and an apple with 1 cup of filtered water.

i loved the texture - the pear and kiwi added a light grittiness. paul found it too thick (and not ice cream smooth-type thick!) so he blended it with some apple juice.

i love that making a green smoothie is a daily tradition now. next week, as i am spending one night in seattle, paul is going to have to make at least one of his own ^_^ i'm curious what he will concoct!

day 18 of 30 green smoothie days in a row

today is day 18 of green smoothie days but also day 6, and day, of my liver/gallbladder cleanse! eek! i am SO sick of apple juice and grateful i don't have to drink 1 litre per day at least until i do this cleanse again!
so this morning i made a smoothie quite similar to yesterday's but i took a photo. hurrah!

this smoothie is, as pictured, kale, green leaf lettuce (plus a wee bit of leftover romaine), and 2 gala apples (i didn't have any other fruits to blend plus i figured, reluctantly, that any extra apples i could consume would help for tonight's cleanse!). it blended quite foamy like a juice!

day 17 of 30 green smoothie days in a row

i forgot to take a photo of my smoothie today AGAIN! gah.

i am on day 5 of my 6 days of prep for my liver/gallbladder cleanse tomorrow. eek! so i think i have been thinking more about that.

anyways! today's smoothie was half a bunch of kale with half a bunch of romaine lettuce with one apple and one pear. i was taking it to go and was worried it was going to be bitter because of the big kale smell, but it ended up being perfect!