whoa, where is the time going? (plus... a green smoothie)

so, i have many unfinished posts on this thing. what is my excuse? i just had a mostly slower pace for a couple months! now as fall gets ready to start, i am de-cluttering and getting things back in gear. but back to excuses.... i'm going to blame my lack of blogging on baby brain! paul and i are expecting "the little" in december! i'm happy to say that so far pregnancy has been glorious and i have escaped first trimester with minor nausea (that was eliminated with eating) and extreme exhaustion that had me basically comatose after work or napping on the couch so that i would have the energy to go brush my teeth before bed!
second trimester has felt a lot more energetic and i'm hoping this keeps up as i'm heading into my final trimester.
i'm getting myself ready for the unwanted advice and touching that seems inevitable but i feel lucky to have only had one comment of concern about my vegan lifestyle (ie "did you hear about the vegan couple whose baby died?") and i feel really great about my diet and exercise right now! i haven't had any strange cravings. i guess the most surprising to me is that i don't want to eat coconut milk ice cream and raw chocolate as much as i usually do! and i haven't had the same urgency to go to starbucks for my unsweetened soy green tea latte as i have in busy work months. veggie brown rice sushi has been my meal of choice when i'm hungry but can't think of anything i want and in general, i'm really enjoying hunting down new vegetables and fruits to try at the farmers market and eating different grains and beans and legumes. ethiopian food has come up as a dinner craving a couple times though i don't feel like that's specific to pregnancy!
i'm taking vegan prenatal vitamins and while i was taking separate folic acid tablets, i (coincidentally?) did not feel like making my morning green smoothie! too much green leafies?
anyways, i'm finished the bottle and i feel like the folic acid in my prenatal and my food is more than sufficient and i've regained my green smoothie tendencies! hurrah! i'm taking daily iron (spatone liquid iron is my fave) and generally that is just with orange juice or a ginger/orange/frozen banana smoothie but sometimes it ends up in a green smoothie.
i made a green smoothie tonight to get some drinks in the freezer for some mid-morning energy boosts in the next couple work days and it was a nice one so i figured i should post it!

ingredients:
-about 1.5 cups filtered water
-one nub of ginger
-the tops of about 4 purple carrots
-a few sprigs of parsley
-about half or more of the tops of a bunch of radishes
-one peach
-one pear
-about 1 cup of orange juice

i got everything from the farmers market except the ginger and orange juice. maybe that's why it was so especially delicious!
anyways! i'm so excited to meet the little! but also really enjoying this time that she's been hanging out inside me. i can feel her moving around now and it's fun to feel her movements especially when me or paul are talking. i haven't had any food aversions so far and figure this means she is going to be super happy and excited to eat fruits and veggies like us! (and green smoothies, of course!)
hope your september is off to a great start and you are still enjoying farmers market goodies! i'm relieved to know ours goes into october as i was worried this was the last month!

hippie greens. not for the win of all green smoothie drinkers.

this morning's smoothie was some lacinato kale, parsley, arugula, a pear, an apple and two frozen bananas with 3 packets of spatone liquid iron and filtered water to get the liquids up to 1 cup in my vitamix.
when i tried it, i could definitely taste the spice of the arugula and was curious about paul's reaction. he was not impressed and said it definitely tasted like "hippie greens", the side salads ("organic spring mix from a bag") that seem to be the usual at some restaurants. he hates hippie greens! he tried using an apple as a chaser and a banana as a chaser.


i ended up with almost 2 glasses of smoothie this morning. oops. i will not use arugula tomorrow!

canadian romantic, smooth(ie)

this morning, paul said, "this smoothie is delicious!" so i figured i should post it.
and i think the winking photo card of robert dayton, aka the canadian romantic, compliments it quite nicely!

ingredients are as follows:
- 6-7 leaves of kale
- 2 packets of spatone liquid iron
- a sprinkle of camu camu
- one bosc pear
- two frozen bananas
- juice of one valencia orange
- one cup (or less) of filtered water

post-yoga fruity greens with jon!

i forgot to take a photo until near the very end. i also forgot to practice yoga for 6 months!? what was i thinking? gotta get back into that routine. thank you, jon, for taking me as your birthday guest!!! i am dreaming up something indonesian-inspired for a birthday dessert for you! ^_^
anyways... this smoothie comes courtesy of 2 cups of filtered water, 6 kale leaves, 1 pear, 2 yellow plums, 2 dates, 2 dried figs and 2 frozen bananas. sweet with amazing texture!

i am currently drinking a smoothie of frozen banana, one pear (my favourite right now!), a sprinkle of mesquite and lucuma and cinnamon and a spoon of hemp seeds and spatone liquid iron with some filtered water. delicious!

i can vitamix again!!!

i have been watching my fedex tracking and knew that my vitamix arrived in ontario for repair last friday. well, i was so overjoyed to get a canada post parcel notice today after work... and super surprised when it was my vitamix! one week after it arriving for repair, it is back with me!
what service!!! (thank you, vitamix!!!)
and the best part is that IT WORKS!
i can't wait to have daily green smoothies again! forever! i'm going to take such good care of my newly restored vitamix!

this one was parsley, frozen banana, some spatone liquid iron, some camu camu, apple juice and water.

i'm excited to do a 2 day green smoothie challenge i just read about in rawbc's emailout. it is monday and tuesday, july 23 + 24th, and you only drink green smoothies those days. sounds like heaven! if you participate, you are encouraged to let the green smoothie people know at info@rawbc.org with your name and city/town. they suggest 60% (organic, of course) fruit, 40% dark leafy greens and 2 cups of water in your blender. and the challenge is 2 days/month. sounds like a great idea to me!