Hail to Kale Smoothie.

Ah summer is here.  Hot temps have arrived and the craziness of summer has begun in our household.  Taxi driving to and from work, practice, friend’s houses, swim meets… numerous grocery store runs for ravenous kids.  Oh and Father’s Day was this past weekend.  It’s all fun and nutty and I’m trying to breathe and embrace the time.  I’m a type A control freak and I desperately am seeking a routine in the midst of the insanity.  I’m not winning, just in case you were wondering.

Our garden is flourishing in the warm, dare I say, hot weather.  Our kale is huge and beautiful.  I couldn’t resist after running one kid home from swim practice and taking the other to the pool to hang out… whipping my dad and I a lovely green kale smoothie.  It came out great.  Not overtly sweet and quite refreshing – just what we both needed after a morning outside working.  When the hot weather comes, I don’t gravitate towards conventional meals but like easily digestible foods/beverages that refuel and fill my body with nutrients I need.  My daughter even loved this one.  Love when that happens!

Inspired by The Blender Girl. 

This recipe makes 2 large smoothies.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of coconut water (regular water)
1.5-2 cups of kale (hard stems removed)
1/2 cup raw cashews
2 large ripe bananas (frozen or room temp)
2 tablespoons of maple syrup or 4 pitted Medjool dates
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 -2 inch piece of ginger (peeled), chopped
10 ice cubes

Directions:

Place all of your ingredients into your blender or Vitamix and blend on the smoothie setting.  Pour into glasses and enjoy!

Fitness recap:

Last week I racked up 25 miles of running keeping me on target for a 100 mile June barring any injuries.  My knees have been killing me in these Saucony sneakers.  I did however find a Wave Rider 16 pair of sneakers on Amazon.  And I opted to buy another pair of Mizuno’s to get into the mix.  They just arrived and I can’t wait to try them.

Sunday I woke and planned going out to run but then realized it would be sweet of me to go for a ride with my husband considering it was Father’s Day.  I did 12 miles last weekend and was hoping to at least do that again.  I don’t go for my 3 hour fitting until July and I’m really sore from the bike, I’ll leave it at that and spare you the details.  So we went out and hit up a beautiful course and a hilly one at that.  Not that smart with sore knees but fun.  I got 18 miles done!  I did request one stop to snap a pic of the gorgeous horses that were grazing along the hill on this Amish farm. I was quite pleased with my distance.  I also rode on a very busy road with a lot of traffic and avoided a full-blown panic attack as the shoulder of the road was mere inches.

But before we headed out the door I found this sweetie pie on my doorstep.  Evidently she went missing the night prior.  She was freezing and hungry.  We wrapped her up, fed her and called the police.  They were able to give us the owner’s address.  We hopped in the car and delivered her at 6am to the very happy owners.  Good dead done.

After the bike ride and dog walk with our dogs – we prepped for my in-laws/daughter to come for an early dinner.  We bbq’d  and enjoyed the gorgeous weather.  We enjoyed some appetizers indoors and then had lunch/dinner outside.  Lots of grilled veggies, salad, ribs (not for me), baked beans, chicken… just a plethora of food for everyone to enjoy.

Then came Monday.  So far this week I’ve run…

Monday 6.07 miles at 8:08
Tuesday 5 miles at 8:11 and then 1 cool down mile at 8:30 and weights/abs.
Total for the week:  12.07 sweaty miles on the treadmill with 13 to go!

I need to get my miles in by Friday as we have a swim meet Saturday morning and I have a food blogger event on Saturday afternoon in Philadelphia.  More to come on that…

That’s it for now.

oxo

— Knead to Cook