Don't ya hate it when your fresh produce goes bad on you? I just bought a container of strawberries on Monday, and they are already getting rotten spots on them. I guess that's what happens when you travel 3,000 miles from California. (I need do a better job shopping local-- for many reasons.) I'm pretty sure those are my last strawberries until next spring/summer. How sad.
Anyway, my rotting strawberries were demanding to be made into a smoothie. My smoothie measurements:
- 1/2 cup diced strawberries
- 1/2 medium banana
- 1/2 cup plain yogurt
- 5 ice cubes
With my smoothie, I ate a toasted English muffin with Barney Butter (the smooth variety) and banana slices.
Today's breakfast: Strawberry-banana smoothie, English muffin with BB, and iced coffee with vanilla hemp milk and a little Sugar in the Raw.
Question of the Day
If you had $5 to spend on someone else, how would you spend it?
25 Comments:
Sorry about the strawberries :0( But hooray for a delicious breakfast (and HEMPMILK!! haha).
Happy Wednesday!!
I have a silly question about your smoothie. I tried to make one the other day using ice cubes. I ended up with chunks of crushed ice in my finished product. Any suggestions?
Anon,
I put my blender on the highest speed and just leave it running for 30-45 seconds. If there are still chunks of ice, I stir the smoothie with a spoon, and blend it again.
Looks like a fabulous breakfast.
Did you see Oprah's Big Give? I thought the idea behind that show was phenomenal. I'd like to turn that $5 into way more money and give all the money to a soup kitchen.
The same thing happened to my strawberries! grrr. it's so sad to let summer go.
Regarding the $5 - I'd probably buy a couple packs of starbursts for the boyfriend. He loves them and could literally eat them all the time.
i live and get my strawberries from california, and that happens to me too! sucks huh? guess that means lots of strawberries today!
i think it would depend on the person, but if i had $5 i would buy my brother colored pencils/charcoal pencils...that boy is always drawing!
anonymous, if your blender doesn't have an ice crush setting, that might be the problem...
I've really come to love local produce for that very reason! Plus it is always so fresh and ripe--sometimes hit or miss in the grocery store. I'm hoping i don't miss all the farmers market goodness in boston by the time i get up there!
Heya Tina,
You should definately freeze your strawberries right away. That way, you wont even need ice in your smoothie (giving it a creamier, thicker, less diluted texture and taste) and you wont have to rush to finish your strawberries!
I would go find some cute Halloween decorations for my friend Tricia and just mail them to her for no reason if I had $5
Trish's idea is great! No ice chunks and more strawberry goodness. You could also try growing your own - it's actually not that hard, even for us city girls.
Hmm... I think I'd take my $5 to the farmers market, get as much as I could and then give it to a homeless person. Maybe a little nutritional boost would help clear his/her mind a little. Or at least make him/her feel better. I know fresh fruit and veggies do that for me.
Ugh, I HATE it when that happens!!! That's the biggest reason I don't get my fruits and veggies in - I don't buy many because I think they go bad way to fast and end up wasting SO much money :(
if i had $5, i would fill up all the parking meter with extra time so no one would get a ticket :D
I am like queen of byding people their fav gum/candies and little treats so that is what i prob would do.. I like being thoughtful with gifts!
with $5 I'd buy them a fancy drink at Starbucks :)
great use of the aging strawberries in the smoothie - yum!
I hate when my produce goes bad! I feel very bad wasting it :(
As for the 5 dollars..I would probably buy my mom a small stack of lara bars! She loves those.
I guess I wasn't the only one feeling like an english muffin w/ barney butter this morning! It was good, huh?!
I just wrote down your smoothie recipe, it looks delicious!
I'd probably buy flowers :)
AND your haircut looks SO cute! Gorgeous! You look so chic and it's effortlessly flattering! Love love LOVE it!
I would spend the $5 on a book for my son.
Anon- To minimize ice chunks and increase thickness, make sure your order of ingredients is right- Liquid medium first, then powder ( if you use a protein powder or sugar etc), then frozen item ( i.e frozen fruit or ice cubes).
Cheaper blenders ( no offense) just get stuck if you throw frozen in first.. same for powder first.. it just spins into itself and you get chunks of ice or powder and a blender that gets burnt out..
Putting in liquid first ( milk or yogurt or juice or yogurt) give the blades something to spin initiating the smoothie.
Or... buy a really expensive glass blender which should be more powerful.. but not entirely necessary for a great smoothie!
I eat a smoothie for breakfast just about every morning!
You can also use the pulse mechanism ( essentialy stirs the chunk caught in the blade)
Same thing happened with my strawberries in 1 day!! ugh.. there is always frozen to use though nothing beats fresh
I would put five dollars into a savings account for my future kids
It's terrible when fruit goes bad prematurely. Sometimes I do think the particular store is part of the problem; the produce section might not be properly managed and fruits/veggies are remaining out there longer than they should. I've also learned to watch the checkers like a hawk; sometimes they just don't care and I've seen my oranges get tossed around like soccer balls! :-(
A smoothie is a wonderful idea to using them up. Perhaps you could also cut off the bad bits and freeze them, to be used later? I've done that a few times and used them for oatmeal, in baked goods, etc.
Tina,
I wanted to let you know that the fresh figs I bought lady week were not sweet. :(. I ended up using them in oatmeal bars.
$5? A good generic present is a starbucks gift card because people can buy pricey drinks that are fun. For Mark, any kind toy like GI Joes or legos.
Heather
At least you got something positive (divine looking smoothie) from your negative!
As for the $5 question...I'd probably use it to buy the boyfriend's little brother a coloring pad and crayons/markers. He's autistic and a little incommunicative, but he LOVES new drawing things.
I think I'd buy my best friend coffee. Coffee and catching up seems like a great deal for $5.
Oh, the end of season strawberries... terrible, when we're just so addicted to them... and they start to go off quickly, they're more expensive and less sweet... We get our end of summer berries from Egypt! Now, that's a long journey for the poor fruit...
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