Lunch & a Green Monster!

I decided to put on my creative kitchen hat and make myself a healthy lunch. Something that I might not usually eat. This is what I came up with:

It's a bowl of spinach with water-packed salmon, artichoke hearts (love these!), kalamata olives, feta cheese and walnuts. Nope, no dressing. I've really don't care for many dressings, so when I'm at home I just skip them. This salad was pretty good, but it was definitely missing something. (And no, not dressing!) I think I needed one more ingredient to finish it off but I just can't figure it out. Either way, it was still a fairly filling salad and I'm inclined to make it again.

And I just have to mention that it's in my favorite dish. My grandmother had this set and everytime I use it, it reminds me of all the Christmas Eve dinners we had at her house. Those dishes always make me smile.

Moving on.

I've been reading Angela's blog for some time now. She has a great outlook on fitness, health and life in general. Although she's a vegetarian and I'm most definitely not, I still really enjoy reading about her recipes. One of her daily staples is a green monster.

Now, I'm not going to lie here. The first time I saw that glass full of green weirdness, I wanted to close my computer screen. It caused me to revert back to my childhood where I shirked away from anything that was green. I could hardly believe that someone was choosing to drink something so.......GREEN! But slowly, as I kept reading her blog, the green monster intrigued me. And it didn't seem quite so horrible as the days went by. And then I think it challenged me. Yes, I could hear the green monster taunting me, teasing me for being such a foodie wimp.

So I bit the bullet and I made one.

And it wasn't so bad. In fact, dare I say it........was a little tasty. It had a smoothie texture and a fruity flavor. I mostly tasted the banana and not really the spinach at all. I probably should've blended mine a little more, but I got too excited about the whole experience.

And I'm a little impatient.

But I think I will definitely make this again! It will be a great after workout shake by simply adding some protein powder to the mix. But I guess you want to know what's in the mix anyway. Here goes:

• 1 cup spinach leaves
• 1 cup Almond Breeze (original)
• 1 Tbsp ground flaxseed
• 1 ripe banana
• 1/2 cup blueberries (pretty much all I had left

I think that next time I'll use a frozen banana to give it even more of a smoothie feel. Overall, I liked it!

And that is how it came to pass that Stephanie defeated the Green Monster.