sustainability fused music

If you’ve been reading the blog for a while, you know that music has been a big part of my life. Last weekend I went home to see an orchestra concert centered around the theme of sustainability. Super nerdy, but I actually like going to concerts alone; I don’t enjoy them if I’m constantly worried that the people I’m with are bored or want to leave.

[I used to spend HOURS in a practice room…in college and grad school, I played at least 2-4 hrs/day!].

While there were some absolutely fantastic musical moments, the corresponding media presentation left a lot to be desired. But still, it was refreshing and exciting to see that my hometown is beginning to explore the concept of sustainability.

Speaking of green-friendly things, lately, I’ve been all about the smoothies. I especially crave them after running…

kale + banana + almond milk

kale + blueberries + banana + almond milk

Can you tell I’m kind of obsessed with kale right now?! And I’m excited for more produce to be in season. This summer, I’m pretty sure I’m going to pick a crazy amount of blueberries.

Also, CSN sent me this lovely set of knives to review [while I received them for free, the following review is my own opinion)].

After picking them up at a Fedex holding center (which very much resembled a maximum security prison), I tested them on some celery.

Their sharpness didn’t blow me away, but then again maybe that’s a good thing…I’d like all my fingers to remain intact, thank you very much. And let’s be honest, the last knife set I owned was a Target special, so these are a huge improvement.

favorite smoothie ingredient?! ready, go…

p.s. did anyone see the article in the NY Times about food dyes and behavioral problems?! pretty interesting stuff…but I still think companies should be required to disclose GMOs just as they’re required to alert us to artificial food dyes.

weekend cooking and potluck

I had a fun weekend of cooking and we had a nutritarian potluck too. It was great fun. I made Dr. Fuhrman's famous anti-cancer soup. It was good but I like my soups better. It makes a huge batch though, which is great. Here it is in my giant stock pot:

We had that at the potluck, and still had tons leftover to freeze into lunch-size portions.

For the potluck, Jim brought spring rolls and dipping sauces which were yummy. Colleen brought baked apples with a raisin cashew sauce. And Sue brought tomatoes and bananas. We enjoyed our food and gabbed for hours. Sue left me with large a ripe banana which I froze and then blended up for breakfast on Sunday--with nothing else! It's yummy.

On Saturday, after I made the soup and before the potluck, I made house-mate's smoothies for the week. But first I had a yummy fruit salad with some of the fruit.

On Sunday, we had soup and manna bread for lunch. Then at dinner I was back into my weeknight routine of making confetti salads for the next day. This is my last week of eating carrots. I have about 10 lbs left but they are probably not going to last for more than a week. It was a great year for local carrots. But the end of carrots is also the start of spring produce. The California strawberries were on special today and they are good. Soon we'll have local spinach and salad greens.

My weekday meals this week will be confetti salads, beans or soup, and manna bread for breakfast and lunch; and carrots and other veggies at dinner.