Pea plant

My newest acquisition is a little pea plant that a lovely lady gave to me at a co-op community shopping day. I love watering it every morning and watching it grow in the window sunlight. It slows down time for just a moment when I stop to see how it has changed.

What little things bring you joy?

Enjoy today,
Addie

Slowing down for details

I have a car and I love my car, but I frequently choose not to drive it. When I walk or ride my bike, I find lots of small yet beautiful things that I never seem to notice from behind the windshield of a car.

I always feel accomplished after biking somewhere, especially if I braved the Washington rain along the way. I'm lucky to live only a mile from school and downtown, so I can get most places I need to go with just ten minutes of biking or less. I love the excuse to get outside and I love the hidden exercise. Since I don't think of it as "formal" exercise, I often get an extra fifteen minutes or so of activity per day just by biking to school. That way I know that even if I don't have time to work out later, I'm still maintaining an active lifestyle that keeps me happy.

I've included some photos from my walk to school a few weeks ago. These are all things that I would never have noticed from my car, and even some smaller things I would never have noticed from my bike. It's nice to sometimes slow down and see what beautiful things we pass by every day.

Enjoy today,
Addie

Smoothie: Banana Chocolate PB "Milkshake"

My new morning obsession is smoothies. I have one every day for breakfast and I love them because they fill me up but aren't too heavy and they're a great way to get some fruits (okay... and maybe some veggies too) in the morning.

Here's a recipe for my new favorite- banana chocolate peanut butter!

Step 1: In a blender combine: about 1 cup milk (I used chocolate coconut here, you can use any kind you like), 1/2 cup yogurt or cottage cheese (non-dairy yogurt would work as well), 1 spoonful peanut butter (or other nut butter, try roasted and shelled peanuts for a more chunky texture), and 1 Tablespoon flax meal/ground flax seeds (you can't taste them and they add fiber and omega 3s!). Blend these together until the consistency is smooth. 

Step 2: Add 1/2 of a banana and a few handfuls of spinach. I promise, you can't taste the spinach because the flavor is way overpowered by the banana-chocolate-peanutbuttery goodness. The spinach just adds a dose of veggies (one serving for the day that you don't have to worry about) and makes the smoothie thick- just like a milkshake. Blend these with the first mixture until it gets smooth again.

Step 3: Add 3-5 ice cubes depending on how thick you want it, and blend until smooth again (or until your blender stops making clunky ice-chopping noises). I usually add five cubes because our blender chops them up really fine.

Step 5: Pour and enjoy! My mom is always happy to drink the extra smoothie (especially this one). This is seriously my new favorite thing. Next time I want a milkshake, I'm just going to make this. It's like a milkshake without the heavy-yucky-sluggish feeling afterwards. 

Next time I'm going to try this with frozen coffee cubes instead of ice cubes for more of a mocha "milkshake" smoothie!

Enjoy today,

Addie