Wednesday 4 July 2012

Smoothie, floors and craft

I never thought I would see the day!  Sylvia is finally drinking smoothies.  Given that I haven't find time to post much else today, I thought I would share today's smoothie.  I will also tell you about a few other things that have been distracting me from my blogging.

Below is are three photos representing before, during and after our bathroom floor was updated, thanks to a couple of rotting floorboards.  It is never fun having to have this sort of work done.  Lining up our (very helpful) handyman to pull up the lino and the people to lay the vinyl the next day was lots of fun.
 


I was sorry to loose the retro lino pattern but it seems that lino (or vinyl, which is far easier to find these days than lino) comes in quite boring patterns of wood grain and marble these days.  I include a picture of the old floorboards because they reminded me of an ancient map of the world.

Above is today's craft project.  E brought home a Pringles crisps tube for Sylvia to transform.  I did most of winding the wool.  Sylvia was too busy watching Playschool and playing with her neighbours.  It was a little tricky for her anyway.  She did enjoy helping stick some spots on. (NB a few of the little pom poms fell off before drying.)  We are not the only ones with this idea.  Mr Maker was doing some art with Pringles crisps tubes today too.

Sylvia will always eat crisps.  For a long time, however, she has refused to drink smoothies.  At last she is starting to embrace them.  Perhaps she shares my disappointment in winter fruit.  It is a time of year when it is far harder to be excited about fruit.  I find it difficult to explain to her why I keep refusing her requests to buy cherries from America in the middle of our winter.

I had a little look at the open access section of the Medical Journal of Australia yesterday.  It details the health needs of vegetarians.  While it is very positive about people being able to get adequate nutrition from a vegetarian diet, it is always overwhelming to see the range we need to watch out for.

I added chia seeds to the smoothie at the last minute and both of us enjoyed it.  I also had spinach in my smoothie but sylvia prefers hers pink (as you can see in the photos).  Give her time and maybe she will come round.  I have recorded approximate quantities below.  My smoothies are always rather thick.  Sylvia struggled with her straw and used a spoon for some of it.  Lovely with cheese on toast or some barley soup.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
One year ago: Olive oil bread and calzone
Two years ago: Pumpkin soup for busy days
Three years ago: Slideshows, Nostalgia and Hedgehog
Four years ago: Pumpkin Pancakes on Parade
Five years ago: PPN#19: You say tuna, I say tempeh!

Raspberry, apricot and chia smoothie
serves 2-3

1 banana, broken into chunks
2/3 cup frozen raspberries
5-6 halves of stewed apricots in juice
1 tbsp chia seeds
1 cup soy milk
handful of baby spinach (optional)

Blend and slurp.

On the stereo:
Unknown Deutschland: the Krautrock Archive, vol 1: Various Artists

16 comments:

  1. We have a window frame that's started rotting - I'm dreading it!

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    1. Thanks Racehl - rotting wood is no fun - good luck with the window frames

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  2. Yay for Sylvia drinking smoothies! I love the top photo, I can spy Dolly in there too. I still haven't tried chia seeds but I always add flaxseeds to our smoothies which we still have often. They aren't nearly as nice in winter as they are with lovely summer fruits.

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    1. Thanks Mel - I think Dolly is rather taken with smoothies too. I think the chia seeds worked with the raspberries which are seedy anyway but I was surprised that sylvia didn't protest as she is a bit shy of seeds

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  3. I am sure you are very excited at the smoothie development! I am all for thick ones too and this ingredient mix sounds lovely. I agree that winter fruit is otherwise uninspiring at times, and indeed have trouble explaining to myself why I can't have American cherries :P

    I liked your reference to the MJA too (as you may have been able to guess!) and always enjoy my casual / personal forasy into the medical literature. I keep meaning to properly research gluten / gluten free (as there is so much hype about it now) but not getting time to.

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    1. Thanks Kari - winter fruit makes smoothies appealing because I am less excited about fresh fruit. The MJA information for vegetarians was very interesting - hope lots of doctors read it. If you get onto some GF research, I'd love to hear what you find

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  4. Oh Johanna, she's grown up so much since you visited!!

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    1. Thanks Hannah - can you believe it is a year since we visited!!!

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  5. Aww, bless - so glad that Sylvia has taken to drinkiung smoothies. Such a pretty colour smoothie too! I had never thought of using Pringles tubes like that - but it would make an awesome pencil box!

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    1. Thanks Cakelaw - I think the pretty pink helped make the smoothie attractive - once I add spinach it is no longer quite so pretty! The pringles box is holding lots of objects - the art sponges, lego and even George Pig

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  6. Good to hear that Sylvia is getting into smoothies!! I wonder if she'll have a favourite flavour too? :)

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    1. Thanks Lorraine - at the moment I think it is a favourite colour with smoothies but she does love raspberries

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  7. That looks wonderfully fresh and summery. I love smoothies but so rarly make them myself, especially as our fresh fruit is not always that ripe or seasonal. As its summer now I will deff give some a go!
    Well done to Sylvia for drinking her smoothie, must be the loevly pink colour :)

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    1. Thanks Katie - I understand what you mean about smoothies being summery - but they actually work well in winter with so little nice fresh fruit about because we have been adding frozen fruit and stewed fruit

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  8. Love the colour of that pink smoothie! My mum sometimes used to make smoothies for my brother and I when we were litte - it was a real treat!

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    1. Thanks Caroline - we only ever had milkshakes when I was a kid. I remember banana smoothies being a revelation to me when I left school

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