Sandy Eggo

Tristen, on seeing the beach: "This must be why they call it Sandy Eggo!"

What a fabulous weekend. We didn't even rent a car -- just got a hotel on the boardwalk and went back and forth between the beach and pool. We also rented bikes a couple of days and rode the two miles of ocean front trail to Belmont Park for the arcade and rides. Total heaven.

Slideshow below. I am 20 weeks pregnant. Some of the pix are of Tristen and others on tsunami watch due to the earthquake in Japan.

Smoothie!

I've decided to add some staple family recipes to the blog now and then -- so I can just point to them when I pass them on. The genesis for this particular recipe? Eric.

Who else? :)

Berry smoothie

• 1 cup frozen berries -- blueberries, straweberries, mixed berries
• 0.5 TBSP sugar or a little more, to taste
• 1 scant scoop protein powder (Use the whey! I like Whey Factors brand. Go with vanilla! If you don't have protein powder, add a little vanilla extract for the flavor.)
• 0.5 cup some kind of milk: cow milk, soy milk, almond milk, chocolate hazelnut, hazelnut...you get the idea

I like my smoothies highly drinkable as opposed to frozen, so I try to remember to throw the berries, sugar, and sometimes the milk in a mason jar the night before -- and put it in the fridge. (Othewise, I thaw the berries in the microwave for 45 seconds.) In the morning, I add the remaining ingredients and use my immersion blender to mix it all up right in the jar. I drink it straight from the jar, too.

This recipe has around 167 calories in it. I added it to calorielookup.com at one point -- though I think the recipe included more sugar and less protein powder back then.

Sometimes I add half of a frozen banana for fun.


Berry-kale smoothie

• 1 cup frozen berries -- strawberries or straight blueberries work best, in my opinion
• 3/4 cup coarsely chopped kale that has been deveined
• 0.5 TBSP sugar or more, to taste
• 1 to 2 TBSP nut butter -- peanut butter, almond butter
• 0.5 cups milk -- again, any kind

See above. Blend it all up and drink. In this case, I ready it all the night before and just blend in the morning.

For both of these recipes -- resist the urge to take them to go. I have never successfully had one without getting the berry seeds in my teeth or a smoothie mustache or both. :)