Smoothie Summer

This time last year we were letting the light in, and getting ready for many days of interior demo. We were closing in on one year of having owned the property, and, so we thought, closing in on the design of our new home. Last summer was full of days spent running and playing at the property, including hosting Miles' 8th birthday treasure hunt party. We consumed more than our fair share of hotdogs, roasted corn, and s'mores over days that seemed to last forever. This summer has been a bit different.

We changed architects a few months back, so while we are farther along than we have been with the design, we are still a few weeks away from submitting for a permit. We've completed all the interior demo we can, and have been devising all the different ways we want to take down the house. We could, actually, begin to take down the house . . . and as I type this I'm thinking that maybe that's what we'll do this month, because why not? But the reality is that aside from cutting the grass and spending some of our warm summer days fooling around as I described in this previous post, we've just not done much physically at Lazy Fox. Most of our energy has been spent on the new design and ironing out the last details.

So, with this apparent lack of things about which to post, I bring you something completely different: Chocolate Banana Smoothies Two Ways! *crickets* Because, let's be honest, who doesn't love a good smoothie? *more crickets* Well, WE love smoothies, so this post is decidedly about a cool, refreshing summer time treat that we WOULD be drinking at Lazy Fox if we were living there. Does it count that we drink these before and after we go there? And turn them into popsicles sometimes? I think it does.

We consume a fair number of smoothies around here, the house favorite being chocolate banana. You may know that I can't tolerate cow's milk, so none of my smoothies use it. Having a Vitamix makes that really OK, because everything turns out creamy delicious anyway, even when you add veggies. And I do.

Chocolate Banana Originál

This is the old stand by that my kids love. I've even convinced other kids to like it, too. I love pulling one over on other people's kids like that. Maybe I'll be the hippie mom with only slightly weird food.

Place in a blender (I do highly recommend a Vitamix): 1-2 bananas, a handful of leafy greens (I use swiss chard a lot and I probably do more than a handful), about a tablespoon of almond butter, 1-2 tablespoons of raw cocoa powder, 4 pitted dates, 1+ tablespoon of chia seeds, dash of cinnamon, dash of ground cardamom. Add water, about an inch or so, and 5 or 6 ice cubes. Blend on high until creamy delicious. You can also omit the ice cubes if you use frozen bananas.

Chocolate Banana alá Rootz

Last time we were in Steamboat, we stopped into a cute little organic café named Rootz. I asked how they sweetened their chocolate banana smoothie, and learned they use only three ingredients: coconut milk, banana, and raw cocoa powder. The result was wonderful, not coconutty, and I decided this would be the second way to make chocolate banana smoothies at home.

Combine in blender until smooth and lovely: 2 frozen bananas, 2 tablespoons raw cocoa powder, and maybe 1/4 cup CANNED coconut milk. Do not use the coconut milk from the carton- that stuff is full of additives and just not the same beast in flavor or texture as that crack-in-a-can from Thai Kitchen. You may need to play around with the amount of cocoa powder and coconut milk, as I tend to eyeball these and then adjust based on the loud, angry reactions from my kids.

So there you have it. No real updates on Lazy Fox, but chocolate banana smoothies not one, but TWO ways! Life is miraculous.