Jealousy and Salt

a.k.a. The recipe for a good smoothie and a good evening, respectively

I am still violently in love with our new blender, Vera. And I have been so proud for people to see my/Richard's beautiful green smoothies and say yuck! Because we're scamming them. Truly, the color of the green is so beautiful that I don't know why people aren't snatching them out of our hands and guzzling them down themselves - or at least taking them to Home Depot to use as a sample for the color they would like for their bathrooms.  Anyway, the scam is, we're getting the leafy greens that all of us desperately need, but don't feel like eating, in a drink so delicious that you would never guess had spinach and other good stuff in it.  I'm telling you, Smoothie King is charging $5 for the same stuff that we get for around $1 from home.  And we know that absolutely none of it is processed, unlike Smoothie King, where you are not 100% in control of what goes into your cup.  Whoopee!  So this is where Jealousy comes in to play.  I am haphazardly busy creating recipes for smoothies of my own, and I've come across one recipe in particular that I'm really crazy about.  And being the word nerd that I am, each drink has a name, and so far, each name is a play on words.  Hence, this favorite green drink of mine is named Jealousy!
If you are feeling adventurous, here is the recipe:

Voila! Green Goodness!

• 1/2 to 1 cup water
• 1 cup green grapes
• 1 to 2 cups fresh baby-ish spinach leaves
• 1/2 cup cilantro leaves
• 1 banana, torn into 3 segments
• 1/2 Fuji apple (optional)
• ice as desired (optional)
• Hemp or other protein powder as desired (optional)

Add the ingredients in the order listed - okay, you might want to dump the protein powder after the grapes - and if you're working with a Vitamix, go from variable 1 to 10 quickly, and then go to high. Blend for 30-50 seconds.  

If you add a milk/whey based protein powder, it might affect the flavor, but I'm not sure - I'm trying to keep my green smoothies as vegan as possible. 

Now for the salt aspect: 

I have become a recent convert to Epsom salts.  I had a painful Swedish massage a few weeks ago at the start of a detox, and afterwards the masseur told me to make sure I took an Epsom salt bath that evening, which I was all too happy to do.  For whatever reason, I had a large bag of Lavender-scented Epsom salts already on hand.  Now, being the ingredient reader that I am, I had read the back label of the salt bag to see what it actually was (magnesium sulfate), and then after the bath Googled "benefits of an Epsom salt bath." You can find my favorite but altogether standard answer to that query here, but the long and short of it is that we don't really get enough Magnesium in our diets, AND we don't absorb it very well in our stomach and intestines, but GUESS WHAT!?! We absorb it very well through our SKIN!!! You'd be surprised at all Magnesium does when you get it in proper proportions - not the least of which is makes you feel better.  

All that to say, the other night I declared a "Baths and Books" night, sparked in part by Eat Pray Love, which I have embarked upon at the behest of my future sister-in-law who wants me to have read in time for our visit next week, so that we can go see it in the movie theater.  I drew a lovely Epsom salt bath, texted said Sister-in-Law, and then had a lovely reading session.  It was the recipe for a truly lovely evening.  All that was missing was a green smoothie. Cheers!