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Thursday, January 20, 2011

Cold treats in January, a SoCal Special

A lot of you will hate me for this, but it's in the mid- to high-70s in SoCal right now so frozen/blended/cold treats are appropriate. I've nailed two good ones in the last 24 hours...

Pumpkin Smoothie
(A Tawnee original)

1/2 can pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix)
1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1 1/2 tbsp plain greek yogurt
3 extra large strawberries (6 if really small)
dash of cinnamon
dash pumpkin pie spice
dash of salt
stevia (or sweetner of choice; as little or as much as you want)
1 cup ice

Blend and enjoy!

I had this smoothie after a cold lake swim (water temp ~55F); you'd think hot chocolate would be more appropriate but I worked so hard in the water I had taken such a hot shower that I was feeling hot after. Doesn't this lake look inviting? Nevermind the duck poop and bee-fest at the shoreline (wouldn't you know I stepped on a dead bee, but guess I got the stinger out so quickly that I avoided another death-like reaction, just minor foot swelling...hmm, maybe that's why I was so hot)

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Avocado Ice Cream
Click here for the recipe; found on Heather Eats Almond Butter (a great food blog that I highly recommended; I found it thanks to the blogroll of the lovely Lindsay Cotter).

The Vitamix is ideal for making ice cream and fro-yo, with the secret being: xantham gum and guar gum, aka my two new best friends because now I don't have to go out and buy fro-yo 24/7!!

I made this ice cream for the first time last night, and the avocado gives it an amazing creaminess unlike anything I've ever tasted. Sooo good! I topped mine with mixed nuts and seeds.

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That's it for now... got a big weekend coming up. We're 10 weeks out from Oceanside 70.3, so this weekend we're doing a mock half-Ironman! Looks like the perfect weather for it :) Also, got some great news to share for next week, stay tuned.
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3 comments:

  1. ChloeJanuary 20, 2011 at 12:40 PM

    That smoothie looks delish! I can't wait to try it out! At least you got to do an open water swim! The gulf right now is so blue, flat, and perfect. And it's also about 48 degrees. Just a bit too cold for this girl!

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  2. ChristiJanuary 20, 2011 at 12:45 PM

    Yummy! They both look very delicious. And yes I am jealous of your warm weather!

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  3. ShanJanuary 20, 2011 at 5:23 PM

    Yum!!!!! I promise not to scoff at how AMAZING the weather is there right now... ;-)

    Just a note of caution with the xanthan gum and guar gum - a lot of people find that if they consume a lot of products containing these items, they develop a food sensitivity or have GI irritation. I recently found that I am gluten intolerant, and a lot of GF recipes use these gums as a binder or stabilizer (especially for GF baked goods). In moderation, they are fine, but check out the "health" section of the Wiki entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xanthan_gum

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