One of my goals for my Spring Shape-Up was to drink more smoothies. Today was the perfect day for a light, refreshing, fruity smoothie.
My smoothie had frozen banana slices, cherries, blackberries, and water. I never know what to use for the liquid in smoothies. Milk mutes the fruity flavor, juice adds too much sugar, and I can’t stand the taste of milk substitutes. Plain ol’ water actually works pretty well! I’m thinking about trying kefir for a creamy, tangy smoothie….hmmm. What is your smoothie liquid of choice?
I drank it outside, of course:
i love how it totally matches the flowers in the background! that was actually not planned 
The smoothie had about 130 calories and 6 grams of fiber (according to The Daily Plate) and was the perfect appetizer for a light lunch of left over BBQ chicken and roasted green beans.
For dinner, I tried soba noodles for the very first time and LOVED them. I’m not normally a big pasta fan…pasta is usually just a bland, starchy vehicle for sauce. But soba noodles, which are made from buckwheat, have a complex nutty taste that adds so much flavor to a dish. I hoped that they would also tout a more impressive nutritional profile, but they are really very similar to regular whole wheat pasta as far as nutrition goes. Oh well.
We used this Food and Wine recipe for soba noodles with grilled shrimp and cilantro, but I devoured half of it before remembering to take a picture of it. There is a picture on the recipe link, but I don’t like it because you can’t see how cool the soba noodles look. They are much darker than whole wheat noodles and look more grainy:
Mmmm...hello, new love!
One of my other Spring Shape-Up goals was to only have 2 desserts per week. It’s only Monday, and I have already met my quota. Whoops! Yesterday, I bought a Swiss dark chocolate bar with almonds that is now half gone, and today I went to go check out a new frozen yogurt place after dinner. Both were completely delicious are worth the indulgence, but now I’m done for the week. No more sweets until next Sunday for me!
