bonus smoothie #2 — feel better

i have been dealing with one of those annoying colds that last forever.  the kind that aren’t really bad enough to justify lying around in bed, but that just sort of steal your extra energy and make everything seem so much more challenging.  this morning i was inspired to try to create a smoothie to combat that feeling.  i have no idea if it will help me to actually feel better, but it tasted awesome and certainly can’t hurt to drink a few of these.

“feel better” smoothie

3-4 clementines, peeled

juice of 1/2 lemon

a dusting of fresh-grated ginger (pack in more if you’re a big fan of ginger)

2 t. honey (or more, suit your own taste)

a dash of cayenne

1/2 frozen sliced banana

1 T. almond butter

advance prep:  slice and freeze a banana.

combine first five ingredients in your blender.  add a bit of water if necessary to get the clementines to turn into a liquid.  once you’ve got about a cup of juice, add in your banana and almond butter and blend until smooth and thick.  add more banana to thicken further.

the cayenne adds just a little heat to the back of your throat (great if you’ve got a cough).  if you like a lot of heat, you can add more than just a dash.

if i had any more of my mom’s homemade elderberry syrup, that would totally be going into this concoction.  since most of you don’t have access to that, i believe that sambucol is a good substitute?

one more tip:  i can never seem to use up a whole ginger root before it gets moldy, but then i read somewhere that it freezes well.  i now store mine in the freezer and i think it actually grates much easier when frozen than when fresh.

and i’ve decided to extend the sale on my book for one extra day.  through midnight tonight, you can use the code “helloagain” to receive 40% off the cover price of happy smoothie in my etsy shop.  locals who can arrange for in-person exchange of copies are welcome to add their name to the doodle here (where prices are also $12/ book or if you order 3 or more copies, then $10/book).  thanks again to everyone who has ordered a book so far.  i have been so amazed and humbled by your response to my little project.  thank you.