Aw, thank you! I do hope to get back out to the West Coast for a visit one of these years.

I need to see you when I swing through one of these times, Anne. I drive through STL about two or three times a year. Admittedly I do a lot of cursing about your traffic and construction on my way through, but still!

Yeah, the roads around here can be not great. Anyhow, I'd love to see you if you have time when passing through! I've also got a guest room if you want to make it an overnight.

Since this was the original smoothie thread, here I am to say I'm still having them, a month later. Not every day, but several days, usually after I go to the gym. I've probably gotten more veggies in the past month, just by virtue of cramming spinach in a smoothie, than I had in the previous 3 months, and that is sadly not an exaggeration. (Well, I'm also digging roasted Brussels sprouts and cauliflower, too. So veggies are creeping into my diet in more than just smoothies.)

But seriously, I'm liking these smoothies. So tasty. And coconut oil has become my new thing.

Steph, are you using a regular blender, or some sort of special one, or what? How does that handle spinach?

Steph is me!

Since my friend gave me a Vitamix, I am a blending fool.

AND, I'm a veggie hipster with the roasted brussels sprouts and cauliflower.

Today I found a recipe for 'buffalo' cauliflower 'wings'. Gotta give that one a try, but it's more work than the yummy roasted recipe, so laziness might prevail.

I mentioned in another thread the massive deal on coconut oil I found at Costco. Man. I feel so fortunate!

All this, and eliminating grains has led to me dropping 18lbs since December. I'm finally getting back to my normal weight, which is quite heavy for 5 foot nothing, but it's where I am comfortable. I'm just relieved to be letting go of the grief weight. Phew.

Steph, are you using a regular blender, or some sort of special one, or what? How does that handle spinach?

I just use a regular $50 Oster from Target. The smoothie website Jilli linked to upthread mentioned that the best way to deal with greens in a non-Vitamix blender is to blend just the greens and the liquid first, until the greens are pulverized. Then add in the fruit and any other stuff. That works fantastically for me.

eliminating grains

I am working my way toward this. Partially because I want to see if it will help me feel better, partially because I am shallow, vain, and have a bunch of events coming up in April.

But no way am I giving up caffeine or sugar. You will pry my coffee with two sugars out of my chilly undead hands. And then I'll send some of the minions after you, while the others go fetch me more coffee.

The smoothie website Jilli linked to upthread

Simple Green Smoothies! Here's their cheap blender review, for those of us who can't afford a Vitamix: [link]

The Oster listed there is not the Oster I have, although it looks very similar. So far it's working like a pro.

Yeah, I haven't given up caffeine per se. Lots of green tea, as I have never been a coffee drinker.

I'm using maple syrup and honey for sweetening. And lots of fruit, so it's not much of a low carb regimen.

I've been making gummy treats with gelatin, fruit juice and honey. They are like grown-up Knox Blox. Tasty and healthy.

On Valentine's day, I made an impulse buy of three caramels. I thought the processed sugar would throw me down the well again, but it didn't. The three pieces lasted me two days!

The one thing that DID throw me off my stride was a tub of Indian yogurt from Costco. Mixing it with maple syrup was DELISH. But, it seemed to make me super cravy again. That was disappointing.