Maybe it was inevitable I would end up writing about food at some point.  I have a mixed relationship with food.  Well, maybe that’s not quite true.  It might be fairer to say I have a complex relationship with food due to various associations and experiences but I truly love to eat.  I love to experiment in the kitchen, I don’t think I’ve ever viewed a recipe a a set of rules, more as vague guidelines from which to fly freely.

Sometimes it works out.  Sometimes it doesn’t.  A bit like life.  But every failure teaches you something… I will never again mistake bananas for plantains after the sweet garlic bananas of ’06.  And every success teaches you something…dates and nuts, just say yes kids.  But, in the kitchen as in life, experimentation is key to learning what you like and how to get there.

I’m having a green smoothie for dinner most nights at the moment, partially because I don’t really have the time to cook, partially because I’m trying to lose some of the baby weight and partially because it is one of the easiest ways to up my vegetable intake on a daily basis.  I’ve been stuck in a smoothie rut.  Every day the same blend of spinach, celery, cucumber, pear, passion fruit, a half banana, some fruit juice and some additions of barleygrass, cacao, hemp and brewer’s yeast.  This is a delicious combination and especially good if you have the fear of the ‘green’ taste as the banana pretty much overpowers even the meanest of greens.

But yesterday a friend broke me out of my rut.  With coriander!  And I feel amazing and excited and my brain is fired up with new combinations to try.  I’ve put parsley in my smoothies before as it’s meant to have detoxifying benefits but never even considered coriander.  Considering I always have it in my fridge (or dying in a plant pot…) and I love it, I’m surprised it’s never occurred to me to utilise it.  I know some people hate it so this won’t work for everyone but for me it added a beautiful, almost citrus flavour to the veg. I’m also now adding almond butter for a little extra protein and minerals.

So, my new recipe, to be viewed also as an evolving guideline and not as a set of rules is;

Spinach, celery, cucumber, pak choi, chard, kale, red pepper, passion fruit, coriander, nut butter and fruit juice.  And the previous additions of random powders.

And not a banana in sight!

And it’s so yummy.  Granted, perhaps a bit more ‘green’ tasting but really yummy none the less.  And coriander is meant to be excellent for skin conditions so maybe it can help with my eczema too.

For the record, I do love a good banana but I have a whole one with my breakfast every morning and it feels good to be breaking out of the shackles of the yellow fruit.

Who would have thought that something as simple as changing your smoothie recipe could be so invigorating?

Leap out of the rut people.

Tear up the rulebook.

Get rid of your own impositions upon yourself.

And fly my pretties, fly!