C25K & the Nutribullet (Finally!)

As you know from my last blog, I presented to the Wellness Committee the idea of running a Couch to 5k (C25K) program at work.  Why, I don't know.  Ok, really I do.  I need something to get MY bum in gear.  I've been lazy.  I figure if other people need to depend on me, well....I won't let them down.

Of course, I didn't present it to the Wellness Committee in that light.

Anyways.  Today, we went over my flyers, and I sent the final copies to the head of the Wellness Committee so she can email them to the world.  (That's what I call emailing something to "All County Users".)  I already put copies of all the flyers in the mailboxes for the different departments at Gracedale.

I wanted to post my pretty little flyers, but I can't hook up pdf's to this blog.  Lame.

Next step, I wait.  Fingers crossed that I have some people interested.  Fingers crossed that I don't have a million people interested.  I'm moderately terrified.

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Now, on to more exciting things.  I've had the Nutribullet for a while now.  (I know, I know, you've all been wondering about it!)

First, a little background.  I had the Magic Bullet forever.  (Minds out of the gutter.  Not that magic bullet.  The one that blends stuff.)  It worked well enough, but I'd always have unblended chunks of ice/strawberries/bananas in the bottom of the cup.  I really wanted to try green smoothies, but the thought of chunks of spinach floating around in my smoothie....well....vomit.  Seriously.

My verdict on the Nutribullet....I LOVE it.  No chunks of ice.  Or strawberries.  Or bananas.  Spinach is completely blended.  This piece of machinery takes all the ingredients and pulverizes them into an awesomely homogeneous mixture.

It comes with a very sturdy base, three blending cups (one large, 2 small), two different blades, and some lids.  Honestly, I think it could have came with more of the bigger cups, and less of the smaller ones.  The cups have a max fill line, and keeping everything under that line helps it all blend smoothly.  But, then you can't fill the cup all the way.  I find that if I mix stuff in the big cup, by the time it blends, it fits in the smaller cup.

I also don't think it is terribly loud when I blend:

My first venture with the Nutribullet ended up being an epic fail.  Spinach, banana, kiwi and apples.  I was hell bent on making a green smoothie.  I mixed it all up, but it seemed kind of runny.  I like my smoothies on the thick side.  Instead of adding ice (duh), I added more of the apple.  

Epic fail.  It tasted really good, but texturally, it was watered down applesauce.  Truly nasty.  But, I guess I can make homemade applesauce now....

I got smarter for my next recipe.  I started freezing the fruits.  Brilliant!  Frozen nectarines, strawberries and banana, with spinach and flax seed.  

Once I got past the baby poo color (or at least, this is the color I imagine baby poo being, since I've never changed a diaper and have zero plans of doing so), I loved it.  I also started adding almond milk instead of water, which helps with the gross color.

This one was strawberry, kiwi and flax (I think).  I wanted to make something that Chris would enjoy....and wouldn't be freaked out with.  For some reason though, this one was spicy.  I don't know if it was something on the strawberries.....

And this one is a normal ole strawberry, banana and blueberry.  (Again, because I was sharing with Chris.)

After drinking more of my green smoothies, I started to get adventurous.  This recipe was posted by one of my favorite blogs, Thug Kitchen.  (Visit the site.  You'll quickly figure out why I love it.)  Oats, frozen strawberries, half a frozen banana, almond milk, water, and a TON of mint.  So.  Flippin.  Yum.

This whole smoothie kick left me with a slight problem.  I now have a ginormous tub of cottage cheese in the fridge.  Usually, I'd have fruit and cottage cheese for breakfast.  But now....well, that container is pretty lonesome in there.

My next mission was to find a smoothie that used not only cottage cheese, but spinach too!  Yep.  Living on the wild side.  I found what I was looking for on......drumroll.....Pinterest.  (Duh.  Where else would you look?)  I'll give Pinch of Yum the true nod here, and link to that blog for the recipe.

Cottage cheese, frozen banana, spinach, almond milk and flax seed.  Sounds gross, right?  Holy moly....TASTY!  The banana counterbalances the tang of the cottage cheese.  And probably the best part?  It looks just like a shamrock shake.  Ok.  Maybe that's not the best part, but it is pretty cool.  Plus, this one was super filling.  A total keeper.

So.  This blog has gotten long.  I've rambled enough for the evening.  But expect more from me in the near future.  I'll be updating a lot more now, especially with the start of the C25K loveliness!