Failed attempts at being healthy

After the excesses of the past few days/weeks, I thought it was about time I dragged my diet back on track.

After stocking up on fresh fruit and vegetables, I decided to venture into the as yet unknown territories of green smoothies. From what I understand from reading other people's blogs, green smoothies are basically any smoothie with green vegetables incorporated into it - spinach seems to be the most popular. Now I'm not someone who will happily neck funky flavoured juices e.g. one's containing ginger, broccoli and kale. So I knew I couldn't leap into the deep end with my green smoothies. However, I've read quite a few times that for green smoothie virgins, it's best to try a standard combination of fruits and then add a handful of spinach leaves to get you started. This apparently results in a smoothie where you are unable to detect the flavour of the spinach.

Therefore, I happily added 1 banana, a big splash of milk, a few ice cubes and handful of spinach to my blender. Hmmmm. I definitely did it wrong. Because my resultant smoothie was most definitely NOT green coloured. More icky yellow, with green specks. I tasted it and contrary to many people's opinions, I definitely could taste the spinach.

I got a bit reckless at this point, and ended up throwing a tablespoon of coca powder and agave syrup into the mix. I think I thought that I could magically transform my smoothie into a chocolate milkshake delight. Well, that obviously didn't work either. And, I'd lost all my health benefits. Also, my smoothie which was supposed to fill a single glass had alarmingly transformed into a monstrous huge bowlful - overflowing the blender and every thing else that got in its way. I tried really hard to eat/drink it, but it was impossible. So it's definitely back to the drawing board where green smoothies are concerned.

my monster smoothie

After the failure of the green smoothie, I decided to try out this recipe from my fitnesspall.com I'd pinned to my Pinterest healthy eating board: a blueberry oat microwave mug cake. The vague amounts specified in the recipe were too vague for me and my oaty blueberry cake was stodgy and not sweet enough. What a bad food day! Martin, however, said he quite liked it and would make it again for breakfast. I would recommend it too as it's full of filling oats, vitamins from blueberries, protein from the egg and much needed sugar for energy. I've amended the recipe slightly:

blueberry oat cake

3 tbsp porridge oats
1 dessert spoon brown sugar
pinch of cinnamon (to taste)
handful of blueberries
1 egg
3 tbsp milk

Simply mix together the ingredients, add to a mug and microwave for 2 minutes.

Today, will be a better food day. Although I'm planning on making brioche, so the diet not so much.

As I haven't really got a properly decent recipe to share today, I thought I'd share my current favourite playlist.

Blurred Lines - Robin Thicke, T.I.
Another Love - Tom Odell
Get Lucky - Daft Punk, Pharrell Williams
Hold On (feat. Sampha) - Sbtrkt
Waiting All Night (feat. Ella Eyre) - Rudimental
Sacrilege - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Reverse Sky Diving - Hot Natured
Let her go - Passenger
La La La - Naughty Boy, Sam Smith
Attracting Flies - AlunaGeorge
Can't Hold Us- Macklemore, Ryan Lewis

I'm also loving the National's latest album: Trouble Will Find Me. It needs a few listens, but it's really great. Can't wait to go see them at Ally Pally in the autumn.

PS The third series of the Killing is on Netflix. Couldn't be happier!

Have you attempted green smoothies? Do you have a recipe you think would make a good starting point? Have you seen the Killing?