Countdown: 7 days - Dip the Big Toe In

Today was the day for fire drill action - just go through the motions as if this were the real event, so bought me some kale (because if I were actually growing my own kale it would be dead already anyway), and tried out the chai green smoothie just to see if I could actually get myself ready, harvest my make believe, but very successful crops on FarmVille, and make the smoothie for breakfast. Like a fire drill, the intent is to learn what went well and what needs to be tweaked.

 First batch was fine, but I have an old Osterizer blender that may be older than me, so after the first batch the engine was a little pooped.

This recipe makes enough to bring to work: now I need glass jars.

The verdict: It's like teaching for the first time. The trick is to try and stay more than 10 minutes ahead of the kids and then hopefully it gets better and you stop standing in front of the class (or the refrigerator) wondering what to do now. Boy 3 said it was OK, but Big Spazz said he's not a fan of chai. He really should have said something last week when I was raving about it. More for me.

I need to own this figurine. Seriously! Tried yoga today at work in anticipation of all this upsurge in energy we're going to get on this new journey.  Breathing = good. Stomach getting in the way and left knee starting to shake under the strain = bad. The motto for yoga today: do not fart. 

My last endeavor, try a product so I can figure out how to modify it for the challenge.

Tofu shirataki fettuccine noodles is a favorite of Hungry Girl and I hear Ming Tsai. Instead of eating complex carbs or learning to tolerate the weird texture of whole wheat pasta, this is an alternative. You find it in the tofu and konyaku area of the supermarket. It's made out of tofu and water. Period.

The trick is to drain it well, put it in the microwave for a minute. This will get rid of the fishy smell of the noodles. Otherwise it smells like ika. Blech. 

For the original recipe (to be experimented on more later), I used 2 tablespoons of fat free cream cheese, 2 tsp of Parmesan and 1 tsp of sour cream. Season with a little salt and pepper. Mix with the dried noodles and put it in the microwave for one more minute. Done. Fake fettuccine Alfredo.

The verdict: the texture is a little more chewy than real fettuccine, but like tofu, it takes flavors well. Next time, maybe Thai peanut style or in Asian broth, some lime, cilantro, chilies, mushrooms, coconut milk, ginger, garlic, little shoyu. . .smells good already.