Perfect, totally perfect.

That was Shira's pronouncement about dinner. LOL. Marc's working late tonight and I had absolutely no inspiration for dinner, so I asked the chicks for their preferences. Shira asked for a tomato and basil salad, a red pepper and a banana smoothie. Tomato, basil, cracked black pepper and a smidgeon of EVOO happens to make Shira's favorite dish.

As soon as our pansies are over their best, we plan on filling the planters with basil plants. The basil is going to be Ben's and Shira's summer project. They have promised to water the containers through the heat of summer. I, in return, have agreed to find ways to include basil into our daily diet.

I took such pleasure watching her eat her salad. You could see the enjoyment in every mouthful. I can only imagine how much she is going to enjoy it when we can buy summer tomatoes.

Ben also thought his dinner was perfect, though he was the only one who thought so. LOL. Loraina made him some gluten free flatbread from Gluten Free Gobsmacked. We love this recipe. It takes 16 min from start to finish and you would never guess that it's gluten free. I used it to make him a wrap with tomato, onion, basil and a smidgeon of mayo. He also asked for fried eggs. To be specific, he asked for eggs that you make in a frying pan where you can see the yolks in the middle of the whites and where you can cut the yolk and make it run. He cracks me up. No matter how often I tell him those are fried eggs, he still insists on giving me the description just to ensure that he gets the right ones. To finish it off, he had a banana smoothie.

I used to love double thick malted shakes, not that I drank them at all often, but when I did, it was sheer heaven. I am sad that my children are never going to experience that particular bit of junk food so I set about making a healthy, gluten free, dairy free, soy free version.

My banana smoothie isn't exactly the same, but I think it tastes even better than the double thick malted shakes I used to love so much. In case you feel like treating yourself, here's the recipe.

Banana double thick smoothie
1.5 cups ice cold water,
2 cups ice cubes,
4-5 very ripe bananas,
3 medjool dates (more if you like food sweeter),
3/4 cup raw cashews
3 tablespoons of flax seeds (optional).
Blend very well.
Makes four 8oz servings

This isn't a low cal food, but every ingredient is good for you. It makes a wonderful desert, or hot afternoon treat.

I must admit that this turns out better when you use a high powered blender like a Vitamix. I couldn't imagine my life without my beloved Vitamix. The standing family joke is that if we ever had to evacuate our home, I'd grab my Vitamix before my children.

I was on a roll wrt smoothies today. I made the children a great one at lunch time. It was too sweet for my taste, but I've noticed that since I've been following Eat to Live I've lost my taste for sweetness. The kids had no such complaints. They inhaled it with gusto.

Tropical smoothie
1 orange
2 bananas
1 cup frozen pineapple
16oz frozen mango
2 tablespoons flax seeds
cold water
Blend until smooth and enjoy.
makes three servings.

Yikes, I was proof reading this post and realized that I almost OD'd my kids on bananas today. They had bananas with breakfast, lunch and dinner. Oh, well, they aren't going to be short of potassium today.