Adventures with green smoothies

I like smoothies for breakfast.  They're easy, relatively healthy, infinitely customizable, and portable, which is a plus for some one like me who never wakes up early enough to have breakfast at home like a civilized person.  I also really like greens in general, and kale in particular, so this led me to beleive that I would be the perfect candidate for kale smoothies.  I've been seeing these more and more on other blogs and websites and have vaguely felt that as a person who loves organic produce and cooks from whole foods, this is something I should at least try. 

Ghetto iced mocha

1 dark roast k-cup + 1 Swiss Miss hot cocoa packet + 1 glass of ice = free 3pm office pick-me-up. 

What can I say?  I'm not always a food snob.

I was right...

It was delicious for breakfast. 

Of course, if you don't believe that over easy eggs can turn any leftovers into a breakfast worth getting out of bed for, you might not agree. 

If that's the case though, you probably won't want to come to breakfast at my house if there's pizza in the fridge.  Just fair warning.

Cookbook Recipe 2 : Artichoke and Potato Casserole

This recipe was my choice, to serve as an accompaniment to roast chicken parts.  Every Night Italian is an underrated gem of book by Giuliano Hazan.  When I pulled this book of the shelf, I felt the same way I feel when I open my stained copy of The Naked Chef - so much good stuff in there!  This book has lots quick, easy recipes that, over the years, have never let me down.  I always think, why don't I pull this book out more often?  Artichoke and Potato Casserole was no exception.

Cookbook Recipe 1 : Roast Chicken Parts with Herbs and Olive Oil

So the boyfriend picked this one.  While I was selecting recipes from famous chefs that involved complicated techniques and multi-day preparations including things like roasting beef bones for stock, he was flipping through a cookbook that I have always considered a solid reference -

How to Cook Everything.  That's been the book I've reached for when I knew exactly what I needed to do, but wasn't sure exactly how - prep and steam an artichoke, roast beets, etc.  It's also a massive heavy tome without a single bit of food-porn-esque photography (actually, no photographs at all, just line drawings when necessary), so it was not at the top of my list to flip through and get inspired.  On top of all that, the recipe he picked is literally titled "Roast Chicken Parts."  Way to get into the spirit of cookbook month, huh?