Tropical Green Smoothie

I found mango flavored coconut water in store, so I decided to make a green smoothie using it. I've been liking parsley in my green smoothie lately. If you put parsley in, make sure to put lemon juice, too. Makes it taste so refreshing!

Good breakfast drink

Tropical Green Smoothie

2 cups mango flavored coconut water
1 banana
1 golden delicious apple
1/4 lemon, squeezed
1/3 cucumber
Handful of parsley
A few ice cubes

Combine all in a blender and blend until smooth.

I've been using coconut water in my smoothies.

Banana binds everything together.

There is a hint of mango in it, and fresh lemon tastes great in this smoothie. Parsley and cucumber add a nice fresh flavor.

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Cold Snap in April

It's so unusual to have such low temperatures in the middle of April here in Georgia. I had already planted the seeds for shiso leaves and shishito peppers this year, but I needed to quickly protect them from the cold weather.

From left to right. Shishito peppers and shiso leaves. 

Welcome to my backyard, Mummy. 

It dropped to 34 degrees last night.
I heard about frost somewhere around here, too.

Crazy weather!

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Mini Shepherd's Pies with Green Mashed Potatoes

Once a month, we have a get-together with our friends called Iron Chef, where we decide a theme ingredient and come up with dishes. But it's really not a contest. We always appreciate every dish and just have fun over food. This time, the theme was "spring dishes." So we decided to make mini shepherd's pies with a twist.

Green makes it spring-like!

Mini Shepherd's Pies with Green Mashed Potatoes

16 frozen mini pastry crusts
Pie filling:
1 lb. ground lamb meat
1/2 cup ground beef
1 onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/3 cup frozen green peas
3 Tbsp chopped carrots
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp rosemary, chopped
1 tsp masala seasonings, optional
Salt and pepper to taste

Green Mashed Potatoes:
1 package of ready made mashed potatoes, 24 oz
1/4 cup parmesan cheese and more for topping
1 cup cooked green peas
2 Tbsp basil paste
1 tsp rosemary, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

I used this tube of basil a lot in my cooking.
It tastes very fresh.

In a skillet, cook onions and garlic and add lamb and beef. Add cumin, masala seasonings, rosemary, salt and pepper. Toss in chopped carrots and green peas and cook them through. Set aside.

Add ground beef for more volume

Make mashed potatoes according to the package instructions. In a food processor, puree green peas. It's easier to make a paste if you add a bit of mashed potatoes in it, too. Add basil paste, rosemary, pasted peas. Mix with the rest of mashed potatoes. Toss in parmesan cheese and stir. Salt and pepper to taste.

Pulsing....

Scoop cooked meat mixture first in pastry cups and place a dollop of green mashed potatoes. Top them with more parmesan cheese. Place the filled pastry cups on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 20 minutes, and broil them for another five minutes. 

Just assemble and bake them.

A little parmesan nicely browns on top.

"Well, are these for me or not?"

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Disney Festival of Fantasy Parade at Magic Kingdom 2014

The new Disney Festival of Fantasy Parade has just debuted in March 2014 at Magic Kingdom. It's a daytime parade, and we were lucky enough to witness it this time. It was fun to see lots of familiar characters on the floats marching through the Main Street USA. 

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