Kale Smoothie Secrets

I love smoothies. We also have a shit-ton of kale in the backyard. So I've been looking into recipes involving kale recently (first was the kale lentil soup, and I'll keep making that), and this morning, I experimented with kale in my morning smoothie, and I want to share the two things I learned.

Pineapple is Edible Gold.
I can't taste the kale in my smoothie, because of how sweet pineapple is. I use canned pineapple chunks, and because of how juicy they are, I usually don't need to add any liquid (milk, juice) to my smoothies when I toss in half a dozen chunks.

Use a Unified Color Scheme
Normally, I don't have to worry about this: my normal smoothie fruits are bananas, pineapple, and oranges, with usually one or two brightly coloured berries (usually blackberries or raspberries) thrown in, and it always comes out looking gorgeous.
HOWEVER, when one of your ingredients is a strong color like green, you have to think about color.
My smoothie this morning is made of (bananas and pineapple, of course--those are my smoothie staples) raspberries, blueberries and kale. It's kind of a muddy color. Next time (tomorrow morning) I plan to use blueberries and blackberries together. Or raspberries and strawberries together. Or if I felt like it, I could go get some kiwis, and go for a green smoothie.

The first secret tip is essential for great taste, and should never be ignored. The second tip is mostly for aesthetics, and while that's important, it's not vital. My smoothie this morning, while strange-looking, was yummy and filling, and I'd drink more if I had any left ... alas.

I Love Daffodils!

Last year, at the end of the Farmer's Market*, I bought three daffodil bulbs.
Then, they sat in my kitchen (in the fruit bowl**) for ... Months. I worried about them, but suddenly it was snowing, and I certainly couldn't plant them when it was snowing***, and finally, in JANUARY, I asked if there was anything to be done. Apparently, there was. On the next thaw-day, I grabbed my little shovel† and dug three little holes (it was a nice day, and not freezing), as deep as I could, which I didn't think was actually deep enough. The daffodil bulbs went in the holes, and I covered them best I could with dirt.

Then I waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And it was APRIL, and all the other daffodils in the world had bloomed already††! And where were mine?
Sure, there were little green sprouts, but daffodils are supposed to bloom EARLY! Like March.
Only, apparently, there are early-blooming daffodils and late-blooming daffodils, and my friends said I must have gotten the late-blooming daffodils ....
Sigh.

THEN, last night, suddenly, there they were: Daffodils! Well, one full daffodil, and one of the bulbs had two buds, and the last one was still just green stem ...
But still. It made my night.

***

*October-ish?

**Until we set aside a second bowl for garlic and ginger and, um ... daffodil bulbs ...

***Having been much too lazy to plant them, you know, when it was prime-bulb-planting-time. Before the snow.

†Is it called a trowel? If I'm going to be serious about gardening^, I'm going to need to learn these things ...

^Which I'd love to be, but highly doubt such a thing will actually happen.

††There is one slopey backyard on my street (west of me) that is COVERED in daffodils. I am SO jealous. It's what I want my yard to look like ...