spring is coming
A week or two ago, my sister came down for a visit with my little brother and we all went out to dinner together. I think I’ve mentioned my brothers strange aversion to all food that isn’t somehow Mexican/Tex-Mex/Central American in origin?
So we went to this little restaurant way down Queen street that I’ve had my eye on for quite some time: Johny Banana. And yes, Johny Banana is a monkey.
What immediately attracted me was the gigantic Mexican wrestler mural on the back wall the quotes from Shakira on the chalkboard, and bossa nova on the speakers. The menu was impressive too - a very wide selection of light fusion cuisine and for desert? Churros accompanied by spicy Aztec hot chocolate. Awesome, right?
To top it all off they also had an extensive (by which I mean HUGE) beverage menu (alcoholic and non), with a bunch of really wacky and intriguing smoothies - like avocado shakes. Liam had this one that had banana, guava and mint in it - SOOOOO good - refreshing and totally unexpected.
I decided we had to recreate it at home right away. But maybe without the guava (too sweet).
Last night I whipped this baby up with some orange juice replacing the guava and I was so impressed with myself. Not only did it taste delightful - but it looked like spring. Pale, pale chartreuse with little flecks of deep green. I’m calling it my “spring is coming” smoothie, because around here the snow is almost gone, and the earth is warming. It’s almost spring!
spring is coming smoothie
- 2 cups orange juice
- 1 banana
- half a cup of vanilla yogurt
- 2 sprigs of fresh mint (make sure to remove the stems!)
- 4 or so cubes of ice
Toss the orange juice, banana, vanilla yogurt into a blender and blend until the mint is barely visable (no more than tiny flecks). Add in the ice, blend once more, and serve garnished with a single mint leaf in each glass.
(makes two big glasses).