Speculoos smoothie, veganmofo 2009

When I was a child, once a year my mother used to buy ginger snap cookies in an rustle-y orange paper sack. These cookies were only available in October. They were large and flat and crackled on top.



They seemed very hard and crunchy on the outside but when I started chewing them, they got tacky, and stuck to my teeth. My mother and I loved these spicy cookies, looked forward to them every year and lamented the fact that we couldn't buy them whenever we wanted.



I would open the bag and inhale their spiciness. The fragrance was so strong I could almost taste the cookies before they touched my lips.



Today I added speculoos spice blend and a small amount of agave nectar to my almond milk-banana-mango smoothie, and when I took my first mouthful, I heard the rustle of that orange paper sack, smelled the gingersnaps, and saw my mother's smile.

Red zinger smoothie

© 2009 Andrea's easy vegan cooking

During our recent bout of steamy weather, I became smoothie obsessed. Not the "drink a green smoothie in the morning for your health" thing, but the "it's so hot the only thing I can think of consuming is an ice cold fruit smoothie" obsession. I made my smoothies with rice milk and various kinds of frozen fruit plus banana. One day it was so hot that even a rice milk smoothie seemed too heavy. My husband made a big gallon jar full of cold Red Zinger tea, and I made Red Zinger smoothies with frozen mango chunks and frozen raspberries. Curiously refreshing, as they say. This was the perfect refreshment for a ghastly hot day.


© 2009 Andrea's easy vegan cooking