Photos by Rikki Snyder
We are one week into 2014 and it’s already flying by like a freight train! Can we sloooow it down and check in with each other? Can we cozy up with coffee next to a fire and chat about life? Can we have a Fireside Chat with Julia? Let’s do that.
In our fireside chat, we can talk about the state of the union..errr…our lives. We could balance our work and play budget, and talk about the coming year. We can talk about now and how we really are. How are you, my furry friends? Would you like some more coffee? Our Fireside Chat coffee pot is always full. It’s magic.
During this chat, we would lay it on each other thick. Like whoa. And that’s what I’m about to do. I’ve got some great newses….and I want to share them with you in the most natural way. With coffee, fire, messy hair, and pajamas.
First off, as of Jan 1, my second cookbook, Let Them Eat Kale!
, is signed, sealed, delivered! I turned in my manuscript to my publisher, and from here, it goes through a series of edits. Once the final manuscript is approved, it gets shipped off to the printers and then becomes available for your hands and coffee table. Once things settle down, I will be writing a series on my blog about what it’s like to write a cookbook. Would you read it? IIIIIII hope so!
My second awesome hunk of news is one day a week, I will be posting a recipe over at my good friend Kiersten’s blog, Oh My Veggies. Kiersten and I bonded months ago over the process of writing a cookbook. She is currently at the tail end of writing a vegetarian recipe book for freezer recipes. Make ahead, freeze, re-heat, devour. YUM! I have always adored her blog, and feel like it’s completely surreal that I have a chance to share my recipes over on her site.
Which brings me to my third hunk of news. I am actually CONTRIBUTING TO KIERSTEN’S COOKBOOK!! WHAAAAAAAT! Me, myself, I, Kare, Meg, and McKel, are all developing recipes RIGHT NOW that will be going into Kiersten’s freezer vegetarian cookbook. I’m on cloud. freaking. nine. !! I love that this cookbook is collaborative, with several voices and alllll sorts of cooking styles…the synergy is so thick, you can cut it with a knife! IMO, this book will be top notch. Top Shelf, single malt, aged 70 years top…freaking…notch!
So for my very first post over at OMV, I am sharing with you my go-to kale-ginger detox smoothie. Kiersten had the bright idea of posting a series of smoothies for the post-holiday-return-to-normalcy-dance. AND her good friend Rikki Snyder took alllll the photos! Aren’t they wonderful? She’s a photography ninja.
Phew! That would conclude my here and now portion of my Fireside Chat, and now it’s your turn, my friends. Tell me anything and everything. Tell me about your best friend. Tell me about your dreams, pet peeves, favorite wine varietal. Lay it on me thick and good!
And here’s that smoothie I’ve been talking about:
Kale Ginger Detox Smoothie
Ingredients
- 1 large ripe banana peeled and frozen
- 1/2 cup fresh blueberries
- 2 teaspoons fresh ginger peeled and chopped
- 1 cup kale leaves loosely packed
- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 1 tablespoon chia seeds
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons honey or more to taste
- 1/2 cup ice
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to a blender and blend until completely smooth. Pour into a glass and enjoy!
I really want to like green smoothies but I haven’t found one that tasted good. This one seriously looks good! Super duper healthy and I can’t wait to try it. 🙂
Whoa!! So exiting!! Congrats, congrats!! I feel like you are one fire! YAY!!
Obviously heading to check out the recipe!
Whoa, lady! So much exciting news (no wonder you’re so dang busy :))! I’m going to celebrate over here for ya with this smoothie.
Shut the front door!!! Ism gonna have to buy out the cookbook section of Amazon to get all of these books in which you’re appearing! I can’t even handle how awesome you are. And that autocorrected awesome to Elaine. Huh?
Awww you’re too sweet. I don’t know that I’d call myself awesome. Overworked? Under-massaged? In need of a gin and tonic….? ….. Thank you, love!
This is being made tomorrow morning–obsessed with the idea of this smoothie!
Yeeeeeeah, let me know how you like it!!
Woo hoo! Starting the year with that cookbook DONE DONE DONE must have felt amazing! I freaking love kale, so you know I can’t wait for it to come out! And I am so thrilled to have you working with me on Oh My Veggies (and on the OMV cookbook!). Taking my blog and making it a collaborative one feels so incredibly right, I kind of wish I did it sooner.
<3 <3 <3 Thank you times infinity, my dear! Once your cookbook is all buttoned up, we should meet somewhere in the middle of 'merica and drink cocktails till we're all wibbly wabbly. Some celebration will definitely be in order! Thanks so much for having me on your wonderful site. I'm still pinching myself, I can't believe it's true!
Wow, what great news, how very exciting for you! What a brilliant start to the year 🙂 CANNOT wait for your cookbook, I love me some kale! And this smoothie looks delicious – how good does ginger taste in smoothies!? Well done!
Thanks so much, Dearna!! I’m always glad to hear there are fellow kale lovers out there who will stick by the leafy green until the end of time 😉 Ginger is AWESOME in smoothies! You must do it, you MUST! 🙂
What Im allergic to bananas, do you have a substitution?
Hi Rin, you can sub out the banana for a ripe avocado or some raw cashews that have been soaked for several hours. In either case, I would suggest maybe upping the amount of honey you add to be sure the smoothie tastes sweet enough. Glad you’re interested in spite of the nana allergy, and let me know if you try this with a substitution!
Ummm I think you’re my best friend. Who cares if we’ve never met?! SO ecstatic for all of you magnificent ladies!!! You and your cookbooks are fan-freaking-tastical and I can’t wait to dig in!!!!! Alllll the love.
I want to squeeze the crap out of you. 🙂 Love ya, lady!
BTW, I wrote tomorrow’s post, and then I read both of your posts, and we have a couple similarities in them… you must be rubbing off on me ; )
How exciting about your cookbook! We are smoothieing (new word) every night for dinner this month. Will add this one to my list to try. (I have had a hard time finding kale recently though). Kudos!!!
WOW, smoothie for dinner sounds delicious…also a fabulous goal for undoing all the holiday damage and getting the train back on track. You can replace the kale with spinach, too 🙂
Julia, you inspire me to ingest more things healthy!
haha! I promise it tastes good. You won’t even have to plug your nose. Scout’s honor 😉
Love it! Yay! So, my best friend…yeah. Been buddies for over 40 years. She lives in Nashville, TN and knows so much about me that I have to be her friend. Love her to death. I actually wrote a blog entry about her when we met for a weekend last March. Got to have those Best Buddies in your life, you know….Only, we probably wouldn’t sip good-for-you drinks when we got together, but then and again, we don’t get together enough so we can live it up when we do! Then, we regroup when we get home and behave ourselves. Or, we try….
That’s amazing! I sure hope all of my friendships last forever and ever. It’s amazing when you can be apart and come back together as though no time has passed. I say we throw a besties party and drink all the booze! 🙂
Photography ninja is right- these photos are gorgeous!! And CONGRATS on all your awesome cookbook successes! I can’t wait to dig into Let Them Eat Kale. So cool.
Thanks, Ruthy! I kinda wish I had Rikki around all the time to snap photos of all my recipes. Girl’s got talent!
You are killin it girl!! That’s so exciting! I can’t wait until your cookbook shows up on my doorstep!
Thanks, love! I can’t wait to see it, too….this baby needs to be boooorn’d! 🙂
I have a brand new blender and I have to put that thing to good use!