Popeye Would Be So Proud

I plan my menus a week in advance but only shop for two or three days at a time. Today's lunch was supposed to be curried chicken salad but I didn't make it to the grocery store so I had to scrounge around in my fridge. Thanks to my juicing stash, I had most of the makings of one of my all-time favorite salads from epicurious.com: Spinach, pear, and green bean salad with Riesling dressing.

Today I had to make quite a few substitutions:

• apple juice for the Riesling
• onion for the shallot
• olive oil for the vegetable oil
• regular green beans for their skinnier cousins, haricot verts
• honey goat cheese for bleu cheese
• salted, roasted peanuts for the walnuts

Amazingly, it all came together to make a delicious lunch and I ate probably twice what is shown in the photo.

For my smoothie, I decided to try a juice version of one of my favorite summer drinks. When it's hot outside, I love to sip on iced Ginger Snappish tea (a seasonal herb tea from Bigelow) with a few lime slices and mint leaves stirred in. To add bulk today, I chose to blend in whole limes (peeled), some cucumber, spinach, and apples. I also used half water and half apple juice as the liquid. The result was crisp and refreshing.

I have a couple of tips when it comes to making this drink:

• It is almost impossible to completely liquefy fresh ginger and for me, there is nothing worse than biting down on a piece of this tough, pungent root. First blend the ginger with some water and then strain it using a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth. Then blend the remaining ingredients with the ginger juice.
• There was something slightly bitter in my juice, mild but just enough to be annoying. I'm not sure if it was the cucumber peel or the handfuls of fresh mint and stems that I put in. Next time I'll peel the first and use only leaves from the latter.
• Protein powder was too heavy and overpowered the taste of this refreshing juice. I'll mostly be drinking this as a side beverage rather than meal replacement from now on.