The Organic Climber – Blogging about climbing, RAW foods, vegetarianism, running and cycling.

The Cowtown was my second every Half Marathon. The first being the Dallas White Rock. This race was marked by significant improvement. I knocked about six minutes off my previous time, and kept a very consistent pace throughout the entire course. My previous half had a very sporadic pace, but this one was pretty even across the board. This of course is assuming the data that RunKeeper gave me was accurate. Below is the elevation profile of the course (in green) along with my pace (in blue). And below that are my splits for the run.

Notice I briefly ran 44.5 mph, that felt great

RunKeeper Data

My goal going into this race was to finish with a time of 1:50. I was also fortunate enough to be able to start off my run with an awesome runner named Erika from New York who I had meet the night before at our DFW Runner’s Tweetup at Button’s in Fort Worth. She had come down to run the race, and visited friends and family. I actually don’t think I would have run so well if it hadn’t been for her. We started off running together, but she expected me to break away at any minute. Erika even asked me when I was going to speed up, I felt as though I needed to and planned on kicking up the pace up around mile two.

So, after crossing the mile-two marker I made my break, but not to long after that Erika was right there with me again. After talking to her later after the race she had felt I was going slow and wasn’t going to be able to make my pace, but little did she know we were at an 8:30 pace. But after running with my new friend a bit longer I speed off again but soon found myself gradually slowing down without realizing it, or Erika just kicked it into high gear, because soon after I found her in front of me sometime after mile four (it was probably Erika speeding up though as my pace in mile 4 was the fastest at 8:17. Determined to not let her fall out of sight, I kept up pace just a few strides behind and was back by her side again around mile five.

We probably stuck together again for about .75 miles until we hit a nice steady down hill and one of my favorite running songs came on through my headphones, so I kicked it back into high gear and began a passing frenzy. It was also around this time the raw energy bites and gel I had been consuming kicked in and gave me my second wind. It wasn’t until just after mile eight that I saw Erika again on the other side of a switchback waving and smiling as we passed each other.

Throughout this run, I was experiencing a lack of motivation from the spectators that I had enjoyed during the Dallas White Rock Marathon. Only on occasion would you see a small group of people standing and cheering you on. The highlight of the run was the Thriller Dancers (dressed as the dead from the famous Michael Jackson video) along mile 10 or 11.  I have realized one of the biggest parts of these runs is having fun. So, seeing characters like this brings a smile to my face, and I was grinning from ear to ear while giving them hand slaps as I ran by.

But just before seeing these friendly dead guys I was attempting to reference my GPS, which was in my back cycling jersey pocket, and in doing so I pulled out my fuel bites, dropping them on the course, but rather than pick them up I kept going. Around mile 10 I was wishing I still had the fuel bites, as I was nearly out of my raw energy drink. I had even taken water from a few aid stations this time, something I only did once during the White Rock.

Despite being a bit energy depleted I was determined to finish strong in the last three miles. So, I gave myself two goals; one, let as few runners pass me as possible, and two focus one one runner ahead of me at a time and then pass them. This proved to be pretty effective, as I continued to maintain a steady pace. It helped keep my mind of things like side cramps that would occasionally hit, dehydration, shoulder pain and fatigue.

The final 1.1 miles was perhaps the most brutal of the day. I opted to pass up water at the last aid station so I could keep up my pace. I had about two squirts of energy drink left at this point and finished them off pretty soon after passing the aid station up. I also thought I still had a chance of making my 1:50 goal as well.

With about .75 miles left to go I checked the GPS again, only to see that I was probably not going to quite meet my goal. I was still determined to try thought and did my best to kick up the pace a bit, but the effort to do so felt futile. No matter how hard I tried, it felt like I wasn’t going any faster. But as I rounded the last corner I had .20 miles left to go and began to pick up the pace even more.

Once I hit the 13 mile mark I put forth my best effort of a sprint. Crossing over the finish line I nearly tripped over a kid that decided it would be a great idea to just stop as soon as he crossed the line. Thankfully I had already crossed the chip check point so I wasn’t slowed down any, but I did stumble over him. After my near fall I checked my GPS to find I ran exactly 13.1 miles! You laugh, but you may remember I ended up running 13.27 in the White Rock Half Marathon. My finish time was 1:51:55, official chip time was 1:51:54 making this a personal record. Feels kind of weird saying that, considering I have only run two half marathons so far.

Even thought I didn’t meet my goal, I was still very happy with my time. I shave more than six minutes off my previous half marathon time. I guess the bright side of this is that I can keep my goal time at 1:50 for my next half marathon, but if I happen to beat that then all the better. After grabbing my finishers metal and a cup of water I waited for Erika to cross the line because I knew she wouldn’t be far behind.

And sure enough, she crossed soon after and we congratulated each other on a great run. We also had another friends near by that had run in the 10K race, so after talking to them a bit we grabbed our race shirts , goodie bags and food and checked into the expo tent where more race friend were hanging out. This was definitely a better race in terms of having support from other fellow runners. The last race I only really had one other friend running, but now because of Twitter, I have a whole slew of friends running races and providing encouragement. As stupid as it sounds, social networking really is amazing. It has allowed me to meet so many new people.

After we were done hanging out in the Expo tent Kris, Melissa and I (also friends from Twitter) headed down to the original Fuzzy’s Tacos on the campus of TCU for a great post race meal. I had a couple of black bean tacos along with tortilla chips, guacamole, salsa and queso.

I capped off my day with an afternoon of slacklining with some climbing friends at a park in Richardson. The weather was gorgeous, it was so nice to be outdoors barefoot in shorts and a t-shirt. I think I really wore myself out that day, but it was worth it.

p.s. next race I will try to remember to take some iPhone camera photos. I intended to do that at the start of the race and at the finish, but totally forgot.

Uncategorized by OrganicClimber
Cowtown, dallas white rock, Fort Worth, half marathon, marathon, personal record, PR, slacklining
3 comments

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Last night I was running the Cowtown Half Marathon, but something was strange. I was running with my Patagonia puffy down jacked, but even more odd, I was carrying my sister’s little annoying chihuahua named Daisy. I hate this do, so I have no idea why I was running with her. But, along the way I realized I was running by my house and I could quickly run by, ditch the dog and take off the jacket that was making me hot.

As I approached the front door of my house I realized I didn’t have the key. I thought about just ditching the jacket on the front porch but then remembered I had that annoying dog taking residents in my coat. So, I ran to the back door to find my spare key, quickly unlocked the door, tossed the dog inside along with my coat and was back on course as quickly as I could get there.

I had lost way more time than I wanted to though by the drop-off. I began to wonder if I was going to even meet my goal. To make this matter even more difficult I had to stop along the way during the race to talk to a friend. As we sat chatting I saw the pack of runners start to dwindle to the point there was nobody else running. Looking at my watch I saw that time was slipping away, so I referenced my GPS which appeared out of nowhere and had the course map on it, but the screen kept doing funny things and I couldn’t figure out how far I had run or how much further I had to go.

At this point I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to meet my goal but knew I still had to finish the race. As I began making my way up a large hill from the place I was meeting with a friend I noticed there was no longer any road closures ahead and that people that had been watching the race were heading back to their cars. Now traffic was another hindrance to my progress in the race. I was extremely frustrated and couldn’t understand why so many things were keeping me from running.

The bright side of the race though was the sky’s were completely clear, the sun was shining and the temperatures mild. It was a perfect day for running. I even wore my large aviator style sun glasses which I always feel a tad bit goofy wearing when participating in sports. I would much rather be wearing a cool stylish pair of Oakly Flak Jackets. It was around this time that reality kicked in… I woke up. Ahh, thank God it was all just a dream. My first ever dream about running, and bad one at that. I have had numerous climbing dreams which are ironically usually always bad, not a horrific type bad but just things you would never want to happen in real life.

This all makes me wonder, does carb loading cause bad dreams? Perhaps it does, but possibly no more than cutting carbs out completely as this article suggest about people on the Atkins diet. I recently read that carbs increase your serotonin levels, which also helps you stay asleep, I can see since eating mostly all raw the past few days I have slept better. There could be some sort of link here, but not likely. I guess it’s just race anxiety. Fellow Twitterer @jldrunner also had a “bad” running dream last night as well.

Today I will be truly carb loading though, eating more than twice the amount of fruit I ate yesterday. It should be interesting to see if any more crazy dreams occur tonight as a result of the increase intake, but even then it would be hard to determine if that was the cause. I have always been interested though in what causes dreams and what things we consume that contributes to them. I would be interested to know more. So, if anybody is aware of any studies published out there in the world wide web please share them below in the comments.

Anyway, happy carb loading to all you runners out there racing tomorrow, and to all you climbers I hope the weather is nice to you. Oh, and try loading up on fruit the day before and during your climbs. You will be surprised how much more energy it gives you.

Uncategorized by OrganicClimber
carb loading, carbohydrates, carbs, Climbing, Cowtown Marathon, dream, dreaming, dreams, Running
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This is another one of my accidental creations that came out pretty good. I’ve also been on a chocolate kick lately as well. I may start using cacao even more now that I found out it contains theobromine, which is an alkaloid that has compounds similar to caffeine. It is known for releasing a serotonin that produces a euphoric sense of well being. I found this about after a friend of mine made the raw peanut butter cup smoothie and told me the caffeine in the cacao gave him a buzz. I knew cacao didn’t have caffeine, so I had to find out what it was giving him the euphoric feeling.

Cacao also stimulates the heart more than the nervous system as with caffeine. This could be part of why my raw shot bloks were successful, but I’m not scientist. I may find myself consuming even more cacao now in the mornings so that I’m less tempted to stop at Starbucks and pick up a coffee. Anyway, enough of my healthy hippie rants about super foods….

The Recipe

• 1/2 avocado
• 1 huge hand-full of spinach
• 1 banana
• 2 TBSP of raw honey or agave nectar
• 2 TBSP of cacao powder
• 1 cup of rice milk (or your choice of nut milk)

Directions: Blend and enjoy

If you have never used cacao before and are interested in purchasing some there are a number of places you can buy it online. The best place I have found is Lucky Vitamin. It had to be back ordered, but for the price I paid, it was well worth it. Navitas Naturals is the brand I have found I like the best, and I have tried about three different brands.

RAW Food, Recipes, Smoothie Tuesday by OrganicClimber
avocado, cacao, caffeine, chocolate, navitas naturals, RAW, serotonin, theobromine
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Over the past month or so, I have heard numerous runners talk about or tweet about Cliff Shot Bloks. After finding out what the were, I decided I could make my own raw homemade version of them. What I developed was based on the energy gels and drinks I have seen in Brendan Brazier’s Thrive Diet, but I went the extra mile with mine and added chocolate flavoring!

What I developed was a calorie rich droplets that provide carbs, protein and electrolytes. Each droplet contains: dates, agave nectar, cacao powder (for a yummy chocolate flavor), chia seeds (for a longer release of energy and protein), lemon and lime juice, and ground sunflower seeds for their anti-inflammatory effects. The dates are a good source of carbohydrates and are also high in calories. The chia seeds help slow down the break-down of glucose, thus giving you longer lasting energy, the lemon and lime juice assist in replenishing electrolytes. The sunflower seeds were sort of added on accident because I didn’t have pumpkin seeds, but I’m thinking the sunflower seeds were the better option because they are high in protein and have anti-inflammatory properties.

I used the shot bloks the next morning on my 10 mile run. I didn’t cary any energy gels, just the bloks and a raw energy drink I made. I felt pretty charged the entire run, I think things really started kicking in around mile five; at this point I had consumed around five of the ten bloks I carried with me. I brought 10 bloks with me, but probably only consumed eight of those ten because I dropped the bag I was carrying them in at some point.

The only draw back I found was that the bloks mash together fairly easily. I had placed them in the back pocket of my bike jersey that I wore for the run and ended up sitting back on them on the drive to the trail, what I ended up with was shot mush instead of bloks,  but they were still fairly easy to consume. I would suggest dehydrating the blocks for longer so they harden up a bit more than they did for me, but also proper storage will help keep your blocks in tact.

These tasty little treats would be great for taking on long runs and even climbing trips. I plan on making another batch on my next trip to the crag coming up here in March. The cost to make these is pretty low too. Eight dates will run about about $1.67, the other items are bulk items (aside from the lemon and lime) so the cost there is very minimal. My guess would be that 24 bloks will cost you around $2.75.

The Recipe

• 8 pitted dates
• 1/8 cup of agave nectar
• 1 TBSP of cacao powder
• 1/2 TBSP of chia seeds
• 1/8 cup of sunflower seeds ground into powder (using coffee grinder)
• juice of 1/2 a lemon
• juice of 1/2 a lime

Directions: Place all the ingredients into a food processor and pulse until thoroughly mixed, scrapping the sides of the walls periodically. When finished you should have a fairly thick consistency, if not, add a couple of more dates. Once you have a thick consistency, using a spoon, dish out small dollops of the mixture onto a non-stick dehydrator sheet, you should be able to get about 24 shot blok size drops. Once you have the dollops on the sheet, wet your fingers and shape into squares as best you can.

After you have shaped your bloks, place in the dehydrator at around 110 degrees for 12-20 hours. I pulled mine out at around 12 for my morning run, they probably could have been left in a lot longer. These should keep well for several days, but I recommend using them as soon as possible, so if you are not going to use all of them in a few days I would cut the recipe in half.

Climbing, Cross Training, Health & Fitness, RAW Food, Recipes by OrganicClimber
Cliff, Climbing, electrolytes, enrgy, gel, homemade, homemade cliff shot bloks, RAW, Running, Shot Bloks
4 comments

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I was itching to get back out on the rock. Even though I had already been climbing outside three times this year before this trip, I was still antsy to get some lead climbing in on long run-out slab. Enchanted Rock is well known for its quality bouldering, stellar crack climbs and long slab climbs on the backside of the dome. E-Rock as climbers often call it is by far my favorite place to climb in Texas. Located just west of Austin in the Texas Hill Country, this giant mound of granite sort of pops out of nowhere and begs to be climbed.

As the weekend got closer I became inspired to register for another half-marathon, so getting a long run in that weekend was going to be important. I had worked in long runs on climbing trips before, last one I had done was about 10 miles, requiring me to wake up at 6 a.m. so that I could run, eat breakfast and still meet the group in time to head out to the climbing area. I really didn’t like waking up that early on the camping trip and I figured this time was going to be even harder since the weather was calling for temperatures in the low thirties. But on the way there, I got a bright idea – why not run that night. There was going to be a clear sky, which meant a night run would be really enjoyable.

So, upon arriving I quickly threw up my tent, grabbed my bag got into my tent, threw on my running cloths and grabbed my headlamp and iPhone. I thought about running the trails, but figured running along the road outside the park might be safer. As I began my run, I realized it was going to be a tougher run than I thought. There were hills – lots of them. I didn’t remember it being quite as bad driving in.

But, not to long into the run I stopped noticing the hills and I even decided to turn off my headphones. I thought to myself, why in the world am I listening to music when I’m out in nature under a gorgeous star lit sky? After turning off the music I could hear the sounds of animals moving in the woods on both sides of me, I could hear the crickets chirping, the bullfrogs groaning and the sound of my feet against the pavement.

My goal was to run about nine miles with a pace of at least 8:30, so I was still paying pretty close attention to my RunKeeper app, but around mile four the data all went to zeros except for the distance. I briefly stopped, hoping the data would return so I could force myself to run a good pace, but nothing was returning. This was a blessing though – I shoved the iPhone into my pocket and just kept running, enjoying it for all that it was.

I found myself staring up into the night sky for most of the run after that. I actually had a sore neck the next morning from it. The sky was also so bright I ran almost the entire run with my headlamp turned off. The only time I turned it on was to alert oncoming cars of my presence. Before I hit the 4.5 mile mark I was probably passed by a total of five or six cars, but on the return trip, I was all alone; just me, the road, nature and the sound of my breathing. It was euphoric! A couple times I even teared up just because I was so in love with the moment God was allowing me to enjoy; it was beautiful.

Once I arrived back into the campground all the data in my RunKeeper had returned. I didn’t run the 8:30 minute mile I had hoped, but I knew I hadn’t. I didn’t care either I had just experienced the most enjoyable run yet. I’m sure there will be more, but this one has been the best thus far.

The Climbs

The next morning I was really thankful I had decided to run that evening. As I began waking up I could just feel the cold air outside and was glad I could just lay there in my sleeping bag and wait until I heard other people outside the tent getting ready to head out to the climbs.

After waking up it took everybody a couple hours to get their stuff together, eat, warm up by the fire and be ready to go. Everybody took their time, which often irritates my because I am always so anxious to get as much climbing in as possible, but it wasn’t bothering me at all that day. Myself and my climbing partner for the day along with a group that was bouldering were there first to leave camp.  Thai and I arrived at Turkey Peak and had the climbing all to ourselves.

The first climb of the day as Butterball, a 5.8 sport climb on the far end of a granite slope. The first moves getting onto the climb are the scariest, because if you fall you are likely to slide down the granite slope if your belayer isn’t doing a really good job. I took the lead on the climb and was about half way up the route when the rest of the group showed up. By the time I had finished Stan had scrambled up an easy 5.4 ramp to set up the other two climbs on top-rope. After lowering off Thai went up the route next and then we enjoyed watching others climb on top-rope for a while. We waited until about half of the group had a chance to climb before we jumped on the routes. After finishing Turkey Hooks (5.8) and Butter Fingers (5.9) we decided to head to the Backside Cheap Wine Wall for some multi-pitch slab climbing.

Once at the bottom of the climb Thai and I inspected a couple of different lines. I was excited to climb 5.7 Boston, but the run out to the first piece of protection was pretty far so I thought about doing another climb just to the right that had a bolt half way up the slab before an overhanging lip you have to surmount to obtain the upper portion of the slab. Seeing as how the upper portion of the second pitch contained a long run out I might as well stick to the route I had planned on climbing.

After moving past my first piece of protection I put in a couple piece of gear in a notch on an overhang and pulled up onto the upper slab. Once here I found myself in an interesting situation. I knew the line I was supposed to be climbing was protected with a couple of bolts, but I couldn’t find the line at all, so rather than wander off into the unknown I stepped right and joined up with Kracken, another 5.7 climb that joins the same belay as Boston. From this point on up to the belay station was fairly easy. I only placed one supplemental piece of protection between bolts to reduce the run out.

Once I had my anchor set up I belayed Thai up to the belay station known as Beer Can Alley. Appropriately named too, as there was an empty Lone Star beer can lying next to a boulder. This seems to be the typical beer choice of Austin climbers that frequent Enchanted Rock.  The second pitch of the climb followed a large flake up and right to meet up with easy 5.6 slab that runs to the top anchors. Once here I thought I would easily romp up to the top, but I lost my nerve. Just one year ago I was one climb over and made the long run out romp to the top, but this time I wasn’t feeling it. At first I ignored that voice in my head and just told myself I need to get it done. I began slowly making my way up the slab but stopped about 10-15 feet from the top of the flake.

It was then that caution kicked in and I began down climbing back to the top of the flake and then back down to the belay station.  At this point we decided to just return to the base of the climb and move on to the next climb. However, we had one small problem. Thai had forgot to bring the second rope up with him. So not knowing if our rope was going to reach the ground we began making our decent, Thai going first. Soon after leaving the perch I hear Thai yell, “off rappel”.  Our rope just barely reached the base of the climb; thankfully Thai’s rope was a 70-meter rather than the typical 60-meter rop most climbers carry.

After this we decided to move on to a swooshing crack climb called Sweat (5.7). Upon reaching the climb we found another group of climbers already on the route, so we decided to wait it out and fuel up on some food. After eating and chatting with the other climbers, they suggested we top out on the backside of the dome and walk off the front instead of walking the long way around. Thai and I both thought this was a good idea, so we packed up our bags, leaving out only the necessary gear to climb.

After we were geared up and ready to go I started making the first moves on the climb, reached up to place my first piece of gear and slipped back to the base of the climb. It was going to be impossible for me to climb this crack in a full pack, so we opted to move one climb over to an easier climb to finish out the day. The other group of climbers we had talked to was finishing up on the climb, so we had to wait a few more minutes.

We didn’t have to wait long though and quickly found ourselves at the top of the climb. We had to make one more short pitch to level ground before we could walk off the backside. It was easy going though and we both made it to the top well before the sun had set. As we walked off the top of the dome, we saw a group of people with sleeping bags that appeared to be making camp for the night. I guess they didn’t know that camping was not allowed on top of the dome, but they could have just ignored it as well. Either way, they were going to be in for a cold windy night.

So, all together it was a great day of climbing. After everybody made it back to camp we all pilled into cars and headed into town to grab some dinner. Now, I am not really one to like going into town to eat; to me it takes a way from the whole experience. I would much prefer to stay in camp and eat dinner, but when the entire group heads to town I go as well so I’m not the only one in camp, because the flip side of this is that part of the climbing experience is bonding with fellow climbers, and that is something I don’t want to miss out on.

The second day of climbing was really pretty chill. I set up a top rope on Texas Tree Treesent a 5.8 crack climb that completely shut me down a year ago. I struggled through it a bit this time too, but finished it on lead. After that I hung out with Ryan and Jackie and helped them practice their trad climbing and watched them build an anchor to double check the set-up. The second day of climbing is usually always relaxing and laid back, but they can get a bit epic as well, this trip was for the most part epic free. I don’t consider backing down off a route epic. Now, had I made my way half way up and chickened out having to be rescued… that would be epic.

Climbing, Running, Trip Reports by OrganicClimber
bouldering, Climbing, e-rock, Enchanted Rock, rock climbing, Running, slab, sport climbing, trad
1 comment

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I previously posted my mixed berry and almond butter smoothie recipe – one of my all-time favorites. As I continue to blog, I have realized it’s going to be hard to come up with something for Smoothie Tuesday every week, as you might have noticed, so I decided to take this old recipe and just spice it up a bit.

I had recently seen people tweeting about using raw cacao powder in their smoothies with berries. For some reason I had always though that those combination of flavors wouldn’t taste very good, but I was wrong. After seeing fellow raw foodies tweet about it I decided to try it for myself. I simply took the smoothie recipe mentioned above and added two tablespoons of raw cacao powder.

Raw cacao is basically raw coco, or raw powdered chocolate. Cacao contains a wide array of unique properties and minerals, including high levels of sulfur and magnesium. It may increase your focus and alertness and contains nutrients to keep you happy (as stated on rawcaco.com.) Best of all though, it tastes great.

For the recipe, follow the instructions for the mixed berry and almond butter smoothie and just add two tablespoons of raw cacao powder (or more if you prefer).

Even though this recipe calls for almond butter you don’t need it for this smoothie to be tasty. You can always add more agave nectar or raw honey to give it a smoother flavor.

RAW Food, Smoothie Tuesday by OrganicClimber
agave nectar, almond butter, cacao, chocolate, RAW, smoothie
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I have had a goal to blog more this year, but so far I have not been successful at that. In fact, I may be blogging less. I really do hope that starts to change. I have several ideas rattling around in my head, one of which is currently in progress; it’s going to be about where Texans climb. There are a lot more locations than people might think.

Anyway, I have already mentioned I am registered to run the Cowtown at the end of the month, and this time I have a pretty lofty time goal. I want to run the race in 1:45 – 1:50, but after calculating the pace I would need to meet that goal I am skeptical I can meet the 1:45 goal, but 1:50 will definitely be attainable. For the 1:45 I would need to run 8 minute miles, but for a time of 1:50, I only need to run 8:23 minute miles. Seeing how my race pace is faster than my training pace I think this will be attainable.

Lately my training runs have been in the 8:19 – 8:50 minute mile range. Granted these runs are way shorter than 13.1 miles. When I ran the 8 mile Turkey Trot I was averaging over 9 minute miles and ran an 8:45 minute mile. The same was true for the White Rock Half Marathon; during training I was running no faster than 9:15 (except for a hand full of shorter runs) and finished with a 9 minute mile.

Once the adrenaline kicks on during the race you are able to perform at a much higher level. My raw food intake is also a lot higher on the days leading up to the race. I think this plays a huge factor in the better performance. So, it should be interesting to see how well I do this time around.

This weekend I will be climbing in Enchanted Rock, but still plan on getting a long run in. Last year when training for the White Rock I ran 9 miles one morning before heading out to teach a beginners climbing clinic and do a bit of climbing myself. So, I will either get my run in this evening when I arrive at the Park or tomorrow morning before heading out to the rock. I think I will most likely run this evening so I don’t have to wake up super early. Just hoping I have some daylight left when I arrive and clear skies so I can enjoy the scenic landscape.

Climbing, Cross Training, Health & Fitness, Running by OrganicClimber
Cowtown, Enchanted Rock, half marathon, rock climbing, Running
1 comment

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Rainbow chard, green, nectarine, mango banana smoothie. What a name for a smoothie eh?  I made this delicious bad boy after an impromptu trip to Whole Foods after exchangeable my shoes at Luke’s Locker. I needed some agave nectar and it just so happened, there was a Whole Foods right down the road. I ended up buying way more stuff than I intended to buy. Really the only thing I needed was the agave, but walked out with a canvas bag full of other stuff including a couple mangoes and some rainbow chard. I have used rainbow chard in past smoothies – it’s one of my favorite greens.

I have a feeling I am going to start eating a lot more mangoes since my roommate purchased the Titan peeler. This “As Seen on TV” kitchen utensil is seriously quite amazing! It only takes me seconds to peel one mango as opposed to minutes with a standard potato peeler. This will make dehydrating mangoes way easier too.

Anyway, without further or do, here is the Rainbow Green Monster Smoothie. I just renamed it on the spot; sounds much better huh?

The Recipe

• I ripe mango
• 1 ripe nectarine
• 1 ripe banana
• 2-4 TBSP of agave nectar
• 6 cubes of ice
• 3/4 – 1 cup of almond milk
• 1 giant rainbow chard leaf

Directions: blend that stuff up

RAW Food, Recipes, Smoothie Tuesday by OrganicClimber
agave nectar, banana, green, mango, nectarine, rainbow chard, smoothie, titan peeler, whole foods
1 comment

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