I know, I know. The whole world is talking about green and leprechauns and luck today. So let’s embrace it!  To celebrate my happy feelings on this very GREEN holiday, I give you my celebration of Green!

Green Smoothie Goodness

1. The every morning, make me feel awesome, make my kids happy GREEN SMOOTHIE. Mine is always different from the day before, but it’s always good.

2. My happy green plants in my early garden. Somehow we managed to overwinter quite a bit. The spinach is READY and baby lettuces and chard and kale and even my little garlic tips are coming up!

Nut based mint chip ice cream

3. This green by nature (Spinach!) nut-based Mint Chip Ice Cream.  And I never fail to obliterate my chips, so I’m going to have to work on that, but it’s fantastic. And it’s (almost – I want to try the sweetened cacao nibs in it when I get some) completely unrefined plant-based awesomeness. The recipe is below!

Giant Green Frisbee

4. This GIANT green frisbee. It represents a lot of wonderful things in my life, most recently the chance to play with my almost six year old, and not the least of which was getting to know some random guy in Monterey while playing frisbee in the dark more than nine years ago.

5. This little girl in in the little green shirt, and this little boy in the little green dinosaur pajamas. Happy, happy green-ness!

It’s this good.

Nut-based Mint Chocolate Chip Vegan Ice cream (almost guilt-free)

Yield – about 3 cups

1 c. mixed nuts*
8 pitted dates, soaked + 2 T cold water
OR 3 pitted dates + ¼ c. sweetener (agave, maple, honey for the non-veganers)
Small handful of spinach (your natural food coloring!)
2-3 drops peppermint oil or ½ t. peppermint extract
Pinch of salt
2 ½ c. ice

¼ to ½ cup chocolate/carob chips or sweetened cacao nibs

Blend everything but the chocolate in a high powered blender until it just starts to move together. It will look nicely mixed but still really thick. If you can tamp it down (Vitamix) that might help it along. Add your chocolate and blend on low until just broken up. And enjoy!

Try not to overblend. I usually do and am disappointed when mine is more like soft serve than ice cream, but you can always pop it into your ice cream maker to freeze it up more like ice cream.

* If using all cashews, add 3-4 pecans to neutralized “that” cashew flavor. I’ve tried the Costco roasted mixed nuts, and that was awesome. Any blend will do, but a stronger flavored nut will make itself known if given the chance.