Simply Smoothies

Who doesn't like smoothies?

I was thrilled that Steak and Shake now offers yogurt fruit shakes, as it is my preschooler's favorite restaurant.

Summer programs at work are just about over, which means I may have energy again to do cooking and blogging a lot more often! It was a fun summer, though, with a Battle of the Bands, fortune telling with authentic palm reader and fabulous YA mystery writer Ophelia Julien as another program, knitting, several video game tournaments, several anime workshops and more. I will miss seeing the teens so often in the fall again, though I have 5-7 monthly clubs for them at the library.

But back to smoothies. My son's class made blueberry orange juice smoothies. Yes - he's doing more cooking than me!

So I found this cookbook and while it has many fabulous recipes, I also found a weird one. Any takers on this one?

Shrimp Cocktail

46 oz. tomato juice

1 cup ketchup (or about how much a preschooler pours out on his fries at every meal out)

1 tbs. horse radish (yes, that's a tablespoon. This is where I would have stopped reading normally)

1 tsp. garlic powder (not a good pre-date recipe, this one)

1 pinch salt

1 tsp. sugar

1 tbs. lemon juice

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup chopped carrot

2 cans small shrimp

1/2 cup ice

Ah, no directions beyond that. Apparently you just grind this all up in a blender. Yum, yum.

A publisher has been sitting on my book for two months and while my agent is busy talking to me about more projects, it is hard to think beyond this one. I have outlines for two more, but cannot seem to get anywhere really good with this. I forced a co-worker to give me a chapter of her really excellent book a week to review so she can enter it in a contest, and she suggested I do the same amount of work! That will show me where to put my suggestions, but perhaps it will work.

I have been reading a lot of books, though, including Victoria Laurie's new ghost hunter mystery. I really like her - though there is paranormal activity in her books it is not hokey, but rather very intelligent, and the mysteries are excellent.

I also read Meg Cabot's new Jinx for Teenreads.com. It was very fun, also with paranormal activity.

My friend Pam sent me a few great s'mores recipes from the Washington Post. Plus as we all know Elvis week is upon us and I will pull out my E cookbooks again. I hope I have enough butter...