Before the rain came in this week and made my commute miserable (it ALWAYS rains hardest mid-walk),  the temperatures were in the 80s! Remember that? Less than a week ago?

It was the perfect time to take some new smoothie ingredients for a spin.  I found this vegan and GF protein powder from Genuine Health on sale at drugstore.com

I’m not a lazy person (well…everything’s relative I guess) but if I can order it from amazon, drugstore or anything along the lines of “makemylifeeasier.com”, I’m all about it.  Who wants to see me dragging a 12 pack of TP up the street? No one. That’s who.  Besides, if you time it right around your needs, you can pretty much always qualify for free shipping and some of the sales are better than in-store discounts.

So anyway, I was almost out of my beloved Sunwarrior when I saw this online and decided to test it out.  Unlike Sunwarrior, it’s made from more than brown rice.  The formula is a combination of pea, cranberry, sprouted brown rice, alfalfa and hemp. It still packs in a lot of protein though, with 20 grams per serving.

I found that it made my smoothie thicker and sweeter.  The “natural vanilla” actually kind of reminded me Carvel vanilla ice cream – a very specific faux vanilla flavor, but one that I always loved as a kid.   It was a delicious blast from the past.

I also decided to try some chopped frozen spinach instead of the fresh greens I normally use.  I’ve noticed a few other bloggers do this and it kinda makes sense since you want your smoothie cold.

If I don’t make it to the farmer’s market to buy loose kale, I get stuck with the prepackaged bunches of chard or collards from the store.  The last two days of using them is pretty bleak because they don’t stay fresh long enough for me to make my way through the bunch.  I didn’t notice that much of a difference in my smoothie, but I like having an emergency stash of leafy greens in the freezer.