Tropical Green Monster and Watermelon Goat Cheese Salad

Today was definitely a day of experimenting. I am a pretty avid food blog reader. I just love seeing the creativity in exciting dishes I've never tried and even in the most simple things I've had a million times that have been recreated. First we'll talk about the "green monster". I've tried to make a green drink before and I was so totally grossed out by it that I hadn't mustered up the strength to do it again until now. I know EXACTLY why I hated the first one I made. There was a lot of parsley in it. That's right, I said PARSLEY. This was a Dr. Oz green drink and it was not very good. Parsley is supposed to be an anti-inflammatory and inflammation is not a good thing in our bodies. I use parsley all the time in my cooking and love it! When you take parsley in bulk and blend it into a fruity drink it was not a marriage made in heaven. *gag* I decided to give it another shot after a little reading on "GreenMonsterMovement.com", which you can visit by clicking HERE. You can imagine my excitement when I realized that the website was actually run by Angela from "Oh She Glows", a blog that I have been reading for quite a while and absolutely adore!! Please check out Angela's blog by clicking HERE sometime, she is fantastic. I browsed through so many different variations of the "green monster" and decided that I NEEDED to try it again. There was no method to my madness. I simply grabbed every fruit I loved in my house and tossed it in with some baby spinach, crushed ice and a lemon Chobani yogurt (my current favorite).

Tropical Green Monster
(serves 2)

• 2 handfuls baby spinach
• 3/4 cups crushed ice
• 1 lemon Chobani yogurt
• 1/2 a banana
• 1/3 cup fresh blueberries
• 1/2 cup crushed pineapple with the juice
• 1 cup cubed watermelon

I put the spinach on the bottom and then piled everything else on top of it to give the blender a little extra help. Just a quick run on the smoothie cycle of my blender and my "green monster" was complete. I was terrified at the look of this drink, but it was so.stinkin.good! I am definitely a fan and I can't wait to make some more variations! Thanks, Angela!

Next I moved on to this lovely little watermelon goat cheese salad. I know what you must be thinking....why in the world would you put watermelon and goat cheese together in a salad?!? Let me just tell you that this was OUT OF THIS WORLD amazing! I guess I should preface this by saying that I am a huge fan of goat cheese...well, any cheese really, but goat cheese in particular is one of my favorites! Imagine a salad made with peppery arugula, sweet watermelon and then crumbles of smooth and tangy goat cheese. All I can say is O-M-G was it good. I topped it off with a simple balsamic dressing, but next time I think I will use this citrus vinaigrette that I saw a recipe for earlier today. If you want to check it out, you can find it HERE.

Watermelon Goat Cheese Salad

• 2.5oz baby arugula
• 1 cup cubed watermelon
• 1oz (or more if you love it as much as I do) goat cheese
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• kosher salt & pepper to taste

Layer the arugula with the watermelon and goat cheese on a nice big plate. Whisk together the balsamic, olive oil, rice vinegar and garlic. This recipe makes quite a bit of dressing, so you can save the rest for another day :)

Enjoy!!