Here are a few food-related ideas you could try out to not only brighten your own lives but also those around you.

• Put a note in your child’s lunchbox to say how special he/she is
• Bake muffins for your work colleagues
• Praise your mother’s/husband’s/wife’s/child’s cooking
• Eat supper with your family every day
• Help carry shopping for someone who is also carrying a baby
• Take your neighbour grocery shopping weekly
• Say “Thank you for making supper” every day
• Bake cookies for a teacher/neighbour just because
• Leave a generous tip for your food server
• Leave a note of appreciation for your food server
• Bake goodies and take them to your local fire station/police station/ambulance station

Please drop us a line at info@goodnewstoronto.ca to let us know what you did and how people reacted!

Smoothie Recipe

For Good News Toronto readers who’ve been indulging with us in the wholesome goodness of blueberry-apple-cranberry and hot oatmeal smoothies in January and February, and for those who are just about to embark with us on this adventure to enjoy life one smoothie at a time, this over-the-rainbow sensation is a great way to either stay or get hooked. It’s almost as easy to make as an oatmeal smoothie, and the health benefits are an amazing grace!

Now, make sure you read this out loud with the bonniest Irish accent you can muster. If your bonnie Irish accent is authentic, then “Erin go bragh.” If you’re not already singing “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling,” now that it’s in your head, you can hum it all the way to the green grocers.

St. Patty’s Day Green Smoothie Recipe

Here’s what you need: 1 head of green kale 3 cups of spinach leaves several sprigs of fresh parsley 1 seedless cucumber 1" x 1" cube of fresh peeled ginger 2 apples 1 lemon 2 grapefruits

Here’s how-to:

1. With adoration for the antioxidants these leaves behold for your health, bathe the kale and spinach in a pool of fresh cool water, cleansing away any granules of grit clinging to your yummy greens from the good ground they grew in. We’re making smoothies after all — not gritties.  Plunge the parsley into the pool too and then with the precious virtue of gentle St. Patrick, gently pat dry all your greens. 
   
   
2. Now, with purest pleasure, chop the cucumber and apple into luscious cubes about the same size as that gorgeous ginger.  Sample a couple of cubes of cucumber or apple to get your digestive juices running. You can run up and down the stairs a couple of times too to get your heart pumping to enhance your lean and mean body.  (If it’s not yet, it will be soon!) 
   
   
3. Next, gently flexing the muscles in your upper arms, tear the kale to pieces and drop it into your high-speed blender with the greens and the cubes.
   
   
4. Still humming your favourite Irish tune, with attention to your biceps as always, squeeze the succulent citrus  out of the lemon and grapefruits, and you’re ready to pour the juicy juices into your blender with the other ingredients. 
   
   
5. Now, with tender heart, blend the bejeebers out of it all together on high speed for about one minute, or as long as it takes you to run up and down those stairs a couple more times, if you’re not too mesmerized by the emerald whirl before your eyes.
   
   
6. If you preference is for “pulp-free,” you may choose to pour your all-natural wonder drink through a strainer.
   
   
7. Serve your kelly cocktail in a tall glass and garnish with lemon and a shamrock or even a four-leaf clover if you’re so lucky as to have one.  That’s over-the-rainbow perfect and pretty, that is, and it’s as healthful as it is beautiful in the still-smiling eyes of the beholder. 

As some readers may already know, for optimal benefit, we like to meditate on how thankful we are to be alive and say “mmmm” with each delicious sip.  Happy Greens Day to you!  If you’d like more “fountain-of-youth-secret” recipes and tips, please write to Nuramina at nuramina@rogers.com.  If you have tips to share with us and other Good News Toronto lovers, that’s even better!

Nuramina Ibrahim is a health and fitness guru who enjoys sharing her fountain-of-youth secrets for energetic living. Kathleen Betts is a mother of four, freelance writer, and entrepreneur.