kale and carrots

bill has reminded me, a number of times, about my "goal" for this year of fueling my body more efficiently, and inquired about my progress.
each time the subject arises, I squiggle a little bit inside and admit that I haven't made much. progress, that is.
I have made a lot of things, however: cookies, brownies, more cookies . . .
and I've bought a lot of things: a pie, a cake, cookies, the occasional bag of candy . . .

truthfully, I still eat too many cookies. but I haven't been eating as much candy. Yea! one point for me! (I was tempted to give myself a brownie point for that, but had second thoughts.)
and I make pretty healthy, nutritional meals each evening that my kids are here. another point!

but I lose points for all of the dark leafy and yellow vegetables I don't eat. I asked my friend lori, who is in nursing school, if I can just do a so-so job on the fruits and veggies and then take a multi-vitamin, and this was her response:
if you eat properly, you don't need a multi vitamin.
she obviously didn't understand my question.

then we went on to discuss dark leafy vegetables. I asked if romaine lettuce counted, because it's green and leafy. lori suggested kale.
I pretended I knew what kale was.
(I thought it was possibly like bok choy, but didn't want to appear as ignorant as I was, so just nodded and acted well acquainted with kale.)
what do you do with kale? I asked.
I juice it, with carrots, she replied. when I drink it for a few days, I can see a huge difference in my skin: it looks healthier, and it just glows.
hm.
that sounds like a good outcome.
however, I don't have a juicer, and really don't want one, so I asked if maybe I could just use my blender, and process it really well.
sure, she answered.
and then she suggested adding some apple, and that a friend of hers added this really air-y ice that she gets at wild oats.
oh my gosh, I can't just use the ice from my own freezer?? just how far does one have to go to eat healthily??

today I took my kale and my carrots and half an apple and some common refrigerator ice, threw them in the blender, and made a, um, shake.
which I then tried to drink.
after a few small sips, which tasted remarkably like kale slush, I decided perhaps a spoon would work more efficiently.
it still tasted like kale slush.

I got half a (small) glass down, and then let it rest while I tackled some project around the house. I came back and had another few sips.
I left again, and then next time I came back I dumped the rest of the glass and everything left in the blender down the drain.
IT WAS AWFUL.

since I still have half a bundle of kale in my fridge, I decided to search the internet for some kale recipes, thinking there must be a way to prepare this oh-so-good-for-you vegetable in a more palatable way.
and I found one.
tomorrow, I'm going to just eat a darn carrot, and take the rest of my kale and make baked kale chips. (just like potato chips, you can't eat just one . . . )

I'll let you know.