Paradise Pick-Me-Up

I have been missing St. Lucia all sorts of bad lately. I really didn’t appreciate how beautiful the country is during our honeymoon--at that point I was still trying to unwind from all the wedding madness and was just happy to be alone on a remote island with my husby.

The weather in the River City has been cold and dreary lately and we haven’t been on a vacation since our week in paradise. We usually take a vacation towards the beginning of the year (Disney in February 2009, St. Lucia in April 2010) but we don’t have anything planned until our beach trip in July---which seems like light years away!

I’ve been in a funk lately and needed to remind myself of St. Lucia in order to cheer up. I decided a taste of the islands would help—I’ve been following this blog called 100 Days of Real Food (their goal is to eliminate processed foods from your diet) and lo and behold, today I stumbled upon a pina colada recipe. I can’t even count how many of these delicious frozen concoctions we drank during our honeymoon so it seemed like a perfect fit for my pick-me-up.

I opted for the virgin pina colada (VCU in the Sweet Sixteen for the first time in school history = a necessary detox after the weekend celebrations) and it was so simple! Two ingredients and a blender is a recipe even I can’t screw up. And it’s not processed or full of sugary mix, which makes me feel less guilty about the indulgence.

So delicious! Now all I need is the cabana boy to put the umbrella in my drink and I’ll be set!

(Virgin) Piña Colada Smoothie

• 1 1/2 cups frozen pineapple chunks
• 1 1/3 cup coconut milk (or more depending on how creamy you like it)

Mix all ingredients in a blender until smooth. If you use fresh pineapple instead of frozen be sure to add some ice to the mixture.