I just had to write and put my plug in for green smoothies.
Awhile back a friend told me that she put spinach in her daughters morning smoothies so she was always sure the kid would get some veggies in her day. I thought that sounded disgusting, then I watched some documentary about a guy who did nothing but drink juiced veggies for 3 months and how it completely changed his life. I figured if I did it once a day at least it would be something right?! This went along with the the idea I got from a TED talk that you need to eat a variety of veggies each day because they work together to keep you healthy and fight diseases and cancer. I think it recommended like 10 different veggies and 7 different fruits DAILY?! No one does that.
So I tried it. It started out with a few leaves and whatever fruit I had in the house now I'm packing 3 cups of leafy greens and pureed carrots into my daily drink.
Lessons I've learned.........
-You are going to need blackberries or blueberries to give it a nice deep purple color. Otherwise you might have trouble gulping down the nasty looking green concoction.
-Straws are wonderful. Sometimes I make mine into a thinner consistency, and I've found I can down 2 large glasses in a few minutes with a straw. Otherwise it takes forever to sip through one glass.
-Bananas (especially ripe ones) overwhelm and kill the flavor of anything, as does Mango peach flavored V8 splash. You could put in a raw steak into that smoothie and have no idea as long as you had your blackberries for color and a plenty ripe banana. This could be good or bad, use this information wisely.
-Unless you have a fantastic Blendtec blender (or similarly wonderful machine) you are going to want to put the spinach and some fluids in first and blend it until it's liquid, THEN add the rest. Otherwise you are going to have little bit of leaf reminding you what you are drinking.
-The more juice you add the thinner the texture becomes and the easier it is to get down. I started out with really water smoothies.
-There is no need to measure anything or follow any recipe. My breakfast smoothie usually consists of..... half a blender of spinach, a cupish of V8 splash, a scoopful of concentrated OJ or a glass of the real stuff, a 1/2 banana or full one depending on the ripeness, a handful of frozen strawberries, a handful of frozen any berries in the freezer (I try to get as many different fruits as possible, even if it's just a little), a jar or 2 of carrot baby food (I'm working through the Heidi leftovers, I don't actually buy it for this purpose), 7-10 blackberries, a baby food jar of peaches or applesauce or both, whatever fruit might be in the fridge ( a handful of grapes, cantaloupe, peach, something) I recently read you can add oatmeal and it doesn't change the flavor either (just the thickness).
So there is my plug. If you have trouble getting fruits and veggies into your kids or yourself, this is a really easy way. Today I convinced Alex to eat a bowl of princess smoothie mush for lunch, made from green smoothie and baby cereal. She loved it, and so did Heidi. Yesterday I fed half a pitcher to the neighbor kid, she couldn't get enough. I'll have to suggest it to her mom.
I've really notice a difference when I have my morning 10 fruit and veggie blend and when I don't. If I wait until lunch It's a real pick me up in the middle of the day and now and then I do one for dinner. Spinach is cheap at Costco and you can get a good price on frozen berries there to.
So go for it. It's worth a shot.
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