So the green smoothie is getting a lot of attention (yeah) and I am getting a lot of requests for recipes.... so here are a few.
MY favorite!!! (the kids will eat some of mine sometimes)
- Greens (I started w/ a handful of spinach b/c it's mild, but I've been slowly increasing the amount and changing it up w/ kale - the other day I made this w/ about 1/2 head of kale.. eek! Point being start slow - you want to LIKE the smoothie)
- 1 to 2 frozen bananas
- 5 ice cubes
- 1 rounded T of cocao nibs (local health food store - great source of antioxidants and slow energy)
- 1 rounded T raw chocolate powder or cocao or both
- 1 T Bee Pollen (optional - I use this for protein)
- sweetener to taste - I use agave (a squirt), you could use dates or honey as well
- sprinkle of cinnamon
- sprinkle of cayenne
- splash of vanilla
- top off w/ water to desired consistency
Blend. Enjoy in a LARGE glass.
I usually have this post hard work out.. or when I want something sweet and chocolaty.
For the kids:
Base is always -
- large handful greens
- water or almond milk to consistency
- 1 T flax seed meal
- Vit D drops in the winter
- sometimes acidophillis - no rhyme or reason to my consistency w/ this
to this I add
- frozen fruit.. whatever combos sound good - some frozen some fresh
- depending on my mood and what I put in I sometimes add a date or two for sweetness
Some fruit combos:
- banana/mango
- banana/strawberry
- banana/mango/peach
- cherry
- blueberry (don't be stingy put a lot in)
- mixed berry
One day I made one w/ water/romaine/banana/mango (all fresh) and a dash of vanilla and they loved it!
I try to mix it up. If your kids are concerned w/ color (green or brown if you use say bananas and strawberries) then be sure to add the berries or cherries to mask the color. :)
Keep in mind that I have a high speed blender so there are no chunks those suckers are smooth and delicious. If you have a regular blender it might take a long time or may not work at all to get the chunks of greens out. I purchased a VitaMix.. they are EXPENSIVE, but worth every cent. I use mine AT LEAST once a day every day! :) Love it! My sister in law, Karen, has a K-Tec (is that right Karen) and says she is happy with it. So if you are going to take the plunge and add the smoothies to your diet consider buying one of these blenders. If you try it w/ your regular blender and are repulsed by the chunks please know that they are SO much better w/ the high speed blender.
If you try them and the flavor isn't good add more bananas or sweetener then slowly wean yourself off of the sweetness and onto the greenness. :)
Feel free to let me know if you have any questions. I'm excited to have so many people inquiring about this. I can't even begin to tell you how much more energy I have to keep up with work outs and kids! Good luck!
Yep that is what I have - I have to send it in for some repairs, but it has an 8 year warranty so it's covered. Yay!
ReplyDeleteQuestion: if I am eliminating chocolate from my diet do you think cacao counts? Maybe it doesn't because it's not so refined??? Trying everything to help Charlie's refulx...
I have been doing some green smoothies and even Andy likes them - can't tell there's spinach in there at all. Of course, we use OJ with the berries and banannas, so it's pretty sweet.
Also, whats the difference between the cacao nibs and powder? Why do you add both?
thanks so much for sharing. I can't wait to get my blender back to start really experimenting with the smoothies, and hopefully find something that both kids will drink. Riley will do some, but Liam just wont touch any flavor of smoothie, even though he likes fresh fruit.
I think the cacao would be okay b/c, like you said, it's not refined. The cacao powder is (I think) the cacao nibs blended.. could be wrong about that.. I use both b/c the powder gives it a deeper flavor.
ReplyDeleteI think you just keep trying w/ Liam .. have daddy and mommy and sissy continue to eat them in front of him and don't force the issue. :) Have you tried a chocolate one w/ him (w/ the raw chocolate)?? Like chocolate milk. :)
I have a cheapie blender and haven't had any chunk issues yet, but I also haven't tried the cacao nibs. hmmm . . . maybe Cooper would touch it if he thought it was chocolate. I've been using a recipe I found on one of the raw sites you list, so thanks for more recipes.
ReplyDeleteDo you cook the spinach/kale ahead of time or just put it in fresh? Veggie wise, I've put in carrots, sweet potatoes, broccoli, caulifoour, green beans and peas, all uncooked - but those all blend up pretty easy... not sure how a leafy one would work - cause I only have a regular blender, which we do use everyday, but I use plain organic yogurt as my base - and that helps with the smoothness factor.
ReplyDeletemeghan, do you make veggie juice or do you disguise the veggies with fruit? And you put it all in your regular blender, uncooked, and just blend it up?
ReplyDeleteThank, karen
A shake for us is usually some plain yogurt, a banana, frozen veggies (probably .5-.75 cup), and then usually another fruit, whatever i have on hand... cantelope, peaches, berries, etc.
ReplyDeleteIf I'm using a harder vegetable, like carrots or sweet potatoes, I usually cook them in advance and then throw them in the fridge - just to soften them so they blend better.
When I first started making shakes, I did only fruit and yogurt, and they loved them right off - then i started sneaking in veggies, proabably a month later, and they have never not finished one. I got the take n' toss straw cups when I first started making them, I think that helped too because they were in such a fun container.
Hope that helps!
Do you think I can do spinach with my mere mortal regular old blender? I tried a whole orange and that was bad...like throw the whole thing away bad. Even blueberies don't really get smooth. I don't want to waste all that good stuff again if the spinach won't work. Has anyone else tried spinach in an ancient blender?
ReplyDeleteAnd last night I made frosting with cocoa powder....that makes it healthy, right? ;) Haha!
I think you've motivated me to go dig out my juicer too!
I have a regular blender and I use spinach. I blend the spinach first, then add frozen fruit and banana. It blends perfectly for me!
ReplyDelete