and a long time ago I actually made one with all sorts of vegetables - one that Dr. Oz had recommended on Oprah - he said he drank it every day!!! It was barely tolerable and I found myself pretending I was enjoying it while stifling a few gags. I did not make one again...
UNTIL TODAY!
And today, I enjoyed sweet success. I decided to start very simply. After some chatter with friends on facebook, I just made a simple smoothie in my blender with these ingredients:
1 cup or so of Orange Juice (the best juice, so I hear, to cover the taste of spinach)
a large spoonful of lowfat Vanilla Yogurt
a helping of frozen blueberries
1 banana (essential- again from what I've heard- to cover up the taste of the greens and make the drink taste smooth)
2 large handfuls of spinach
I made a smoothie that would taste good without greens and added a few handfuls of spinach. No big deal. I don't have a fancy blender and I didn't have fancy ingredients. It tasted delicious! I honestly could not taste the spinach at all. It was amazing! The berries camoflauged the green color; my kids didn't even hesitate to gulp it down. I felt so virtuous that at 8 am this morning, my children had already consumed raw spinach! I feel like I scored at least one mom point today.
The berries give the spinach smoothie more of a brownish hue than a green hue. Works for my kids - works for me!
I have plans to experiment with other fruits (apricots, pineapple, apples, strawberries, papaya) and eventually with other veggies and greens (like Kale or Collard or Beet Greens). Other additions or substitutions could be protein powder, flaxseed, almonds or almond milk, coconut milk... the possibilities seem endless. Slowly though, don't want to rock the boat of my kids (or myself) actually drinking the stuff!
Another tip: I read on another blog that you can freeze the big bags of Costco spinach in the bag it comes in, and the chunks break off easily and painlessly.
This youtube video is inspiring. maybe one day I'll get a sweet blender and make one of these bad boys:
Do you make green smoothies? What are your favorite recipes? I am all ears...
4 comments:
In my opinion Kale had a peppery taste that I didn't like. We like to get frozen berries (cheaper since we have one every morning) from our local Sams Club (or CostCo) mixed with bananas and apples are the best with just some water, no juice needed.
Karen Dickert Reid(from facebook): green smoothies are the best...i am pregnant and they save my life from being anemic. i chug two of these a day at least and also before i go to the gym...when its in season i'll do kiwi, peaches, and raspberries and strawberries too....you cant go wrong. just throw it all in.
Happy green smoothie drinking, bottoms up!
Mmmm Yum! My family loves green smoothies. Today mine was homemade raw organic almond milk with an orange, orange zest, frozen strawberries and rainbow chard (with a dash a stevia).
Cheers,
Kristen
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