At our house we have tried both Juicing and Green Smoothies. I used a WONDERFUL juicer that my dad let me borrow for almost a year. We would drink wonderful creations and felt great, but I was having a VERY hard time with the amount of waste (aka pulp) that I was scrambling to bake into breads/muffins or else feeding to our worms. I don't have enough $$ to be throwing that much food away! I finally discovered the art of Green Smoothies and am IN LOVE! There are a variety of ways to make these, people with all sorts of ideas and opinions on what veggie and fruit combination's are best for "proper absorption" but in my mind it's just awesome that we are taking in our wonderful organic produce on such a large scale so if it tastes good we drink it....no matter the combination of fruits and veggies :)
Here is a link that helped get me started (did not buy any of her products but a girlfriend has her book and LOVES it, much more than just recipes) and here is a typical smoothie (Dino Drink as Stephie calls them) at our house. Tip, if your kid doesn't like the idea of drinking this green concoction give it a cool name. Some moms call it a Shrek smoothie but since we are not at Shrek age ours is Dino Drink and she LOVES them!!! Many of my girlfriends have made this one of their first steps in eating healthier and noticed a difference right away :) Plus it's GREAT to take on the go (and Starbucks sells these cute, reusable cups that look like their Frappuccino cups....we have three "Venti" and they are ALWAYS in use! BPA free ;)
Green Smoothie Girl (love her newsletter!)
Our typical smoothie (created in my wonderful KitchenAide blender. It has held up great but when it dies I will be looking into Vitamix blender. YES it's costly but I use my blender for hummus, daily smoothies, soups, sauces and soon babyfood.....I will need a more commercial grade to avoid constant motor burn out)
- 2 cups filtered water
- fill but don't smash blender with spinach (Costco) and red leaf lettuce
- Blend until smooth
- Add half or whole cucumber and blend again (I love the taste but only use when I have on hand, won't buy them just for this)
- Add small bag of frozen peaches, blend
- Add 2-5 chunk of pineapple
- Add 1/2 bag frozen berries and some mango (berries from costco)
- blend well, add honey to taste and blend again
- Add banana, orange or apple if there is still room :)
- Blend and enjoy! I keep them up to 24 hours in the fridge....almost always have 2-3 glasses a day.
**All fruit is organic. Fruit is from my
Co-op unless otherwise noted**
The only thing we don't like in them is grapefruit and local greens (they are too bitter). Otherwise we have yet to find a creation we didn't like....or couldn't "fix" with a bit of honey. I have added cinnamon, coconut and flax seed meal depending on my mood. It's so much fun! I make a WHOLE blender full.....but we go through them quickly. Many of my friends just make half a blender so it's able to be gone by the end of morning.
I've heard it's best to eat fruit and veggies along and not have anything 40 minutes before or after. Supposed to help with absorption....haven't looked into it. As it turns out that's pretty much how things go for me in the morning anyways so it's perfect! I try to do the smoothie alone and in the (40 minute) window....but still have fruit with pretty much every meal as well :)
Enjoy and post a comment about your favorite smoothie creations!!!
