Friday, June 11, 2010

Green Smoothies

I feel like we are good in the fruit department, my kids inhale just about every fruit there is in record time. Veggies are a different story. A couple of years ago I read an article about green smoothies. My husband and I jumped right into making them for breakfast after reading the many benefits they provide. Now, two years later, all of us drink them everyday. They taste amazing and provide all of our veggie needs first thing in the morning, not too mention they are an amazing source of energy!
Here is what we put into them:
frozen berries from trader joes
one banana
frozen mango or papaya
almond milk
flax seed
fruit juice (whatever we have but trader joes makes an awesome banana orange juice)
whatever other fresh fruit we have
spinach (lots of it) or kale
I know some people add yogurt but since we are pretty much dairy free we use the almond milk. My kids INHALE these and I feel so much better about them getting their iron and vitamins this way:) Try one, you will be surprised!

6 comments:

  1. Do you have any tricks or suggestions for cleaning the spinach or kale? Do you use fresh or frozen? Bagged or bundled? Soak overnight? Just spend the time cleaning the leaves in the morning?

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  2. I usually use bagged spinach and just give it a quick rinse before throwing it in. I try to buy organic kale and do the same with that. It's pretty easy to clean and you can throw it in as wet as you want. I have washed the kale using the salad spinner and then put it in a ziploc in the fridge. I guess you could use frozen spinach...I never thought of that:)

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  3. Thanks for the post! I never thought of adding almond milk & flax..... So do you add ALL of that stuff in the same smoothie or just whatever you have?

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  4. I like to add all of that stuff but if I don't have something I just use what I do have. I think the banana is really important though. It takes away the taste of the greens:)

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  5. Gary and I will also use this: http://www.gardenoflife.com/ProductsforLife/SUPPLEMENTS/FoundationalNutrition/PerfectFood/tabid/654/Default.aspx

    Add this to your smoothie and your really dosing up on so much good stuff. The spirulina is really a great inner cleanser and keeps you regular if you have any problems with that.

    Ingredients are here: http://www.gardenoflife.com/Portals/11/Images/Foundational%20Nutrition/PerfectFood/sup_PF_original_big.gif

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  6. I finally tried this and it was a hit! It wouldn't go through the holes of L's sippy cups, so we let her try a regular cup. She could drink all by herself! BIg girl :) Until she got to the bottom, tipped it all the way, and it went up her nose! She was sneezing green smoothie for about 15 minutes, poor thing lol

    Thanks for the tip, Ladies :)

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