After watching this week's video on healthy eating I have a confession to make. I'm not a veggie lover. I could never eat all the veggies in a day that I'm suppose to. So instead I've figured out a way to get around that. I drink them!
The idea of green smoothies first came to me after reading many blogs on the subject. I had already been making myself a fruit smoothie everyday to get my required fruits in, so it really appealed to me that I could add some veggies at the same time and be done with it. So that's what I do.
Every day for lunch I make myself two big glasses of a yummy green smoothie otherwise known as hulk juice to my kids. They are absolutely delicious and believe it or not I actually crave them now if I don't have one. You can't really taste the spinach at all and the fruit adds a nice touch of sweetness. This is how I make mine but there are many different varieties and combinations you could try.
Org Junkie's Daily Green Smoothie
One blender full of baby spinach (or a combination of any type of greens)
Approx 1 1/2 cups of cold water
Pulse and puree first two ingredients for a couple of minutes until well blended
(Note: because I don't have a fancy blender, blending the spinach and water FIRST is the one step that made the biggest difference for me towards creating a green smoothie that was nice and creamy instead of thick and pasty)
Add to blender two to three cups of frozen fruit (any kind you like, I usually use the mixed fruit from M&M's)
One banana
Blend until mixed and creamy
Add a couple of tablespoons of ground flax
Blend again
Drink up and enjoy!
Now if you are a bit reluctant to go all in at first you can always start with a higher ratio of fruit to greens until you get use to it. There really are no rules. It's just such a great way to get in a whole bunch of fruits and veggies in a really easy and delicious way.
I highly recommend it as do quite a few other people. Let me direct you to a few other posts I liked on the subject to get you going.
A Veggie Venture provides some great green smoothie recipes.
Nature Moms Blog lists many reasons why green smoothies are such a fabulous idea and includes a video on how to make them as well.
Naturally Knocked Up shared her green smoothie recipe using blueberries, yogurt and milk.
If you have trouble eating your veggies, drinking them is a great alternative!
Have you tried a green smoothie lately?
Comments
Yes, I have tried the green
Yes, I have tried the green smoothies. I have blogged about my experience with them and I do enjoy them. I have come to the conclusion that I don't use enough spinach because mine don't ever turn pretty green or even darker green, they turn out brown LOL But they are still tasty!
Brown Smoothies
Hey Angie, my kids don't like when I put strawberries in the smoothies because it creates a brown smoothie and then they can't call it hulk juice :)
Love Green Smoothies!
I'm a recent convert myself!
Mine turn brown if I use red or purple fruits with the spinach, so I tend to do my Green Smoothies on a different day than my blueberry or strawberry days. Or else I try not to look at it.
Lately Ive been doing spinach, lime, nonfat yogurt, nonfat milk, and frozen banana. Tastes great! Okay, so I also add a fair amount of splenda or truvia. Don't tell anyone.
Lime
I never would have thought to put lime in. How much juice do you add? Sounds interesting.