We are talking green smoothies. You can change the green to pink with some berries so the kiddies don't even know your little green secret. You can put just about anything you have in the fridge into this concoction and make it as healthy as you like. The important thing is that you make it a daily routine.
I love supplements but supplements should be exactly that: a supplement not a replacement. You should do your best to get your nutrition from food, not a pill. The pills are used when you are lacking nutrients or need to catch the body up when the system isn't working right. If you use fresh, organic veggies and fruits in abundance each day, your body will praise you by supplying you with health and vitality.
I don't really go for taste anymore when I make smoothies because my gang will drink anything I throw at them now but if you are still trying to win over the masses, here is a basic smoothie recipe that can be altered any way:
Frozen berries or fruit, try to use organic as possible or fresh frozen yourself.
Raw spinach, a good handful
A banana or two for creaminess and sweetness
chunk of cabbage
Flax seed meal or oil
Any other fruit and veggies you want
Add some ice and some natural juice like orange, apple or pineapple; no sugar added, organic if possible.
Blend up and drink right away!
You can also add some Kefir or yogurt if you like to cream it up. I love to make mine really green with kale, bok choy, cucumbers, etc. I also add some carrots sometimes and lemon. Possibilities are endless. Whatever it takes to get them down.
I love the info given by the Green Smoothie Girl
on her website and love what she does in her home. She drinks a quart a day and fills up a pint jar for each of her kids in the morning. They have to drink it by the end of the day. Of course, drinking it right away is best for the nutrition factor but get it down anyway you can. I just bought her book with ideas on amazon.
It is a great place to start.
Smoothies should be a part of every ones lifestyle. When I do classes with moms just starting out, they always tell me there is no way their child will drink it. I make some up and without fail, every single child there will drink it and usually ask for more. You can't taste the spinach and with the berries and a good blender, you can't even see the green at all.
Juicing is also a great way to start the day and a good way to use up garden leftovers. It uses way more produce but it also gives you more nutrients per cup. We rotate around here depending on what we have on hand.
Use produce in season. Use fresh and organic. You may spend a little more on produce but you will save at the Dr. You are so worth it!
Drink up!
12 comments:
Thank you so much for posting this. I have that book and am trying to get into this. Would you mind posting one or two of your recipes that you use in your family? What do you think is healthiest? Thank you so much!!
Great post! I love green smoothies in the morning.
Kate,
Wish I had one recipe to post but it really is just a blender full of what I have around. When I first started out, I almost always used about 2 cups of frozen berries, one orange, one banana, 1 T. of flaxseed meal, I/4 cup green cabbage, one large handful of spinach and 4 baby carrots. I covered it up with apple, orange or pineapple juice and some ice. It tastes quite sweet and isn't green at all. It was a good way to start off with my kids before going too green.
This is a perfect post for me to read tonight. I just came home from Costco with a Blendtec (yeah, that demo got me ) and I'm excited about all the healthy things I can make with it. I"ll have to check out that book you suggested as well as your recipe. Thanks!
Thank you so much! I appreciate your help and all that you do, your blog and posts are wonderful!!
i love green smoothie girl...i just did her group buy...anyway, do you have a blendtec or other real good blender? i want to get another one, but because of finances, just am not able to do that right now. All i have is the blender that attaches to my bosch, do you think that is sufficient enough? i'm afraid its not big enough to handle the amount of fruits/veggies that go in the smoothies
I used my Bosch blender for years until I could buy a Vitamix. It worked fine but no doubt the VitaMix works even better. The Bosch just isn't as powerful so it doesnt blend as well but it is still a great way to get the smoothies in until you can splurge on a better machine. You will have to do smaller amounts but just do them more often! Enjoy.
Green smoothies rock! So good for us. :)
I love my new blendtec, but I have a question. I read where Robyn makes a 3 qt smoothie for herself and kids. I did that and filled the largest carafe almost to the top with juice and got only a little over 2 quarts. I know it's not exact, but how does one actually get 3 quarts of juice out of it? Wondering what I did wrong.
Donna,
I don't have a Blend tec but from everything I hear and read, the max it makes is 2 quarts. Not sure how they make a 3 quart at one time.
Just wondering how you feel about juicing as opposed to blending... Is one better than the other?
Juicing is great as it gives you a more vitamin per cup ratio but I hate to throw away so much of the veggie when I juice. I prefer to make a smoothie and keep all the fiber in tact. Some argue that too much fiber will keep your body from absorbing all the vitamins but it was made that way so that is the way I drink it. Mostly for me, it is just easier to throw it in a blender!
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