Ahh, the amazing little green drink. It will make your energy soar, give your immune system a boost, keep your waist line trim while still keeping you full, you can grab and go and as moms we all know how important that is. Miracles do happen in the kitchen people. You just need a blender.
So since I get asked about these All. The. Time. I thought I should probably sit down and share with you how crazy easy it is to mix up one of these. Right along with my normal style of cooking this really is a "throw-anything-and-everything-in-the-blender" kind of things. But I'll at least show you what I throw in on any given day and a few tricks that might help. The things you must have to make this work are:
-Blender, bullet, anything with a blade that turns solids to liquids
-Greens: Pretty much any kind, spinach and kale are my favorite. Try to stay away from ones that are spicy like mustard greens. Or if you do use those pair it with something like apple and lemon.
-Liquid: If you're really staying trim just use water. If you're wanting to create something creamy use a milk base like almond or coconut or regular milk. Try to stay away from most juices. You'll be adding fruit anyway and it's better to keep your sugar levels low.
-Fruit: I mean you can go all green but you might want something to sweeten the deal. Also if you're taking a meal on the go you can get extra potassium, fiber, vitamins and all those other added benefits that you would normally get if you had time to sit down and eat a bowl of fruit. A great fruit to add are frozen bananas, once they get a little ripe just peel, break into chunks and toss in a freezer bag so when you're ready for your smoothie just toss a few chunks in. Apples are great to add, but I will warn you sometimes they will leave your smoothie less smooth and with more "texture" unless you have a blender that totally pulverizes. Other fruits you can't go wrong with are citrus, I usually avoid milk with those, just seems weird to me. Berries of any kind for a great extra boost of antioxidants on top of what your spinach is giving you. Although I will warn you, berries will turn your smoothie less emerald and more... brown. Just put it in a solid color cup. Pears are awesome. Avocado to make it nice and creamy, just remember the fat content here and maybe only put in a quarter to a half of one. Oh the list goes on, you get the point.
-Grains, seeds, nuts: These are totally optional but if you're making this as a meal why not add a little protein to make it complete? Either add some peanut butter, almond butter, a few raw cashews, chia seeds or flax seeds, or even a small handful of uncooked rolled oats just to bulk it up some. If you're trying to up your caloric intake due to being pregnant or nursing you can even add a tablespoon or so of coconut oil.
So should we start mixing?
The first thing you always want to do is mix your greens and liquid. Here we have kale and a little coconut milk.
I fill my blender with greens and then add a little liquid. Just enough to get them combined.
Start pulsing to get the greens moving down.
Eventually you can just let it blend. But you might need to stop it and push the greens down a little bit.
You know you're done when all your greens are blended. Don't worry if you still have a few bigger pieces, those will get blended once you add everything else.
For this one I added an apple. You know me and my inability to peel an apple. Just core and roughly chop.
Toss that in along with anything else you're adding. As you can see I used apple, homemade almond butter, chia seeds and milled flax seeds...
Then I added a small palmful of raw cashews and flaked coconut. Just because.
Then blend baby blend!! If you add a juicy fruit you probably won't need to add any more liquid. But if you're adding frozen banana you might want to add some more milk or water.
Then pour and enjoy!
You can see what I mean about a little "texture" from the apple, cashews and coconut. But if texture bothers you just stick to creamy fruits and leave out whole nuts.
Don't forget to share! The amount I made above is enough to share with baby man. He drinks an entire cup of it and LOVES it!
And just so you don't come get mad at me later here's a little warning for you. If you're not used to consuming this many greens and fruits it *might* get things moving more than you're used to. If you don't know what I'm referring to just google the benefits of fiber. It's a good thing, just might catch you off guard.
Some of my other favorite fruit combinations right now are pear and a little avocado and frozen banana. Mango, pineapple, banana. Banana, coconut, peanut butter. Canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix) frozen banana, teensy bit of maple syrup, pumpkin pie spice. Kiwi, strawberry, banana. Orange, lime, mango. Oh and when you need a special treat try fresh mint in with your greens, dark chocolate chips and a spoonful of cocoa powder, mint extract, and frozen avocado. Top with a small dollop of greek yogurt. Um hello deliciously healthy mint chocolate chip smoothie. If you ever want exact amounts on these just ask, but usually I just toss whatever I have in. Shocking, I know.
Also here's a link to the longest, most amazing list of green smoothies. Try a new one every day! You'll never get bored!
Here's a bonus smoothie for you, this time without greens. I know, I know. Technically you can add them. But I really wanted ice cream for lunch and I was planning on a big salad for dinner. See how I rationalize things? Totally justifiable.
So I threw a frozen banana, a little less than half of an avocado (the baby man ate the other part for lunch) some homemade almond coconut butter, chia seeds, and coconut milk. Yum.
It turned into this decadent, creamy, almost soft serve consistency delicious treat. So yes, you can totally have ice cream for lunch.
Oh, here's one more bonus. Buy the biggest bag of spinach and fill your blender like you normally would but just use water. Blend until it combines then toss in some more spinach. Keep blending. You'll have a thick, beautifully green straight spinach smoothie. Pour into ice cube trays and freeze for later use. When I'm making a smoothie and either don't have any frozen fruit to add or don't have any greens I'll pop a few of these in the blender.
So get blending people! After all, it is Earth Day and I can't think of a better way to celebrate!
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