Wednesday, June 9, 2010

The REAL Good Green

If anyone told me 6 months ago that I'd be mixing up vegetables and fruit in a blender and drinking it (by choice) I would NOT have believed them! Well, now I am, on an almost daily basis (and so is Joel which is pretty remarkable for him too) and I am really liking it!
I heard about the Green Smoothie Girl from my friend Natalie's blog a while back. The first time I saw this lady's site I think I was up till 2am reading her posts on her blog and reading what she had to say on her website. A few weeks later I braved up and made our first green smoothie. We were pretty grossed out after my first attempt, but I'm glad I kept at it. After a few tweaks to her recipe I finally had my own version of a "green smoothie" that I liked and even craved after a while! I made my first one out of a little bit of fruit, water, and about 2 1/2 cups of packed spinach. I wasn't used to the taste or the green color so I had to ease my self into it by adding some healthy orange juice, and a few other naturally sweet things.
I didn't like the green color at first, but now I really like it and actually prefer my smoothies to be green (they turn a nasty brown color if you add blue or black berries)
I have never been one to happily eat veggetables or salads and when I do they usually aren't the dark green kind, so disguising them with fruit is perfect for me! Plus you can pack waaay more greens in than you'd eat in a salad at dinner or lunch, and it's already smooth and smashed up so your digestive system doesn't have to work as hard....it's genius I tell you!
I make a big blenderfull in the mornings now, half for my breakfast and I put the other half in the fridge for Joel's "pre-dinner snack". It's so nice being able to drink something yummy and easy to make and know it's so good for you. We've been trying to implement a few of the green smoothie girl's other suggestions and I've finally been realizing that what I put into my body really affects how I feel (and how I will feel down the road).
I've tried to make a few other different kind of smoothies, but the one that Joel and I like the most right now consists of water, orange juice, spinach, banana, frozen fruit, almonds, and a little raw honey (I'm trying to slowly get rid of the juice). I made one last week that was pretty good, it was made of almond milk, spinach, banana, organic peanut butter, and raw honey. A few weeks ago my friend Kristin and I spent quite a while gathering ingredients for a hot pink smoothie I was so excited to try it out the next morning, but much to my disappointment neither of us could handle the taste. Both of us were gaaging it down. It was vvveeerrrry pretty though, it really was the most beautiful color of pink, the picture doesn't do it justice.

This is what our "every day" smoothie looks like usually (in a frosty mug! haha yum!). Here's to health!

8 comments:

Jon Smith said...

We make smoothies as much as physically possible! I love the idea of the green smoothie, tasty and healthy. I'm definitely going to whip one of these up for Melissa. I'll report back to you. Thanks for the idea. Happy greening.

Jessica B said...

I would not have believed you (or I) would be drinking greens either, but I'm glad you showed me the light. I just wish my better half would drink it too:-P I can't wait for you to try the carrot smoothie, I'm craving one right now!

Calvin said...

huh, normally I like your blog... :)

KRiSTiN said...

Wow---you weren't kidding--yours are very green! And when I saw your picture of the hot pink smoothie, it looked REALLY good---but then I remembered the taste! :( Not so good--bad idea. Yay for healthy eating!

richelle said...

Yeah! Kalli and Joel are eating vegetables! I'm so proud of you and now we are drinking green smoothies about every other day, too. I think they taste great, and it's nice getting all that nutrition in a drink. Thanks for sharing!

Sarah said...

This is very inspiring! I am going to start doing this as soon as I can make it to the store for some fresh produce. Do you have any specific recipes that you love and can recommend?

kallina said...

They are so easy to make it's awesome!
Here's how I do it....

2 BIG handfuls of spinach,kale, or any other dark leafy green. pack it tight in the bottom of your blender and add
more or less 3/4 C. water
more or less 3/4 C. OJ (preferably not from concentrate) or you can just add some oranges (even better!)
-Blend till VERY smooth, then add
2 small handfuls of raw (uncooked unsalted) almonds
-Blend till mostly smooth
1 banana
1-2 C. Frozen fruit (strawberries, melon,peaches, pineapple, etc.)
1-2 Tbs. raw honey
-Blend till smooth.

Hope this helps!
You can see how the green smoothie girl makes hers on youtube.

Lindsay said...

YUMMY!!! I need to start making these!