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Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Anti-recipe #19 - green smoothies

So my latest thing in the whole gluten free quest is to drink smoothies every day. Green smoothies. Perhaps I am late on the bandwagon. It seems people have been talking about these for years. And we have all had or seen the Naked Juice "Green Machine" smoothie. But as I was researching the gluten free thing I read that going gluten free can be almost a detox-like experience and drinking green smoothies can replace a lot of nutrients and enzymes in the body that are leeched out in the process.
Look at all that good stuff!

Something like that.

Of course taking in a bunch of fresh nutrients is great for anyone, especially from leafy greens which are rich in anti-oxidants, calcium, folic acid and lots of vitamins and minerals essential for women in their child-bearing years. Plus, unlike strained juice, all the fiber is still present. That is always good.

Read this woman’s website for more info.

Or here.

Ok.

So what is it? Spinach in a smoothie? Really?

Yes.

Here is what I did.

Take out your blender.

Throw in two huge handfuls of leafy greens. I use spinach. I will try kale later today. (Ok, I just tried the kale. Definitely need to remove the meaty stem part of the leaf. Ew. Way too chunky for me.) You can add salad greens (you know the stuff wilting in your crisper drawer? Icky huh? Just blend it up!) or a cucumber!

See?

Look at all that good green stuff!

Throw in a banana. Some orange juice. Some coconut oil. Maybe some aloe vera.

Be creative. Lots of things work well. Frozen blueberries. Yogurt. Kefir. Any kind of juice. Strawberries. I have read adding ginger and cilantro. Mango. Lots of ways you can go.

Ok, you get the idea.

Then think supplementing. A few drops of Echinacea during cold season. Maybe some protein powder. Spirulina powder (a kind of blue algae, I have seen it but totally had to google it too, apparently it is FULL of protein and other good stuff ) bee pollen powder (again with the google, apparently rich in digestive enzymes). And etc. etc. etc.

Sweeten with a spoonful of honey or some stevia if you like.

Now, whir it all up in your blender. Pour into large glass. Drink.

Tasty, no? Can you believe you just drank a HUGE serving of greens? That would be a lot of chewing. Plus you are avoiding the inevitable dosing of salad dressing.

I love it.

Plus, put in a sippy cup (so your kid can’t see the funky color) and THEY WILL DRINK IT! I swear.

So, happy blending!

4 comments:

  1. Really, it tasted good? I have some spinach and homemade yogurt in my fridge waiting....
    I used to buy organic frozen berries and organic baby food veggies to make smoothies for the boys---they found out about the baby food and refused to drink them. I wonder if I can slip this past them, I'm off to try :)

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  2. A warning on Spirulina, it has a VERY strong taste! I think 2-3 teaspoons is a serving and it has awesome benefits, but it is hard to disguise and I even tried chocolate!

    Green smoothies are awesome, I make husband one every morning before work except I put freeze dried raw kale in it rather than the leafy stuff, he doesn't realize he's getting healthy stuff that way. ;)

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  3. So we do protein smoothies for breakfast almost everyday over here and I must say we've never tried to add greens. I will definitely give it a go. We've tried lots of other stuff though and it really is an easy way to get a healthy meal in. Plus we always use two scoops of protein powder (a good way for vegetarians like us to get some protein), and I swear a glass of blended up stuff fills me up for hours. One suggestion for making it taste better if it doesn't come out sweet enough is sugar free chocolate syrup (or strawberry, we've done both). I'm sure there may be things about that stuff that's not the healthiest but at least it doesn't have sugar and you only have to use a little to get the sweetened taste bonus.

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  4. cortney-so, did the boys eat it??
    beth-thanks for the warning! great tip on the freeze dried kale!
    elizabeth-syrup huh? i should try that for j. did you try w spinach? what did you think? we need to play soon. email me!

    ReplyDelete

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