Recently, we had an enrichment night (a ladies’ evening at church, where we learn lessons to enrich our home life), and the subject was improving meal time. First up — why meal times are important, aside from the food. The discussion was great, the lesson interesting, the ideas helpful. But that’s not what I’m gonna talk about!
The second lesson was about healthy eating, including referring us to mypyramid.gov — lots of cool info there! But we were all struck by how many veggies and fruits we should be eating, versus what we actually were. Let’s just say, most of us were missing the mark completely!
To save the day came the third lesson — green smoothies! R. set up her awesome blender (looks like the sort of thing they have at Orange Julius or Jamba Juice!), and proceeded to throw in an apple, a banana, some blueberries, grapes, carrots, broccoli, kale, celery, and two huge handfuls of spinach. She pressed the button, we all quizzed her on what kind of blender it was (a Blend-tec) and then she poured out samples. The resulting green goop was very good — not as sweet as a Jamba Juice style smoothie, but more of a light unidentified fruit taste. Easy way to get all your veggies and fruits for the day — anything else you have from other sources is extra.
Even my kids drink this up with no problem, although they don’t drink enough to meet their veggie needs. But I haven’t cut back on serving other veggies, so I know that every sip they take is more than they were getting before!
You don’t need a super-blender to do these (although it does help — I got mine in the mail yesterday, and I’m in love!). You can use any regular household blender (I made plenty of one serving size ones in my Magic Bullet while I was waiting for my Blendtec delivery). Check out greensmoothiequeen.com for a free (really) 3-day mini-course to learn more about why these are so great. There are also recipes.
If you are using a standard blender, I found it helpful to add my water and leafy greens first, and let that blend for a little while while I prepped my other veggies and fruits. The resulting smoothie seemed to be quite a bit smoother. Also, chop up your veggies and fruits into smaller chunks, so you don’t burn out your blender’s motor from working too hard (ask me how I know about this….). Try using the ice crush button for a bit before turning on the blend setting. Good luck! And enjoy!
