Wednesday, March 10, 2010

My Favorite Smoothies

We've been drinking Green Smoothies for breakfast for almost a year now (we have a grain to accompany it - oatmeal, toast, pancakes, etc).  I have SO much more energy than I used to have, and I don't crave sweets nearly as much as I used to.  I am also never hungry before lunch time.  I remember I used to get hungry around 10am when we were mostly eating cereal for breakfast.  I don't usually get hungry anymore until around 1pm and we eat breakfast at 8am.  Drinking smoothies has made such a HUGE difference in how I feel!  I highly recommend it!  Here are some of my favorite smoothies we make:

I can't exactly call these recipes because I don't ever measure anything, but I'll give some estimates.

Here is our basic smoothie:
-3 cups of Spinach (sometimes I add a little Kale), packed down in blender.
-Fruit to almost the top of the blender (about 2-3 cups)
-Milk or Juice to cover the Spinach and Fruit

Basic Ingredients I buy:
-I buy a box or two of Spinach at Sam's Club (I usually freeze them after a couple of days to last through the week)
-I buy bags of frozen fruit there as well (Tropical Mix, Strawberries, Blueberries, Mangos, Mixed Berry).
-I buy several bunches of bananas and when they are ripe, I peel them, cut them in half, put them in a plastic bag and freeze them).
-For milk, I use Soy Milk, Cow's milk, or Almond Milk (I've been experimenting with making my own Almond Milk lately).  I usually use a mix of milks just for variety.
-Juice or frozen juice concentrate (I keep OJ concentrate in the freezer at all times).

Favorite Mixtures and some of their variations:


Banana Nutmeg (from Joanne)
Spinach
3 frozen bananas
Dash of cinnamon
Nutmeg to taste (about 1/2 tsp?)
Milk
*Sometimes I add Mangos to this

Orange Julius
Spinach
1 frozen banana
1 cup of OJ concentrate
Tropical Fruit
Vanilla
Milk
*We like variations of this, like using Strawberries instead of the Tropical Fruit, etc.

Sunshine Smoothie (from Joanne)
Spinach
1-2 frozen bananas
Tropical Fruit
Orange Juice
*I like to vary the juice sometimes (orange-pineapple, Apple-orange-mango, etc.)
*Sometimes I add a little milk or yogurt to this if I want a creamier drink

Berry-Banana
Spinach
2 frozen bananas
Strawberries, Blueberries or Mixed Berries
Milk
*Sometimes I add yogurt to this if I have it (which is seldom).
*I like to mix things up with the fruits I add, but I always use the bananas for sweetness (I like Mangos and Strawberries, just Mangos, Mangos and Peaches, Strawberries and Peaches, etc).
*On occasion I'll sweeten this even more with honey, sugar, maple syrup or agave if I have a sweetness craving.

Chocolate-Banana (from greenereating.com)
Spinach
3 frozen bananas
Cocoa Powder (1-2 Tbls)
Milk
(If I add too much Cocoa, this can taste bitter, so I'll sweeten it with one of the above sweeteners, but usually the bananas sweeten it enough for me).

I'd love the hear other favorites if anyone has them!  I'd also love to hear of some other grain ideas in the morning (we eat a lot of oatmeal!)

3 comments:

  1. I know I should try this. I did once, but it tasted too 'green' to me. Maybe Chocolate-Banana is the answer.

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  2. Hi Karen,

    I love smoothies too! Although ours are not as "green" as yours are. We call them Shrek smoothies when I throw in the greens :) I also use plain yogurt instead of milk to get the live cultures to help it digest better. Thanks for the new recipe's to try

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  3. My favorite cereal right now is quinoa with fresh bananas, rice or almond milk and honey. It's a more pricey grain but it's so good! I'm ordering some for $60 a 25 pound bag. I think it's $90 at Kitchen Kneads so let me know if you want to get some too. I'll be paying for it at Church tomorrow at 11:00.

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