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Green Smoothies



























Since this is something we have lots at our house I had better post it! In fact I think if you do only one thing different in your diet having a regular green smoothie would probably be one of the best things you could do. It's a quick Simple drink of pure nutrition! I have found they give me tons of energy, I'm not as hungry, and I need less sleep when I am drinking them often. I love that my kids enjoy drinking them and always ask for more. It's a great way to get my picky eaters to eat greens! One drink gives you at LEAST 10-15 servings of fruits and vegetables that are full of protein, vitamins, minerals, and enzymes! It's probably one of the healthiest things you can do for you and your family! I will start by posting just the basic green smoothie that I usually make. Be creative and have fun with it and make it according to your tastes!


The Basic Green Smoothie
2 cups water
1/4 lemon with peel, opt.
2 Tablespoon agave nectar or other Healthy sweetener of choice
2 large handfuls of baby spinach and other greens of choice the more greens the better pack 'em in!
frozen fruit of choice


Place first 4 ingredients in your blender blend until smooth. Then add the frozen fruit. I just kind of eye it sometimes I add more if I want it nice and thick guessing I would say at least 2 cups frozen fruit! If you like them thick add more fruit Now depending on what fruit you add will depend on the color. Sometimes the color can be not so appetizing. I really like to add the frozen spectrum blend that I get at Costco with a frozen banana but it is kind of a brown color. But we really like the taste. A lot of people like to add the frozen berry mix of blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries. It makes it turn purple and looks a bit more appealing. Strawberries are great too but again kind of a interesting color! The Smoothie in the picture above is made with blueberries and banana. We have gotten used to the funny different concoctions and my kids pretty much will drink whatever. I will even sneak some kale and collard greens in at times and they never even noticed. But they are used to it. If you are just starting out on the green smoothie adventure you may want to have less greens and more fruit and maybe even a bit more sweetener. Then as tastes adjust you can slowly add more greens and less fruit. Just have fun and do what works for you. But be sure to give them a try your body will thank you!

Note:  This makes a 96 oz. blender jar full.  If your blender jar isn't that big you may want to half the recipe.

20 comments:

Ginos Family in Oregon said...

Make sure you put Blueberries in there. I have found that the antioxcidents (sp) in the blueberries put in with spinach enhances the bodies intake of the iron. My daughter is a little iron deficient and I usually puree 1 cup cooked spinach and about 2 cups blueberries with a kick of lemon juice, pour it into cups (for slushie) or popsicle containers, freeze it. I give it to my daughter and she loves it!

fitncrafty said...

Will this blend up in a 'regular' blender? I don't have a high powered one. Just a oester and I have a smoothie maker... Just curious before I try it. Thanks Tam!

Kristen's Raw said...

I love green smoothies. I'm just about to make one now with water, bananas, spinach, and cinnamon.

Cheers,
Kristen

Tammie said...

fitncrafty, Yes it should do just fine in a regular blender. (sorry I should have mentioned that) as long as you don't put in to much frozen fruit so it's not too thick it should do just fine! The main problem with regular blenders is they don't have as much power so they need lots of liquid to blend properly.

Tammie said...

Mindy, I would totally not cook the spinach! The enzymes are quickly destroyed when heated and a lot of the nutrients too. Just throw it in the blender raw. And thanks for the tip about the blueberries. Most of the fruit blends I use do have blueberries so that's great to know!

Marilyn said...

I LOVE green smoothies. I was wondering though-instead of water I use unsweetened juice-and I don't add any extra sweetener-would this still be as healthy? I have also made a "pina colada" with orange juice, a spash of coconut milk and pineapple, bananas and spinach. It is a lovely light green color! BTW-I found your blog through Dr. Stan Gardner's. I enjoy yours very much!

Tammie said...

Marilyn, I think if you make sure the juice has only good ingredients like no artificial stuff and no added sweeteners it should be just fine. Especially if you are adding lots of fresh greens and fruit! Your "pina colada" sounds way good I can't wait to try it! Thanks for the idea!

I'm loving everyones great comments! Keep them commin'!!

Anonymous said...

We also love our green smoothies. What do you think about using rice milk as a base? I throw in about a tablespoon of ground flax seed for some added nutrition.

Melissa

Tammie said...

Melissa, I usually save rice milk for the non-green smoothies;) Ones we want to have like an ice creamy flavor! I love rice milk with frozen strawberries and bananas blended maybe a little agave! I put plenty of frozen fruit in so it's nice and thick, with as much as my fam likes these you would think I was using ice cream and making milk shakes;)

Since we make green smoothies LOTS I like the water base cause it saves us lots of money;)

Ground flax is a great idea!

Rusty and Tara said...

What a great blog! I love it. We also add avocado to our green smoothies and it gives it the most yummy creamy texture. You only need 1/4-1/2 an avocado.

The Lazy Organizer said...

I put flax seed in mine too. I like fresh lime juice but after seeing that you put the lemon in rind and all I tried that with the lime. It was much too strong of a flavor though even when I used just a sliver of the lime. It must only work with the lemon.

Tammie said...

Yeah the lime peel does not seem to blend up very smooth and leaves strong tasting lime peel chunks! You can use just lime juice though and I think that's pretty good!

Dina said...

Yum, yum Tammie! I tried it and it was much better than my previous attempts. My body IS thanking me! Thank you.

Breezy said...

Hey Tammie1 So what's the purpose of the lemon and peel?

Tammie said...

Breezy: Lemon peel is full of bioflavanoinds which help with the absorption of Vitamin C. Also it's been said that lemon peel may also been to be great for the prevention of skin cancer.

Melanie Bingham said...

Can you use orange and peel vs. lemon?

Tammie said...

Melanie: You could zest the peel and use the juice but I would not put the entire peel in. The white stuff on most citrus is quite bitter and unless you like that flavor you probably don't want it. Also for some reason they leave little chunks of peel. For some reason lemon is the only one I have not seen that problem with.

Queen Mommy said...

I've made your PB Banana Green Smoothie (or PB Mint Chip smoothie, as we call it around here) several times, and we all love it. Tried this one for the first time today, and it's delicious! Like a berry lemonade smoothie! Even my pickiest loves it, as does my friend's 2 y/o. YUM! And, thanks!

Mandi said...

This was REALLY good! Loved the lemon. My 2 year old couldn't get enough and drank almost all of mine!!

Mayme said...

MMmmmm. The lemon was so good. I've never thought of adding lemon to our green smoothies but it was a really nice addition! Thanks for the idea.