Going Green - Smoothie Style

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We have been making fruit smoothies for breakfast for a while now. I go in phases of making them a lot and then not making them for a few weeks or even months. I am determined now, though, to make them at least 3 times a week for breakfast. They are such a great way to get lots of healthy stuff into your diet, just by drinking a glassful.

Lately, I have come across the idea of green smoothies - as in putting green things (leafy green veggies!) into your smoothies to give it even more nutritional value. Since we (specifically Jer and Kaelyn) are not big green vegetables eaters, I thought this would be a great way to sneak some good stuff into our diet. So, I tried it out, by putting spinach into our smoothies, and I have to say it was a great success! I had told Jer I was planning to make some green smoothies and he was, of course, skeptical of the idea. The first day I made it, I gave him his glass, and he asked, "Is this a green one?" I said, "You tell me." He took a drink and honestly couldn't tell the difference. I was thrilled! I had actually convinced him to eat (well, drink) something that was really good for him! And Kaelyn drank a big glassful too, which is awesome because she refuses to eat almost any kind of vegetable. We are converts - we will be making green smoothies in our household from now on!

Here's how I make them. I don't really measure ingredients, I just put them in the blender in amounts that look good to me and then taste it and adjust it if needed.

Green Smoothie: (all measurements are very approximate)

• a cup of Milk or Soy Milk (we have been using vanilla soy milk)
• 2 large handfuls of spinach
• a cup of plain (or vanilla) yogurt (we use my homemade yogurt)
• 1/2 cup frozen blueberries
• 1/2 cup frozen raspberries
• 1 -2 tablespoons ground flax seed (a great source of fiber and omega-3 fatty acids which most of us don't get nearly enough of in our diets!
• 1 banana

Put the spinach in the blender and pour the milk over it. Blend on high until relatively smooth. Then add the rest of the ingredients and blend until you have a nice smoothie. Taste and adjust with more fruit, honey or even a little vanilla if it needs to be sweeter. Enjoy! And be impressed that you just got between 4-6 servings of fruit and veggies taken care of for the day!

On the left is the blended spinach and milk. Doesn't look to appealing, huh?
And to the right is the finished product. You can't even tell there is anything green in there. It looks like a regular fruit smoothie! You can sneak the greens in there if you want and your hubby and kids will never know! :)

Have you ever tried green smoothies? What's your favorite green smoothie recipe?