Try It Tuesday : Green Smoothies
Alright. So I’m sure a lot of you, and from your e-mails I mean a lot, a lot of you, love sweets. So eating plenty of fruit is never a problem, right? And when you make smoothies, fruit most likely is the first thing that goes in. Well, what if I told you that you could stick veggies in there too?
Yup, they’re called Green Smoothies. And they are delicious!
A green smoothies is basically just a mix of fruit with a bunch of leafy greens blended in as well. My personal favorite right now is a combo of spinach, blueberries, and banana along with the yogurt and milk. A good mix is about 60% fruit to 40% veggies. And you can mix it up and change around what you “drink” everyday! Variety is the spice of life you know! Later this week I’m hoping (actually I have to) to get to the farm and pick some strawberries so those will be a wonderful “in season” addition. Next week I’ll be headed to the farmers market (this week I’m out of town that day!) and I’m gonna make sure I pick up a lot of in season leafy greens!
The benefits of Green Smoothies
- they contain lots of vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, and chlorophyll
- you consume essential amino acids that are the building blocks for protein
- they enhance digestion by stimulating enzyme production
green goes purple!
Of course if you use some green fruit like kiwi’s they get really green! And if you use pears (also super yummy) you get a nice light shade of greeness.
This has been a great way for me to consume more veggies as I’ve been severely lacking in that area as of late.
About donielle
Donielle is an amateur herbalist and natural momma to two littles (with another babe in heaven) after struggling with infertility. She has a passion for nourishing nutrition, natural living, and spreading the word on how food truly affects our health. Her blog Naturally Knocked Up focuses on fertility and reproductive health and her book on natural fertility will be available in June 2012. She also runs a local blog (Grand Rapids Natural Living) and is active the local community in order to provide the area with resources and information for natural families.
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I didn't see Mr. Linky, so I will put my post here. I tried making bagels for the first time this week and was extremely surprised at how easy they were.
http://wiseanticsoflife.blogspot.com/2009/06/homemade-bagels-menu.html
We are boring smoothie makers; we usually stick to banana and berry. I should try sneaking in a few greens.
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Sorry Kristen!! It's up now and I put your link in.
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We're trying to have green smoothies more here, too! Be sure to cook the kale or spinach, at least if you're having these often (oxalic acid).
I posted about trying to make a soup without a recipe this week – a success!
http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2009/06/23/recipe-connection-katies-simple-cabbage-soup-with-secret-super-food/
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I adore green smoothies and try to make one every morning, they give me great energy!
my favorite combo is :
swiss chard
banana
couple strawberries
water
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I made myself a green smoothie last week with raspberries and spinach. What I learned is that red and green make… brown. I ended up having a brown smoothie but if I just didn't look at it it tasted great.
Perhaps I'll up the amount of raspberries next time to try and make the red more dominant. It looks like your blueberries certainly did the trick!
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these are good but DO NOT DO NOT EVER NEVER EVER use frozen spinach. My mom did that when I was a teen, and it was so nasty -mostly it destroyed the texture- I couldn't eat smoothies for a couple years. this year, she discovered that fresh spinach is (besides the color) unnoticeable in the smoothie.
So I've tried it again and I like it; even my husband liked it. (not that he's picky, but he's not as much into health food, lol). but the spinach HAS to be fresh, NOT frozen
BTW, I've been reading this blog for a few weeks and I really enjoy it
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I remember reading somewhere that if you add some boiling water and blend it with the fresh spinach that it will neutralize the oxalic acid. True? False?
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Mmmmm! I love green smoothies! Such delicious nutrition in a glass. I can't imagine life without them.
Cheers,
Kristen
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Although oxalic acid interferes with calcium absorption, it doesn't mean that you always have to cook your spinach, as it would kill off some of the other healthy vitamins that raw spinach contains.
I tried a recipe for a green smoothie once and hated it – it had parsley and mint and I could not get past the herby flavor. I will have to give yours a try as I often make blueberry-yogurt smoothies.
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I wouldn't recommend celery – too strong!! I usually use spinach, and I make mine dairy-free. I use water, orange or pineapple juice concentrate, spinach, frozen banana, and if I have any other fruit I can throw that in, too!
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I love green smoothies and have them quite often. Could someone please inform me about oxalic acid? I have never heard of that before. Thanks!!
Cassie
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Anon, re: oxalic acid: You can read a bit about it at the bottom of this post: http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2009/05/04/food-for-thought-a-family-of-super-vegetables/
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Just made my first last night! Yum-O! Hubby wasn't so excited about them but said he would drink it. I made enough to stick in the fridge so it is handy! I used green apples, pineapple, mango, banana, strawberries, kiwi, orange juice, spinach and a little honey.
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