Green Smoothies

Last spring my cousin mentioned that she was making a green smoothie every morning. I was intrigued, and finally I did a little research. I read somewhere that a quart of green smoothie has 15 servings of fruits and vegetables in it. I also read that smoothies are great because the blender breaks down the cell walls and makes the vitamins in the fruits/veggies more available. I decided it was worth trying and before long I was hooked.

Then I got Jason & the little kids addicted too.

Now we start every morning with a green smoothie, except for Fridays when we have to leave the house pretty early.

I've had a couple of people ask how we make them, so here are my directions. And oh--if you need a blender, the best reviews on Amazon were for a $20 blender from Walmart that does a fantastic job on frozen smoothies!

These directions will make about 6 cups of smoothie--which is enough for me, Jason, and the littles kids.

1. Put 1 c. juice and 1 c. hot water in blender. I usually use frozen OJ concentrate straight from the freezer. If I make up the juice someone drinks it right up and it doesn't last long enough to make it into a smoothie! Tthe hot water helps with the frozen fruit later.

2. Add in spinach. I put in 2 big handfuls; until it's up to the 5 c. line. I use the box of organic spinach from Costco.

3. Lately I've been adding a handful of carrots too. I know that carrot juice is supposed to be very good for you, so I figure I'll add a little to our smoothie this way. I think I'm going to switch to using organic big carrots though.

4. Then I blend it all up. Yum, yum! (This is the green part.)

5. After that is really smooth and gross looking, I start adding fruit. I always add a banana first. My kids go through bananas fast, but if they ever start to get dark looking I freeze them and add them frozen. Otherwise I add one that is fresh. Sometimes add 1/2 of an apple, I find it cuts the taste of the spinach really well. I'm careful with that, though, since adding both the carrots and the apple changes the texture. And I don't like the taste to be overwhelmingly apple.

I get several different kinds of frozen fruit from Costco--which definitely has the best price for frozen fruit.

I usually add 8 or so big strawberries.

Every now & then I buy a pineapple (at Costco, where else??) and cut it up and then freeze it. Then I throw in a few chunks to the smoothie.

The all important blueberries turn the smoothie from it's disgusting color (green-brown after you start adding fruit) to a nice purple. I usually add 1/2 cup of blueberries or 1 cup of mixed berries.

The kids liked the smoothies a LOT better after I started adding the blueberries!

I add peaches & other fruit from a bag of mixed fruit--about the same amount as the strawberries. Sometimes I have to add a bit of hot water as I go, to keep it from getting so thick that the blender can't blend it.

At the end I taste it. Sometimes it's just great. Sometimes I can tell I need to add a little more fruit. Sometimes I plop in another spoonful of OJ concentrate. Sometimes I add a little sugar after I've poured my smoothie out of the blender. The kids don't enjoy it as much if it's a little tart.

The end is a yummy smoothie that I feel great about starting my day with!