My summertime Green Smoothie

I have really gotten hooked on these green smoothies since I tried them a few months ago and pretty much drink them near 4-7 times a week.    They really make me feel like I'm giving my body a gift of pure vitamins and hydration.  And no matter what kind of diet one is on, they all promotes getting more greens in, right?

So for the summertime I discovered this new combo--spinach, kale, watermelon, half a pear, and of course about a cup of water:

I love it!  I've noticed that an apple or pear really keeps the smoothie body together.  It's kind of a bummer when it separates into green water and mossy thickness on top, so I've been adding at least half and apple or pear to these.

Look at this deep green loveliness! And they don't taste like heavy bitter greens--the fruit and water really make this drink refreshing. Plus I really like that unlike juicers, I'm consuming the whole greens and fruit and not wasting any. Anybody else trying these?

Chamomile Iced Tea aka Sweet Honey Iced Tea

Anybody else trying to lighten up on soda and caffeine? I scanned the cupboards and came across a fairly full box of chamomile tea from my detox at the beginning of the year. It's an herbal tea with a really mild pleasant flavor so I decided to try making iced tea from it.

I followed the conventional iced tea wisdom of brewing a strong batch, so I steeped 8 bags with a quart of hot water:

Then I sweetened with some honey for flavor:

And some agave nectar for sweetness:

Then I let it cool in the fridge for a couple of hours and then poured over ice:

It's a really pleasant cool drink--very inoffensive but won't necessarily knock your socks off. Because of the mild flavor of the chamomile tea, the sweet honey is the dominant flavor. So I gave it the alternate name of Sweet Honey Tea. Or maybe next time I should steep some extra bags of chamomile tea. With plenty of hot summer left here in South Carolina, I'm sure I'll be doing some more experimenting...

Green Smoothies

I was able to spend last Sunday morning with some friends up in Charlotte and I was offered a real green smoothie.  I know I have snuck in some greens in a shake, like my Protein Shamrock Shake or the Strawberry Cucumber smoothie,  but the smoothie my friends made was mostly greens--spinach, kale, mint, with a few orange segments and strawberries (stems included!)  The idea was based on the concept that the best way to absorb all the nutrition and anti-oxidant goodness of greens was to ingest it completely pulverized. 

I loved it.  It felt like I was ingesting pure nutrition and vitamins.  And since water was added (instead of a milky beverage)--it really made it a refreshing and thirst-quenching drink as well.

So I decided to try to make one myself.  I started with baby spinach (I hit the Costco in Charlotte and brought back a bucket of organic baby spinach):

I added some strawberries (frozen is what I had on hand-I recommend letting them defrost a bit) and a hunk of banana for sweetness since I didn't have an orange:

Then water:

And blend!

Vitamins in a glass!

Spinach, strawberry, and banana

I liked this one okay, but I decided to forgo the banana in the future. It actually made it creamier and more viscous than I wanted--I think a green smoothie is definitely better on the thinner side for easy drinking. To me, as one who isn't naturally a big vegetable lover, it's best to keep green smoothies like these on the less chunky/thick side.

My next try was spinach, a chopped gala apple (I removed the stem and seeds, but didn't bother peeling the skin), a spoonful of orange juice concentrate (still did not have a real orange on hand) for a little sweetness and vitamin C, and of course, water:

Spinach, a gala apple, & spoonful of OJ concentrate

I liked this a lot--nice and bright.

I hit the store and picked up some kale and mint.  I found a can of pineapple chunks in the cupboard and tried a combo of two handfuls of spinach, one handful of kale, a few (defrosted) frozen strawberries, a few pineapple chunks, the leaves from a couple sprigs of mint, and of course about 1.5-2 cups of water:

Spinach, kale, strawberries, pineapple, and mint

Really promising--I didn't notice the kale which I think is a good sign, flavor-wise.  I'm going to up the mint, probably double or triple the amount--it gave a nice sweet and refreshing pop and I'd like to amplify it next time.  I couldn't even taste the pineapple--I think it was overwhelmed by the strawberry.  Next time I'll try the pineapple alone with maybe the OJ concentrate and still the mint--really loved it!

I highly recommend trying a green smoothie.  It might seem weird or off-putting to drink a smoothie where a green leafy vegetable is the base, but I'd say the benefit is at least worth trying it.  I definitely recommend trying spinach and some fruit as a first one. Besides the fact that spinach is a vitamin powerhouse, it's actually pretty mild, flavor-wise. Adding some kale surprisingly had little effect on the taste and I like adding another dark, leafy green into the mix.  Ideally, I'm sure it'd be best if all the ingredients were fresh, but I'd like to think all benefit is not lost using a couple of frozen or canned ingredients with some fresh ones.  I really look forward to trying different combinations--anybody trying this and got some favorites/recommendations?

Protein Shamrock Shake

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, here's one of my favorite new protein shakes--it's green!

The secret is frozen spinach. Wait come back! I promise you don't even taste it--but your body definitely appreciates the iron and fiber.  My 12-year-old daughter even admits it's not too bad "as long as you don't tell me what's in it". 

In a blender:

- 1 1/2 cup of milk or almond milk
- 1 frozen banana (I recommend you slice up the banana before freezing)
- 1 cup of frozen chopped spinach
- 1 scoop of vanilla protein powder (we use whey protein but there are vegan versions available)

Blend until the spinach is blended in--makes a large shake.  Overall, it's a banana shake and is sweet enough for me, but if you like, I'm sure you can add honey or sweetener.

If you try it, I'd love to hear what you think! 

Berry and Cucumber Smoothie

Doesn't this smoothie look good?

After reading Jamie's post on smoothies, I was intrigued to try Joy the Baker's strawberry cucumber smoothie. I had to tweak it slightly as I had a frozen berry mix rather than just frozen strawberries.

In the blender, blend:

- 1 cup of almond milk (regular milk would probably work fine too)
- 1 1/2 cups of frozen berries
- half an English (or hothouse) cucumber, seeded and chopped into chunks
- a spoonful of honey

You can probably also use a regular cucumber if you peel that waxy peel off first.  You'll still want to remove the seeds and chop it.

I was a bit nervous trying a smoothie with a vegetable in it but I found this smoothie tasty, pretty refreshing, and very berry-licious.  My 12 year-old daughter was less impressed and swore she couldn't help but taste all that cucumber.  Sigh, this mom still says, it's a keeper!

Decaf Almond Latte

I've been finding sweet comfort in super easy decaf almond lattes. Interested?

I just heat up a mug of almond milk in the microwave for 60-90 seconds, add a spoonful of instant decaf and wha-la:

Creamy, delicious comfort. Plus fairly calorie-friendly--with the original (sweetened) it's 60 calories a cup or I've used the vanilla unsweetened with a little Stevia which runs 40 calories a cup.