Recipe: Basic Green Smoothies

Hey friends...
I thought I would do a little post about something that seems to interest a lot of you based on the responses that I got to an Instagram picture I posted about a week ago...

This is my 15 month old, sucking down (my) green smoothie one afternoon. He's obsessed with them...and when he sees me drinking one, he looks for his sippy straw cup hoping to find his mini-smoothie.  If he doesn't find that cup, he comes running over to me with grabby hands, and a give-me-that-now look in his eyes, usually accompanied by some panting or whining. It's quite a lovely sight.

From the multiple messages that I got after posting this picture, I can only assume that lots of you out there, like me, are interested in getting more healthy foods into our bodies (and our kids bodies...yay!)...and less of the junk that we are so used to grabbing when we're in a rush. Green smoothies are a perfect way to increase your intake of healthy fruits and vegetables...while reducing space in your tummy for unhealthy, empty-calorie snacks. Because, let's face it...not many of us are going to sit down and just eat a raw cucumber or handful of spinach. 

I thought I'd try to post a few recipes that I've come up with, but also direct you to some awesome sites that will help you accomplish this for yourself. 

So here is my favorite smoothie recipe so far. All veggies are organic...If you're going to do this, you may as well do it right. 

Basic Green Smoothie:
1 whole cucumber
2 celery stalks
1 tbsp ginger (I buy the tube of pureed ginger that's right next to all the organic veggies...I will probably start buying the real stuff soon now that I'm not scared of it.)
1 whole banana (I like them super ripe)
1 peeled lemon *
1-2 handfuls of spinach **
1-2 packets of stevia **
Coconut water for consistency (about 1 cup)...or you can use regular water

Here are answers to some of your questions that I've already gotten: 

* I do peel the lemon by hand and seed it by hand. It's tedious and it's always my least favorite part but I do the work over the blender so that all the juice falls inside. If you end up with a seed or two, you won't notice. Of course, if you're juicing, just throw the whole thing in.  I do not buy organic lemons, but you should if you juice them. I put a lemon in every drink no matter what other fruits/veggies I'm experimenting with.
** Go easy on the spinach as you are starting out. As your taste buds adjust to the drink, you will find that you want it less sweet and you can leave out a packet of stevia and increase your spinach. 
*** I don't add ice to my smoothies, but if I can't drink it within the first hour that it's made, I usually add about a half a cup of water to bring it back to it's original consistency.

Why not juicing?
I thought about juicing, and I love the concept. But I don't love that a juicer pulls out so much of the good fiber (pulp). I researched, and I actually found a juicer that I was ready to buy (there are always good deals on ebay or craigslist), but I just decided that I wanted everything that I put into the blender to go into my body. I didn't want to throw away a bunch of nutrient-rich pulp. That is just my decision. 

What blender do you have?
I honestly don't know. I could go in the kitchen and look, but it doesn't matter. If you want to make green smoothies, just find a blender that works. Mine is loud and I have to stop it and knock it on the counter sometimes or dig a spoon into the bottom to get the mechanics working right. But it works well and I've had it since college and so when I started this, it was a $0 investment.

I have found lots of information out there...and I think that the thing that has helped me do this well is believing that I can't really do it wrong. I do lots of experimenting...for example, instead of a banana, I started using an apple. I didn't love consistency that the apple peel gave the smoothie, so the next time, I substituted frozen strawberries and then decided to try a banana. 

Also, I don't have a hard time eating fruits throughout the day, so I only add one fruit for flavoring. If you are just struggling to get some fruit in your diet, start with fruit smoothies and add a 1/2 a cup at a time of spinach. Anything is better than what you're not doing now, right? And after just a few weeks, I actually crave this drink in the afternoons, and I feel so much better on the days (and the day after) that I have one. 

Here's a really neat image that's on my Pinterest page, but I've linked it to it's original blog. It has a lot of creative ideas that I want to try!

You can use this when deciding what to throw in your blender, AND when deciding what to add to your grocery list. I honestly love seeing how much produce that I'm buying now...and how much processed, snacky foods that I'm NOT buying anymore.

If you have more questions, let me know. I would love to help you in your journey! And check back soon...I bought some kale at the farmers market last weekend, so I'm currently working on a kale smoothie recipe!