Jumping on the Healthy Smoothie BandWagon

Dear Em,
I started this year off feeling exhausted, really really exhausted. I felt as though I could have slept all day & that still wouldn't be enough. I had started working out again, but even that didn't seem to help. At the time, my facebook page was being plastered with pictures of smoothies...green smoothies.

Back before there was you & I wasn't exhausted & wasn't trying to loose weight, I drank smoothies...well, because they're delicious. I loved Panera's strawberry smoothies at the time & found a smoothie recipe in Bridal Guide Magazine that tasted almost the same.

Strawberry-Melon Smoothie

1 cup orange juice

1 cup cut-up cantaloupe

1 8 oz. carton nonfat plain yogurt

1 10oz bag frozen unsweetened strawberries

In blender, puree orange juice with cantaloupe. Add other ingredients & blend. Makes 4 servings. Per serving: 93 calories.

Now I am exhausted & I could also stand to use a few pounds. So, I decided to jump on the healthy smoothie bandwagon. I still stick with this recipe, but I add a lot more (oh, & I totally forgot about the cantaloupe, can't even remember the last time we used that). So, now we add a banana, cubed pineapple with juice, & frozen blueberries. There are times when we also add a peeled avocado. Sometimes instead of regular milk, we use unsweetened coconut milk. I tend to use Chobani instead of regular yogurt, & we use a little bit of honey to sweeten. 

The biggest thing we've added is kale. Before this year, I had never tasted kale, but it seemed like everyone was praising it's healthiness. I googled the difference between kale & spinach. Their calorie content was similar, but kale was reported to have more vitamin content. I liked the idea of incorporating it into our smoothies, but knew it would be a smoothie fail if they didn't taste good. I mean, I just didn't want to feel like I was drinking a salad. 

Because our blender didn't cost $500 & we're not willing to part with $500 to buy a "good blender," I use our food processor to chop up the kale before putting it into the smoothie. I then put the kale in with the liquids & blend that up to make it a little more smooth.

While our kale smoothies are slightly more chunky in texture & can be greenish in color, I can't taste a difference. I love them. Daddy loves them. You love them. Definitely a smoothie win.

I like to make our smoothies the night before, & I drink mine as breakfast (which saves a lot of time in the morning). I typically stuff our ingredients to the top & have enough smoothie for all of us for two days. We're about a month in & going smoothie strong. I feel less tired (although, maybe it's just in my head) & feel better about adding to our fruit & veggie servings.

Plus, you think making smoothies is wicked fun. It's cute. You beg us to make smoothies together even when we still have smoothie left over. You seem to prefer them even over milkshakes (I'm not so sure I agree with that). Maybe being healthy can be fun & taste good.

I love you so,

Mommy