Day Nine

Good Morning internet peeps! Tomorrow is my husband's birthday, but we are celebrating today. His special request for this morning's smoothie: "no rice milk, no coconut anything and just some basic, 'normal' ingredients" (he's no fun!). So, being the loving, adoring, accommodating wife that I am I obliged. Today's smoothie, as brought to you by my husband is:

• 2 c water
• 1 large apple
• 2 bananas
• 1/8 of a cantaloupe
• 3 large handfuls of spinach
• ice

Its quite yummy! Enjoy!

Day Eight, Part Deux

Yesterday's smoothie did not yield enough for all of us to have our desired amount, so I whipped up another one in the afternoon. It was delish! Into the vita-mix:

• 2 c organic OJ
• 1 large apple
• 1 whole kiwi (skin & all)
• 1 banana
• 6oz clamshell of raspberries
• 6oz clamshell of blueberries
• lots o' spinach
• ice

gave it a whirl and let 'er rip! It was good. DH said it was a bit too citrusy for his taste, but I think that was the combination of kiwi and OJ.

Day Eight

Today's smoothie was fairly simple. Into the vita-mix:

• Basic Smoothie Starter with apple
• 4 handfuls spinach
• 2 bananas
• frozen pineapple
• frozen mangos
• flax oil

Yummy!

Day Seven

WooHoo! We made it a whole week! How are you guys feeling? Are you noticing anything different? I'd love to hear how your first week went. Some things I've experienced and have heard from others is that for the first few days you may experience some negative side effects. Especially if you have been consuming a standard american diet comprised of processed foods, refined sugar and lots of white flour, animal protein and fast foods. A lot of people notice a difference in their, um, digestive abilities. Green Smoothies will clear ya out! But that's a good thing! Some other symptoms include headaches, a bit of nausea, muscle aches, etc. These are short lived and its actually your body trying to rid itself of the toxins that the green smoothies are pulling out of your cells. Keep up the green smoothie habit and these symptoms should go away quickly.

Now, onto today's smoothie. I've been experimenting quite a bit lately so today I went totally minimalist. Into the vita-mix:

• 1 apple
• 2 bananas
• 3 handfuls of spinach
• 2 cups of rice milk
• big squirt of flax oil
• ice

I thought it was a bit bland and my husband didn't care for it at all. The kids haven't tried it yet, but I'm going to add some mixed frozen berries for them and that's how I'll drink my second pint this afternoon. Live and learn!

So, what's with all the rice milk lately? My oldest son has been requesting "milk shake" type smoothies this week and I use rice milk to achieve that texture. I'm currently reading the book "The China Study" and it really has me rethinking the amount of cow's milk we consume. Hopefully soon, I'll get around to making my own, raw almond milk. I can really have some fun with that!

Day Six

Oh how I wish I wish I had a camera to show you today's smoothie. Its neon pink. Truly. Like Wet 'n Wild lip gloss circa 1984. Honestly. Husband isn't too excited about the broken camera. I mean there are three of them sitting on the desk in front of me right now. They are all dead. I can't understand why he's upset. I'm doing my best to butter him up for a new one though. Preparing his favorite meals, offering "special favors". Oh sorry. TMI? (I'm KIDDING! Hi Mom!) :D

Ahem, ok on to the smoothie! We're nearing the end of the first week and you know what that means, right? It means we're nearing the end of my produce supply. The kids requested a "smoothie that isn't green" today. Oh, did I mention we're a homeschooling family? No? Ok, so we're a homeschooling family. And smoothies are a big part of our day. We took a month long break ~ from school AND from smoothies during the holidays and getting back into our routine this week has proven to me more challenging than I thought. So, in an effort to get them more on board with the smoothies (they are required to drink them, but honestly Mommy has a much better day when I don't have listen to the whining and negotiating (can I just drink two tomorrow?) and mumbling and the grumbling) I decided to honor their request. They just said it couldn't be green (or have leaves in it *snicker*), they didn't say it couldn't be choke full of healthy goodness! So I grabbed some stuff out of my freezer and off we went!

• The rest of the box of rice milk (approx a cup or so)
• one apple, chopped
• a handful of mixed frozen fruit (strawberries, pineapple, grapes & peaches ~ bag bought at walmart)
• a handful of frozen cherries
• a carrot
• a 1/4 of a beet (frozen)
• some OJ to keep it all movin' in the blender
• a squirt of agave

A beet???? Yes, a beet. I buy a bunch at a time, trim of the greens (keep those for green smoothies!) and cut the beets into quarters then put them in a ziploc and into the freezer they go! I don't use them all of the time, but they do show up in smoothies occasionally. They do have an earthy flavor and while I don't mind it, a little squirt of agave is enough to mask it for the kids. Enjoy!

Day Five

I'm still sans camera and I was fairly busy today so I just threw some stuff in a blender and it came out remarkably well. I love it when that happens! Today's recipe:

• 2 c Rice Milk
• 2 handfuls semi frozen strawberries
• 3 big handfuls spinach
• a banana
• a squirt of agave
• a splash of vanilla extract
• a big handful of ice

Dumped it all in the vita-mix & let 'er rip. It came out like a strawberry milkshake. YUM!

Day Four

Well, its a good thing the last few posts have been fairly picture heavy because today's has ZERO pictures. Why, you ask? Oh my camera died. Its dead. Its ok though because it was a dinosaur. I borrowed it from my FIL a few years ago when my youngest son killed my last one. Throwing a camera onto a gravel driveway? Not a good idea. So, my husband has been talking about getting a new camera soon, so I guess now's the time eh?

Ok, on to the smoothie. I sssooo wish I had a camera because today's smoothie was PHENOMENAL!!! It is divine. Its amazing. Its scrumptious. Have I mentioned how much I like today's smoothie? I've linked to all my ingredients though so you can see what I used.

I wanted something indulgent, but I didn't want to pay for it later. So I thought I'd try something a little different today and it was, well you get the picture. I threw the basic smoothie starter out the window today. And this is what when into my Vita-mix:

• 1 cup of Rice Milk (original flavor)
• 2 bananas
• approx 1/4 cup (maybe a little more) Adam's Natural Peanut Butter
• 3 handfuls of spinach
• 1 tbsp organic cacao powder (I couldn't find raw powder)
• about a tsp of vanilla extract
• a squirt of agave
• 2 big handfuls of ice

It tastes just like a peanut butter milkshake. Oh wow. Oh wow Oh wow Oh wow. Ok, I'm off to hide in the corner and drink all of it. I'll just tell the kids that today's was yucky. If they don't notice the green dribble running down my chin. Mmmm......green dribble. I have to go. A smoothie is calling my name.

Day Three

Today we went tropical!! Read below to see the yummy goodness!


Today I used OJ in my basic smoothie starter instead of water. It added some nice flavor and some additional Vit C.



I was also running low on spinach, so I added a few leaves of rainbow chard. Its another very mild green and adds little flavor, but packs a big nutrient punch. If you are new to green smoothies, I wouldn't make a whole smoothie out of chard, but if you add just a few leaves in with your spinach, you won't notice a difference.

Frozen mango, papaya and pinapple (not pictures). YUM. I usually buy this at Trader Joe's however I have recently discovered a nice selection of frozen fruit at my local Walmart. Who knew?

FLAX OIL! Its a very important source of Omega-3's. Be sure to buy a high quality oil, in an opaque bottle and keep it refrigerated. Cold pressed is best.

I use Raw Organic Blue Agave to sweeten up my smoothies. Use it sparingly at first, as its 4x sweeter than honey. I over used it a little this morning and I'm feeling a little sticky. ; ) However, it is slowly absorbed into the blood and has a very low glycemic index, so even though I went a little over board, I still won't get that spike in my blood sugar I would have if I'd used regular honey or sugar.

So today's recipe looked like this:

• My basic smoothie starter with apple, substituting OJ for water
• A banana
• A large handful of spinach and 3-4 leaves of rainbow chard
• A handful of frozen mango
• A handful of frozen papaya
• A handful of frozen pineapple
• A big squeeze of Flax Oil
• A big squeeze of Agave

And I feel like I should be sitting on a tropical beach somewhere with a little umbrella in my smoothie. Exactly what I needed on this cold, gray day in the Pacific Northwest!

Day Two

***Warning! Today's post is very picture heavy!***

Its day two of my smoothie challenge & things are going well. Today I thought I'd show you step by step how I make my smoothies. Don't worry, not all posts will be this picture heavy : )

I started with my Basic Smoothie Starter with apple. I just cut out the core and chop the apple into dice sized pieces. Before I got my Vita-mix, I usually used pears as they are softer and a little easier on the motor.


I added two bananas. Mmmmm.....bananas.

Then came the spinach. Lots and lots of spinach! This is the good stuff! About two whole salads worth of spinch. Right there. In my blender. People think I'm nuts. I'm ok with that.

Blueberries. I splurged this week and bought some fresh berries. I was getting sick of frozen. Fresh is always best, but this time of year I buy what I can find and rely heavily on frozen fruit. I just make sure there is no added sugar or other ingredients.

Stuff it all in the Vita-mix and let 'er rip!

Keepin' things moving!

Lookin' good. Actually, its looking a little like mud. But I know it will taste good. That's what's important. If you can't handle the look of it you can put it in an opaque cup. I prefer a pretty glass.

More blueberries. Actually, I just couldn't fit them all in before I blended it. What is not pictured is several berries making the plunge and bouncing all over my counters. That's when I decided to add them in two batches.

ICE!! If I'm not using any frozen ingredients I like to add ice. It makes the smoothie nice and cold and gives it a bit of a slushie feel.

(please ignore the blue fingernail. a pen exploded on me yesterday.)

The Meyer Lemon. Its a hybrid between a traditional lemon and a mandarin orange. They are sweeter and a little less tart. I probably should have used them yesterday and then maybe my husband's reaction would have been a little more subdued. But I didn't have enough. Anyway, I just juiced half of this guy into our smoothie. Just to brighten up the flavor a bit.

Put smoothie into a pretty glass and add cheesy garnish. (not pictured: digging out a few lemon seeds after removing said garnish)

I keep my smoothies in a glass pitcher in the refrigerator and they'll keep for about a day or two. If there's any left. We usually finish the whole batch. And sometimes make more. Its an addiction around here. I'm tellin' ya!

Um, honey do you think you could take your eyes off The Bee Movie for just a second or two and look at Mommy? How about looking a little more enthusiastic, too? Could you do that for Mommy? Please?

Hhhmmmmm. I guess he gave me one of my requests.

Thank you, sweetie!

Day One

Today's the day!! Its my first day of my Green Smoothie Challenge. I weighed 223 lbs this morning. Everyday I will drink one quart of smoothie and I'll blog all about it. The good, the bad, and the ugly! I will get healthier, leaner and fitter this year.

Today's smoothie was:

• Basic Smoothie Starter with apple
• 1/2 c of freshly squeezed lemon juice
• a couple big squirts of Raw Organic Agave Nectar
• (2) 6oz clamshell packages of fresh raspberries.
• Ice

I was going for a Raspberry Lemonade type of flavor. My husband tried it and immediately yelled Yaaaaawhhhhhoooooo!!! Kind of like YeeHaw, but with a Yawho! It was a little tart. But I enjoyed it.