For years, I had good intentions to eat more fruits and vegetables. However, I would get busy and rely on the same ones over and over. Last year, we started having green smoothies for breakfast and I finally achieved that goal.
I have a 30 year old Oster kitchen center with a blender attachment that holds about 6 cups. It gets used almost every day. The smoothie is different every day, which I enjoy. Today's is a good example of what we do:
A couple of spoonfuls of plain yogurt
A scoop of protein powder
A spoonful of green powder
A spoonful of carob powder
One whole banana
Three mandarin oranges
A large handful of red grapes
The tops from a head of celery
A handful of spinach
A large handful of ice cubes
About one cup of fruit juice
About one cup of water
Blend until it starts to overflow the blender or is smooth like a milkshake, whichever happens first. It was completely smooth today since I managed not to overfill it. The bananas really give it a milkshake texture whether frozen or fresh. If none of the produce is frozen, the ice cubes are a must. If some of the produce is frozen, use fewer ice cubes. If all the produce is frozen, except maybe for some greens, no ice cubes as it will make sno-cones instead.
The golf pro gets half and I get half. He has his early; I usually wait until around 10. He eats other breakfast stuff, I don't.
On Sundays with a bigger breakfast, I often make a fruit only smoothie. We often have mushrooms or tomatoes with Sunday breakfast to take care of our veggies in the morning. These Sunday smoothies are more like the ones you might find at a smoothie store with just one or two fruits, no other stuff except the juice, water, and ice.
I get case lots of different fruits during the summer and freeze them for the smoothies year round. Last week, we finished up the last of the frozen strawberries. We now have peaches, mangoes, bananas, and blueberries in the freezer to add to whatever we get from Bountiful Baskets. Today we had all fresh. Next week, we will probably add some frozen as we use up what we got last Saturday. I usually order every other week.
During the summer, I got a juice pack from Bountiful Baskets. I juiced all the items, then made ice cubes out of them. When we are low on fruit or I want more color, I add one or two to the smoothie. They are a pretty red due to the beet and beet tops in them.
Smoothies like this also make a nice dessert. They satisfy the sweet tooth craving but are generally pretty healthy. If you want it with a little zip, a bit of green chili is a nice touch. I've done that a couple of times. This is a great way to use up little bits of leftovers like sweet potato, cooked veggies, undressed salad, etc. Almost all veggies are a good addition. For example, we've used cooked sweet potato, raw chili pepper, bell pepper, fennel, beets, carrots, celery, cabbage, spinach, kale, chard, lettuce, peas, asparagus, broccoli, avocado, and tomatoes. For fruits, we've used coconut, berries, grapes, oranges, mandarins, limes, bananas, mangoes, peaches, apricots, apples, pears, even a little lemon. You don't want too tart like a whole lemon or or heavily flavored like onion or garlic. I don't like grapefruit, and when I added one to the smoothie, I could taste it too much. However, there have been days when I take out my share and put in half a grapefruit for the golf pro. He loves them.
What this all means is that we get lots of whole fruit and veggies to start every day: lots of phyto-nutrients, lots of fiber, lots of flavor, lots of vitamins, lots of liquid, and a nice start. If I add cocoa powder, we even get a chocolate shake for breakfast. Can't beat it!
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