Wednesday, April 16, 2014

*Drink Your Greens*

kitchen window kitchen window kitchen window best hoodie EVER! (shark love) peter rabbit coat blocking bulk kale for drink your greens Drink Your Greens Drink Your Greens

Of course with Easter and C's birthday just around the corner, we all came down with sicknesses. Murphy's law, right? But our miserable state gave us the excuse to try the flu-fighter sunshine smoothie from a cookbook that just arrived in the mail today. We had all of the ingredients on hand minus one. That forced us out into the fresh air for a bike ride to the store, which then led to flower picking and nature observing. Ah yes, we needed that ride. A nice reminder that no matter what life throws at you, there is always something good waiting around the corner.

Speaking of smoothies, we have been on quite the smoothie kick the past few weeks, thanks to our tax return splurge - a Vitamix! Our most recent family favorite concoction is inspired by a drink we tasted at Whole Foods back in January. This smoothie is a good way to start your day, or as in my case lately - an evening pick me up to help me with my late night crafting endeavors. Whichever way you chose to drink it, your body will thank you for it.

Drink Your Greens
makes enough for our family of five

3 1/2 cups apple juice
2 frozen bananas, chopped
5 tsp spirulina*
2 c kale (frozen preferred)
2 c frozen strawberries
a handful of ice

Place the ingredients in your blender in the order they are listed. Vitamix or other high powered blenders work best for this. Blend on high for one minute. Pour into cups and enjoy!

*If your family is not used to the taste of spirulina you may want to start with 2 tsp or so of it and then gradually increase it to 5 over time. Also, not all spirulina is created equal. We have tried a few different brands and some of them have quite the strong flavor *ahem*. Thankfully we discovered pure Hawaiian spirulina pacifica which has a nice mild flavor and blends into our drink quite well.



Share/Bookmark

Comments (19)

Loading... Logging you in...
  • Logged in as
I drink a green smoothie every day. I love them and I've gotten so used to them I can feel when I haven't had one. It's weird but true!
1 reply · active 588 weeks ago
Frédérique's avatar

Frédérique · 588 weeks ago

I LOVE LOVE LOVE your blog! Thanks for the recipe, it looks delicious and easy enough! May I ask where you found these fantastic sippy cups?
2 replies · active 588 weeks ago
Thank you!! I bought them when we were living in Oregon at a local grocery store called New Seasons. I wish I had more info on them but they aren't labeled in any way :( The tops for them are cuppow and then the stainless steel straws were bought years ago (I forgot where).
Frédérique's avatar

Frédérique · 588 weeks ago

Thanks so much! Again: love your blog, always looking forward to a new post!
This kale looks different than what I used. Is this baby kale? or a specific variety? A friend of mine indicated that if I'd massaged it when washing more, some of the bitterness might have gone away? hmmm. :)
3 replies · active 588 weeks ago
If you squish it up(or massage if you aren't a kid!), the bitterness leaves and it tastes like broccoli. Even my picky eater was excited to learn this at the farmer's market a few years ago and now she actually will eat kale right off the stem. Just smoosh it in your hands to break up the veins a bit and it releases a natural sweetness that's very broccoli-ish.
Thanks!.......I may give kale a second chance.......if it behaves itself. :)
Yay!! I think the kale I photographed above was indeed baby kale but we also use regular kale ,too.
I'm a bit jealous of your vitamix. I have a cheapo food processor so it's not quite so efficient but it works well enough for softer greens like spinach. I'm not sure if you all are nut-free but almond butter is really delicious and easy to make in a food processor/vitamix and a fun project for kids. It's literally as simple as toasting raw almonds in your oven and tossing them in the vitamix and running it until it's the correct consistency. A nice healthy protein without any nasty preservatives. My kids really love it.
1 reply · active 588 weeks ago
I have to admit I am in love with the vitamix. We had been waiting years to get one. I am going to try making the almond butter like you suggested. We love almond butter but like you mentioned - not the junk that is added to it!
Forget the smoothy (though that is awesome too) - I love the mason jars as cups (with handles and covers!) Those deserve a post in and of itself!
1 reply · active 588 weeks ago
ha,ha. They are pretty great aren't they?! I wish I had info on who made them but we bought them back in Oregon at a local grocery store.
Looks great! I just got the shipping confirmation on our tax refund Blendtec. And funny, I just put that cookbook in my cart yesterday!
1 reply · active 588 weeks ago
Yes! We've been drinking green smoothies all winter long & it's amazing how much better we feel when we have them. Lots of frozen berries & spinach, here, and chia seeds. And bananas, of course. :) xo
1 reply · active 588 weeks ago
yum. We started adding maca powder, too.
Wild Maple Wool 's avatar

Wild Maple Wool · 588 weeks ago

Wonderful! Lovely pictures! You cannot put a price on health! Drink up and cheers ;p

Blessings,
Samantha
1 reply · active 588 weeks ago

Post a new comment

Comments by

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...