Easy peasy smoothie

How are ya? Hope you're all enjoying your weekend. Its about 90 degrees today and we just got done walking around an art festival downtown. It was fun soaking up the sun. We did not buy anything but saw quite a few really cool pieces. We saw a huge painted picture of the front of an old car. We both wanted it so bad, alas, it was $6,800. Eeek. :-/

So I wanted to show you how I make my green smoothies. Not at all hard and when you practice making them, they should only take 10-15 minutes. I like to make enough to fill my blender to the top.

So I like to start out with a juicy fruit for the base, usually pineapple or orange. Sometimes I use 1 fruit in the smoothie, sometimes I throw in 3 or 4 different ones. This time I used orange on the bottom, about 5 strawberries and half a banana.


To get things moving, put in about a cup of water or milk. I use almond milk.


Blend that well. Next I throw in a variety of other ingredients like flax, chia seeds, protein powder (I use Nutiva hemp protein), almonds or walnuts, nut butter and the list goes on. I put about a tablespoon of each in. These extra ingredients really go far in keeping you filled up for the morning or afternoon.


Finally, the spinach! I cram as many greens as I can into my blender..anywhere from 2-8 cups. Start out with 2 or 4 and as your taste buds adjust, feel free to add much more! You can use whatever greens you have on hand. Spinach does not have a strong taste whereas kale or dark leafy greens may be bitter. I try to rotate my greens to get the maximum nutrients. If you don't care for the green taste, add more banana. Its a fail safe way to really mask any green flavor.

I also add a ton of ice because I love my smoothies very cold. Let me know how you like yours! Experiment with different fruit combinations. Frozen fruit also works great.

Greens are nutritional powerhouses. We all should be consuming as many greens as we can. One major perk I noticed after increasing my greens is that my cravings went away. I used to be a slave to my cravings when I started trying to eat more healthy. Pizza, chinese food, chocolate...just to name a few! I can honestly say I very rarely 'crave' a certain food and feel like I need to have it. Sure, something may look really good but I don't crave it. We crave certain foods because our bodies are crying out for nutrients. Why do you crave pasta and bread? Your body wants carbs. Good carbs. Think fruit! Once you give your body what it really wants, natural, fresh foods loaded with nutrients and minerals, you are finally supplying your body with what it needs. And cravings will diminish.

Check out this link for more info:

http://www.cookingnook.com/health-benefits-of-spinach.html

Some of my other eats have included nanner with almond butter and some organic berry jam my lovely mom brought from Door County. One of my favorite foods when I was younger was a peanut butter and jelly. This combination always reminds me of it! Its pretty much my favorite snack!

Beautiful blackberries.

Some not so ripe watermelon but I still ate my weight in it.

On Friday my hubby and I went to Whole Foods for a couple things and of course I had to check out their amazing salad bar. They had out their famous kale salad which never seems to be their when I go. I admit, I have always been scared of kale. People seem to love it but I've been avoiding trying it. I jumped at the chance to try WF's version. I wasn't too hungry so I bought my little $.96 portion and scarfed it down. Ok, IN LOVE with KALE! Their version was simply evoo, lemon juice, kalamata olives, tomatoes, salt and pepper. I bought some organic kale and went straight home to recreate it. I am happy to say I loved my version just as much!


For those not familiar with raw kale, like I was, the trick is to massage it with olive oil for a couple minutes. I actually had a lot of fun with this massaging part. Haha.

I've seen this stuff around the blog world and decided to try it. Its vegan cheese, soy free, and only 90 calories in a 1/4 cup. It's pretty good and a nice addition to my otherwise raw salads. It strangely tastes a lot like regular cheese. How DO they do that? My digestion system thanks me for giving up real cheese... I don't see myself buying this all the time but I like trying things at least once.

So, go make yourself a kale salad and have fun massaging! :) Hope you have a great weekend and enjoy your day off Monday!