Smoothies.
I have been on this crazy smoothie kick lately. I'm not sure why, but I've frequently been replacing either breakfast or lunch with a smoothie. I feel like I've learned a lot about what makes a smoothie good. Here are my tips.
1. You need some kind of juice. Not a lot, necessarily, but if you don't use something juicy the smoothie will be too thick to drink through a straw. I often cut up a grapefruit and then squeeze all the juice out.
2. I don't like all my fruit frozen. I know some people will probably disagree, but I always microwave the frozen berries so they are not so hard and frozen. Again, this leads to a juicier drink.
3. Greek yogurt is a great addition. Aldi almost always has Fage 0% plain Greek yogurt right now, and I like to add maybe 2 T. to my fruit mixture.
4. Spinach! I'm serious. Spinach is so healthy and you really can't taste it at all. I almost always add about 1 c. That much spinach has about a quarter of your daily needs for folic acid and vitamin c. I will admit that adding spinach nearly always make the smoothie an interesting and slightly less desirable color, but I love all the extra nutrition it gives me.
5. My favorite smoothies have all contained grapefruit. (Apparently I've been on a grapefruit kick in addition to my smoothie kick.) I cut off the peel, then cut the slices into my cup. It really makes a great base for a smoothie. My current favorite recipe is 1 grapefruit, cut into slices, 2 c. frozen (and slightly thawed blueberries), 2 T. yogurt, 1 T. honey, and 1 cup or so of spinach. Because grapefruit is so tart, I think it is much better to add a little sweetness. I did something similar with an orange recently, and also like that, although I didn't add any honey.
Anyone else have any good smoothie recipes?
1. You need some kind of juice. Not a lot, necessarily, but if you don't use something juicy the smoothie will be too thick to drink through a straw. I often cut up a grapefruit and then squeeze all the juice out.
2. I don't like all my fruit frozen. I know some people will probably disagree, but I always microwave the frozen berries so they are not so hard and frozen. Again, this leads to a juicier drink.
3. Greek yogurt is a great addition. Aldi almost always has Fage 0% plain Greek yogurt right now, and I like to add maybe 2 T. to my fruit mixture.
4. Spinach! I'm serious. Spinach is so healthy and you really can't taste it at all. I almost always add about 1 c. That much spinach has about a quarter of your daily needs for folic acid and vitamin c. I will admit that adding spinach nearly always make the smoothie an interesting and slightly less desirable color, but I love all the extra nutrition it gives me.
5. My favorite smoothies have all contained grapefruit. (Apparently I've been on a grapefruit kick in addition to my smoothie kick.) I cut off the peel, then cut the slices into my cup. It really makes a great base for a smoothie. My current favorite recipe is 1 grapefruit, cut into slices, 2 c. frozen (and slightly thawed blueberries), 2 T. yogurt, 1 T. honey, and 1 cup or so of spinach. Because grapefruit is so tart, I think it is much better to add a little sweetness. I did something similar with an orange recently, and also like that, although I didn't add any honey.
Anyone else have any good smoothie recipes?
Comments
Also, I agree with your spinach additions -- and I really don't like green things in my smoothies, but this is a winner! I find that most traces of leafy greens can be easily masked with a few teaspoons of Ovaltine thrown in. Chocolate covers a lot of things. Like fat cells. But I digress.... :)
My current favorite smoothie recipe is vanilla yogurt, milk, ANY fruit we have laying around (esp bananas), a few leaves of greenery, and a few teaspoons (tablespoons??) of Ovaltine. It's pretty simple. Grapefruit sounds very intriguing. Good tips! Thanks!
*Sorry this is so eternally long!