Green Smoothies

Have you ever seen someone drinking green sludge and wondered what it was?

That, my friends, is a green smoothie.

I should begin by stating for the record that I am not a green smoothie guru.  Yes, I do drink them and I have read plenty about them to see why I should drink them, but I am not the example to follow here.  (If you want to learn more about green smoothies, Google is a good place to start.)

I drink green smoothies for one reason: it's much easier to get in my fruits & vegetables.  In one morning smoothie, I get one or two servings of vegetables and three or four servings of fruit.  All with one drink.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The basics of a green smoothie is this:

• Put some liquid in a blender.  (I use water, but you can use any kind of milk, - almond, soy, cow -  fruit juice, probably even coffee, if that's your thing.)
• Put a few handfuls of spinach - or other green leafy items like kale, bok choy - in the blender.  (This is where the "green" comes from.)
• Add fruits that you may like.  (Mine is usually a frozen banana, strawberries and peaches.)
• Hit "Liquefy" on the blender.
• Pour into tall cup.
• Drink.

(I also add a scoop of non-flavored protein powder and a couple of tablespoons of flax seed to mine.  I also choose to let the fruit be the "sugar" in mine, but some people like to add sugar, honey or stevia to it.)

I use spinach every time.  I've heard it's not as strong as the other leafy vegetables out there and I'd much rather taste the fruit. But the great thing about green smoothies is that you can do pretty much everything.  Try different ones until you find one that works for you.  (The one I make is good, but also relatively cheap.  If I could afford it, I would make it with pineapple and coconut for a green Piña Colada every day.)

One last thing.  Some people are obnoxious about the kind of blender you have to use.  And while I have nothing against Blendtec or Vitamix or Ninja, I would prefer not spend hundreds of dollars on a blender.  The one I have works just fine.  I mean, it's not like I'm blending rocks or batteries.  I'm blending fruits and vegetables.  (Yes, even frozen bananas blend well with mine.)

So if you have a hard time getting in your fruits and vegetables every day, this might be something for you to try.