Smoothies are quickly becoming my best friend. I have always been a big fan of smoothies and am only now learning of all the great things, other than fruit, that you can throw into them and the girls love them! I don't think they have ever turned me down when I have offered them a smoothie. We started throwing spinach into smoothies a while ago, the first time I didn't I wasn't thinking and threw it into an orange julius. The resulting flavor was fine but the color was a nasty pukish gray and no one wanted to touch it. So a good rule of thumb is if you are throwing green stuff in your smoothie and you don't want you smoothie to be green or pukish gray, throw in fruit that is dark colored like red or purple (mixed berries like blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries work really well and you can buy them in big bags at Sam's, Costco, or Winco). Flax meal is another super easy thing to throw in, avocados make smoothies nice and creamy (but remember the green rule) and we discovered something else surprising...broccoli. My friend told me that she knew someone that put frozen broccoli in their smoothies, my thought: gross. When I think broccoli I think of a bit more overpowering flavor and not really one that you want to chug down in the morning. I decided to give it a try though and just put in a little bit and SURPRISE... you couldn't taste it. The next time we tried a bit more and... the same result. We've even tried broccoli and spinach and it was still good. I don't know if fresh broccoli would have the same result as frozen, we haven't tried it, I most definitely would not try cooked broccoli.
We had a complete dinner fail the other night. Ryan was going to be gone till late and as often happens when Ryan is not going to be home for dinner I didn't feel like spending a lot of time making something that I was pretty sure the girls wouldn't eat. So we ate cereal and I justified it with a smoothie that had broccoli and spinach in it. Yay for smoothies!
Yay for smoothies indeed! I loved the tip about dark fruits to hide the color. My kids won't drink my green smoothies because of that. Hadn't tried the broccoli yet! Great idea. Thanks friend!
ReplyDeletesounds so yummy! :)
ReplyDeleteWe love smoothies too! I like the tip about the dark fruit! Broccoli sounds interesting!
ReplyDeleteHere is a really yummy one:
1 - banana
4 - large strawberries (stems cut out)
1/2 cup - low-fat vanilla yogurt
1/8 cup frozen orange juice concentrate
1/2 cup 1% milk
2 tsps whey powder
1 tsp of flax seed
6 ice cubes, crushed
(Makes 2 8oz servings)
I have another recipe that uses oatmeal - it is really yummy!!!
We love smoothies here, too! Great way to get some extra nutrients in the kids (and me!) Although, I still have not been brave enough to try flax, spinach, and broccoli. I may have to do that soon!
ReplyDeleteI usually make them with apple juice since that is just what we usually have on hand. But I love to buy and use V8 fusion. 100% juice-fruit and vegetable.
My biggest tip for smoothies is to always keep a stock of frozen bananas in the freezer. That way you can use them in your smoothie instead of ice cubes. I just buy a ton of bananas at a time and as soon as they start turning too ripe, I peel them, break them into chunks, and put them in a gallon freezer bag.
We are going to start making more smoothies now. :) Thanks for you tips and also the tips from your readers.
ReplyDelete