Go Green and Healthy!

I learned about Green Smoothies about a year ago and have been amazed that I can get my son (who hates all veggies) to drink them.

In fact, he likes them so much he will beg me to make them. This is a healthy drink which gives you a pretty high dose of greens, but is still yummy. Here are two of the basics recipes I love.

Green Smoothie
Put 2-1/2 cups water in Blender
Add:
Raw, washed greens (spinach, spring greens, romaine, chard, kale, collards)—I add a bunch till the blender’s full of greens and water.

¼ whole lemon, including peel (anti-skin cancer, high in flavonoids) **I skip this if I don’t have a lemon around.
2-3 Tbsp. flax seed (or flaxseed oil) ***You can skip this too if you don’t have it

Puree until very smooth—it will look like puke (but thankfully, it doesn’t taste like it)

Gradually add fruit until container is very full; blend until smooth
1-2 bananas
1-2 cups frozen berries
Any other fruit to taste: pears, peaches, apples, apricots, cantaloupe, mango, pineapple

Then add sweetener to taste (I use sugar, but if you’re a healthnut, you can use stevia or organic agave nectar to sweeten it)
When all blended, pour out into a cup and enjoy, or keep it in the fridge and sip it throughout the day to keep from bad snacking.

Now, if you just can’t get past that puke green color (which my husband can’t), then here’s a way to mask it.

Green Chocolate Shake
2 cups milk
3 cups spring greens (or any other greens)
2 ripe bananas
2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. soy sauce (yes! I didn’t make a typo; this somehow brings out the chocolate flavor)
¼ cup honey or agave nectar (or if you’re lazy like me, just regular sugar)
½ cup cocoa powder
2 cups ice

Blend all ingredients together in a blender. I love how frothy and thick these are.

Sometimes I drink either of these two drinks for lunch and feel pretty good about myself for the rest of the day. They're so healthy! Look at this face! It's total proof that these drinks are great—even for green haters like my son!

There’s a whole website on green smoothies, so if you want to learn more, go to www.greensmoothiegirl.com .