I'm sure you've either heard about or even participated in the 25 Things About Me Note on Facebook. Well, on hers, my friend, Bethany mentioned that she was addicted to spinach smoothies. They sound healthy, but disgusting. However, I know that Bethany has great taste and wouldn't tell me that something was yummy if it weren't. So lately I've decided I need to stop talking about dieting and not eating cookies, Coke and pizza so much and actually take a step toward incorporating healthier stuff into my daily regime. One of those steps is to eat more raw vegetables. I'm not going hippie here, just healthier. So I got the Spinach Smoothie recipe from Bethany and tried it. Holy goodness! It's like a Jamba minus the sherbet (NOT sherBERT) and sugar, plus all the goodness that spinach contains. We know that spinach is healthy, but do you know just HOW healthy? Here's what I got from my research (on the internet, so it's true). Spinach has loads of folic acid, or folate. Folate, according to wikid-pedia, can reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease (maybe it will undo all my years of indulging in cheese and ice cream), stroke (it runs in the family), birth defects (in case Chouaib puts a baby in me - it's too late to undo MY birth defects), and - on that note - increases fertility. It's magic! Magic you can drink that tastes like strawberries and oranges! Here is the recipe:In a blender add:
1 C. orange juice
2 C. fresh spinach (not the frozen kind)
1 C. fresh kale (cut out the thick center stem)
Blend until smooth, and runny, and nasty green.
Then add:
1/2 a banana
1/4 C. frozen raspberries
1/4 C. frozen blueberries
I didn't have kale, so I threw in more spinach instead. For the frozen fruit, I substituted frozen strawberries and threw in some fresh blackberries. I probably used more fruit than the recipe calls for. But, still, it's pretty awesome in all its versatility.
Thanks, Bethany, for saving my life.
*Photo by Lindi McLaughlin
9 comments:
So it honestly wasn't gross at all?
I promise. Except for the green flecks in it, there is not hint of spinach. I can't believe it was so good.
k, my 6 and 7 yr old boys watched Kristy make this shake and both were saying typical 6 and 7 yr old boy things... "it looks like poo". I finally got the 7 yr old to try it and he said "this is the best drink in the world, I wish we didn't have water anymore and this drink was water from now on". wow... can you imagine swimming in this drink?
Kale is a leafy green. I've never had it. I think it might also be referred to as collard greens. But then again it could be entirely different.
I was so willing to try this until you mentioned the bananas.
Kale is actually most healthy for you cooked. So, the fact that you didn't use it in your smoothie isn't all that big of a deal. ;)
you can mask the taste of any veggie if you use enough fruit.
Shauna, you can leave out the 1/2 banana, I'm sure and it would still taste yummy. It mostly tastes of strawberries and orange. Like Heather said, just add more fruit.
You're welcome!
So tasty!
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