Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Morning Blend


For my and jb's birthday my sister, Stehpanie (who is a health coach with Sweat and Butter), got us a Nutribullet.  I mentioned that I'd been trying to be a bit more conscious about my health since I've had this foggy feeling that I can't seem to shake - so it was good timing and has meant we've been starting every day with a smoothie.

I've always been a smoothie fan, but I've never been a daily smoothie maker.  I get lazy about it mostly because I have a blender (too much hassle to wash daily) and an immersion blender (doesn't break up certain things (like leafy greens) enough to make a smooth smoothie - which is then, what?  Not a smoothie at all, more of a chunkie.

I assumed my daily smoothie would have to wait until I saved up enough to purchase a long-coveted Vitamix.  I was pretty surprised that this gadget has been able to blend up anything I've thrown in it to a easily drinkable consistency.

Now we've been drinking smoothies every morning.  Usually green - there is something about starting the day out with a serving of leafy greens that is just so...awesome.  It is the definition of starting the day out on the right foot.  The kids drink them up happily and the larger canister that came with the Nutribullet makes enough smoothie for all three of us to have some.

I don't really have recipes since I usually just throw in what we have on hand, but below you can get an idea of what we've been drinking.  I almost always use kale - because it has an ANDI score of 1000 but I don't love the taste by itself, so we don't eat it regularly in dinners.  Spinach, broccoli, brussel sprouts and other greens we have no problem eating often.  But kale, I just don't love it.  Of course if you mix it with some fruit and maybe add a squirt of agave syrup I'll drink three servings right up.  We buy a huge bag of it and I just stick in the freezer next to my bags of frozen fruit.  Pull them all out in the mornings and mix and match.  These are some of our faves:

The Tropical:  I love the bright green color produced when we stick to yellow and orange fruits.  Mango, Pineapple and peaches are in this blend and I like it because these are also fruits we don't eat regularly in their natural form.

The Tropical

The Ugly Duckling:  It doesn't look pretty - but you can't go wrong with strawberry and banana.  I also like that smoothies made with a banana are usually sweet enough on their own to forgo the dash of agave I usually put in.

The Ugly Duckling

The Classic: No greens, just common fruits.  No need for sweetener.  I used to use OJ to make this, but with the Nurtibullet I just throw the whole orange in, add some water and voila.  Leo likes this one mostly because it's his favorite color: pink.

The Classic

The Purple Monster: Pack in the berries and the anit-oxidants.  If you don't love seeing the green in your green smoothie this takes care of that.

The Purple Monster

So, yay for me - and the whole family - for being on this smoothie kick.  It's been almost a month, so I think we might keep it up.  There are two hitches to the plan.  1. On morning when I want/need coffee it doesn't go great with coffee - so I either skip or don't drink it until like mid-morning.  2. Turns out it's also great for making milkshakes and margaritas...and I have had more of those than usual, too.  

(This is totally not a sponsored post.  I just really liked it - thanks Sis!)

1 comment:

  1. Yay! I'm so glad! Nathan makes his own coffee and of course puts butter in it! It'll whip it up like a latte!

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