Photo Credit: taupetortoise via Compfight cc
A friend inspired me to try a green smoothie challenge, but the one she was doing really intimated me. That’s when I discovered Simple Green Smoothies, just in time for their new challenge starting April 1. I’ve never done much with green smoothies myself. I’ve done it for my kids before. I just to make super thick ones for my son when he was tiny and fed them to him with a spoon to help put some healthy calories in his system. I also tried to get my daughter to drink them when I thought she was low on iron. But I was always afraid of trying them myself. I’m not against greens. I make kale chips and I like spinach in my salad or in an egg casserole. But drinking greens?
The other reasons I was reluctant were that I was concerned whether smoothies could be made protein packed enough to keep my blood sugar balanced, especially at the beginning of the day. I also really don’t like bananas. I wish I did. They are so healthy and inexpensive and they make great smoothies, but I just don’t like them. Most smoothie recipes include bananas.
But I’ve decided to give this a try anyway. Each week I’ll give you reviews of the recipes I try and mention any modifications.
Photo Credit: merwing✿little dear via Compfight cc
A few early lessons:
If I add Greek yogurt I need to add extra fruit or some other sweetener like honey. It’s very bitter.
I need to take it easy on the greens. I made what would have been an otherwise great berry smoothie only to discover that it still tasted like kale.
I technically started my challenge a little early, if only to get used to cleaning the blender every day. (Yuck, I still hate it, but I’m getting used to it). The first few recipes were ones I found on the website, and to be honest neither was a huge hit. I made the Beginner’s Luck smoothie first, with the bananas, hoping I could get past my dislike of bananas. I couldn’t.
I tried a berry smoothie and could taste the greens (kale in this case) a little bit too much. But the next day I blended the leftovers with some greek yogurt and it actually tasted quite nice.
So here goes, 30 days of smoothies. Join me in the challenge and feel free to share your favorite recipes.
I’m so excited you are doing this! A thought about cleaning the blender- fill it halfway with water and a little dish soap, put the blender back on (lid on) and turn on HIGH for 1 minute. Rinse. Voila! Clean!