Hi guys! *waves*
So the other morning I didn't have to work until later, so I decided to take a few extra minutes making my morning green smoothie and show you guys what I like to have. Keep in mind that what I put in these does change from time to time based on what I have in the house, but this is more or less what I have in it.
I use my Nutribullet blender to make these. It was a much-debated purchase but in the end I'm so glad I went ahead and bought it. I make an effort to use it almost every day, and when I don't I actually find myself thinking about the smoothie I missed in my day.
I hope you can excuse the less-than-stellar iphone photos.
First I fill about half the large cup with organic baby spinach. This is my favourite "green" for the green smoothie. Some people use kale, swiss chard, even spring mix or parsley. I like the flavor of spinach, so this is really all I use. I always buy organic. Keep in mind I STUFF the spinach in there. It may not look like a lot but that's two handfuls crammed down in the bottom. I like to squish as much as I can into the cup.
Next I slice, then half the slices, about a quarter of a cucumber. I miss this when I don't have it for my smoothie. Again, I try and buy these organic, and I usually get at least 2 at a time. That will last about a week, then I go get fresh ones. It's so refreshing and really adds to the flavor, and of course green color! It's probably not necessary to cut it up so small, but I'm paranoid and want my blender to last as long as it can. Considering I'm using it almost daily to make these drinks (and others!) I want to prolong it's life the best I can. Part of that is not making it work too hard each time.
My green smoothie doesn't feel right without pineapple. I use 2-3 "stalks" in each one, depending on how big they are and how much room I have left in the cup. I buy it pre-cut, which i know is the lazy way out, but my goal is to make making these smoothies as simple as possible so I am more inclined to keep doing it. That's the way my brain works. Anyway. This is part of the "fruit component. I usually do 50% greens/veggies and 50% fruit, as I like mine to taste sweet. The pineapple really masks the taste of the spinach, so if you're new to this I highly recommend it.
I half a lemon, cut a couple slices to put in plain water, then squeeze the juice of the rest of it into my smoothie. I am COMPLETELY, and utterly, irreversibly, obsessed with lemon. Lately I've been trying to make an effort to drink more water, and nothing makes it go down better than having it taste great. Lemon does that for you, without adding any chemicals, sugar, or calories, and it helps detox your system with its cleansing properties. Get lemon daily.
As an add-on, I like putting in either a tablespoon of chia seeds (which are SO good, by the way; another obsession) or ground flax seeds. Yes, you do have to grind them into powder for your system to do anything with them. I used the Nutribullet to do this - it comes with a Milling blade made for turning seeds into powders and nuts/water into nut milk. I just bought a container of organic flax seeds then ground them in the Nutribullet until you get a rather fine powder. It's not going to be perfect. You could buy it pre-ground if you wanted, I just found it more cost effective this way as I knew the Nutribullet could grind them for me.Anyway, flax is a good source of fibre so it's a great add on to your smoothie, and it adds a different texture, so if you don't like more watery drinks, add this to thicken it up. I don't do this everyday.
Now, you could leave it the way it was, but because I only had 2 stalks of pineapple left this day I added some fresh raspberries. Frozen would work great too; I just happened to have fresh ones. I also really like frozen sliced strawberries in this. They work as nutritional ice cubes!
Now we're done loading up all our ingredients. How pretty does this look?
We're almost there. Just add enough water to either go up to the Max line (don't go past it!) or less if you want a thicker smoothie. I usually go up to the line or just below it as I've done this day. I use filtered water from my Brita filter, but you can use any liquid you want - cocount water, orange juice, whatever. I personally don't like the taste of coconut water, but it's health benefits are boundless so it's recommended for this kind of thing. I stick to the plain water with the lemon in there.
Screw on your Extractor blade, make sure it's tight, then flip the whole works over. Lock it into the power base (there are small notches which guide you).
Blend...
Keep blending...you can see it's turned this - in all honesty - gross color.
It's lucky it tastes so good, because it's certainly prettier if you don't add berries or flax. I blend it until the consistency looks the way I want it. This varies day to day.
There you go! Hope you guys enjoyed. Want to see more recipes in the future? Let me know in the comments!
Bonus: Here's my latest fruit infused water obsession: Lemon and strawberries! So yummy.
