Sneaking onto the Smoothie Bandwagon

I usually field at least three recommendations a week to start drinking green smoothies.  Friends badger me, my healthier clients drop subtle hints, and they’re all over the news.  The benefits are generally peppered with “antis” — anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, anti-microbial, anti-diabetic, antioxidant.   It’s always sounded like I’d be starting my day at war, slouching into the kitchen in my fatigues for another battle against health mediocrity.

Then I read this on Victoria Boutenko’s blog:

Reason #6: Green smoothies are easy to make, and quick to clean up after.

OH YEAH!  Now you’re speaking my language.  You see, although I am a morning person, I don’t necessarily like to start my day with elaborate breakfast preparations (at least not during the week).  If I can wing a few things into a blender and set it to whirl while I feed the dogs and splash water on my face, well, that sounds just about perfect. The fact that it’s super-nutritious also takes away some of the guilt factor I’ll feel later in the day when I forget to eat my veggies.

Plus, greens are something that are never in short supply in the summer here — easily half of my kitchen garden is usually dominated by kale, collards, sorrel, bok choy, spinach, and other leafy greens.  When the gardens are up and producing, grabbing a handful from the closest garden bed is a lot cheaper than the $2.00 bunches at the organic grocery.

So here’s this morning’s experiment:

1/2 cup frozen organic blueberries
a frozen banana, cut into chunks
2 loose cups mixed greens (today I have kale, dandelion greens, sorrel and romaine)
half of an orange
a cup of flax milk
2 ice cubes

Okay, so it was pretty delightful, especially when sipping it through one of my glass dharma straws stainless steel straws (one of the things in my kitchen I’m most fond of, for whatever reason). The tang of the greens meshed perfectly with the tangy berries and orange so it felt not at all like drinking pulverized bluegrass.  And to clean up, I only had to fill the blender jar with hot soapy water, and later today I’ll give it a rinse.

Just don’t tell anyone I gave in, okay?

Category: Cooking, Food, Organic, Uncategorized