Green Smoothies - my opinion and recipes

I would first like to tell you a bit of my theory concerning green smoothies. First of all, there is nothing magical that happens when you blend up your vegetables and fruit. Meaning, if you eat plenty of produce (especially greens) already than you shouldn't feel you are not as healthy because you don't drink green smoothies. They are not always green in color, they don't have to taste bad, and they are not made purely of vegetables (in general). I think they are a fantastic way to boost the amount of produce you consume, great for eating vegetables for breakfast when you wouldn't have otherwise, and also helps you get some raw greens which have not had nutrient damage due to heat. 

I go in spurts of loving these, being tired of them, and feeling like they are a big job (when they are not at all!). Right now I am definitely in a "loving these" stage! I'm sharing with you a few that were/are my favorites. Let's start with my foundation: 2 cups greens, 1 banana - that's it. I guess it's not much of a foundation, but I felt I should share. I used to think I had to add liquid....not necessary. I love making them with entirely produce these days. My normal routine is to have a big bowl of greens (kale and spinach being most common) washed and ready to go for the coming days. That way I just have to wash and tear once and the rest of the week it's easy. I also do this for Marshall's salads when I'm planning for that to be his lunch veggie for the week. Okay, now to the recipes!

2 cups kale, 1 banana, 1 pear, 2 clementines. This was a great one! 

 2 cups beet leaves, 1 banana, 1/2 grapefruit, 1/2 cup blueberries.

This was my first time using grapefruit. If you like the taste of them I highly recommend this! The flavor takes over a bit, but it's a great way to "cover up" any flavor you may not want from your greens. I find the beet leaves quite mild anyway though.

I don't have a picture for the next two recipes, but it's not necessary. The next two both have ingredients other than produce as well. So I guess they aren't quite as green, but healthy nonetheless. 

Last night I whipped up something really simple and light after an evening run. 1/2 cup spinach, 1/2 cup milk, 10 ice cubes, 3 small clementines. light, refreshing, and slightly sweet. Served it's purpose of getting a bit of something healthy in my stomach after my run, yet not being too much to sleep on. 

This next one I decided to make substantial enough to be my post-run lunch. I did a basic nutritional analysis on this one because I felt bad that I didn't have a picture : ) ...the ingredients are as follows:

2 cups kale, 2 bananas(!), 1/ 2 cup milk, 2 T. peanut butter, 1 T. cocoa powder, 1 T. flax seed meal. Here is the results of the analysis: 631 calories - 21 grams protein (84 cal), 85 grams carbs (340 cal), 23 grams fat (207 cal).

If you want these flavors but not all the calories you could take out 1 banana, and 1 T. PB and you've already cut out almost 200 calories. Replacing the milk for unsweetened almond milk would also be a great idea. I don't always have it around, but when I do it always goes in my smoothies.

I know I say things like this a lot, but you can totally make these your own. Experiment! Cater to your own taste! There are so many possibilities that I'm sure you can find something you like.

Happy blending : )