Tag Archives: Green Smoothie Challenge

Green Smoothie Challenge Update

So I’ve gotten really bad at updating about this challenge. I’ve also gotten really bad about keeping track of the recipes I do. I’ve tried taking pictures of the smoothies before I blend them to help me write down the recipes, but the problem with that is that I sometimes add more fruit based on how it tastes and I don’t add the greens until it’s blended once. I can tell you that all of my smoothies have 1/4 an avocado, spinach to fill the container, some sort of other green (generally 1-5 leaves, depending on the green), and ice. Beyond that, I’m trying new combinations every day.

So how are we feeling? My husband still can’t give me a clear answer on if he feels better or not, but he complains when I don’t give him a smoothie. One day that I forgot (I have a horrible memory), he told me that was why Peanut was complaining of a stomach ache. Though she’s not drinking as much of hers as I’d like. I think I may have scared her off with a few crazy ones I tried.

How do I feel? I can describe it in one word: vitality. I just feel great. Full of life. It sounds corny to me as I type it, but it’s truly how I feel. I’m accidentally forgetting to take my placenta pill more often and I don’t even realize until the next day. I’m sure that it’s not just the green smoothies. It’s pretty much impossible for other factors to not cause an effect on real-life experiments, but I’m certain that they’re helping me. I feel better on days that I’ve had a smoothie in the morning.

We’ve started drinking bigger smoothies. I always fill my husband’s cup to 24 ounces (used to do 20 ounces) and then I fill Peanut’s cup and mine (both of which don’t have ounces written on them like his). If I’ve filled Peanut’s and mine is as high as it’ll go (which should be over 24 ounces because it fits over 3 cups), I give my husband some more. We’re also putting more greens in than we used to, mostly increasing whatever the non-spinach green is for the day. We rotate that green between collard greens (which I now add 2-3 leaves), swiss/red chard (at least 5 leaves), and green/red kale (at least 5 leaves). If anyone has some recommendations on other greens we can add, I’d love to hear them. Probably about a year ago I tried romaine lettuce in a smoothie and thought it was gross. I’m sure there are other things we can try though.

I’m also looking into what other vegetables we can add. I feel like our fruit drawer is constantly needing to be refilled, but our veggie drawer not so much. My husband really doesn’t like V8-type drinks, so a full on veggie smoothie or juice is out of the question, but I’d like to sneak other things in the same way I’ve done the avocado (which I can’t taste whats-so-ever). Maybe I’ll start experimenting with it. Toss in a carrot? How about a stick of celery? Or a tomato?!? Little bits at a time to see if we can tell the difference or not.

Now you get some recipes! (I’m not putting info on chopping anymore because you really have to do what your blender requires)

Citrus-y Goodness

1/2 pineapple including core, tough skin removed

2 oranges with pith, zest removed

1/2 lime with pith, zest removed

1/2 lemon with pith, zest removed

1 banana peeled

1/4 avocado with skin removed

6 leaves red chard

spinach to fill the container (about 2 handfuls as much as I can possibly grab at once)

ice (about two big handfuls and a little handful)

Strawberry Old Favorite

2 apples with everything included

2 oranges with pith, zest removed

12 strawberries with everything included

1/4 avocado, skin removed

3 small-ish leaves of collard greens

spinach to fill the container

ice

Holy Moly How Many Limes?!?

3 limes with pith, zest removed

1/2 lemon with pith, zest removed

3 oranges with pith, zest removed

1 apple with everything included

1/4 avocado, skin removed

5 leaves of red chard

spinach to fill the container

ice

Strawberry Banana

15 strawberries with everything included

3 bananas, peeled

1 apple with everything included

1/4 avocado, skin removed

2 big leaves collard greens

spinach to fill the container

ice

Green Smoothie Challenge-Week 1

Things are going smoothly (ha!) so far in our green smoothie challenge. It’s actually been interesting on days where I know we’re leaving the house first thing. I thought it would be a huge rush and so difficult, but I’m getting pretty fast at preparing the fruits and veggies and it really doesn’t take me long to get the smoothie ready to go.

So I’ve come up with some green smoothie tips to share with all of you.

Rinse it out immediately. When you’re done drinking or making your smoothie, rinse out the container ASAP. Especially if it’s an odd shaped container that would be difficult to scrub. These things stick like crazy and it won’t come off in the dishwasher.

Taste before you pour. As we learned with the first recipe here, not all fruits taste very good in a smoothie. If I would have tasted the smoothie named Cantaloupe Disaster before we drank it, I would have added something really strong like pineapple to tone down the flavor of the cantaloupe.

Thickening fruit versus flavor fruit. You can add anything to a green smoothie, but you need to keep in mind thickening fruits versus flavor fruits. Things like bananas, apples, avocado (yum healthy fats!), pineapple cores, etc. will thicken the smoothie. This is a good thing, but if you made a smoothie of just the thick fruits, you’d end up with sludge. The flavor fruits are the ones with high water contents such as oranges, lemons, limes, kiwi, berries of any sort, etc. They taste delicious, but won’t make the smoothie thicker. Just use your judgement to tell if a fruit is thickening or flavoring and try to keep a bit of a balance.

So far with our health, I think we’re all feeling pretty good. I’ve had headaches the last few days, but I don’t think it has anything to do with the smoothies. I have felt like I need less coffee in the morning though and I really don’t feel like drinking it after I’ve had my smoothie, even if I half a cup sitting on the counter waiting. I’ve also been craving water more.

Peanut only had that sore tummy for a day and it’s gone. Still don’t know if it was a little bug or smoothie related. She hasn’t been drinking all of her smoothie every day. I encourage her to drink it, but I don’t push it too hard. She drinks a lot more on the days that the smoothie turns out better. Maybe I need to calm down with my adventurous smoothies.

My husband had a few days of a sore stomach, which we’re not sure if it was related to the smoothies or not. He said that his digestive system might feel a bit better than it did at the beginning of the challenge, but overall he’s no better or worse.

I’m 100% sure we’ve had a smoothie every day, but I must have forgotten to add a few of them here and for the life of me I can’t remember them. So since the days don’t add up correctly anymore, I’m making up silly names for each smoothie.

Cantaloupe Disaster

1/4 cantaloupe with seeds, rind removed, chunked

1 small banana, peeled, cut in half

1 kiwi, ends cut off, cut in half

1 apple, cut in half

1 orange with pith, zest removed, cut in half

1/4 avocado, skin removed

spinach to fill the container

ice

This one wasn’t very good. Cantaloupe doesn’t work so well for smoothies in our opinions. 


Old Favorite

1 apple, cut in half

2 oranges with pith, zest removed, cut in half

2 bananas, peeled, cut in half

1/4 avocado, skin removed

5 leaves red chard

spinach to fill the container

ice

I decided to make us an old favorite since yesterday was such a disaster. Turned out great, but the smoothies were a bit smaller than usual. Next time I’ll add something new or another orange and apple. 

 

Twisted Old Favorite

2 apples with everything included, cut in fourths

2 oranges with pith, zest removed, cut in fourths

1/4 pineapple with core, outsides removed, cut in 4 chunks

1/4 avocado, skin removed

1 banana, peeled, broken in half

5 leaves of kale

spinach to fill the container

ice


Green Tropic

4 chunks pineapple with core intact, outsides removed (approximately 1/4 a pineapple)

2 small bananas, peeled, cut in half

1/4 a lemon with pith, zest removed

1/4 a lime with pith, zest removed

2 oranges, zest removed, cut into fourths (trying to make it so I don’t have to use the tamper as much)

1/4 avocado, skin removed

10 leaves of kale

spinach to fill the container

ice

We liked this one, but it was a bit more “green” than the smoothies in the past have been. I think I should have added more fruit than I did. 

 

Tropical Deliciousness

1/4 avocado, skin removed

1/4 pineapple with core, chunked, skin removed

2 oranges with pith, zest removed, cut into chunks

2 bananas, peeled, broken in half

1 kiwi, ends chopped off, cut into chunks

1 leaf collard greens (these things are huge, so you only need one)

spinach to fill the container

ice

This one was delicious! I’ll definitely be making it again. I’m also trying to spend a bit more time at the cutting board so I don’t have to deal with the tamper as much. The Vitamix can certainly handle a whole orange, but I just don’t want to worry about helping it along. 

 

Zesty Delight

2 kiwis, ends removed, cut into chunks

2 oranges with pith, zest removed, cut into chunks

2 apples all included, cut into chunks

1 leaf collard greens

spinach to fill the container

ice

This one was also really good. Got a bit too tangy towards the end, but I still liked it. I forgot our avocado which made me sad. Avocados aren’t a taste thing, but rather just making sure we get those healthy fats.