One of my favorite quick meals is the green smoothie. I call this one the Green Super Smoothie because it\u2019s made with superfoods and usually makes me feel super! Green smoothies aren\u2019t for everyone, but if you do like them, you probably already know that they are packed with all kinds of good things, like vitamins, antioxidants and enzymes from raw foods. The ingredients you use are up to you, but I am going to share with you a basic recipe that I like, and you can modify it to suit your particular tastes and needs.<\/p>\n
I use organic ingredients whenever possible. Listed below is what I typically add to my Vita-Mixer when I\u2019m brewing up a green smoothie. The number in parentheses represents the calories.
\n
\n\u2022 One medium banana (100)
\n\u2022 One avocado (235)
\n\u2022 One cup leafy greens (10)
\n\u2022 One half cup yogurt or\u00a0cottage cheese (110)
\n\u2022 Half a medium cucumber,\u00a0 peeled (5)
\n\u2022 One cup frozen fruit\u00a0(blueberries work well) (85)
\n\u2022 Two tablespoons ground flax\u00a0seeds (75)
\n\u2022 Two tablespoons chia seeds\u00a0(140)
\n\u2022 Two tablespoons flax oil (240)
\n\u2022 \u00bd teaspoon cinnamon\u00a0(optional)
\n\u2022 \u00bd tablespoon turmeric\u00a0(optional)
\n\u2022 One cup ice (optional)
\n\u2022 One to two cups apple\u00a0 \u00a0and\/or orange juice\u00a0 \u00a0(120-240)<\/p>\n
These ingredients should make enough smoothie for two people, or maybe just one really hungry person. The high-calorie version clocks in at around 1200 calories, but you can definitely do things to bring that number down (or up). For example, I listed the calories for four percent milkfat cottage cheese\u2014two percent would be about half as many calories. The avocado and flax oil are probably the biggest caloric offenders here, representing the majority of the fat calories for this recipe. If you substitute or omit the avocado and\/or flax oil and use low-fat dairy or no dairy , you can easily bring the calories under 1000.<\/p>\n
Some people like to add protein powder or spirulina to their smoothie\u2014I don\u2019t use protein powder, but I do like to buy whole flax seeds and grind them in a coffee grinder just before I toss them into the blender with the other ingredients. I believe the lignans and omega-3 fatty acids in the flax seeds start to break down pretty quickly, so if you buy them pre-ground at the store, you might be getting less benefit. I also grind up black cumin seeds with the flax seeds to get a flavorful immune-booster in my smoothie. Black cumin, also known as black seed, is mentioned in the Old Testament, and the Prophet Mohammed is believed to have said, \u201cIn the black seed is healing for every disease except death.\u201d Sounds good to me.<\/p>\n
Once you have all your ingredients in the blender, add the juice. You\u2019ll want to add the juice last so you can visually gauge the correct amount. If you submerge about half the ingredients in juice, that is usually close to the right amount. Use more or less to suit your taste, but try to err on the side of not enough, and add more until it\u2019s just right\u2014too much and your smoothie will be too sweet and watery. It might take a few tries and some modification to get it just the way you like it. Don\u2019t give up just because the first one didn\u2019t turn out so great. Be super and keep trying!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One of my favorite quick meals is the green smoothie. I call this one the Green Super Smoothie because it\u2019s made with superfoods and usually makes me feel super! Green smoothies aren\u2019t for everyone, but if you do like them, you probably already know that they are packed with all kinds of good things, like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3210,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tartan-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5s3vR-2S2","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3210"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11038"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11038\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11487,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11038\/revisions\/11487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}