My First Green Smoothie

The Ingredients

Ever since I was introduced to Green Smoothie Girl via Babies and Moms, Birth and Beyond podcast, I have been intrigued and interested in trying a green smoothie and getting into the habit of having these every day even. That was months ago though and regrettably I have not actually tried one until recently. My mom emailed me this recipe and I finally made one!

The ingredients were pretty simple and things I pretty much always have on hand, except for the green part, the kale. I have never eaten kale before and really didn’t even know what it looked like except it was some type of green, leafy vegetable. My husband insisted that kale is only for garnish, GARNISH, and who would want to eat a garnish?? Needless to say, he was disturbed. In the end though, he is the one who purchased it for me as he graciously did the grocery shopping this week so I could take our daughter on a playdate to the park. He purchased a bag with the stems already taken off and the leaves torn up and washed, ready to go. The bag was $3 but a pretty good size. The recipe only called for a cup of the stuff, so I could get quite a bit of smoothies out of it if I wanted to.

So the making of the smoothie was super easy, as easy as any smoothie recipe is. You just throw the ingredients in and blend away! With the first batch, I could see little green flakes and even had to chew a little. This did not in any way deter me, however. It was delicious! I didn’t even detect any kale flavor but definitely noticed the texture of it. So the next batch, I put on food processor mode and it blended that kale almost to oblivion. If you looked closely you could see teeny tiny bits of kale, but it was nice and smooth. My 14 month old loved the stuff, as did her mommy. She kept asking for more! I also had a friend over and did not tell her what was in it, just that it had a secret ingredient. :) She guessed it was a green of some sort, declared the smoothie delish and said if there had been some honey added, she wouldn’t have known there was greens in it at all!

If you’ve read this far and are wondering what in the world I am doing putting kale (GARNISH!) in my smoothie in the first place, take a look at these facts:

From The Health Benefits of Kale:

Kale has amazing health benefits, and when one single cup is added to a green salad, it provides almost twice the daily requirement of vitamin A, almost all of the vitamin C required for the day, and 1,300% of the daily requirement of vitamin K. That’s a lot of vitamins, but the health benefits don’t end there! Kale contains a number of compounds that most people have never heard of, and these compounds do a lot to keep the body strong, healthy, and free from damage. The health benefits are numerous.

Eating regular servings of kale is a great way to help prevent and lower your risk of getting colon cancer, lung cancer, prostate, and breast cancer.

In a nut shell, kale fights cancer, protects your vision, and boosts bone and heart health. Who wouldn’t want that, especially when it’s yummy!

The first green smoothie was a success! I am so excited and can’t wait to make and share another with my baby girl tomorrow!

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Getting in Shape

My daughter just pulled out my Mom and Baby Fitness DVD. I think she is trying to tell me something.  Ah yes, it is that time of year again. After being gluttonous for 2 months straight, Americans feel remorseful and, well, gluttonous and decide to make some changes.

I’m just like the rest of America and always feel the need to shape up, literally, when a new year dawns. To this end, I have started running (or walking as my husband terms it since I don’t go quite fast enough apparently) this year to train for a 5K in March. I downloaded the Couch to 5K app to my phone and started this past week. 3 days a week for 31 (yes 31, don’t ask me why 31) minutes a day is definitely doable. The program starts you off slowly doing 60 seconds of running alternating with 90 seconds of walking. Seriously, anyone can do that!

What are you doing to get in better shape this coming year?

My Whole Foods Journey

A month or so ago I asked my husband if he would mind if once a week I made a recipe out of a whole foods cookbook I had acquired a year or so ago but had never cooked out of. He surprised me and said yes, even after I told him it was all non-dairy, vegetarian fare.

Tonight was the first time I took him up on this. I made Arroz con Chicharos. It wasn’t a hit with him. The meal consisted of rice, carrots, peas, onions, sea salt and chili powder. It was fairly easy to make (which was why it was my first, as I can cook but nothing too complicated.) I really enjoyed the texture of the dish but it did really need some more flavor. I wouldn’t say it was necessarily bland, but I definitely could have added a LOT more chili powder and sea salt for sure. She suggested serving it with tortilla chips (which surprised me as I never considered those healthy) so I crumbled some on top of mine. (I think my husband had completely given up on the recipe as a lost cause before the onions were even sautéing in the sesame oil and did not add tortilla chips on his.)

Will I give up on the cookbook already?? No, definitely not (although I’m sure I know someone who hopes I do ;)). I’ll try another recipe but this time will perhaps try something with fish (the only “meat” allowed in the cookbook.) My husband will definitely be more receptive to it that way.

Anybody else out there want to share your healthy, whole food meals that maybe my husband would appreciate more? I’d love to hear your comments as always!