Smoothie Moustache
A few years ago (2008), Jessica Seinfeld came out with a cookbook called Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food. At the time, as a brand new parent (my son was four months old), I was quick to judge. “Good for her, but I will never be that parent,” I remember telling myself. “My kids will learn to eat spinach and broccoli and beets and fava beans because they’re delicious and healthy.” Well, four years later, here I am: hiding vegetables and vitamins not only in my kids’ food, but in mine too. In short, I do this because it works.
I’ve made peace with the fact that getting vegetables and vital nutrients into my body is the most important thing; how they make it in is a secondary consideration. Soups, smoothies, and fresh-pressed juices are my go-to modes of transportation, as they’re easy, relatively quick, and usually equally liked by kids and adults (my husband now always adds spinach or kale to his smoothies). If you’re not already doing this, here are some nutrient-packed ingredients I add to my smoothies (not all at once). My usual “base” is banana, frozen mixed berries and almond milk:
- Spinach – Packed with vitamins A, C, E, K, magnesium, manganese, folate, iron, calcium, potassium, folic acid, copper, phosphorus, zinc niacin, selenium, omega-3’s and more! Add a handful of spinach, and you will barely taste it!
- Kale – Chock full of vitamins K and C, beta carotene, and calcium. Kale sometimes alters the texture of the smoothie a bit, but I’ve learned to like it.
- Avocado – Lots of vitamin E, K, B, potassium and fiber. Adding avocado makes smoothies super creamy…yum.
- Flaxseed – Rich in omega-3’s and antioxidants. Much easier way to get omega-3’s than cooking salmon!
- Chia Seeds – After being introduced to chia in the book Born to Run, I decided to give it a try. It’s full of omega-3’s, and athletes claim it increases energy. It takes a little getting used to, as when the seeds are mixed with liquid, they expand and take on a gummy texture. Oh, and if this is all new to you, these are indeed the seeds that grow in the famous Chia Pet.
If soups sound better than smoothies this time of year, here are a few veggie-rich ones that I like to make:
Yellow Squash and Red Pepper Soup
Red Lentil Soup with Lemon (I add lots of spinach to this)
How do you pack more vegetables into your day? If you have any smoothie-boosting ideas, please share them!
wellfesto 
We now use our Vitamix every single day to whip up smoothies and the occasional soup…I am truly a convert due to the fact that it can handle things like raw almonds. Some of our other favorite ingredients are pomegranate seeds, green tea powder, ginger root (a few small pieces are so zesty and you can keep it in the freezer so it lasts longer) and cacao powder. Depending on the time of day and who is going to enjoy the smoothie we obviously mix and match these ingredients. Yum, now I am hungry! 🙂
I couldn’t agree more. Smoothies have changed my life, quite literally. They’re amazing – so tasty, so convenient and so healthy. I’m 1000x healthier than I used to be because of them. Allison and I make smoothies once a week – we get a production line going. 🙂 It takes us 1.5 to 2 hrs, (w/ cleanup), once a week. We make 7 or 8 64-oz Vitamix blender batches and we put the end result in hermetically-sealed containers ()
I couldn’t agree more. Smoothies have changed my life, quite literally. They’re amazing – so tasty, so convenient and so healthy. I’m 1000x healthier than I used to be because of them. Allison and I make smoothies once a week – we get a production line going. 🙂 It takes us 1.5 to 2 hrs, (w/ cleanup), once a week. We make 7 or 8 64-oz Vitamix blender batches and we put the end result in hermetically-sealed containers (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000DE9B5/ref=wms_ohs_product). I have two 24-oz glasses of it every day for breakfast – so easy, so awesome. btw, it’s amazing what a difference the Vitamiz makes to the consistency. Here’s a typical recipe we use (though in the great book Green Smoothie Revolution, Victoria Boutenko mentions that for some people the starchy vegetables like cauliflower or carrots may create gas when in combination with other things)
In a 64 fl oz blender jar: (makes ~70 fl oz): (* being the ‘base’)
•1/2 cup water and/or 1/2 cup coconut water *
•1 cup almond milk * (available at Trader Joe’s or Costco)
•1 cup of unsweetened juice * (e.g. cranberry or pomegranate) (available at Trader Joe’s)
•1 teaspoon to 2 tablespoons of ground flax seeds *
•2 bananas *
•2 cups of frozen berries * (e.g. blueberries, strawberries)
•2-10 oz spinach (e.g. you can have 10 oz spinach if you only have one serving per day (to not eat too much of one thing – e.g. vitamin A and iron) and decrease other ingredients, or you can have less spinach if you drink tons of this and want to include other ingredients)
•2 oz lettuce (or more if you’d like)
•1 oz kale (or more if you’d like)
•(or lately we’ve been using the TJ’s ‘power greens’ package which mixes different greens)
•2 oz cauliflower
•1-2 carrots
•1 apple
•1 pear
•1 peach or plum
•1 orange
•2 tomatoes