Hello again. So, before I start explaining my first concoction, I want to go more into the concept of this blog.
My primary goal in this blog is to help my audience (namely college students) to be able to have a quick, healthy breakfast in the hectic mornings. If you are a college student, you're floormates will probably not appreciate a blender going off at 7 AM. The great thing about these smoothies is that you can make them in batches ahead of time. I like to make my smoothies on Sunday, enough to last me a week. Now, some people, primarily my mother, have told me that once the fruits are blended, they begin to lose their nutrients unless you drink it right away. However, according to an article in livestrong.com, writer Jennifer King says that only heat, light, and oxidation can cause fruit to lose its nutrients. Although it is better to drink the smoothie right away before it is overexposed to oxygen, the loss of nutrients would take time. The best course of item is to chill
it right away in order to keep heat from making the
fruits lose nutrients.
So what you should take from this is to put it in the
fridge as soon as you make it.
Onward to the actual smoothie making adventure.
I had a hard time finding the exact ingredients I was
looking for based on my research. After combing
through several blogs on the perfect green smoothie
I found out that there should be a base, greens,
fruit, fiber, healthy fats, and an optional sweetener. For my first attempt of a smoothie, I decided to use kefir as a base. For those of you who don't know what kefir is, it's a type of fermented milk. It's pretty much just a yogurt drink with probiotic bacteria that is very good for your stomach. Drinking it plain, kefir tastes like a slightly more sour version of yogurt. The one I found at Safeway was blueberry flavored kefir. Although the blueberry helped with the sourness, it had some of the added sugars I was trying to avoid. However, I have to work with what I have. I chose frozen strawberries as my fruit, but fresh will work as well. I used a cup of spinach as my greens, as you can see from the picture on the left. I then topped it off with honey to sweeten it and ground flaxseed to add fiber. Looks delicious, I know. The blender I used is called a Magic Bullet, and its about the size of a venti cup of coffee. It's very portable and easy to wash, which is ideal for a college student. The first time I made this, it was
incredibly loud. I discovered that was because I
added everything at the same time and blended. However, on later attempts, I blended the spinach and yogurt first before adding the
strawberries to mute the sound a bit.
The results was surprisingly good. It was a little tart, probably because of the kefir, but the taste of spinach and wheatgrass was completely gone. It tasted only of the strawberries and the yogurt. When complemented with bread, it was
quite filling as well.
in
My primary goal in this blog is to help my audience (namely college students) to be able to have a quick, healthy breakfast in the hectic mornings. If you are a college student, you're floormates will probably not appreciate a blender going off at 7 AM. The great thing about these smoothies is that you can make them in batches ahead of time. I like to make my smoothies on Sunday, enough to last me a week. Now, some people, primarily my mother, have told me that once the fruits are blended, they begin to lose their nutrients unless you drink it right away. However, according to an article in livestrong.com, writer Jennifer King says that only heat, light, and oxidation can cause fruit to lose its nutrients. Although it is better to drink the smoothie right away before it is overexposed to oxygen, the loss of nutrients would take time. The best course of item is to chill
it right away in order to keep heat from making the
fruits lose nutrients.
So what you should take from this is to put it in the
fridge as soon as you make it.
Onward to the actual smoothie making adventure.
I had a hard time finding the exact ingredients I was
looking for based on my research. After combing
through several blogs on the perfect green smoothie
I found out that there should be a base, greens,
 |
| Add a dash of healthy! |
 |
| I know, appetizing right |
incredibly loud. I discovered that was because I
added everything at the same time and blended. However, on later attempts, I blended the spinach and yogurt first before adding the
strawberries to mute the sound a bit.
The results was surprisingly good. It was a little tart, probably because of the kefir, but the taste of spinach and wheatgrass was completely gone. It tasted only of the strawberries and the yogurt. When complemented with bread, it was
quite filling as well.
 |
| Snap on the rim, and drink it on the go! |
in
5 comments:
I like the idea of a green smoothie; however, I am still curious as to the difference between this smoothie and one using all fruits and natural fruit juice? What does the spinach or other greens add to the smoothie that normal fruits do not have?
I love smoothies, so this would be something great for me to try. Do do you use ice at all? And if you make the smoothies all ahead of time, don't they get kind of melty? Maybe you want them to be more like juice? I'm also very interested to see if you have any smoothie recipes using kale. I know kale is very good for you and I like it, but sometimes the bitter taste is too much for me. Maybe I would like it better in a smoothie, especially if I couldn't taste it!
Hey Sania,
After reading your post, I was really tempted to make a green smoothie for myself, especially because I truly do dislike vegetables. That seems a little contradictory since I'm a vegetarian who hates vegetables. But the meal plan my dietitian gave me contained LOTS of vegetables and I knew I somehow had to consume those things. So, I chose to make a green smoothie. I used my friend's blender and firstly, I added lots of strawberries (so that I only taste that flavor in the end), broccoli (I hate it), spinach, tomatoes, milk and sugar. After it was ready, I struggled to take the first sip and wow, it was actually good. I couldn't taste the broccoli or spinach at all. Yay! Thank you for inspiring me with your wonderful blog.
Hi Sania!
I love the idea of incorporating spinach into smoothies. It allows us "on the go" college students to have a balanced meal while indulging in a delicious drink. Have you ever thought of incorporating a protein powder? There a lot of people on campus who could benefit from a protein smoothie that is both delicious and healthy for them. Just an idea out there, especially because I am looking for new ways to make protein shakes.
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