Green Smoothies

J72FIT

wizzybeth wrote: »

Good for you. I have had my $100 Oster blender for 19 years. Your point?

Why are you so angry?

wizzybeth

Project much?

Not angry. Just don't believe in making people think they need an extremely expensive appliance for a smoothie.

I'm not angry...are you?

J72FIT

wizzybeth wrote: »

Project much?

Not angry. Just don't believe in making people think they need an extremely expensive appliance for a smoothie.

I'm not angry...are you?

lol!

heatherwiebe

mlbazemore wrote: »

questionfear wrote: »

I make one most mornings, this makes two smoothies (my wife LOVES them so it works out well, we split a pitcher):

2 small apples
2 cups spinach
1-2 cups water (depends on how thick or watery you want your smoothie, we usually do just about 1 cup)
2 carrots OR 2 celery sticks (Depends on what we have around)
1 teaspoon cinnamon

This sounds delicious... Does it taste like apple pie, or is that just wishful thinking:-)

If you want a smoothie that tastes like apple pie:
2 apples
1/3 cup almonds
1/2 tap allspice
1 tsp cinnamon
2 dates
1 cup water, almond milk or coconut milk (or more if you prefer it thinner)
I will add protein powder too on days I am doing a hard workout or to replace a meal.

vickyaldersey

I love my nutribullet!!

lau444

I have a green smoothie every morning and I love them. My skin has greatly improved and my digestion is great. I use Nutribullet and it does a great job.
My favorite at the moment is:
Kale
Cucumber
Lemon juice
Chia seeds
Frozen banana
Ginger
All mixed with filtered water.
This one usually tops out at 180-250 calories depending on how much banana I add.

J72FIT

vickyaldersey wrote: »

I love my nutribullet!!

I have one and I like it too. It just never gets the leafy greens as smooth as I like. Do you find that as well or am I just not blending long enough?

It does a great job with frozen veggies. Haven't tried nuts in it yet but will soon...

suntomoon

i bought a Diamond blender from Kitchen Aid because it crushes ice - which I sometimes use if my fruit isn't frozen. Love that texture of a slightly chewy breakfast or else I add more liquid (water/unsweetened almond milk). Go to is Earth Goddess Food: 2/3 cup frozen berries, 1 c kale& spinach, 1 carrot, 10 sprigs parsley, 2 inches english cucumber, 6 gr beans, (or any other green veg), cinnamon, protein powder scoop, knob of gingerroot, 2 tbsp chia. liquid as desired. All the nutrition I need before I leave for the day!

vickyaldersey

]I love my nutribullet!!

I have one and I like it too. It just never gets the leafy greens as smooth as I like. Do you find that as well or am I just not blending long enough?

It does a great job with frozen veggies. Haven't tried nuts in it yet but will soon...



Make sure you add enough water and blend well. I add nuts to my smoothie, they blend well. Just a few walnuts or cashew

oncem0re

We have the Vitamix and it's the BEST investment I have ever purchased for our health! especially if you are going to be using it daily and for green smoothie, we had the walmart brand, nutribullet and ninja and NOTHING compare to Vitamix. I just found that you can get Vitamix from QVC for 5 easy payment... so $100 a month for 5 months with no interest. That's pretty good deal I think!

We have our "Not So Green Smoothie" daily and it's been fabolous - it's only about 200-300 calories too.

1 cup Spinach
1 cup carrots of 6 medium bites one
1/2 cup cucumber
1 cup coconut water
1 medium banana
1 green or red apple (with skin, cored though )
1 c of organic mango (Trader's Joes)
1 c of mixed berries (Trader's Joes)
2 tbsp of lemon juice
water and ice

Good luck with your choices!

lchadwick3

I believe my blender is a $40 Oster. It works great.

My morning smoothie recipe makes two smoothies. At first it's purple but when I have the rest at lunch it's definitely green.

1 cup frozen triple berry medley
1 medium banana
2 scoops whey protein
1 tblsp coconut oil
3/4 cup almond milk
3/4 cup water
1 golden delicious apple
1/2 avocado
1 handful spinach
1 handful kale

This makes 2 servings (about 16 oz each) I come up with 381 calories per serving. You can view my food diary to see how it breaks down. The apple really helps sweeten it without adding stevia.

questionfear

mlbazemore wrote: »

questionfear wrote: »

I make one most mornings, this makes two smoothies (my wife LOVES them so it works out well, we split a pitcher):

2 small apples
2 cups spinach
1-2 cups water (depends on how thick or watery you want your smoothie, we usually do just about 1 cup)
2 carrots OR 2 celery sticks (Depends on what we have around)
1 teaspoon cinnamon

This sounds delicious... Does it taste like apple pie, or is that just wishful thinking:-)

More like applesauce-esque. Ever have one of those little kid packaged applesauce packets with cinnamon? Like a less sugary version of that.

J72FIT

vickyaldersey wrote: »

]I love my nutribullet!!

I have one and I like it too. It just never gets the leafy greens as smooth as I like. Do you find that as well or am I just not blending long enough?

It does a great job with frozen veggies. Haven't tried nuts in it yet but will soon...



Make sure you add enough water and blend well. I add nuts to my smoothie, they blend well. Just a few walnuts or cashew

Awesome! TY!

J72FIT

oncem0re wrote: »

We have the Vitamix and it's the BEST investment I have ever purchased for our health! especially if you are going to be using it daily and for green smoothie, we had the walmart brand, nutribullet and ninja and NOTHING compare to Vitamix.

I agree... Bought mine for $499 13 years ago. So right now it has cost me $38.46 per year to date...

kathyk519

I love my kitchenaid blender (one of the best wedding gifts), and as long as you blend everything long enough (a minute or two), it obliterates everything.

huanu

We just purchased a blender for making smoothies. I have many small kitchen appliances so all I needed was the blend feature. I really didn't want to spend a fortune so after a lot of thought, we purchased a black and decker for 59 dollars. It totally sucked and we could smell the motor burning while making our first smoothie! So it went back. I wanted a Vitamix or a Blendtec but couldn't justify spending so much on a blender. So in the end we purchased the Ninja professional with the two additional single serving cups.
I really love it so far. It was 98 dollars and it makes good smoothies with no issues so far.

If I could justify it, vitamix would be #1 then Blendtec and then the Ninja Pro.
Now that I know how much we love smoothies, if the Ninja dies we will spring for the best blender next time

Lezavargas

I have a vitamix and its awesome! The ninja is pretty good i guess but i like making soups in my vitamix and you can boil stuff in the ninja. I usually just do spinach, maybe a celery stick to mix it up just to keep it low cal but just an apple with spinach is an easy tasty one.

Lezavargas

Wow, theres even hatrs when it comes to blenders, lol

Lezavargas

You wont regret spending the money on a vitamix. I was skeptical until i tried it and it made a believer outta me. Theres alot on the market thatll work if you just want to do fruits and veggies, but if you want to make soups or homemade peanut butter its worth paying for the extra power.

NerdieMcChub

I paid $20 for my blender and it works just fine.. going on 2 years. Recipes for green smoothies, I have none... I can't stomach them.

J72FIT

Lezavargas wrote: »

You wont regret spending the money on a vitamix. I was skeptical until i tried it and it made a believer outta me. Theres alot on the market thatll work if you just want to do fruits and veggies, but if you want to make soups or homemade peanut butter its worth paying for the extra power.

Yep...

ShannonMpls

mlbazemore wrote: »

My husband and I want to start drinking green smoothies, myself especially. I wanted to ask if anyone had any recommendations on blenders and tasty green smoothie recipes. I want a vitamix but is it really necessary to spend $500 on a blender. I love the warranty and I do plan on using it everyday if I can find smoothie recipes I like.

You can get a refurbished vitamix for around $250. They still have a five year warranty. I got mine right before Christmas for $241 shipped (it's the 5200 model) and you would never be able to tell it was a refurb.

https://www.vitamix.com/shop/Certified-Reconditioned-Standard.aspx

Google around, and you'll find a 20-25% discount code, usually free shipping too.

I have used mine almost every day since I got it. I've never been a smoothie person but I never had a vitamix before They are so smooth and clean-up is ridiculously easy compared to a regular blender with all its parts.

Bonus, you'll also make the creamiest nut butters you've had. Cleaning the machine afterward takes longer than it takes to turn roasted nuts into magic.

Vitamix tomato soup is now my go-to easy meal. Throw in canned or frozen tomatoes, a carrot, some sauteed shallot and garlic, and salt - run on high for 5 minutes. Turn off, add some half and half and basil, run another minute, and voila - hot steaming soap straight out of your blender.

Though I know people love their ninjas and nutribullets, those have a one year warranty. Vitamix stands by even its refurbished machines for 5 years, and I know many who've been using theirs for a decade. I'd rather pay a little more and get something that lasts.

mlbazemore

fevrale wrote: »

dave4d wrote: »

fevrale wrote: »

You can use any blender for green smoothies. You should just blend the greens in liquid (water, whatever you're using) first before adding the fruit and other ingredients to avoid the green leafy chunks. Simple Green Smoothies has a lot of recipes.

I used to drink green smoothies before I began calorie counting...they're typically around 250-500 calories. But the calories can really creep up. I loved the idea of Simple Green Smoothie's Skinny Mint Smoothie (meant to be like a Shamrock shake) but the recipe adds up to over 700 calories.

If they're a meal replacement (like breakfast), you're not counting calories, or have a higher calorie threshold, they're probably worth it. They just weren't worth it to me when I am trying to net 1200.

Wow! What's the ingredients in that one? My shakes only come out to between 300 and 400 calories, and that is when I use 2 scoops of protein powder.

I use about 2 cups of Spinach
1 cup of unsweetened Almond milk
1/2 to 1 frozen banana
1 to 2 scoops vanilla protein powder
2 T Splenda
Around 1/4 t peppermint extract
And a few ice cubes
(If I want the extra calories I will also add about a tablespoon of dark chocolate chips, but it has to be really thick or they just sink to the bottom.)

http://simplegreensmoothies.com/green-smoothie-recipes/skinny-mint-green-smoothie

It's not an everyday type smoothie for sure but, still, the calories can really add up sometimes. It looks really good though. I liked adding mint to regular green smoothies for the refreshing and cooling feeling.

Thanks for the site recommendation

HeidiHirtle

ShannonMpls wrote: »

Vitamix tomato soup is now my go-to easy meal. Throw in canned or frozen tomatoes, a carrot, some sauteed shallot and garlic, and salt - run on high for 5 minutes. Turn off, add some half and half and basil, run another minute, and voila - hot steaming soap straight out of your blender.

Thanks for sharing, I'll definitely try that recipe, yum!

rileyes

I have a vitamix. I stuff it full with spinach and squeeze in a cup of mixed frozen fruit, dates, protein powder and coconut oil; blend it and sprinkle in some chia seeds for texture. Makes about 5 glasses. I drink one and freeze the others for later.

It's definitely more expensive but saves time.

FreakinFlabuless

I bought a NutriBullet when I started having kids. It was great for making homemade baby food. I use it for smoothies on occasion too. I'm on my 2nd one. The threads give way eventually so the blades won't spin, and if the seal gets loose, it leaks while blending, but I like it just fine.

However, once I started making bigger batches of smoothies for the whole family, I noticed it wasn't all that convenient depending upon what I was making and was forced once back to my Oster blender....I use my Oster now every day again for my green smoothies because I found the bullet blender kind of whips the contents incorporating a lot of air and therefore changing the texture--think whipped yogurts. That's good for pudding-like pureed baby food, but it turns out I don't prefer that for my smoothies.

As for frozen ingredients, like those I freeze myself to use in my smoothies, I prefer my Oster. Firstly, because I freeze apples, avocado, banana, spinach, and flax meal all together in FoodSaver bags, which won't fit into the bullet glass and fit fine into my large blender, and secondly because I found those frozen ingredients blend better in my large Oster leaving no chunks behind like it was doing in the bullet. Depending on how full the bullet got, with the way it thickened up the contents as it blended, it just wouldn't pull some of those frozen chunks down and would leave some behind.

Those aren't the only ingredients in my green smoothie. I just add the almond milk and honey, and sometimes pomegranate juice fresh. It produces a nice frozen-type smoothie that doesn't give you a brain freeze.