Green smoothie ideas, please!

Retrofit55

Since beginning keto, I've been trying to go for 7-10 c of leafy greens per day as some experts recommend, but haven't come anywhere close to that. Maybe 3 or 4 cups, rarely. My pain issues make chopping salads all day (or so it feels) too labor intensive and time consuming, so I'm trying to simplify with smoothies instead.

I have been experimenting with different green smoothie recipes, varying them with such ingredients as ginger, banana, unsweetened fruit, vanilla extract, with a few drops of stevia, to make them more palatable. But I've failed to find a single one that I consider tasty or ever want to repeat. They consistently taste bitter and grassy to me and after the first few trial sips, I have to fairly choke down the rest. Thinking the grassy bitterness might be from kale, I deleted that and used spinach and, later, a spring mix, but that yielded little to no improvement in flavor.

Does anyone have ideas for green smoothies that are flat out delicious? I want my body to have 100% of the phytonutrients it needs to facilitate fat burning, but cannot see myself sticking to any smoothies that, frankly, make me gag.

Sabine_Stroehm

Mine tend to be this:
either frozen spinach, or the costco spinach kale mix
avocado
some flax seeds (or chia, or hemp)
almond milk (or soy, or cow)
and then a handful of frozen berries.
If I'm feeling crazy? An orange flavored zip fizz thrown in instead of the berries.
The zip fizz makes it a VERY low carb event, and the avocado with it makes it very creamy. Like an orange dreamsicle.

Retrofit55

Thank for the tip, Sabine. The ingredients you describe are pretty much the same I've been experimenting with, but I'd never heard of zip fizz. Will have to try it.

AlexandraCarlyle

Try some seaweed, too. Soak, then put it into the blender with the rest of the stuff. You could add some silken tofu as well, for added protein.

Sabine_Stroehm

Retrofit55 wrote: »

Thank for the tip, Sabine. The ingredients you describe are pretty much the same I've been experimenting with, but I'd never heard of zip fizz. Will have to try it.

Zipfizz is a bit of vitamins, potassium etc. and a bit of caffeine. a few carbs.

mandycat223

I keep bags of frozen spinach on hand at all times. Frozen spinach is good for smoothies for the same reason it's bad for actual eating: it's almost tasteless. My recipe:

Two cups non-sweetened almond milk
40 grams (about one cup) frozen spinach
One scoop GNC's unflavored protein powder
One cup crushed ice
One of the dozen or so sweetener thingies I buy: Mio water enhancers, Skinny Syrup, Sugar Free Torani Syrup and the like.

22 Grams Protein, 3 Carb Grams

Since I've apparently been running haywire on electrolytes lately (the summer heat snuck up on me) I'm looking for a way to tuck some sodium/mag/potassium in as well.

Retrofit55

Thanks, mandycat223, Mio water enhancers, Skinny Syrup, Sugar Free Torani Syrup are all things I haven't tried yet. I'll check them out!

Retrofit55

AlexandraCarlyle wrote: »

Try some seaweed, too. Soak, then put it into the blender with the rest of the stuff. You could add some silken tofu as well, for added protein.

Alexandra, will seaweed cut some of the grassy bitter taste?

And if I am hitting my macros for protein, is it really necessary to add supplemental protein to the smoothie? At present, my medical conditions are such that I am unable to exercise vigorously so thought I would not have to adjust for the increased protein demand of that kind of activity (yet).

Dragonwolf

My favorite when I did smoothis was, though I'm not sure how much it'd qualify as a "proper" green smoothie:

A handful or three of fresh spinach (baby spinach is a good one)
1-2 tbsp peanut butter (or your favorite nut butter)
1/4-1/2 an avocado
1tbps or so high quality cocoa powder
2c milk of choice
Ice
1 serving protein powder of choice (optional)
Sweetener of choice (optional, though strawberries are a good option if you want fruit)

I found the chocolate and peanut butter combination to mask the bitterness of the greens enough that I could do it with spinach. Kale was always out of the question, though, because it's just too bitter for me.

Retrofit55

Thanks, Dragonwolf -- with the cocoa powder and peanut butter, this is a green recipe that I definitely haven't tried yet. It sounds like it might work. If I can just get a base recipe that works for me, I think I can tinker with the ingredients to maximize the green nutrient content. Will try it today!

canadjineh

Not exactly a smoothie, but I snip shreds of a couple sheets of nori into pasta sauce (looks like spinach, but I can sneak it past hubby that way). It also adds a bit more umami flavour to the sauce (which if made chunky enough and filled with meat can be a 'stew' (no actual pasta needed) or topping zucchini noodles, etc.

Retrofit55

Just wanted to let you all know the outcome of my green smoothie experiments. I appreciate all of the ideas. I found the cocoa powder and peanut butter suggestion definitely made the smoothie more palatable. And SF raspberry Torani syrup was the big winner so far, actually making the smoothie pretty good (looking forward to trying their other flavors). I have yet to try the seaweed...those of you who mentioned it, do you have a favorite brand that is available on Amazon? Can hardly wait to try the nori "pasta" sauce, canadjineh! (Turns out keto staple foods make for pretty pricey start-up expenses, so I must delay the seaweed experiment until a more auspicious month, budget-wise. )

Twibbly

Retrofit55 wrote: »

Just wanted to let you all know the outcome of my green smoothie experiments. I appreciate all of the ideas. I found the cocoa powder and peanut butter suggestion definitely made the smoothie more palatable. And SF raspberry Torani syrup was the big winner so far, actually making the smoothie pretty good (looking forward to trying their other flavors). I have yet to try the seaweed...those of you who mentioned it, do you have a favorite brand that is available on Amazon? Can hardly wait to try the nori "pasta" sauce, canadjineh! (Turns out keto staple foods make for pretty pricey start-up expenses, so I must delay the seaweed experiment until a more auspicious month, budget-wise. )

Don't buy it on Amazon until you know which ones you like. Go to the health food store (and in some grocery stores, their healthy section) and look for the snack packs. They're normally a dollar or so. Here's an Amazon link so you can see what we're talking about and how it's packaged: https://www.amazon.com/Wickedly-Prime-Organic-Roasted-Seaweed/dp/B01I4CPYN8

I repeat, do NOT buy a 15-pack without trying it first.

Retrofit55

Twibbly wrote: »

Retrofit55 wrote: »

Just wanted to let you all know the outcome of my green smoothie experiments. I appreciate all of the ideas. I found the cocoa powder and peanut butter suggestion definitely made the smoothie more palatable. And SF raspberry Torani syrup was the big winner so far, actually making the smoothie pretty good (looking forward to trying their other flavors). I have yet to try the seaweed...those of you who mentioned it, do you have a favorite brand that is available on Amazon? Can hardly wait to try the nori "pasta" sauce, canadjineh! (Turns out keto staple foods make for pretty pricey start-up expenses, so I must delay the seaweed experiment until a more auspicious month, budget-wise. )

Don't buy it on Amazon until you know which ones you like. Go to the health food store (and in some grocery stores, their healthy section) and look for the snack packs. They're normally a dollar or so. Here's an Amazon link so you can see what we're talking about and how it's packaged: https://www.amazon.com/Wickedly-Prime-Organic-Roasted-Seaweed/dp/B01I4CPYN8

I repeat, do NOT buy a 15-pack without trying it first.

Love the tips, thanks, Twibbly! I tried a snack pack of sesame flavored organic roasted seaweed and though I can't see myself happily snacking on them like chips, I think they'll work great snipped into some keto pasta sauce like canadjineh suggested.

NovaSur

Unsweetened vanilla almond milk is a must! I do 1 cup of that plus 1 cup of water, 2 cups of power mix from Costco (kale, spinach, swiss chard). A handful of frozen strawberries. Chia seeds. and cinnamon to sweeten is another must.

Retrofit55

I've used unsweet. almond milk but not, I think, unsweet. vanilla almond milk. Will try it!