tasty green smoothie (with pic!)

CeleryStalker

So I've been struggling with eating small meals every 2-3 hours because I'm simply not hungry. Add to that all the water I've committed to drinking daily, and I'm really, REALLY not hungry. Yesterday, I didn't eat nearly as much as I should have, and ended up eating garbage for my late night munchie because I felt like I could have the calories since I was so short on calories. This is a way of thinking that I need to stop, and that process is starting today. Today I have vowed to eat my damn meals every few hours as planned.

But that gets me right back to 'but I'm not hungry'. Well, how many times have I polished off something completely BAD for me even though I wasn't hungry? Just because it was there, it looked good, and I wanted it? Enough times that I'm now 40# overweight, so obviously, eating when I'm not hungry shouldn't be a problem for me.

My tactic? Make food that aligns with my eating regimen and is actually 'crave-worthy'. I love sweets. What better way to get in my mid-morning meal than with a healthy, nutritious, naturally sweet and delicious green smoothie? It helps that I cored a pineapple this morning, so I had something fun to pour the smoothie into.

Many thanks to The Gracious Pantry, my favorite MFP person on the planet due to her non-stop awesomeness provided via her blog. I simply googled' clean eating pineapple smoothie' and was directed to her page, as usual. You know someone's got a great blog going on when pretty much every time you google a recipe, the search results bring you to the same site. LOL!

I based my recipe off the one I found on her site. Here's what I've got:

1/2 banana, frozen (When I buy bananas, they go straight to the freezer, specifically for smoothies)
3 freshly cored pineapple rings
1/2 cup 0% Fage Greek yogurt
1/3 cup lite coconut milk
1/2 T agave nectar
2 cups fresh baby spinach

I find that using the frozen banana eradicates my need for ice in my smoothies. Here's the end result:



I'll be back in a second with nutritional details!

GingerDarlene

cute; does it taste good?

carolstrange0

i made my first green drink yesterday too! what are the odds! i did mine in a regular blender @ home with dan dan dan daaa... A PAINT STRAINER!!!

Pre measured:
66.6 g Carrots
33.3 g Baby Spinach
66.6 g Celery
~~~BLEND~~~
Added Agava 1/2 tsp
~~~ pour into strainer OVER big bowl or tupperware~~~
~~~Squeeze out all the yummy green juice~~~

Volia, About 16 oz of juice

CeleryStalker

OK, here we go:

Calories: 243
Carb: 39.3g
Protein: 14.2g
Fat: 5g


Not too shabby

CeleryStalker

cute; does it taste good?

well, ya! LOL you can't taste the spinach at all. tastes like a pineapple smoothie and it's awesome!

TheGraciousPantry

You rock! Thanks for the mention!

blacrasberri

I smoothies but I never thought of freezing my bananas. My dilemma is that my fruit especially bananas go bad when I'm ready to make something. This may sound like a silly question but do u peel the banana before freezing it? Also how can I prevent them from going bad too soon.

TheGraciousPantry

Hope you don't mind if I but in here.

Bananas that stay together, rot together. Separate your bananas on the counter. They will go brown much slower. Also, when you first start to see brown spots, peel them, slice them, and stick em' in the freezer. Especially during the summer heat, they are fantastic for banana ice cream! Yum!

blacrasberri

Hope you don't mind if I but in here.

Bananas that stay together, rot together. Separate your bananas on the counter. They will go brown much slower. Also, when you first start to see brown spots, peel them, slice them, and stick em' in the freezer. Especially during the summer heat, they are fantastic for banana ice cream! Yum!

Thanks so much! I have to add u as a friend!!!!:bigsmile:

CeleryStalker

Hope you don't mind if I but in here.

Bananas that stay together, rot together. Separate your bananas on the counter. They will go brown much slower. Also, when you first start to see brown spots, peel them, slice them, and stick em' in the freezer. Especially during the summer heat, they are fantastic for banana ice cream! Yum!

Ooh, awesome tip! What I do is I get them home, peel them, wrap them in wax paper, and stick them in a ziplock freezer bag. I got this method from a local juice bar and it's been working like a charm

Just wish they'd keep longer on the counter. I enjoy fresh bananas, dangit! :laugh:

CeleryStalker

You rock! Thanks for the mention!

I told you, you're awesome. Why shouldn't everyone know about you?

osucristina

I LOVE green smoothies. I use coconut water or green tea as a base, toss in spinach and cucumber and then whatever fruit I want! In the afternoons I have an energizing one with pineapple, orange and peach. Mornings are usually frozen berries and melon. It's really an awesome way to get all your leafy greens!

sallen67

Smoothies,

I was reading an article about them recently and the author uses all kinds of frozen vegetables in his. He claims that the flavor is greatly reduced or not there at all when you use the frozen vegetable. He uses frozen broccoli and carrots and cauliflower, spinach etc. He then adds his yogurt or protein powder, some almond milk or soy milk and whatever fruit flavor he wants, bananas, pineapple, blueberries etc.

I haven't been brave enough to test his taste claims yet, mostly because I know that the flavor of fruit doesn't seem to diminish when they are frozen.

I have been using frozen fruits in my smoothies instead of ice for a long time now and I really prefer it.

Another thing I like to do is to mix frozen blueberries into my Fage 0% Greek yogurt and stir until it starts to freeze.
It's pretty good, almost like frozen yogurt or ice cream if you don't let it get too hard where it starts to crystalize.

Scott

kburns0709

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