A green smoothie disaster

niamhyyy
niamhyyy Posts: 2
in Recipes
Hi guys, I'm a bit of a newbie when it comes to nutrition but I know my diet is lacking through not eating breakfast, not getting enough greens and nutrients and too much sugar! I thought a veg packed green smoothie could help start the day off well but the one I made today was truly horrible!

I followed a recipe with celery, spinach, avocado, ginger, 2 apples for sweetness', a few tsps of lemon juice, parsley, spirulina and wheatgrass powder,... It was grim. I have seen yummier looking ones with berries and bananas with a bit of spinach thrown I
In also, but I had thought initially that a massively veggy one would provide more of the nutrients I'm lacking. Would you recommend going more down the fruit route (a rhyme haha) or sticking with the veg - mixing it up or just learning to deal with it?

Does anyone have any favourite healthy and palatable recipes? Have you found the green smoothies or fruit smoothies giving you more energy ?

Thanks for any replies or advice...

Niamh :flowerforyou:

Replies

  • angieroo2
    angieroo2 Posts: 970 Member
    I would experiment and see what you like best. Maybe it's only one or two ingredients you didn't like the taste of.

    The good thing about just spinach in a fruit smoothie is you don't taste the spinach at all.
  • RoolyBob99
    RoolyBob99 Posts: 6
    I too have had many a smoothie disaster-- they happen to the best of us. ;)

    I find that making a fruit smoothie with some spinach thrown in never hurts; the spinach is kind of lost in the fruity taste, and you don't really realize that it's there. As for nutrient content, I'm not entirely sure. I just try to vary the colors of fruits and veggies that I'm getting and include them as roughly half of every meal.

    I also find that any smoothie with plenty of fiber in it will help keep you fuller longer, and try to avoid particularly watery vegetables. They're usually low in nutrients, and although they keep you fuller, that's about all that they do.
  • miss_mckenna
    miss_mckenna Posts: 18 Member
    Honestly, pineapple makes almost any green smoothie more tolerable. Maybe try less ingredients, and try sticking to the same color scheme. If you add red (beets, etc) to a green smoothie it will turn a super gross brown color and just look unappetizing. I try to keep smoothies to 5 ingredients or less, the apples and pineapples add juice so it's not so...icky. And, don't be afraid of fruit, it's the good kind of sugar...just don't go overboard. You can also add almond or soy milk for some protein. Good luck!
  • MadelineGraceG
    MadelineGraceG Posts: 34 Member
    I just started making smoothies, my recipe is rather simple but very vague, sorry. I have a nutriblend blender. I fill it halfway with fresh spinach, then add one banana and 4 strawberries that I've pre-frozen. Add water or green tea to the "water fill line" and blend. Whala!
  • CLFrancois
    CLFrancois Posts: 472 Member
    add a kiwi to keep the green going, that or pineapple like previous poster said.
  • Rianne90
    Rianne90 Posts: 229 Member
    I think to start out and get used to it it can be good to use a higher fruit:veg ratio.
    I have made smoothies with spinach before but I didn't follow a set recipe, I just threw some stuff in the blender and went with it. I do remember using apples and finding the texture absolutely horrible, so I'll never use apples in a smoothie recipe again.
    Your recipe with the celery seems quite high on veggies, which is a good thing if you're used to the taste, but since celery has a pretty strong flavor you might want to consider leaving it out for a more neutral flavor?

    Also, you don't 'need' a green smoothie, but it can be an easy way to get some more veggies into your diet if you aren't getting them in your other meals.

    Also, I haven't made smoothies long enough to notice a difference in energy levels or anything like that, it's a bit too expensive for me to keep buying delicous sweet fruit to blend with bitter veggies lol :P
  • ChelseaWelseyKins
    ChelseaWelseyKins Posts: 272 Member
    A lot of the time, I like to JUST add some type of veggie juice or puree with some fruits I like and Chobani Greek Plain Yogurt. I usually blend up a bunch of spinach or kale into a juice, then add a couple spoonfulls of yogurt then some fruit. Really, it's all about what works for you. Adding just one type of veggie at a time to start makes it taste better and easier to get used to, and you still get the nutrients of the veggies. As I said before, I use spinach or kale because they're both super-veggies and are jam packed full of nutrients :) Hope this helped!
  • pandabear_
    pandabear_ Posts: 487 Member
    I made a really delicious smoothie yesterday:

    It was 100ml of apple juice, kale, raspberries, blackberries, celery, half a banana and chia seeds. It tasted really sweet and nice, I couldn't taste the kale.

    Usually I make one with:

    100ml of apple juice, 2 teaspoons of spirulina, carrot, celery, avocado, half a banana, raspberries, blueberries and kale.


    .... I think apple juice really makes a difference and a sweet fruit like raspberries and banana, as otherwise the spirulina tastes absolutely horrible.
  • niamhyyy
    niamhyyy Posts: 2
    Thank you for the replies, I am a bit more eager to try again with a balance of veg with the fruit! I do love pineapple and I hadn't thought about berries with greens!

    I think maybe the celery could have been the reason I wasn't enjoying it, i don't really like it very much normally so putting it in a smoothie probably wasn't too clever.

    I'm looking forward to a bit of experimentation I'm the next week or two, thanks again guys :)
  • mynamealex
    mynamealex Posts: 26
    sure! I use this http://bit.ly/spirulinarecipe

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