Green smoothies

[Aubrey]

A friend gave me a recipe, but I'm sure I've heard of them here, too (right?)--plain yogurt, frozen strawberries, handful of spinach.

 

I'm sure that's sweet enough for some of you guys, so I'm sorry to have to ask...how do y'all sweeten that? The plain yogurt is *so* tart, the strawberries just aren't sweet enough to compensate.

 

Today I put a spoonful or so of agave nectar & then in desparation, a bunch of sugar. It's *very* good now, lol, but...I'm thinking there's got to be a better (healthier) way.

 

Although as it is, it has inspired speech from my 1yo: "This YUM." :lol:

[jg_puppy]

I usually add either honey or a banana and sometimes I add a little of both.

 

Jan

[Aubrey]

I usually add either honey or a banana and sometimes I add a little of both.

 

Jan

 

Oooh, banana is a great idea!

 

I actually grabbed the nectar thinking it was honey, but I guess they're essentially the same? The nectar seems a little sweeter to me.

[Jennifer in MI]

I buy bananas that I let go dark for this reason! They're sweeter when they get a little mushy. I break them in half and freeze them. Then, I use half of one in a smoothie. Makes it really sweet.

 

I also sometimes use a little OJ concentrate. Adds the sweetness without the sugar.

[LibraryLover]

We are fans of strawberry yogurt in our smoothies. Carrots can also help sweeten.

[Gratia271]

I buy bananas that I let go dark for this reason! They're sweeter when they get a little mushy. I break them in half and freeze them. Then, I use half of one in a smoothie. Makes it really sweet.

 

I also sometimes use a little OJ concentrate. Adds the sweetness without the sugar.

 

 

We do the same thing which makes them taste much better.

[Aubrey]

Thanks, guys! I knew y'all would have some great answers--I'd forgotten that I'd saved some carrot juice for exactly this reason. :001_smile:

 

Bananas rarely have a chance to turn brown here, lol, but I'll remember that. (I do have mashed up banana pulp in my freezer for a loaf of ban bread sometime...hmmm...

[MamaBearTeacher]

Half a teaspoon of coconut oil really makes this better! You won't mind as much that it is not so sweet. I also add frozen mango.

[Jennifer in MI]

Forgot one - pineapple!! Yum!!!

[meet me in paris]

Apples are good as a sweetener, too. :)

[babs]

Adding organge adds a lot of sweet. You may need to wean off of the sugar by decreasing it incrementally each time and add more agave. I use agave in mine - we use frozen blueberries (hides the green color if that is a problem) and a fruit blend that has papaya, mango, strawberries, and other tropical fruits. Yummy. I often use collard greens instead of spinach. Great way to get the greens in.

[GoVanGogh]

I do the frozen banana thing, too. I will often buy two bunches of bananas at the store - one slightly under ripe for eating fresh, the other bunch so ripe they are on the verge of going bad. The second bunch gets peeled and put in the freezer immediately.

 

One of our favorite green smoothies has frozen pineapple and mango, one orange, 1/2 a frozen banana and fresh spinach. I add some water so it blends nicely. DS loves it. DH is just so-so on it, but drinks it to set a good example. :D

[Aubrey]

I do the frozen banana thing, too. I will often buy two bunches of bananas at the store - one slightly under ripe for eating fresh, the other bunch so ripe they are on the verge of going bad. The second bunch gets peeled and put in the freezer immediately.

 

One of our favorite green smoothies has frozen pineapple and mango, one orange, 1/2 a frozen banana and fresh spinach. I add some water so it blends nicely. DS loves it. DH is just so-so on it, but drinks it to set a good example. :D

 

So maybe the yogurt is optional? I guess I'd never thought of just blending the fruit up w/out any kind of...something to hold it together. :lol:

 

We've done protein shakes w/ orange juice concentrate as the base, protein powder, frozen fruit, etc.

 

Sounds like we need to do some experimenting. Summer will be a delightful time for that. My kids felt SPOILED today. :lol: They even saw the spinach sitting out. Asked me what the secret ingredient was. Didn't believe me when I told them. (I often tell them wild, unbelievable things.) So they merrily went off drinking their not-spinach smoothie. :D

 

I love being a mom sometimes. :lol:

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

I make mine with frozen mango, frozen blueberries, frozen strawberries, water and kale or spinach. Doesn't usually need any extra sweetening, but if it does, I shake a little stevia powder in there. Yummy! Maybe I'll go make one now!

[GoVanGogh]

So maybe the yogurt is optional? I guess I'd never thought of just blending the fruit up w/out any kind of...something to hold it together.

Well. I, um, am trying to eat a mostly raw diet right now :001_huh: so not eating yogurt.

In the past I have used yogurt, though am not overly fond of the tartness. It isn't near as creamy w/o the yogurt, more of a very icy drink. But the frozen banana does make it a bit creamier.

 

I just made smoothies... One orange, frozen banana, frozen mixed berries, frozen mango, flax oil and fresh spinach.

DS declared it awful. He's overly sensitive to taste and textures. He right away told me that he could tell I had included blackberries. :glare: He hates blackberries, but I thought he wouldn't be able to pick out the taste w/the other ingredients.

[Aubrey]

I make mine with frozen mango, frozen blueberries, frozen strawberries, water and kale or spinach. Doesn't usually need any extra sweetening, but if it does, I shake a little stevia powder in there. Yummy! Maybe I'll go make one now!

 

You know what, I think my friend *did* say she puts stevia in hers. I didn't write the recipe down because it sounded easy, & I forgot the stevia because we've never used it. I think I remember thinking I'd just use honey or something. Ha!

 

It's a relief to realize her kids won't actually eat that much better than mine. Now y'all know my real reason for posting. :lol:

[kdeno]

http://www.greensmoothiegirl.com

 

I make mind by blending some spinach, kale and collard in water. Then I add pineapple, strawberries, a banana, flax oil and elderberries.

 

Yummy!

[Heidi @ Mt Hope]

Forgot one - pineapple!! Yum!!!

 

Yep. We used canned (unsweetened but still really sweet) pineapple in ours fairly often. And banana and OJ. No yogurt. We use frozen berries and I find that strawberries aren't the sweetest thing to add unless they are really good ones.

[kdeno]

but I bought some frozen last time, much less messy.

[Wendy Inman]

We just started making spinach smoothies a few weeks ago. We took our regular protein smoothie and modified it. We are going to have to start weaning ourselves down off the sugar because DS and i like them really sweet. Today we used a big bunch of spinach we picked straight from the garden! Plus vanilla lowfat yogurt, frozen pineapple, banana, strawberries, frozen blueberries, protein powder... and i put a little organic cane sugar in. Going to start knocking that back.

[Aubrey]

We just started making spinach smoothies a few weeks ago. We took our regular protein smoothie and modified it. We are going to have to start weaning ourselves down off the sugar because DS and i like them really sweet. Today we used a big bunch of spinach we picked straight from the garden! Plus vanilla lowfat yogurt, frozen pineapple, banana, strawberries, frozen blueberries, protein powder... and i put a little organic cane sugar in. Going to start knocking that back.

 

Vanilla yogurt I could do w/out sugar, no problem. But, yeah, I like them sweet, too. The sugar jar slipped a little when I was pouring it in. Yum!

 

After reading this thread, though, I also think I used too much yogurt. Less would have been less tart. My goal is actually to get to where we like plain yogurt--at least well enough, if not better than the sweetened, flavored kind. The smoothies seem like a good start. Even if I'm sweetening them, *I* can see how much I'm sweetening them & kind of develop an awareness, if that makes sense.

[kdeno]

you may not even need sweetener.

[Nestof3]

I prefer to use unsweetened almond milk for my smoothies. It requires no sweetener when I make a smoothie with a banana, a cup of frozen fruit (usually wild blueberries) and 1 cup of spinach.

 

I prefer to eat my yogurt on the side.

[buddhabelly]

Once you do gradually wean yourselves off the HFCS and sugar, one thing that will help is to use organic fruit when/if you can afford it. Or local strawberries. (I'm not gullible enough for you to tell me that you can use local bananas.)

 

Julie

[cjzimmer1]

Well, knowing your love of cooking you probably won't like my answer but I have learned that if I make my own yogurt it isn't nearly as tart as the stuff from the store. I can't eat plain yogurt from the store, but I have learned to really enjoy plain homemade yogurt. I don't make smoothies often but I would imagine that a milder tasting yogurt wouldn't need mcuh added to it besides fresh fruit.

[elfinbaby]

Oh no - I don't do any dairy in my green smoothies. I feel like I get the best benefits by doing it all vegan/raw. During my last pregnancy when water, frozen fruit, bananas, and greens just wasn't palatable, I juiced some oranges and, wow, that sweetened it up just fine. I love green smoothies. I recommend them to everyone but I like to stick to the raw vegan ideal. That's just me. Any way you can get more greens is awesome so do whatever you like best.

 

My basic recipe is a handful of greens (spinach is so mild, sorrel is my FAVE!, I add more than a handful since I'm used to it), 2 bananas, 1.5 cups of frozen fruit (I don't like warm smoothies, cherries w/sorrel = yum:)), and water to turn (oj for more sweetness). Perfect every time! I also like the above recipe but do frozen grapes for the fruit and a whole peeled oj (w/bananas). That's a solid combo, too.

 

I have lived on green smoothies for weeks. My skin is never softer, never clearer than when I do a smoothie cleanse. I've been doing them for so long, though, that I need to branch out into savory smoothies but I am so scared!!

 

In short, for sweetness add more bananas or sub. fresh squeezed oj instead of water. That will totally do it. I never do honey, agave, dates, etc. for sweetness. I don't care for the taste.

[Hedgehogs4]

spinach, carrots, frozen grapes, berries of all sorts, yogurt, half a banana, and a bit of stevia. one dropperful of the liquid stevia is PERFECT for our smoothies. we don't necessarily put all these in at the same time, but sometimes we do. the stevia is the key though if you like it sweeter. it's a very natural, light sweet flavor, and fyi, i'd read up on agave...it's supposedly not that good for you after all.

 

http://www.mercola.com (search agave)

[Aubrey]

Once you do gradually wean yourselves off the HFCS and sugar, one thing that will help is to use organic fruit when/if you can afford it. Or local strawberries. (I'm not gullible enough for you to tell me that you can use local bananas.)

 

Julie

 

You'd never believe that my dad planted a banana tree in the back yard when I was a kid. (But the dog ate it. *Really.*)

 

And the one thing my mom *did* cook when I was growing up? Yogurt. :ack2: That was some. scary. stuff.

 

(This is like when I told dh I was on the swim team. (I can't swim.) I explained that the form you fill out *nowhere* said we had to know how to swim. I checked! But boy did they treat us like they thought we knew how. :glare:)

[Peela]

I don't use yoghurt. I don't think it's really a healthy food, sweetened or not, generally speaking.

 

I use fruit (bananas for sweetness, berries for nutrition), greens and water. Tastes great.

[Aubrey]

Well, this AM while I was making smoothies, 2yo snuck up & started licking the lid of the plain yogurt. She liked it! So I had 9yo taste the smoothie--it only had strawberries & plain yogurt at that point--he said it was ok.

 

So apparently it was just me, lol. I made their smoothies w/ just a tbs or so of agave (I haven't read that link yet, but we don't usually buy it--I thought I was grabbing honey) & a banana. They *love* it. I added a tsp or so of sugar just to mine, &--!--it's tart. But I'm surviving. :D

 

And I'm thrilled w/ what my dc are eating.

[Karis]

A friend gave me a recipe, but I'm sure I've heard of them here, too (right?)--plain yogurt, frozen strawberries, handful of spinach.

 

I'm sure that's sweet enough for some of you guys, so I'm sorry to have to ask...how do y'all sweeten that? The plain yogurt is *so* tart, the strawberries just aren't sweet enough to compensate.

 

Today I put a spoonful or so of agave nectar & then in desparation, a bunch of sugar. It's *very* good now, lol, but...I'm thinking there's got to be a better (healthier) way.

 

Although as it is, it has inspired speech from my 1yo: "This YUM." :lol:

 

 

Love AGAVE !!

[Cindy in C-ville]

No yogurt for me. I fill up a blender half-way with spinach, add a spear of fresh pineapple, toss in a frozen banana, add enough water or OJ, or even a whole orange. Once this is blended, I add frozen mixed fruit from the Sam's bag. Yum.

[Karis]

:lurk5:

 

Has anyone tried Almond Breeze?

 

I'm thinking about it...

[Nestof3]

I love Almond Breeze. I buy the unsweetened kind. It has fewer calories than cow milk.

 

:lurk5:

 

Has anyone tried Almond Breeze?

 

I'm thinking about it...