Green Power >>

I'm not gonna lie. Me and veggies have a tenuous relationship. I WANT to like them, but they're so much work to prepare, and honestly, many are just not my favorite thing to eat. One of my New Year's resolutions (remember those?) was to eat more vegetables, and so I've been working on incorporating veggies in new and sneaky ways. Enter, the green smoothie.

I know I'm not the only one on the green kick, because pretty much every time I check any social media these days, I see a new green smoothie recipe pop up in the feed. Even my grandma's been getting into the smoothie scene; she asked me for some tips just yesterday. I've got my own tried-and-true that I'd like to throw into the mix. It might not be that exotic, it might not even be the healthiest, but dang it if it isn't delicious. My goal when coming up with a smoothie was to get it to actually taste good, so that I would want to drink it everyday, and I have definitely succeeded with that goal. I have one pretty much every day as a late afternoon snack, to tide me over until dinner so that I'm not ravenous by dinnertime. The other goal was simply to up my fruit and veggie intake. There's one serving of veggies, and one and a half servings of fruit if you count the juice. Pretty good for a snack! Here's what I do:

• At LEAST two cups of greens (you need two cups for a whole serving). I have been using mixes of baby greens, since they're a bit more tender. Kale, chard, spinach, bok choy, tat soi are all good. I find full on "adult" kale a little fibrous for smoothies, but if you don't mind a little texture, go for it. Organic, if possible, since they're greens and all.
• Banana
• 4 ounces 100% pineapple juice
• Yogurt, about a quarter of a cup. I use whatever we have, but Greek has the most protein and keeps me full for a loooong time - perfect if you use this as a meal replacement. Plain works well, and sweetened is fine if you don't mind the added sugar or like it a bit sweeter.
• A nice big scoop of ground flax seed for some added fiber and Omega 3s. A friend gave me some that she picked up at Costco recently, and it has a great texture. You can also find it on Amazon.

I only have an immersion blender, so that's what I use and it works well for this. Someday I'd like to get a juicer and start juicing (that way I can throw all the weird interesting vegetables that come in our winter CSA box in there and drink 'em. Do you have a favorite smoothie or juicing recipe? Share it with me!

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