At the beginning of January I felt a wave of motivation waiting to happen, so I went to one of The Green Smoothie Girls' lectures and that gave me the extra kick I needed to get going for the year. I love green smoothies and and I have been drinking them for years, but this winter has been so cold here in Utah, I have NOT wanted to drink more cold! However, I decided I would take a 21 Day Green Smoothie Challenge, and see if I could get myself to drink some of those veggies I had always been afraid of...like beets! It is said after 21 days you form a habit. So, after grocery shopping I told my family about the challenge and my 7 1/2 year old son said he'd do it with me. The others said they didn't want to, but ahh...when the kitchen smells like fresh fruit and smoothies, guess who came around? :) Yep, by the end of our 21 days, everyone (6 of us) was having at least 1-2 cups. That's a LOT of smoothie!
My son made us a chart, and every day we wrote down the ingredients we put in our smoothies. I thought I would share some of them here so if you are looking for a pick-me-up, motivation, or just want to add a few fruits and veggies into your diet, try our 21 Day Green Smoothie Challenge.
I have to admit we weren't too brave with our greens, we didn't go with any "wild edibles" we mostly stuck to spinach, kale, and collards, but even adding in those in every day helped us feel more energized!
~Most of our smoothies made at least 4 Cups, some more and some less depending on who walked in the kitchen when things were going in the blender and decided they wanted one.
*My tip: If it is too bitter or "green" smelling, add another banana or lemon to lighten!:)
Smoothies:
Day 1
2 C Water
1 Green Apple
2 Stalks of Celery
1 Orange
1 C Spinach
1/2 Lemon with peel (peel made it slightly bitter)
Day 2
1 C Red Grapes
1 Orange
1 Stalk of Kale, despined
Handful of Spinach
1/2 Lemon, juiced
1 Red Apple
Slice of Beet
Day 3
2 C Water
1 Small Beet
1 C Spinach
1/2 C Cashews
1/2 C Shredded Coconut
1 Banana
1/2 C Carrots
5 Medjool Dates
Day 4
2 C Water
2 C Frozen Mixed Berries
1 Banana
1/2 Lemon, juiced
3 Oranges
1 C Spinach
1 Kale
Day 5
2 C Water
2 C Frozen Cherries
Spinach
Kale
1 C Cantelope
1 Red Apple
1 Banana
1 Orange
1/2 Lemon, juiced
Day 6
2 C water
1 Sm. Beet, peel off
Kale
Spinach
1 Apple
1 1/2 Banana
2 Oranges
3 C Frozen Tropical Fruit
Squeeze of Lemon
Day 7
2 C water
2 Oranges
1 Beet
1 Banana
Kale
Spinach
3/4 Lemon
Handful of baby carrots
Big Apple
1T Flaxseeds
Day 8
2 C Water
3 C Spinach
2 Oranges
1 Banana
3 C Tropical Fruit
1/2 Lemon
Day 9
2 C Water
2 C Spinach
1 C Almonds
1/4 C Agave
1/4 C Org. Cocoa Powder
3 Frozen Banana's
2 C Spinach
1 tsp. Pure Vanilla
(Great one for kids, can't even see or taste the green:)
Day 10
1 C Water
1 Banana
1/4 of a whole fresh Pineapple
2 Oranges
2 C Spinach
Day 11
2 C Water
2 Oranges
1 Banana
2 C Frozen Strawberries
1 C Frozen Mixed Berries
1 C Spinach
1/2 C Raw Almonds
(Adding Almonds makes it taste more like a milk shake)
Day 12
2 C water
1/2 Lemon, juiced
2 Kale
1 Kiwi
2 C Tropical Fruit
1 Orange
1 Gala Apple
Day 13
2 C Water
3 C Mixed Tropical
2 Kale
1 Orange
1 Banana
Day 14
2 C Water
2 C Strawberries
2 C Tropical
2 C Spinach
1 Orange
1 Banana
Day 15
1 C Water
2 Oranges
1 Banana
2 C Spinach
1/2 Lemon
1 C Ice
(One of my personal faves, this is my quick drink)
Day 16
2-3 C Water
1 Kale
Big handful of chopped Collards
2 Kiwi
1 Orange
1 Banana
5 C Frozen Strawberries
Day 17
2 C Water
2 Oranges
3 C Tropical
Spinach
Collards
Day 18
Repeat of the Green Chocolate Shake
Day 19
2 1/2 C Water
4 C Frozen Blueberries
2 Bananas
Squeeze of Lemon
2 Oranges
3 C Spinach
Day 20
2 C Water
2 C Tropical
3 Oranges
1 C Medjool Dates
2 C Spinach
5 C Strawberries
Handful of Raw Almonds
Day 21
Repeat of Day 15
Well, that's it! Sometimes we ate it for dinner, if it was "loaded" like with dates and nuts, but most of the time it was breakfast for everyone, and yes, though the 21 days are over, our green smoothie days are not!
I hope you got some new ideas and have fun putting things in your blender in the future!
I'm hungry....Green Smoothie anyone? :)
I like this idea. Since our 28 day vegan challenge is over, I'm thinking a 28 day green smoothie challenge might be in order! Thanks for the idea & the recipes!
ReplyDeleteI've decided I need a better blender if I'm going to be able to experiment with other things besides strawberries, mangos, bananas and pineapple with spinach. I tried a recipe that had green apple, cucumber, lemon, celery and spinach but it was too chunky even after blending for a long time. It was okay but I'm sure I would have liked it better if it wasn't as chunky (or peel everything first but I think the celery was the main culprit)
ReplyDeleteHave you tried chopping them up into small pieces? I don't like veggie chunks in smoothies either! :) Good luck.
DeleteAngela, where do you buy your produce? We've started doing more juicing and smoothies and it's getting super pricy!
ReplyDelete