Not just for daquiris anymore

I’m not ashamed to say it, I have reignited my love affair with my blender.  And no, I haven’t gone on some frozen drink bender.  Smoothies my friends, smoothies!  For months now, I’ve been coveting a Vitamix blender for it’s ability to adequtely blend anything from a banana to a TV remote into teeny, tiny bits (it’s a tad cost prohibitive though).  I’ve been jealous of friends who can drink their greens for breakfast every morning.  Every time I tried to make a smoothie in my 13 year old blender, I just ended up with salad-in-a-cup…complete with necessary chewing.  My blender can barely blend ice and wasn’t really holding it’s own with kale either.  I tried my food processor (also a dinosaur–it was my grandma’s Cuisinart and it still runs), but that only chopped the kale slightly smaller than the blender.  I had all but thrown in the towel when I gave it one last, good try about 3 weeks ago, when I promised my 6 year old that I could make a mango smoothie for him that was WAAAAAAAAY better than Odwalla.  We looked at the ingredients on the bottle and bought them all.  I thought I’d hit paydirt when I tasted the best mango smoothie to ever come from my blender the next morning.  My 6 year old wasn’t impressed.  This 34 year old mother wasn’t deterred.  The next morning, I gave the “green smoothie”, which had eluded me in previous attempts, another try.  Guess what?  My blender can make a mean green smoothie (Brilliant!  I just came up with a name for it!) if I let it blend for longer than 30 seconds.  Yes, I hold a degree in Biochemistry but never thought to let the blender run for a bit longer.  Duh!

The best part is that this smoothie is both amazingly delicious and filling!  I never thought a drink could fill me up and keep me sated for over 3 hours, but it does.  Without coffee or even green tea, I have abundant energy in the morning–it didn’t happen the first day I drank it, but about a week after I had consistently had my green smoothie for breakfast.  My skin and my head are clearer, I feel light, clean and energetic!  Now if only I could bring the blender to work and crank one out at about 2:30pm when the afternoon slump hits.  I’ll have to work on that one.

Here’s the recipe for the “Mean Green Smoothie” (adapted from recipe in Jan/Feb issue of Health magazine):

3-4 stalks of organic kale, cut/ripped from stem and in small, tiny pieces (unless you have a Vitamix)

1 frozen banana, cut into small pieces (peel banana before you freeze it!)

8 oz fresh pressed coconut (I use Lundberg brand), almond milk or 1% cows milk (your choice)

~1T ground flaxseed

2T old fashioned rolled oats (dry)

add cold, filtered water until desired consistency is reached.

I drink all of the contents of the blender.  It’s a LOT of smoothie, which is probably why it fills me up.  It’s probably the size of the Trienta from Starbucks…which is soooo scandalous.  I’m happy to be on better terms with my blender.  Whoever got it for us for our wedding deserves another thank you note.

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