What super foods have you tried? I’m batting 7/8 from this list in a recent article naming the 8 best super foods to boost your mood and energy: maca powder, pure raw organic cacao powder (try these vegan raw cacao truffles), chia seeds, coconut/coconut oil, spirulina, goji berries, hemp seeds and oil, flax seeds and oil. You seriously need to start including at least a few of them in your diet, especially at this time of year, to boost your immune system and protect yourself against the cold and flu viruses going around but, just as important, to feel energized, happier, healthier, and more capable of handling the daily stressors in our busy lives.
This past week I started the green smoothie challenge, inspired by my friend @DivaEats on Instagram – I’m not sure if its supposed to be 7 days or the whole month, what’s important is I’m doing it and making them fresh at home rather than spending the $$ to buy one that includes juice concentrates and probably has added sugar. Lots of people are juicing now and they may be adding maca powder, spirulina, goji berries and chia seeds to their drinks, but I don’t own a juicer and prefer to use a blender (or VitaMix if you have one) in order to retain the fiber in the fruit and vegetables and add the bonus super foods.
This is what started my week with kale – a shipment of the good stuff from Cut N’Clean Greens including organic Asian rapini (Gai Lan), pea shoots, beet greens, and several salad mixes and kits. All my green smoothies were made with kale this week, but you can use other greens like spinach, beet greens, chard, collard greens, etc. I brainstormed greens-inspired dishes I want to experiment with, besides the obvious soups and salads, and am planning some bold moves with a beet green risotto and my version of Green Eggs & Ham pizza – so stay tuned.
Kale morning, noon, and night. You may not be a hard core greens fan, like some of us food blogger types who are total kale-a-holics and throw Kale-a-palooza parties to celebrate the new year and our goals or good intentions to eat healthier (more on that event later, including links to some very inspiring kale recipes), but if you can incorporate greens into a few meals during the week you’ll be adding nutrient-dense foods to your diet 🙂 Remember that term: nutrient dense – major buzz word in health/nutrition/food this year.
- 1/2 bag Cut and Clean Organic Kale
- 1 organic apple quartered
- 2 organic bananas sliced
- 3 organic tangerines or 2 oranges, peeled and segmented
- 1/2 cup dried organic blueberries
- juice of 1/2 Meyer lemon
- Almond milk
- Chia Seeds
- Other great additions: Acai berries and Gogi berries
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Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and toss with lemon juice.
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Divide fruit into five baggies and add a handful of kale.
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To blend your smoothie: add a few ice cubes to the blender, 1 cup of almond or coconut milk and a teaspoon of Chia seeds. Blend until the mixture turns a rich green which means your kale is totally pureed.
I just bought a huge amount of baby spinach to prepare myself for some healthy smoothies. I was having a tall glass everyday until the holidays hit–then they were history. I’ve been really craving them lately and yours looks wonderful. I’ve yet to try kale in them but I do really like adding the chia seeds. I think I’ll need smoothies morning, noon and night after the pork belly I just shared on the blog! 🙂
Happy New Year, Priscilla!
Jean – I saw it, and I’ll trade you a week of smoothies for one bowl of pork belly as pictured!!
Love the idea of bagging ingredients for juices.
Hi Kevin – bagging all the ingredients at once makes mornings virtually hassle-free and is a major time saver!
I would love one large glass after my morning yoga!
WHOA! This would be perfect after my bikram yoga class 😀
Oh maca powder is new to me. Since you have mentioned it, maybe I should really think of a food renaissance in my diet. That’s one filling super smoothi!
Ps. Sunday supper is fun and I love the group. My food blogger friends are so very supportive and friendly. =)
What a great way to get all those veggies in!
That smoothie looks seriously powerful! Wish I could have made the palooza 🙁
Ooh, this is fantastic! and I love your pre-portioned bag of nutritious goodies =)
Love your tip about bagging this up for easy smoothies later! So glad you added Meyer lemon juice, my favorite! 🙂
Time to pull out my juicer…looks so good!
Why, oh, why are you getting rid of the apple peel and all of its vitamins, minerals, fiber, and antioxidants?!?! No, no, no!
Hello Green Smoothie Deb – You are absolutely right and usually I leave the peel on, I think I peeled this one because it was a little past prime. So, yes, leave the peel on by all means!
I love the idea of preparing it ahead of time and keeping these ingredients inside the baggies. It makes creating smoothie a lot easier too.