Well, we’ve finally become smoothie people.  This is something I’ve wanted to do for some time now, and last month while I was under the weather, Kenny took the plunge.  Anything to get the family healthy!  He came home one day with protein powder and fresh fruit and we haven’t looked back!

Our chiropractor mentioned quite a while ago about how he makes his family smoothies for breakfast and sneaks in all kinds of good, healthy ingredients.  As long as there’s some fruit to make it a little sweet, his kids will drink it.  So, we picked his brain about protein powders and decided to go for it.

For several weeks I was just making fruit based smoothies, but on St. Patrick’s Day decided to add some spinach to make them green.  Eventually I’d like to try kale, but for now, spinach is a good start.  Baby steps.  I was hoping to sneak the spinach in without the kids noticing, but of course I heard, “Spinach?!?  You’re putting that in our smoothies??” from James.  So, thinking on my feet, I said, “Yeah!  We’re having Green Monster Smoothies!”  The response?  “Cool!”  Whew!

Now we’re making green smoothies 3-4 times a week and the kids love them.  We ALL love them!  If I get them made early enough, Kenny takes one to work for breakfast, too.

Here’s the list of ingredients I’ve been using:

vanilla yogurt – would eventually like to use Plain yogurt with less sugar
protein powder – not too much – we’re not trying to gain weight
juice of any kind or milk
1 egg
any kind of fruit – banana, berries, pineapple, peaches, mango, kiwi, etc.
peanut butter (optional) – I only use P.B. when using bananas; not great with other fruits
spinach
ice cubes – if I’m using frozen fruit I skip the ice cubes

I’ve been experimenting with the measurements; just dumping things in.  I’ve even added vitamins to the mix – extra C.  Or, last week while feeling like a cold was coming, I put in a packet of Emergen-C.

I really love using big bags of frozen fruit.  It’s less expensive and much easier than keeping so much fresh produce on hand.

I have one friend who adds many other healthy ingredients: flax seeds, chia seeds, almonds or other nuts, kale, etc.  Eventually I’d like to try some of that, but for now, our Green Monster Smoothies are hitting the spot!