This is my view out the kitchen door in the morning. The pumpkin patch is so colorful. Even on a dreary day, the colors of the pumpkins and squashes cheer me.
My breakfast smoothie starts with lots of fruits and vegetables. Today's has the white part of watermelon rind, celery leaves, several small plums, a banana, leftover sautéed collard greens (sautéed in olive oil with a sprinkle of sea salt -- still compatible with a smoothie, IMO), and a cooked carrot.
Once I get this blended I add chia seeds, flax seed meal, peanut butter, peanut butter powder, beet root powder, and 2 kinds of greens powder (one pricey, one budget). I use the cooking water from the carrot as well as extra tap water to keep it blending.
The blender pitcher makes enough for 3 breakfasts. I rinse the blender with a tiny amount of extra water as a way to get every last bit out. This is how much I drink each morning. The rest is in the fridge for 2 more quick breakfasts.
The smoothie is mildly sweet and a bit peanut-y in taste. I try to hit several different nutrients in the smoothie.
I have this smoothie with a cup of coffee. I know that no matter what else I eat for the day, I've gotten 2 1/2 to 3 servings of fruits and vegetables at the start.
Do you ever make breakfast smoothies? What do you like in yours? Does the thought of green vegetables in a smoothie make you gag, or sound like something you would like?
Quick update: (👋 Friendly wave from me, Lili!) Wow! Our community always has the best tips. One of our early readers just shared some tips on what she adds to her smoothies -- cooked beans! If you are catching up on your reading later this week, what is your gold-standard smoothie secret? Pull up a chair and add your favorite combination to our growing list below!
Well, that certainly sounds nutritious. It all sounded pretty good until you put in the collard greens. :) I'm not really a smoothie person, but I can see benefits to making one.
ReplyDeleteHi Live and Learn,
DeleteI had to laugh. I know it sounds weird. I usually put a couple of leaves of fresh kale or collard greens. But it was too dark, cold and wet yesterday morning for me to want to go out to the garden. And I had these leftover greens from Sunday's midday dinner. So . . .
Have a great day!
Smoothies, for me, are more of a summertime treat. Now that the kids have moved out, I rarely make them. I've thrown in raw spinach and strawberries hulls in before (if you use blueberries in your smoothie, they are hidden by the deep color) but never cooked greens. Not sure I would like that, but I've never tried it, so who knows?
ReplyDeleteHi Kris,
DeleteI love your open-mindedness about the cooked greens. I wasn't sure I'd like it. But as it turned out, there are enough other flavors that I can't taste the cooked greens. It's more fruity than anything else. But then again, I'm not bothered by putting strange-sounding foods into my smoothies.
Have a great day, Kris!
Love the sounds of your healthful and nourishing smoothie, Lili -- collard and all....! Good on you. On a similar note, I myself have been adding beans (yes beans! (cooked, of course ;-) )) to my own breakfast smoothies. With all the other flavorings/ingredients (frozen banana or other fruit, sometimes frozen pumpkin cubes, cocoa/carob powder, beet powder, soy milk etc-etc), I really can't taste them in there, yet they truly seem to add holding power (fiber and nutrients), not to mention a certain richness, that keeps me full and powered through my workday shifts.
ReplyDeleteHi friend,
DeleteI can barely wait until we have pumpkin for smoothies again. Clever idea to freeze it in cubes. I'll give that a try this year.
Beans sound interesting. Do you find that some beans work better or have less bean flavor than others?
I really like black beans as an addition to chocolate (cocoa powder) type smoothies (kind of like the Black Bean Brownies that are so popular right now). Black beans also really enhance the color of chocolate-y smoothies as you can probably imagine, though I've also used chickpeas in chocolate/cocoa smoothies (along with all the other additions (peanut butter, peanut butter powder, beet powder, frozen banana etc etc etc) as mentioned above), with pretty much the same results. For smoothies in a more fruit-y direction, for example blueberry, strawberry or peach, I like adding white beans (though I've also used cooked red lentils with great results too). I batch cook the legumes well, often freezing them when cool into ice cube trays in order to add a frozen bean cube or two to whatever smoothie I'm blending. I take these power smoothies to sip on at work (not allowed food at our desks, but drinks in closed tumblers are permissible). The addition of the fiber and protein of the beans in my smoothies just really seem to help keep me full and satiated for hours while at my job.
DeleteI love these ideas. I thought I was daring adding frozen spinach to my banana smoothie but I will definitely up my game!
DeleteThank you for the info on what beans you use! This is so helpful. I'm going to give this a try.
DeleteHi Ruthie,
DeleteAdding frozen spinach is a great addition to smoothies. Also, check the freezer section of the grocery store for frozen kale or collard greens, both provide good calcium and are part of the cancer-fighting cruciferous vegetable group. I can find frozen kale (both organic and non-organic) at our local Walmart and frozen collard greens at our local Safeway. In winter when our veggie garden is dormant, that's what I do for greens in my smoothies.
Happy smoothie-making, Ruthie!