Sick baby - First Green Smoothie

Okay so I kind of checked out of blogging last week. Since I am a "Real" mom and not a professional blogger I can do that. My sweet little baby G has been sick since last Monday. She has been on antibiotics for an ear infection and has had a running, stuffy nose and cough. I feel so sad for her. It is a real bummer when your kids are sick. It's also a bummer for the mom since often they don't sleep well and are extra fussy. G is a pretty calm, sweet baby and she is trying to still be sweet but this illness is kicking her rear.

So in honor of G and her struggles here is a video of here first experience with a green smoothie. For her I just put in spinach, blueberries, and banana.

** This last week we added dandelion greens to our green smoothie and the kids couldn't tell. So there is one more green I can get into them. So far we eat collards, spinach, kale, chard, beet greens, and dandelion greens in our smoothies. So far so good.

** This past week I also realized I am just not going to post 5 days a week, which was my over ambitious original plan. With everything else I have going on, like back issues (which equals tons of doctors and physical therapy appointments), trying to homeschool my kids, and actually trying to live what I preach and make healthy food for my family, I just don't have the energy or desire to write that often. And let's face it. I don't really have that much to say! So the new plan is to post 3 times a week - Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I hope you will still check in!

Healthy Sweets - A how to and the Best Chocolate Shake Ever!!!!

A few months a go I made a deal with my kids that if they would stop asking for store bought treats and turn down treats offered them by well meaning people I would make them all the treats they wanted at home. The treats you make at home will almost always be healthier than what you buy at the store and they will taste better too. Here are some tips on how to make your treat recipes even healthier.


1. Eggs - try to buy  free range organic, preferably from a local source.


** If you don't want to eat eggs at all. You can use a mixture of 1 Tbsp ground flax seed and 2 Tbsp water for each egg in your baked goods.

2. Use Whole Wheat Flour. Soft white wheat is the closest to white flour. You can also get Whole wheat pastry flour at some stores but it is more expensive.

3. Consider using Virgin Coconut Oil instead of butter or margarine. Here is a link that describes the health benefits of coconut oil. Here is a link for a great place to buy quality coconut oil for cheaper than you can get at the health food store. You want the virgin, unrefined one.  If you don't want to use coconut oil, use butter.

4. Replace the sugar with Sucanat, which is dehydrated, unrefined organic cane juice. You can also try Coconut or Palm Sugar.*

*I really like the palm sugar, nutritionally it is probably one of the best suagrs you can use.

5. Use Aluminum Free Baking Powder. You can find this at health food stores and most grocery stores.

6. Get Alcohol Free Vanilla Extract. Did you realize it had alcohol in it? I didn't until a few years ago. Finding alcohol free can be harder and it is more expensive. I have found some at Trader Joe's and my local health food store. I really like this brand.

7. Use Sea Salt (or Original Crystal Himalayan Salt) for all the minerals in the whole food rather than the processed salt stripped of nutrition, and cut the amount of salt in half.

Best Chocolate Shake

The only sweeteners in this are bananas and dates.

3 cups unsweetened almond milk
4 - 6 frozen bananas (Important – they must be frozen or it won’t be a “shake”)
2-3 medjool dates with pits out (we like 2)
1-2 Tblsp of unsweetened cocoa (we like closer to 1)

2- 3 Tblsp of natural peanut butter (optional)

Blend it all in your blender

** You can use regular milk if you want. We use Almond Breeze unsweetened vanilla flavored almond milk. You can find it at health food stores and some grocery stores.

** Whenever your bananas start to get too brown, break them in to pieces and freeze them in ziploc bags. I always have a ton of frozen bananas in my freezer. If you don't have a powerful blender, let the bananas defrost a little so you don't kill your motor.

**Start out with the smaller amounts of cocoa and dates and taste it, if you want more, add them.

**These are seriously so delicious. They taste like a shake you can get from a malt shop. So good.

Getting Started - Green Smoothies

I realize now that this should have been my first post. I think when we have the desire to help our family eat more healthy foods it is sometimes hard to know where to start. There are a lot of good ideas and recipes out there but it is hard to translate that into habits for our families. When people ask me where they should start I always say green smoothies. Well, in reality I am not sure how many people have asked me that but let's just pretend you asked for this advice.


Green smoothies are awesome because they contain lots of fresh, raw leafy greens, which are some of the most nutritious foods on earth. Green smoothies are also easy to make and most people like them once they have given them a shot. The only special tool you need is a blender. Now I have a Blendtec blender, which is like a $400 blender. It seems really ridiculous to spend that much on a blender. But the good news is you do not need an expensive blender to make these. I made these for a long time on my $40 blender from Target and they were great.


Okay here are the steps to making green smoothies:


1. Fill blender with 2-3 cups water. ( I like mine thin so I put in a little more than 3 cups)
2. Put in several handfuls of greens - really pack them in (When first starting with kids put in less)
3. Blend the greens and water for about 1 min,
4, Add 2 ripe bananas ( not overly ripe like for banana bread but not green)
5. Blend again
6. Add whatever fruit you like ( I usually do frozen fruit because it is convenient and we like these smoothies cold)
7. Blend again and drink up! - (I stick my husband's portion covered in the fridge and he drinks it when he gets home. He usually just stirs it up before he drinks it)

** You don't have to blend up everything seperately but I think it comes out with a much smoother consistency when you do.

**The easiest green to start with I think is spinach - it's easy to find and if you have a Sam's Club or Costco membership you can get big tubs of organic spinach for cheap. Spinach has a really mild taste that is mostly masked by the fruit. Other mild greens are:

collards

chard

kale

beet greens

It's great to mix and change up your greens but for now just start with spinach till you get the hang of it.

** The choices for fruit are almost endless. I have used apples, pears, raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, peaches, oranges, mangoes, pineapple, etc... Lately I have been using a frozen tropical mix from Walmart.

** There are lots of other things you can add to smoothies but don't make them too complicated at first.

** I would love to get you feedback on these. So if you try them, let me know!!

Beets, Bears, Battlestar Galactica - Raw Beet Smoothie

This year one of the things I want to focus on is adding foods to our diet that we haven't really eaten before. First up is beets. When we bought our first beets the boy at the cash register asked us if we wanted these free "Beat Cancer" t-shirts. I thought it was because we were buying beets and then I realized they aren't spelled the same. Duh! Anyhow, beets are actually really good at "beating" cancer. Read this for more information about the greatness that is beets.

So in my first attempt with beets I peeled them (no small feat - the skin is hard) and then grated them raw on top of our salad. I also made up this beet smoothie:

I don't have exact measurements but I used:

plain yogurt
almond milk
3/4 of a beet
1 banana
blueberries
strawberries.

** Everyone liked the salad and the smoothie, although several people mentioned the dirt taste. I think that is just what you get with a root vegetable.

** Also - DO NOT throw away those green leaves on top. They are super nutritious and go great in a green smoothie. I added them to our regular green smoothie and no one could tell a difference.