Pineapple, Banana and coconut cream smoothie

I made this last night with agave and it was the bees knees!  Original recipe here

Pineapple Banana & Coconut Cream Smoothie

1 banana (previously frozen is ideal but not essential)

1 c pineapple (I used canned in juice, but fresh would be great)

1/2 c coconut milk (canned, fresh, cream of coconut, or coconut creme concentrate)

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 c ice cubes

1/4 c sugar, optional or to taste (or honey, agave, sugar, stevia, vanilla NuNaturals stevia drops to taste)

Pina Colada Smoothie

I found this recipe on 100 days of real food.  The original post is here.

1 1/2 cups frozen pineapple chunks
1 1/3 cups coconut milk

Blend until smooth and enjoy.

I did not think ahead to have my pineapple frozen so I just threw in a big can of cut up pineapple and one small can of coconut milk and a bunch of ice to make it more of a frozen drink.  It probably could have used a little more pineapple (or, really, it just needed some really yummy fresh pineapple) and the ice watered the flavor down, so I would definitely recommend freezing the pineapple first.  However, even with all the substitutions, it was still so very yummy on a very hot afternoon.

Happy Shake Recipe

I just realized I never posted the actual recipe, although I did explain where to get it.  But here's an easy link to try if any of you are interested.  I have this for breakfast every day and I crave it when I miss a day!  Click here for the recipe.

Hearty Green Smoothie

I just made this Hearty Green Smoothie this morning and I thought it was great.  I liked that it is a little more well rounded than my usual green smoothie in the morning.  It has spinach, a carrot, oats, almonds, a banana and an apple.  I thought it was much better colder, but maybe that's a personal preference.  I'll probably do frozen fruit next time so it's cold enough right when I make it, but for now, I just made a big batch and put it in the refrigerator.  Enjoy!

Here's a bad cell phone pic of mine, but there's a much better one on their site.  It really is green, not radioactive yellow. :)

Sweet Lettuce Smoothie

Just thought you guys might like this green smoothie! My kids loved it. They asked for more and I was thinking, "You just DRANK A SALAD!!!" Parker told me it tasted "fresh".

Sweet Lettuce Smoothie
1 c green grapes
1 c romaine lettuce, chopped and washed
1/2 medium apple, halved
1 c ice cubes

Blend and enjoy!
Note: To have enough for me and the kids I made two batches, (there would have been enough room in the blender to just double it but I wanted to try it out before we went whole hog).

Happy Shakes!!

Remember the Happy Shakes I told you about?  We got our package in the mail of all sorts of goodies so that we could make them.  I can't tell you how excited I was to receive this:

I got the Raw Greens powder from our Doctor's office, but the rest was from that site I emailed you about.  The little Orange packages are the sample packs for $2.50 so we could try them out before spending close to $20/pound for each.  We got samples of Maca Powder, Cacao Nibs, and dried Goji berries, and a pound each of cacao powder and bee pollen.

The final result didn't disappoint, either.  It's like chocolate soft serve ice cream with 4 cups of spinach, raw greens powder, maca powder, cacao powder, coconut oil, I put 4 kinds of frozen fruit in (peaches, raspberries, blueberries and bananas), and topped with bee pollen and cacao nibs.  I know it sounds cheesy, but it really does make me happy :).  We've been having this for breakfast every morning.  Even Jocelyn loves it!

Question for Emily or anyone else:  What do you think about giving Maca Powder and other superfoods to kids?  I have only read the beginning of "Superfoods" by David Wolfe and I've just done some internet research.  I'll still do my own research, but I wanted to know what you thought.  Some people think you shouldn't give it to kids, but there's no hormones in it, it just helps your body regulate hormones better, so I don't see what the harm is, but maybe I'm ignorant?

I started thinking about it, though, because she had a lot of my Happy Shake yesterday and she was an energizer bunny all day long.  I mean, she didn't even have any dips in energy, or tired moments all day long, to say nothing of not taking a nap.  Maybe it was something else, but I thought there might be a correlation and I got to wondering.

Get Well Green Smoothie

Hello friends! We are sick. AGAIN!!! It took me a really long time to get over being sick in Utah and I woke up this morning with a disgusting nose and sore throat! Darn it, darn it, darn it!

I totally know why this has happened though. I have been eating horribly! I am going to partially blame the pregnancy... (yes you all know so I can talk about it) because I have truly only been able to stomach VERY mild things like mashed potatoes, white breads etc. Whole grains, fruits and veggies etc. have been so hard for me to eat. But I decided today that I cannot cater to those things anymore. It is messing with my whole body and I need to get back to eating well. I will make it work! I WILL!

Thank you guys for continuing this blog and our nutritional conversations. It has been a long time since I have done any research and felt motivated to eat healthily, and our recent conversations have really helped. I am feeling more excited again and I am ready to get back on track!

I have started already in fact. I read up on green smoothies and raw foods yesterday. I have decided that we are going to start eating green smoothies frequently for breakfast. I think my goal will be 4-5 times a week for now. We'll see how it goes. Baby steps right? We started today with a smoothie of my own concoction that I am hoping will help us "get well," hence the name.

Get Well Green Smoothie

The "Meat," of one Pineapple, chopped
2 Bananas, peeled and chopped
2 Oranges, peeled but with a generous amount of pith left on (that stuff is good for you!) and chopped
1 bunch of Lacinato Kale, stems removed, chopped
8 ounces of water

Blend, chill and serve. (Warning: If you don't have a large capacity blender I would do it in batches! Also: if you are scared of the Kale I would do a bit less to start out with. We really liked it with that much in, but if you have picky eaters I would start out with a bit less until they warm up to that kind of flavor)

I was so blessed at the store today. I ended up getting my Kale organic and for only a dollar! Can you believe it? Also the pineapple was the already peeled kind in a container also on super-mega sale. I was so thrilled!

To get the boys to agree to drink a green smoothie (they are great about healthy food, but I knew the green would freak 'em out... and I was right.) We had a big exciting talk in the morning about a new drink that would make us healthy and strong like Superheroes! And it's even a crazy color! We are going to have it a lot for breakfast now and if we keep drinking them we will get so strong! Etc. Etc. I don't feel like I was lying. I absolutely believe there is a correlation to how you feel, your health and well being etc. with what you choose to eat. Don't we all? So ANYWAY- we made a big deal about it, went to the store and bought ingredients to last us for the rest of the week, and I even bought some cheap "special superhero glasses," that we will drink them out of. Then I was totally honest with them about what they were eating. They watched me make it. I wanted them to know that Kale could taste delicious. I didn't want to hide it from them. They were worried when they saw how it looked, but once they smelled it they were good to try it. Jack drank his and flexed his muscles and said he felt stronger.

So far it's sitting in my tummy pretty well. Wish me luck!

Last note: This made a LOT of smoothie. More than enough for the 4 of us.

Smoothie

This is what I eat every morning for breakfast. Feel free to mix it up with differet kinds of fruit etc.

1 cup soy milk (if you use vanilla soy milk then do not add the the tsp of vanilla)
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp Cinnamon
2 tbsp flax seed or powder
2 dates (pitted) or a small handful or raisins
1 banana
3/4 cup of frozen fruit
1 banana

I love this smoothie and hope you will too.