Green Smoothies or Monster Drinks!

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Casharina here today, to bring you a new, and healthy twist to the “smoothie!”  So lately I’ve been working really hard to lose weight, and let me say it is SO hard!!  I have been running walking fast/ jogging, on the treadmill and recently I’ve really been focusing on changing my diet.  With that, I don’t want to “diet” because honestly, I love sweet food way too much to say no, and I do not have an ounce of willpower in my system to say no to the delicious good stuff.  So in an attempt to loose, I’ve been changing small things that don’t make a ton of difference, but will help lessen the calories I take in.  Since it’s almost the first of the year and people are thinking about making their resolutions I figured I’d add a new healthy snack/meal that I have tried and really love!  Let me warn you, the color of these little monsters is kind of disturbing, but if you can get passed that I bet you’ll love them!

Green Smoothies:

Okay so let me explain…these little green monsters can be made just about any way you’d like to make one.  I’m going to share a recipe that I developed to fit my taste buds, after finding various recipes and including only the ingredients I had and wanted to try.  I’ve helped myself to these for the past week, and I don’t know if it’s pure coincidence or not but the dry skin on my arm seems to be clearing up!

For this tasty treat you need only a few ingredients!

• 2 cups of fresh greens (you can use any green: bok choy, spinach, baby spinach (has a milder flavor), kale, etc.
• 1 to 1.5 small banana(s)
• 6 oz. water
• 1 Tbsp. milled flax seed (optional)
• 1 cup mango

Directions: Add the flax seed and fresh greens to the blender.  Then add in the water, banana and mango.

A few little tips:

I like to use frozen bananas (peel fresh bananas, cut them in halves, and place in a freezer bag) as they make the shake a little thicker and COLD.

 I recently learned that bananas with brown spots are extra sweet so don’t toss them, freeze them up!

Can you believe this was the first time I ever had a mango?  I had to search the internet to find out how to cut and eat a mango. Lol.  So here goes my version:

• stand up the mango, and slice on each side of the large seed in the middle, this is not like a normal seed, it’s a large thick piece in the middle of the mango, you’ll see what I mean when you try.
• Next, you’ll slice it, leave it in skin and slice almost through it, slice it long ways and short ways, and then scoop out the pieces with a spoon.  Now, you’re done!! That’s it!!

 You may want to add more fruit, if it’s not sweet enough for you.

Add some ice cubes to make it even colder – the colder it is the better it tastes!

There are so many ways to enjoy a green smoothie.  So far in addition to this recipe I’ve also used banana and peanut butter (this was my favorite!), and banana and strawberries…they’ve all been delicious!

That’s it for today, I hope you enjoy this recipe and if you choose to make one, or have a yummy recipe I’d love to hear about it!

Be sure to stop back tomorrow for another delicious treat…this time from Lindsay!

CasharinaFood Stuff, Uncategorized 2 Comments