Drink Your Veggies

Maybe if I ate all my spinach, I would be as cute as my niece, Lu. This is Lulu with a spinach smoothie moustache--and Lu belongs to my sister, Jamie Calder, who is a superstar in this fitness challenge, btw.

I was going to write this post earlier too, but the week got away from me. Like Morgan, one of my secrets for getting my veggies in is blending them in my smoothie for breakfast. The great thing about spinach is that the taste is so light that you can blend it with almost anything and you can't taste it much. I have a bunch of combos, but my go-to is a banana, frozen berries, almond milk, and a handful of spinach. This has been a life-saver this week since by breakfast I had already knocked out at least one veggie serving.

Another veg smoothie that I like is this one that uses carrots and orange juice. This Times writer has tons of great smoothie ideas, some with veggies some not: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/07/health/nutrition/07recipehealth.html?ref=nutrition

I started experimenting with veggie smoothies when I discovered the wonders of spinach a while ago, and came up with some decent combos:

cantaloupe + spinach+kefir/yogurt+mint

And some more hardcore "swamp juice" options:

apple + cucumber+spinach +lemon +ginger
pear + cucumber+spinach+celery

This is so late in the week it's not so helpful now, but if you want try to include some more veggies in your diet going forward this is a good way to do it. Work up to the swamp juice, though. I admit I have given myself a tummy ache before!

ps. Morgan, I'm excited to try your green drink. Would love to hear any other smoothie combos; I'm always looking for more!