Apple Zinger Green Smoothie

One of my favourite ways to get in a few servings of fruit and veggies; it’s so delicious that it tastes like a treat!

Basic Ingredients

What you need:

2 apples

2 carrots

a chunk of ginger

2+ large handfuls of spinach

water (I used about 1/2 a litre)

a blender

I start by chopping up the carrots into bite-size chunks and tossing them into the blender with some water.  Blend until the carrots are pureed, then add in pieces of apple (skin too!) and some grated ginger. I LOVE me some ginger, so I use quite a bit (it’s what gives the smoothie its zing), but it can be overpowering for some people, so use it with caution.

I use the Pampered Chef Apple Slicer/Corer and a hand grater for the ginger.

Depending on your tastes, you might want to change up the quantity of some of your ingredients.  For example, if you like your smoothies a bit sweeter, you might want to use 3 apples instead of 2 – totally up to you!  Lastly, I add in my spinach.  I frequently have to push it down with a spoon, or it just sits on the top of the blender and doesn’t get mixed in with the rest of the smoothie.  Usually spinach is the only green I add in, but I was almost out tonight, and I wanted to make sure that I got my veggies in, so I added some Kale into the blender as well.

Smoothie and tuna for dinner

For some reason I wasn’t super hungry tonight, which is kind of odd, since I did TWO different workouts after work.  Weird.  Anyway, I decided that my smoothie would be enough to hit the spot, but I’m smart enough to know that after two workouts (and with an early morning circuit class to teach tomorrow), that I need to give myself a bit of protein, too.  I’m not normally a big fan of tuna, but it is a pretty nutritional choice, and it was a quick and easy option for me.  In order to make a can of tuna palatable, I usually mix it up with mustard and some fresh or frozen dill…that makes it almost yummy!

My old blender. See how orange the mixture is? That’s why I added the Kale…I needed to get my green on!

I’m finding that I am using my blender more and more, and as I wrote in a previous post, my blender is pretty old.  I’ve been hearing quite a bit about the Vitamix lately, and I am most definitely interested…but I’m not sure I feel comfortable paying over $500 for a blender.  I know that a Vitamix is capable of doing much more than just blending, but I’m not really sure I will ever use it for anything else.  Do you have a Vitamix?  Is it worth the hefty price tag? 

Mixed Berry Smoothie

There are grapes in with the bowl of strawberries; I did not put these in my smoothie, though I'm sure it would still be tasty if I had!

This is what I put into my smoothie yesterday:Okay, it wasn’t actually those particular pieces of food that went into the blender – I didn’t even think to take a picture until after I’d already blended and poured into my smoothie cup.  When I’m hungry I am usually thinking about eating the food rather than taking pictures of it…but I’m getting better and usually remember to snap a picture before I scarf down all the food.  Except for today at lunch.  I forgot to take a picture of my omelette until there were literally only two bites left.  I decided to forgo the picture because it seemed a little pointless…sort of like the rambling that I just realized I’m doing now.

Back to the smoothie.  I love smoothies and I make them a lot.  Like, I drink one six days a week, and on day seven I’m a little sad that I’m not drinking a smoothie and I wish that I had made one before leaving the house, a lot.  This mixed berry one is my favourite and I’d say it’s the one I make the most often.

This is a 16oz/470ml smoothie cup from Tupperware. Notice how the orange colour matches my new Lulu Run: In the Rain Jacket? I did not do that on purpose, I swear!

Ingredients:

strawberries – I slice the green bits off and then cut the big ones in half to make it a little easier on my blender; I probably don’t need to do this, but my blender is old* and I really don’t want to have to buy a new one anytime soon (those babies are expensive!)

blueberries

raspberries

blackberries

a big handful of spinach

I throw all of these ingredients in the blender until it is pretty much full up to the top, then I pour in some unsweetened almond milk, add a scoop of Mila*, and blend it all together.

What was left in the blender after I filled up my smoothie cup

Filling the blender right to the top before blending usually gets me two days worth of smoothie.  I could stretch it to three servings, but I’d feel like I was cheating myself out of fruity goodness, and who wants to do that?  If I really need to have three days worth of smoothie prepared in advance, I will blend to reduce volume, and then add in more fruit and blend again.  I don’t do this three-day prep very often, though, because by day three the mixture has a darker, greyish tinge, and it’s starting to be less than optimally fresh – sort of bitter, if you will.  Two days’ worth is perfect, though – I just pop the top back on the blender, and stick the jug into the fridge overnight.  I give it a super quick blend before pouring on the second morning, just to mix it up and keep it smooth and even.  Quick, healthy and delicious!

*When I say my blender is old, I mean old.  I have had this blender since the very first time a boy lived with me (my first year of University – 2000).  His mother gave it to us, and she had already owned it for a very long time (for some reason I think she actually got it as a wedding gift, or something like that).  Things didn’t work out really well with the boy, and when we split up he didn’t take the blender, so I’ve still got it.  She is a really nice lady, and sometimes I think about her when I make smoothies.  So if for some crazy – strange things are happening in the universe – reason you are reading this, thank you Lila Kinaschuk for the blender 🙂

*Mila is a great product – Chia seed – and I put it in a lot of things, including my daily smoothie.  It deserves some more attention, so I plan to write a whole post about it soon!