Going Green

As I mentioned in some of my previous posts, I had to be on a liquid diet for a week because of jaw issues.

There were a couple of things I learned from a liquid diet (that I shared on Facebook):

1. Smoothies with spinach are actually delicious. You really don't taste the spinach. They just look nasty.

2. Taco Bell's Pintos and Cheese tastes amazing with their nacho cheese mixed in (maybe not the healthiest option but I was majorly craving nachos).

3. Freezing a smoothie over night is not wise - it takes forever to thaw. It also gets a bit freezer burnt and tastes and smells nasty (or maybe it's just the peanut butter with the spinach that was grossing me out...or maybe I was just getting sick of smoothies!).

So, going back to number one...I'm going to share with you how I made my daily smoothies while I was on my liquid diet via iPhone pics.

 (First, I put a little bit of ice in my blender. You don't need a lot because of all the other ingredients. You could even skip it if you want)

 (I then add my fruit. I bought this mix at Target and love it! The fruit looks fresh and is the perfect size for a smoothie)

 (I don't put a lot of fruit in. You don't need to. Even a little bit adds a lot of flavor)

 (I then add some rainbow sherbet. I made some without the sherbet, and put in some low fat yogurt and peanut butter instead. Both are good, but I'm partial to the taste the sherbet adds. I only put in about 3-4 small scoops)

 (I then add some lemonade. I just made some lemonade from frozen concentrate. You can see in the picture about how full I poured it)

 (I then add the spinach. I bought this organic baby spinach from the supermarket. I know it says it is triple washed, but I still rinsed it off. I put about three large handfuls of spinach in the smoothie. As you can see in the picture, it pretty much fills up the blender at this point. I pushed the spinach down a little before I started the blender so it would mix faster)

(And, here is the finished product. It looks gross but it's so yummy! You wouldn't even know there was spinach in there if not for the color. The amount I put in equaled two smoothies, so I would pour one into a glass to enjoy for lunch, and pour the rest into a freezer safe cup to save for dinner)

As I mentioned in point number three above, I don't recommend freezing them overnight. I only did that with one that I made with the peanut butter and yogurt, but it was not appetizing and it took a very long time to thaw. I had it in the fridge for over six hours and it was still solid. Only a couple of hours in between meals worked the best for me.

A friend of mine told me she puts carrots and broccoli in her smoothies. I haven't tried it, but I've heard you can't really taste them very much either. I'm looking forward to trying some different combos to include vegetables into my smoothies.

How about you? Have you gone green with your smoothies? I'd love to hear some of your tips on including vegetables in your sweet foods.