Samantha Dean: Smoothies

I'll admit, I got a little freaked out by the Daily Recommended Servings saying I should be getting 4 servings of vegetables a day. Even when I'm lucky enough to eat more than one meal a day, the number probably hovers around 1-2 (if you include potatoes as veggies, which I do, even though the nutritional value on those puppies is roughly nil). My freakout sesh happened to coincide with Thanksgiving and my becoming the lucky beneficiary of a blender.

In the last week, I have taken a smoothie to work every single day! I feel full until well after lunchtime and I feel good, too. I am surprised by how many people are completely grossed out when I walk in holding a green smoothie, saying "eww, yuck, vegetables!" but seriously, folks, don't knock it 'til you try it.

As a preface, I don't really use a recipe. I just take what's in my fridge and put it together until I have enough to fill my cup/straw/thing, but here's the "recipes" I've used.

The Avocado and Banana Smoothie
1 banana
1 avocado
1 Fage yogurt (on sale at Ralph's for 50 cents apiece, booyah!)
1 orange

Add milk depending on your thickness preference. I blended this up from a REALLY juicy orange, so I stuck with that. This came out like pudding, that's how thick and creamy it was. This has been my favorite combination thus far, but I am excited to try more. Easily my favorite smoothie I've ever had. The yogurt filled me up, also, and the first time I made it, I was unbearably full for hours.

I made another combination with all the same ingredients + apples and it was good, but I would suggest removing the skins, which can be a pain for some (me),

Review
Vegetable to Fruit ratio is only 1:2, which isn't very good: when you look at recommended servings, vegetable to fruit ratio should be 4:3. But this is by far the least vegetable-y tasting (for those picky eaters) of all veggie smoothies I've ever had. There's a pleasing green color, but if the smoothie is not consumed within 2-3 hours, it becomes a yellowy color that isn't very appealing. I like to make mine the night before so I don't wake up The Beard with the blender in the morning. We live in one room; that would be way rude. So I give this smoothie, 4.5 Golden Eggplants! (Insert non-existent eggplant clip-art).

The Strawberry and Spinach Smoothie
1 bag frozen strawberries from TJ's ($1.69 baby!)
1 Fage yogurt
Milk to help it blend
However many handfuls of spinach it takes to make it green or to taste
 and
I've tried many variations on this with apples, oranges, and grapes and it's all good. I try to add as little as possible though, just to minimize my sugar intake.

Here, the vegetable to fruit ratio is much higher. You can put several handfuls of the green stuff in the smoothie without really tasting it, but the color is a pretty unappealing brown color. I know some people are all about aesthetics. But give it a chance! If you put enough spinach in it to make it bright green, you will notice a "healthy" aftertaste. You can counteract this by cutting the smoothie with sugar or honey or juice, but I don't think it's necessary. The texture is in the vein of a traditional smoothie; the leaves of the spinach blend well.

I feel good about drinking these smoothies, because (with the exception of the frozen strawberries) all of these fruits and veggies are in their raw, unaltered form (and the ones that count are organic). I'll let you know if I start feeling like a brand new person from them, but I guess I already am because I'm blogging about healthy eating.

In the future, I hope to try smoothies with soybeans, carrots/carrot juice, kale/other supergreens, and cucumber, and maybe I'll discover something new!