Why does everything have to be such a controversy? Today’s topic: green smoothies. “Too much sugar”, “Loses nutritional value”, “Green smoothies are the nectar of the Gods!”, “There’s nothing healthier!” While I agree that this has potential to be a (natural) sugar blast in a cup, I love green smoothies and everything about them.
I eat no more than 2 servings of fruit each day, and usually those servings are blended up into my morning treat. I can whip them up right before I head out the door for work and know that I’m getting a healthy dose of fruits, vegetables, and protein before I even punch in. I love that they hold me over until lunch time. I love the pretty shades of green, and I really love how my 2 year old sucks them down too, although it must be sipped out of the blue crazy straw or all bets are off.
This is my go-to anti-inflammatory smoothie that I make and drink each morning to help reduce any inflammation I might have right off the bat. There aren’t a lot of ingredients, and I have chosen fruit with as low acidity as possible, as well as greek yogurt to add some protein. You can play around with this any way you like – you can trade the yogurt for tofu or even cottage cheese, and you can add different spices to it.
Anti-Inflammatory Green Smoothie
Makes roughly 20 oz.
Ingredients:
1 big handful baby spinach
1/2 blood orange
1 small/medium apple of choice
1/2 cup greek yogurt
1 inch turmeric root (more or less to taste)
1-2 thin chunks of fresh ginger (more or less to taste)
5 ice cubes
Dash of water if needed
Optional
2-3 drops of liquid Sweet Leaf stevia for extra sweetness
1 tbs chia seeds or 1 tbs dry oats
*Before I get to the directions — I’ve tried to do this in a personal blender, but there are too many ingredients to do it in one shot. However, it can be done in portions. Start by blending the spinach and yogurt only and add water if you need to. Then add the rest of the ingredients (ice last) and blend until smooth.
Also, Oikos Triple Zero Greek Yogurt by Dannon is made with stevia leaf extract and I consider it fair game for my smoothies. Sometimes if I want extra fruity flavors I put the Triple Berry Flavor in place of the plain. It’s delightful! Be aware that there is also chicory root in it and that may cause digestive problems for some people.
Directions:
Peel and break apart the orange, set other half aside for the next morning, or a snack for later. Slice your apple, peel if you wish. I leave my apple peel on. Put ingredients in the blender in this order: yogurt, water, spinach, apple slices, orange slices, chia seeds, turmeric, ginger, ice. Pulse until the spinach starts to get sucked in, then blend on high until smooth and ice is completely ground up. Taste test, then add in stevia if you need a little sweetener. I think the apple makes it sweet enough, so I usually skip the stevia.
I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do, and it gives you a little extra boost. Please be sure to let me know what you think if you try it!
The Healthy Omnivore 