Challenge Day 4

Aaaaaaand, we're back to boring post titles! Oh well.

Today I prepared a green smoothie called Orange Jewels. That is such a weird name for a smoothie. I was pretty skeptical about this recipe, because it calls for 2 oranges. I like oranges, don't get me wrong. By themselves. I don't like orange flavored stuff, and I don't like oranges mixed with other stuff. I'm not a tropical, fruity, citrusy-flavored gal. Plus, oranges tend to make my reflux flare up, so I try to avoid them like the plague.

But, in the name of trying new things for this green smoothie challenge, I was down with tryin out an Orange Jewels smoothie. It wasn't bad tasting. It just wasn't wonderful to me. Way too much citrus. Though that could have been because I messed up a bit...

Here's the recipe:

• 2 cups spinach
• 1 1/2 cups almond milk, unsweetened
• 1 teaspoon fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 1 banana
• 2 oranges, peeled
• 1 cup pineapple
• 2 teaspoons spirulina, optional

Very fruity. First off, I do not have any spirulina. I hear its an excellent source of protein, and if I can find some easily I will probably try it. I'm not stressing about it, though. One of my friends uses it in her green smoothies and says it doesn't alter the taste, though it is quite green.

Okay, so this morning I gathered my ingredients and right away thought I had a problem. I looked in the bag where my oranges and one lemon were and couldn't find the lemon! This is proof that I am clearly not a morning person, because the lemon was right there in front of me. I guess I was expecting it to be super yellow. But it was a very pale orange color. Maybe because it was organic? (I don't normally buy organic fruits and vegetables, but at Harris Teeter earlier this week I was so overwhelmed and didn't realize until it was too late that many of the produce I bought was, in fact, organic. And thus expensive.) Anyway, once I reassured myself that the pale orange in front of me was, in fact, a lemon, I started preparing the smoothie.

I blended my almond milk and spinach first, like always (this helps to make sure the greens really get blended well - no chunks, thank you very much!). Then I halved the orange-lemon and squeezed what I assumed was about a teaspoon into the blender (who has time to measure?!). So far so good. Next, I peeled the oranges and threw them in piece by piece, blending well before each addition. I do NOT like pulp AT ALL, so I really tried to cut that out. (And failed.) After that, I threw in the banana (frozen) and some pineapple chunks (also frozen) and kept blending for a while.

While that bad boy was blending away, I started to clean up. My intentions were to save the lemon and use it in my water. I don't like to waste anything, and I love lemon slices in water (though I never buy lemons for that purpose; too expensive). But when I turned back to my cutting board, nothing remained. Okay, I thought, I probably just put the lemon in the fridge and didn't even process the thought. Please tell me I'm not the only person who does stuff like that all the time!! Nope, not in the fridge. Not in the trash. Then I realized that I must have threw the lemon into the blender with the oranges! This is what I get for tryin to make fancy stuff in the morning (haha).

The smoothie looked beautiful to me:

But, boy, the citrus scent was overwhelming! I tasted it and didn't hate it, so I knew I could drink it. I poured half of it into my gorgeous new bling cup and put it in the fridge.

I grabbed it on the way out the door. C asked to taste it (she tasted the Berry Cold Fighter smoothie yesterday, too), and she said she liked it, but didn't want a second sip. I sipped on it all the way to work, but the pulp was disgusting to me. I seriously have a huge problem with pulp. I don't know if maybe I should have blended this for longer, or if I just need a better blender to accomplish no pulp, but this was unacceptable to me. Surprisingly, the flavor was okay, though since it was so citrusy, its not something I'd want very often. Just not my cup of tea smoothie.

I forced myself to keep sipping at work, telling myself that despite the pulp, this smoothie was awesome and really good for me. It worked until I was down to the last few sips, then I just couldn't do it anymore. "A" for effort, though, right?

Since I have another serving left, I'm gonna blend in a banana tomorrow morning and sip it tomorrow during our church's annual harvest sale. Hopefully the banana will make it taste better, and maybe more blending will get rid of some pulp. Either way, I'm gonna make myself drink it cause Lord knows I'll need some energy tomorrow. I'll be working the drive-thru (with one of my challenge buddies!), which means I'll be on my feet and running around (in the 85 degree heat - seriously, Earth, its FALL, get with the program!!) from 10-2. And after that, we'll have an auction which usually lasts until 6pm or so. Yep, I'll definitely be glad I'll have the power of greens in me tomorrow! (Oh, jeez, that was super lame.)

Challenge Day 3

Day 3 of the Green Smoothie Challege - day 4 of green smoothies for me. Wow!

I really think this is something that I will stick with. Will I consume a green smoothie every single day after this challenge is over? I can't say that for certain. But after just 4 days of green smoothies, I can honestly say that I'm enjoying this learning process and I can't deny the benefits I'm already seeing.

I said yesterday that I felt like I've had more energy this week. I don't think that's all in my head. Its hard to explain, but even though I know I should be tired, I'm really not (not until late at night, anyway), and I feel like I can accomplish more during the day (if only there were a few more hours to it, haha!). So far this week, I have yet to hit my typical 3 or 4pm "slump" at work - when I normally feel like I desperately need a nap, and when I end up eating a few pieces of chocolate (or a bag of chips...) to attempt to wake myself up. Hey, if these green smoothies give me more energy, AND keep me from snacking on crap in the afternoon, that's a WIN in my book!


This morning I decided to do things a little differently. Every day this week, I've either had a smoothie by it self for breakfast, or a smoothie and a piece of peanut butter toast. But in a couple of hours, I've been starving again. Plus, I've been having a hard time drinking a full serving of the smoothies. For some reason, I struggle to drink a lot in the mornings, (Not to mention that it takes longer to consume a smoothie than it does some toast, so I have been rushing.) Well, today, I decided to eat my usual two pieces of peanut butter toast and bring the smoothie with me to work.

That also gave me the perfect opportunity to try out my new cup!

I just had the same smoothie from yesterday. I was right; it kept very well. It tasted just as good today as it did yesterday morning. And sipping it from a straw was much better for me. I sipped on this baby all the way to work, and then for a while at work until it was gone. And you know what? I was wrong about this cup - I thought it wasn't insulated, but it is! My smoothie stayed cold for a long time (I pulled it out of the fridge at home around 8:15 and finished drinking it around 10:30 - and it was still cold!), AND the cup didn't get all wet from condensation. So happy with this $3 purchase. ( :

Tonight I'll decide what smoothie recipe I want to try tomorrow. Its Day 3 of the challenge and I've only tried 2 recipes. That means I've got 3 more to try! One of them involves oranges, and I'm a little nervous about that one, since oranges and orange juice tends to make my reflux flare up. But I said at the start of this that I would at least TRY all the recipes, so I gotta do it!

Today we received the e-mail with the recipes for Week 2 of the challenge. I'm a little less enthusiastic about those recipes. Mainly because one recipe is for popsicles and one is for a soup. And there are lots of mangos involved in next week. And a can of canned pumpkin! That one actually sounds pretty good to me (spinach, almond milk, pumpkin, babana, mango, pumpkin spice, and vanilla extract - not sure how the mango fits in there...). Next week's recipes are supposed to be more filling, which means they can be used as meal replacements. So that might leave me with some good lunch options. We'll see!

Stay tuned for more of the Simple Green Smoothies 30 Day Challenge!

Green Smoothie Twerking - I Mean Tweaking!

Haha. Okay, that was my failed attempt at a catchier post title.  ( :

I said last week I was gonna try the same green smoothie but add a banana. Well, this morning I did just that! And it turned out seriously delicious. I thought last week the smoothie tasted good. I was wrong. Adding a banana made it perfect to me. Plus I blended this one longer, which eliminated some of the crunchiness of the green apple. So I'm happy with this morning's concoction.

Here's the recipe, just in case you missed it last week:

• about 1 cup spinach (mine was frozen)
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 green apple
• 1/2 avocado
• 1 banana

It works best to blend the spinach and water first (with my blender, anyway), then add everything else. And I dice the apple pretty small, too.

This recipe makes 2 cups of smoothie. I drank 1 cup for breakfast, and was hungry about an hour later. Bummer. I'm researching other sources of protein, though, and I hear that chia seeds keep you full longer. Again, I'm not tryin to lose weight, but it sure would be nice to not be starving all the time! I eat 5-6 times a day. I am always hungry!!

Anyway, I'll be enjoying the other cup of this smoothie later as a snack. I'm looking forward to it!


Tomorrow starts the Simple Green Smoothies 30 Day Challenge! I'm excited to try new green smoothie recipes, and start feeling healthier! (Is that even a thing, feeling healthier?? Haha.) I actually feel pretty energized today, and that's amazing, cause I got barely 6 hours of sleep last night and was absolutely dragging when I got out of bed this morning. I'm thinkin my green smoothie perked me up. ( :

I've got the shopping list for my first week of smoothies, and in a bit I'm headed to Harris Teeter to gather what I don't already have. (Kind of excited about that, too, cause I've never been to Harris Teeter. My city just opened one. Yes, I am a country bumpkin!) Here's some of the ingredients I'll be using the first week of the challenge:

• bananas
• oranges
• pineapple
• apples
• pears
• avocado
• mixed berries
• lemon
• grapes
• spinach
• kale
• basil
• almond milk
• ginger root

Sounds pretty good, right? I feel healthier just lookin at that list!


Last week, my husband bought a ton of bananas. There are bunches of bananas all over my kitchen! I've been researching how to properly freeze them, so that's my goal tonight, cause they're turning brown rapidly. Freezing bananas, doesn't that sound like fun?? I hear frozen bananas are perfect for smoothies!

I hope green smoothies stick with me, cause on Saturday DH planted a LOT of spinach for me in the garden! He's never grown spinach before, so he's skeptical. I'm excited for it to grow. He also planted stuff like turnips and rutabagas, which are things we rarely eat (mainly because I don't know how to cook them so that we actually like them, haha). So I'll be researching recipes for that soon. And you better believe I'll be sharing them here! ( :