April 6th, 2010
After a holiday feast, all that I desire is a glass of this – smooth, sweet, and green. It’s so simple, I often wonder why I didn’t think of the drink myself.
Take some familiar greens, or better yet, be adventurous and pick the brightest leaves with the strangest name. A bunch usually serves about three people. Add a banana per person, the riper the better. Stop here for a classic combination, or go on to add some kiwi, apple, grapes, mango, or berries for a more fruity flavour. Add about 1/2 cup of water per person and blend well until smooth and bubbly. Generally, this kind of smoothie tastes like fruit, but some greens overpower the sweetness. Those include collard greens, Swiss chard, and, the mightiest of all, arugula – nothing can mask its presence. But after drinking them for a while, you will get used to the taste of the leaves and learn to enjoy their freshness.
The fact is, green leafy vegetables are very good for you, being the most concentrated source of nutrition of any food and all. Another fact is, it’s difficult to eat enough. Make a sizable salad, chew it for an hour, and you will still not get as many greens as in a smoothie (nothing against salads here). I cannot imagine a morning without this beverage, it is my only coffee.
All of the friends who drink them feel same way, green smoothies are energizing and it’s catchy how clear-headed they make you feel. Paloma has one twice a day, for breakfast and dinner.
To further advocate, here is a little anecdote – one of my friends insists on drinking the smoothies exclusively out of a wine glass, as she believes they deserve nothing less.
Tags: a, baby, drink, food, food for tots, m, raw food, recipe, salad, staple
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Sue says:
Looks soooooooo yummy and appetizing, and sounds so easy to prepare,,,,,,,,,Cheers!
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What age you started giving it to Poloma?
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Sue: Yummy and simple it is! Thank you :)
Natali: I learned about raw food and green shakes when Paloma was 10 months old and started giving them to her immediately. But there is no reason you can’t start earlier :) -
A and M I can not get over the poetry in both your comments and in the photographs. With each comment I feel like your poetry is speaking to my soul!I am enjoying both so very much.Your green shakes are most enjoyable and so are the pictures of our Paloma!
Love,
Lisa -
one question-WHEN do you find time to buy all these ingredients and prepare them? do you have a job or are you a housewife? secondly, where do you find the recipes? do you go shopping knowing what to prepare or you prepare from what you have? it would be great if you could include a list of ingredients that you keep t home all the time (like raw cocoa etc.)….
spasiba! -
did you breastfeed paloma? i’m so envious she likes green vegetables-my children don’t want to eat anything green:( did you introduce greens from the beginning and she always liked them?
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I am in love with your photos !! They just jump out at you and make the food seem so irresistible.
Terri @ Finding Raw Foods -
Anonymous: Thank you for your support, Lisa!
Eva: I do have a job and a very active toddler, and it is hard to find proper time. But I find it important and enjoy experimenting with food and taking a creative and healthy approach to cooking. It thrills me to inspire people and show them that it can be done, which is why I write this blog. Ultimately, I’d like to make it my career. I create many of my own recipes, but if I use somebody else’s, I always state it in the post. If I do have a particular new recipe in mind, I make a shopping list. But there is a set number of things that I buy each time I shop. If I go in depth, it will be too long of an answer, so I’ll be preparing a post of this.
Jasna: I breastfed Paloma until she was six months old, wanted to do it much longer than that, but developed postpartum thyroid problems and became seriously ill (which is how I discovered raw food). I started giving green shakes to Paloma when she was 10 months old and she liked them from the beginning. We’re lucky, because she has a very good appetite, and will eat mostly anything. Of course, sometimes she rebels, but I do tricks like putting a berry into the same spoon as the shake and that way she eats it. Don’t give up! Start with much more fruits than greens and change the ratio gradually. Try frozen berries and mango. Thanks for your interest.
Terri: Awh, thank you so much!
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I agree! Green smoothies are perhaps the best food on the planet. We drink green smoothies for breakfast every day (we being my husband, daughter and I). My daughter, J, age 28 months, loves smoothies so much that she comes running to the kitchen hoping for a green glass of goodness every time she hears the blender turn on. A great way to get greens into kids.
For Jasna (and others with independent eaters at home) if you are introducing them to older kids who swear they hate all things green, try the basic banana/green method described in this article (possibly freeze the banana first, for more of a milkshake consistency) and then add a spoon or two of raw cacao powder. It will look and taste like a chocolatey treat and you will know it’s packed full of greens.
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Rachel: Thank you for the great response & what a clever idea of adding raw cacao.
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Yum, this sounds so good to me sitting in my hot house in the subtropics. I will surely try it with the freshest bunch of greens I can find soon…
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Man, it’s a good thing that you’re not advocating giving honey, which contains botulism toxin in levels too high to be safe for infants, to children under ten months.
Oh, wait. That’s exactly what you’re doing, because your obsession with raw food (and bizarre beliefs that, for example, green vegetables contain more protein than meat–I’m a vegetarian, but at least I know that that’s not true) clouds your ability to reason.
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everyday847: I’m not sure where you found us suggesting honey to infants, but we certainly didn’t mean that.
Calling us out for a raw food obsession is not fair. We’re not completely raw, vegan, or even vegetarian. We’re open to all kinds of food and are always trying new things.
Never said that greens have more protein than meat. Rather that one doesn’t need meat to have a healthy diet, as long as it includes a good amount of green leafy vegetables.
Just sharing delicious food that works well for our family. -
Wow, great job here. Awesome picture too! You should really consider submitting this to Recipe4Living’s Summertime Sipper Contest! It looks delicious!
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Thank you! And thanks for the contest info, I’ll definitely check it out :)
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Hi there! I was wondering if you could recommend some greens that you use? I don’t even know where to begin! Thanks!
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Anonymous, for beginners I would recommend baby spinach, romaine lettuce, or any kind of salad mix. The fruit (bananas, kiwi, mango, berries, etc) will mask their flavours and it will just taste like a fruity smoothie. Once you get used to it, you can start incorporating more strong-tasting greens like Swiss chard, collard greens, kale, and any other ones you think look good really!
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Thanks for your reply! I don’t like green leafy veggies and this sounds like an easy way to get bigger servings of them without having to…chew. :) I’ll take your advice and start with lettuce/spinach and lots of fruit and work my way greener. :)
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