A Green Smoothie is the answer!

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This is it–the answer!

It is scramble-time here at our house.  Also, it’s Crazy Town.  It’s nuts.  Our annual melodrama will open in a little more than a week, so the legal pad on the kitchen counter top is filled with puzzling notes and to-do lists:  “Paint hotel flats.  Write program.  Call Jackie.  Find ropes.  Pick up key.  Make granola.  Call Dad.  Timothy–haul wood and start  fire on the sunporch so we can paint out there!”  After the show, we always are thankful we did it and count it among the most satisfying experiences.  But a week before–we’re scrambling and fretting and wondering if we’ll pull it all together one more time.

Here’s a line-up of actors waiting to go onstage during rehearsal, and little Mack.

It’s definitely crunch time.  One thing that I do appreciate about these last two weeks before the melodrama is that I intuitively eat less and usually lose a few pounds, specifically, the few pounds I probably gained over Christmas vacation.  I am a deer, running through the woods, wild-eyed and panting, pushing–pushing–giving it my all to stay out of the mountain lion’s grasp, the lion that is only three steps behind me, and so I cannot afford to stop and eat something heavy that will slow me down.

Well, maybe that’s a tad overblown.  But not by much.  In any case, desperate times call for desperate measures, and for me, that means a green smoothie for lunch.

So now, Gentle Reader, you are wondering “what about the title, Miss Vomiting Chicken person?  A green smoothie is the answer–the answer to what, for Pete’s sake?  What’s up with the title?”

I was just getting to that, Mr. Antsy-Pantsy.  (I was.)

A green smoothie, simply put, is the answer to so many questions.  To wit:

Question:  How can I incorporate more greens, with their rich supply of vitamins and nutrients and yes, even phytonutrients, into my diet?  I can only eat so much salad, and the experts say that leafy greens, calorie for calorie, are the most nutrient-rich food I can eat.   Answer:  By eating a green smoothie.

Question:  I know I should try those chia seeds–packed with healthy Omega-3s and antioxidants, and the superfood of those amazing ultra-distance runners of Mexico, the Tarahumara Indians–but I don’t know how to get them into my diet!  What do I do with them? Answer:  Blend them into a green smoothie.

Question:  My jeans have gotten tight over the winter, so how can I lose a few pounds quickly, without getting cranky or feeling deprived or driving my family insane?  Answer: Eat a green smoothie for lunch every day.

Question:  I just don’t have time to make myself a nutritious lunch, but don’t want to grab fast food or skip lunch, either. What can I do?  Answer:  Eat a green smoothie!

Question:  How can I justify eating a big dollop of whipped cream for lunch every day? Answer:  Eat a green smoothie!

I started eating green smoothies a few years ago, when I read a book about the health benefits that could be wrought from adding so much green to your diet every day. During the summer, I have no problem coming up with greens for my smoothies:  nettles grow wild around our place and are very nutritious; there’s always kale and lettuces and herbs in the garden, and I grow anise hyssop which is very good in smoothies, too.  During the winter months I buy frozen spinach, or the greens at the grocery store will do, too:  romaine lettuce, spinach, or kale all work well in a green smoothie.

I’m going to share my basic smoothie recipe with you, and you can tweak it however you like.  You can add different fruits, or different greens, or really anything that suits you.  Well, I’ve never figured out how to get garlic in a smoothie (oh, missed opportunity–it’s so nutritious, too!) but you get the idea.

Here’s the “before” shot, with all the ingredients dumped into the blender.  (See the cute little chia seeds tucked in there?)

Yum. . . and this is after the blending.

Well, without further ado, I’ll get this recipe going for you!

See how easy it is to make yourself and your family green smoothies?  And before you know it, you’ll be squirreling away leftover dabs of fruit in your freezer, like me, not to mention overripe bananas, for the sole purpose of augmenting your lunchtime green smoothies!

Pretty easy way to get a big smile around here–make a green smoothie! Oh, wait–that could be another question.

Okay, final question: How do I get some great big happy smiles out of my kiddos?  Answer: Make a green smoothie!

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