Friday, January 30, 2015

Recipe: Kale Coconut Water Smoothie

We're wrapping up our month of smoothie recipes today with this powerhouse smoothie. This one contains the best of both worlds - sweet, fruity, and packed with nutrition, this one is definitely one to add to your smoothie recipe collection! Greens, fruit, flaxseed, and coconut water combine for a real nutritional punch, and with the addition of bananas and honey, how can you go wrong?

Kale Coconut Water Smoothie

A coconut which has been stripped of its husk....
Serve in a coconut for a tasty and lovely presentation. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Ingredients:

1 cup chopped kale
1 banana, chopped
1 Tbsp. honey
1 Tbsp. flaxseed
1 1/2 cups coconut water
a couple ice cubes

Directions:
  • Put all ingredients in a blender and blend on high until desired consistency is reached.

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Recipe: Pina Colada Smoothie

Mmmm....this one tastes just like a favorite summer drink! With fresh pineapple, honey, and coconut, you'll feel like you're on the beach - even though you're just drinking a healthy breakfast smoothie....

Pina Colada Smoothie

English: Photo of a Pina Colada Deutsch: Foto ...
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Ingredients:

1/2 cup coconut water
1/4 cup yogurt, vanilla flavored
1/2 cup pineapple pieces (fresh if possible)
1/4 banana, frozen
1/2 tsp. honey
1/4 tsp. coconut extract (optional)
1/4 cup ice cubes

Directions:
  • Place all ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth. 
  • Optional: Garnish with a pineapple slice on the rim of your glass!

Monday, January 26, 2015

Coconut Water: A Nutrient-Rich Addition to Your Smoothies

We're wrapping up our series on healthy smoothies this week, with an interesting option to make your smoothies both more delicious and more nutritious.

If you take a look at your collection of smoothie recipes, you'll notice that most will call for some sort of liquid to be added to the blender. It could be orange juice, water, or milk, just to name a few. Each of these liquids will create a different smoothie. The fresh taste of orange juice adds a wonderful tartness, but the creamy texture and taste of a smoothie with milk is also delicious. So, why even consider adding water? Well, because most of us don't drink enough good old H2O during our day, and a smoothie is a great place to get one more glass of water in your diet.

English: Coconut water
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
But, what if that glass of water contained additional nutrients, even some vitamin C, calcium, iron, dietary fiber, and, yes, protein? That sounds like it could be called 'super water.' What we're actually talking about is coconut water.

Unlike coconut milk, which is a thick creamy product produced using the grated coconut 'meat,' coconut water is actually the clear watery substance poured out of the opened coconut. This is a naturally occurring product, with no processing other than what's necessary to strain and package.

If you buy a natural coconut water product, it should have very little taste, not at all similar to a bag of sweetened shredded coconut. Pure coconut water will have only the slightest hint of being part of a coconut at one time. The benefit of this is the taste will not overpower or even compete with other ingredients in your smoothie.

So, now back to the nutrients. There is a bit of debate over the true benefits of coconut water. In addition to the nutrients mentioned earlier, coconut water contains sodium and potassium, which help balance fluids in the body. Of course, there are other potassium rich foods, like bananas, spinach, and papaya. Why not put all these excellent foods in with the coconut water and enjoy them all?

English: Coconut "water" (liquid fro...
Bottled coconut "water" (liquid from the center of the coconut). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Coconut water also contains electrolytes, which is an important benefit for people who take their exercise seriously. For people who have difficulty staying hydrated due to digestive conditions, consuming coconut water has been shown to be quite helpful.

People who live in regions where coconuts are readily available often drink coconut water as a way of life, and swear by its benefits, both for hydration and nutrition. Many cultures depend on coconut water for hydration after illness or childbirth. Modern medicine may not agree with all these claims, partly because of the sodium, natural sugars, and calories, but that doesn't mean coconut water is not a viable source of hydration and some nutrition.

The only way to find out if you like coconut water is to try it. Read the label and decide if the nutrients that benefit your healthy lifestyle (fiber, vitamins, minerals, and protein) are worth the elements that may not be the best for you (sugar, carbohydrates, and sodium). Of course, you'll want to consider the price since coconut water will cost more than tap water and bottled water. Give coconut water a try in your next smoothie and you be the judge.

Oh, and be sure to check back for some tasty smoothie recipes including coconut water later this week!


Friday, January 23, 2015

Recipe: Broccoli Blueberry Smoothie

Reap the heart-healthy benefits of broccoli, and add some extra veggies to your diet with this delicious green smoothie recipe. The sweetness of the broccoli goes well with blueberries and cranberry juice, which also add lots of extra healthy antioxidants, and the tangy creamy yogurt aids digestion and keeps you full longer. If you're tired of the same old smoothies, give this super-healthy super-food smoothie a try!

Broccoli Blueberry Smoothie
English: A pack of blueberries from a organic ...
Organic blueberries. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup broccoli florettes, steamed tender, cooled
1 cup organic blueberries, frozen
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
1/2 cup cranberry juice

Directions:
  • Add all ingredients to a blender and blend on high until smooth. 

Find More Tasty & Healthy Smoothie Recipes Here:

   

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Recipe: Power Juice Spinach Smoothie

Get your greens with this easy smoothie - so tasty your kids will drink it right up and not even know they're eating their spinach! Iron and vitamin C are just two of the healthy nutrients in spinach, and the fruit and juices add extra vitamins. Add some healthy probiotic yogurt and you've got the breakfast of champions in your glass!

Power Juice Spinach Smoothie

Ingredients:

1/2 cup pineapple juice
1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
1 large peeled and sliced banana
2 cups spinach leaves
crushed ice

Directions:
  • Add all the ingredients to a blender and puree until smooth.   


More Healthy Green Smoothie Recipes:
   

Monday, January 19, 2015

Green Smoothies: Easy, Healthy, & Delicious

It wasn't very long ago that the mention of a smoothie would bring on images of tall glasses of creamy, frothy, and usually sweetened fruit drinks. Recipes for smoothies were often linked in cookbooks with shakes, parfaits, or other ice cream based blended concoctions.

Then we started to see a change occur, where smoothies thought of as a healthy way to whip up a combination of fruit into a drinkable slurry that both kids and adults would like. Fresh fruit was blended with juice or water or even yogurt for a thick and creamy drink that was a bit healthier than the 'dessert' style smoothies made like their cousins the ice cream shake, malt, or parfait.

Jump forward another few years and you'll find a whole new generation of smoothies emerge - the green smoothie. The idea of green smoothies may have begun with the healthy raw veggie juicing crowd, but it has blossomed into the craze it is today thanks to the desire by so many of us to eat healthier, easier, faster, and with tastier results.

Now, before you turn your nose up at the notion of drinking your greens, let's see what really happens when you blend up a green smoothie.

The Smoothie Maker

The first thing you'll need in order to make a really great green smoothie is a really great blender. Your standard kitchen blender may work just fine, for the most part. But, as you progress and start adding a wider variety of ingredients, you'll want something that's heavy duty enough to really pulverize the stuff. You should be able to puree food as dense as celery and lemon slices without ending up with little pieces floating around your smoothie.

For this reason I recommend investing in a super-blender - or my favorite smoothie blender, the Ninja Master Prep. This does not have to be a top-of-the-line smoothie making machine. There are several blenders available, some that are specifically for smoothies, that don't cost too much (see bottom of this post for some examples). If you consider the fact that you may burn out several inexpensive basic kitchen blenders over time, the investment may be worth it. Spending $150 or so once rather than spending $50 over and over and over again will not only save you money in the long run, but will produce better smoothies.

The Greens

This is the part of the recipe that is the most frustrating, at first. When you're new to the green smoothie thing, the choice and the amount of the greens may have you confused. Can you really drink a cup of kale, or spinach, or celery, or broccoli, or cucumber, or what-have-you? The answer is yes, if blended properly.

You have to remember that most of these greens contain a lot of water. When you hit the blend button, you will be reducing the greens down to their most tender form. Once blended with the other ingredients, including the liquid you choose, the greens should disappear into the mixture.

Head of celery, sold as a vegetable. Usually o...
 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Preparing the greens in such a way as to remove some of the more tough parts will also help create a nice smooth smoothie. You may want to peel the celery 'strings' to get the best result, or blanch the broccoli to remove some of the crunch and the bite that raw broccoli can have. Peel a cucumber if the skin is too dark and tough, and remove the seeds if they are too big and plentiful. Use young kale and make sure the woody stalks are removed. Once you get the hang of this, you'll get past the idea of drinking vegetables and start enjoying your blend of tasty green nutrition.

The Flavor Changers

This is where you can choose to serve a smoothie that is very vegetable, slightly vegetable, or barely recognizable as a vegetable. It all depends on what you add to the greens that makes your smoothie either savory, sweet, creamy, or textured. You get to decide.

For people who just can't get past the idea of drinking their vegetables, but really want to enjoy the health benefits of a couple extra servings of vegetables a day, there is a way around this. After you've tossed a handful of greens in your blender, top it off with fresh or frozen berries or fruit, and pour in orange, apple, or pineapple juice, then blend until smooth. The surprising thing is the greens will all but disappear behind the flavors of the fruits and berries. Drizzle in a touch of local honey and the disguise is complete. This works great as a way to get kids to 'eat' their veggies. What they don't know, or taste, won't hurt them (in fact, it will do just the opposite).

If you lean toward a savory taste, the green smoothie is perfect for you, too. Whipping up a healthy tomato juice is easier than ever when you start with some greens. Celery, cucumber, lemon, and lime are perfectly suited to a blender full of spinach or kale, and fresh juicy tomatoes. You can even choose homemade vegetable or chicken stock as the liquid. Or, pour in cold green tea for more tangy flavor and healthy benefits. The combinations are endless. I even know someone who makes a very spicy cocktail style smoothie which includes all the savory and green ingredients mentioned plus onions, garlic, and horseradish. This is a refreshing and healthy drink to enjoy as a brunch time treat or while watching the late afternoon sun disappear.

When you decide to add smoothies to your diet, why stop at fruit smoothies? Sure, you want to enjoy several servings of fruit every day, but what about including your veggies, too? Green smoothies are healthy, delicious, and so versatile. You can enjoy a sweet smoothie with the greens well hidden behind the fruit or berries, or you can enjoy a savory smoothie with the greens and other tangy ingredients right up front. Either way, your green smoothie creation is super-food in a glass!

A Few Good Smoothie Blenders: 
   

Friday, January 16, 2015

Recipe: Chocolate Almond Smoothie

This delicious smoothie is packed with tasty nutritious ingredients like honey, peanut butter, and cocoa powder. To add some more healthy fats to help tide you over, you can substitute coconut milk for the almond milk if you prefer. If you're a chocoholic, this is the perfect healthy breakfast!

Chocolate Almond Smoothie

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp. raw honey, warmed slightly
1/2 cup almond milk
2 Tbsp. natural peanut butter
1 medium banana
1 1/2 Tbsp. raw cocoa powder

Directions:
  • Put all the ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth and frothy.

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Recipe: Nuts And Oats Super-Protein Smoothie

This hearty and filling smoothie is packed with protein and fiber and will keep you full for hours, helping your body maintain energy at the same time as burning fat. If you're looking for a breakfast smoothie that will keep you satisfied until lunchtime, give this one a try.

Nuts And Oats Super-Protein Smoothie

English: Rolled oats Español: Copos de avena
Rolled oats (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Ingredients:

1 tablespoon flaxseeds, ground
1 tablespoon almonds, crushed
1 tablespoon rolled oats
1 1/3 cup whole milk, or vanilla flavored Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons whey protein powder
1 cup any type frozen fruit

Directions:
  • Place all ingredients in a blender and blend on high until desired consistency is reached.

Monday, January 12, 2015

Create More Satisfying Smoothies With These Simple Tricks

Smoothies are an easy way to start your day off right with something super healthy and delicious. However, one of the common complaints people have about drinking a smoothie for breakfast is that it doesn’t hold them over very long. This can be frustrating, especially if you end up giving in to that hunger, heading for the chips and cookies, and defeating your health goals right off the bat.

But there is good news. You don’t have to give up on your favorite morning smoothie. It’s just a matter of adding some ingredients to your smoothie to help you feel full longer. Let’s take a look at a few ingredients to make your smoothies more satisfying.

Oats

Adding oats to a smoothie is a great way to get in more dietary fiber, which is exactly what you need to feel fuller longer. You will add a few calories and carbs, but the fiber plays a big part in offsetting even those problems. Plus, if a few calories and carbs in your smoothie can keep you away from the snack machine later in the day, you are definitely ahead of the game.

Svenska: Tropical Smoothie
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Greek Yogurt

Choose Greek yogurt instead of regular yogurt for your smoothie and you have a big advantage – protein. Read the label and compare and you'll be surprise how much more protein there is in Greek yogurt. What's the advantage to protein, besides just more protein? Protein has the added benefit of making you feel fuller longer.

Protein Powder

Not just for body builders any more, these products are good for anyone who wants to add a little extra boost of protein to their diet. Again, as mentioned above, protein makes you feel fuller longer, along with the other obvious benefits.

Nuts

Throw chopped peanuts, walnuts, or almonds in the blender and your smoothie will be thick, nutritious, delicious, and filling. The few extra calories this adds to a smoothie is offset by the added protein, fiber, and healthy fat, which essentially helps keep hunger away longer. If you want something smoother, add natural peanut butter instead. (Stay away from highly processed peanut butter spreads - like Jif and Skippy - these are mostly sugar and will do no favors for your health.)

Cottage Cheese

A bowl of cottage cheese.
Cottage cheese. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Although cottage cheese is not often mentioned in recipes, it blends up just fine. You'll have a thicker smoothie, which will naturally help you feel full. This is another protein boost, of course, which also helps you feel full. You can mix yogurt or milk in to smooth out the consistency if you like without losing any of the benefits of this filling ingredient.

Avocado

Another nutrient we need, not only for our health but to feel full and satisfied, is healthy fat. Avocados are a great source for healthy fat, along with many other nutrients. Blending even a part of an avocado into your smoothie will help satisfy that hunger, even if you hardly taste the avocado at all. The texture will be thicker and you'll have that wonderful full feeling for a good, long time, plus fewer cravings.

Skip the Juice

If a smoothie recipe calls for juice, replace the juice with whole fruit. Then add enough  yogurt or milk to get the consistency you want. This will result in a thicker smoothie and more nutrients, which will always keep you feeling fuller longer.

These are just a few ways to create more satisfying smoothies. By no means is this an exhaustive list of things you can do. It’s just a basic list of tricks to help get you thinking about ways you can make a power-packed glassful of goodness for breakfast that will tide you over longer than a few hours.

Be sure to check back later this week for some tasty and satisfying smoothie recipes you can try!


Friday, January 9, 2015

Recipe: Greek Yogurt Strawberry Smoothie

This is an absolutely great smoothie for anyone wanting to curb cravings and lose weight easily. The yogurt supports healthy digestion, while the avocado and whole milk help keep you full and reduce cravings for junk food. Healthy fats like avocado are great for boosting your metabolism and fat-burning capacity, while keeping you satisfied so you don't reach for that bag of cookies or chips!

Strawberries and bananas in a blender before b...
 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Greek Yogurt Strawberry Smoothie

Ingredients:

1/4 cup whole milk
3/4 cup Greek yogurt
1 banana
1 1/2 cups frozen strawberries
1/4 avocado, peeled, pitted, and cut up
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract 

Directions:

Add the ingredients to blender in order listed, cover and pulse and blend until smooth.


Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Recipe: Kiwi & Mixed Berry Smoothie

This simple and tasty smoothie is packed full of vitamin C, potassium, and antioxidants, and it will surely satisfy your sweet tooth - even without any added sugars! Give this one a try for breakfast, or as a mid-day snack to help calm cravings, and avoid snacking on junk foods. (If you are lactose-intolerant, you may substitute soy milk for the whole milk, but it won't keep you full as long as it is lower in fat.)

Svenska: En smoothie år 2009
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Kiwi & Mixed Berry Smoothie

Ingredients:

2 kiwis, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup chopped ripe strawberries
1/4 cup raspberries
1 banana, chopped 
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup vanilla or plain yogurt

Directions:

  • Place all ingredients in a blender and blend on high until smooth.

Monday, January 5, 2015

Smoothies For Weight Loss: Fact or Fiction?

Starting off the New Year is a great time to set a plan to reach your goals for obtaining a healthy weight. While you may hear some debate as to whether drinking smoothies can really help with weight loss, just like every other weight loss program, the results depend on many factors: how often you exercise, what else you eat, how much you eat, etc..

We’re not going to get into all the factors involved in a weight loss program, but we are going to take a look at how smoothies can help with weight loss.

Breakfast

Skipping breakfast will almost guarantee weight loss failure. When you wake up in the morning, your body is waiting for you to 'break fast' and replenish the nutrients. When you don't break that fast (you just slept without eating, so you were fasting) your body thinks it's going into starvation mode and it must start storing fat for survival. If you make smoothies a morning habit, you have already given your body a good reason to burn fat, resulting in weight loss.

Metabolism

When you blend up a healthy mixture of dietary fiber, protein, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals for breakfast, you naturally give your body a jump-start for the day. Not only are you consuming a large amount of nutritious foods, you’re keeping your body's fuel stoked, burning fat, which is exactly what you need to do to lose weight.

Nutrients

When drinking smoothies to lose weight, you'll be making the healthiest food choices, and drinking these foods raw. No nutrients or fiber will be lost cooking your food. Fruits and vegetables that are high in fiber will stand out in many of your recipes. Some of the better choices include kale, spinach, broccoli, tomatoes, apples, berries, celery, and cucumbers. And that's just the beginning! Of course, you'll be adding some calcium and protein, along with nuts, seeds, and whole grains, too. Sounds like a tasty recipe for weight loss to me.

Replace

Losing weight with smoothies can also simply be a matter of replacing unhealthy snacks with healthy smoothies. Replace high calorie, high fat, high sugar snacks with low calorie, low fat, low sugar smoothies and you are bound to see promising weight loss  results. Also, many snacks tend to be high in 'bad carbs' which can lead to a blood sugar spike, then drop, resulting in a raid on the candy machine. It's easy to see how replacing unhealthy snacks with nutritious smoothies will give your body what it needs for energy and nutrition, and avoid all those things your body doesn't need.

So, yes, you can lose weight drinking smoothies, but only if you follow a complete weight loss and fitness program. It's not magic, but by making healthier food choices, many made easier by drinking smoothies, you can see weight loss results. Of course, as with any weight loss journey, check with your own health care provider before you change your diet and exercise program.

And be sure to check back throughout the month, as we will be posting lots of delicious and tasty smoothie recipes to help you get your weight and fitness goals off to a great start for 2015! In the meantime, here are some recommended recipe books:

   

Friday, January 2, 2015

Recipe: Blueberry Banana Agave Smoothie

After all the excess of the holidays, if you're anything like me, you're probably in the mood for something lighter! Smoothies are a great way to pack a lot of healthy nutrition into one tasty glass - like this one. Full of antioxidants, fiber, and flavor, this will satisfy your sweet tooth and your hankering for something healthy all in one.

Stay tuned for more tasty smoothie recipes later this month as we share some ways to cleanse and detoxify your body through healthy eating to start the New Year off on the right foot!

Blueberry Banana Agave Smoothie
(Serves 2.)

Ingredients:

soy milk and blueberries
Milk and blueberries (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
1 cup blueberries, frozen
1/4 tsp. orange zest, finely grated
1 banana, frozen and cut into chunks
1/4 cup plain or vanilla flavored Greek yogurt
1 cup whole milk
2 Tbsp. chia seeds, ground (optional) 
2 tsp. agave syrup
1/4 cup all-natural granola

Directions:
  • Add all ingredients (except granola) to a blender and process until smooth and creamy. 
  • Put the smoothie into two glasses and sprinkle granola on top and then serve.