Pomegranate Smoothie

This came out rich, sweet, satisfying and simply delicious. The kids couldn’t drink it fast enough. I had to make sure to put myself a glass aside so I could have some! And this is a great preventative beverage. Preventative of the flu and colds that is. Although “flu“is not a season and just an illness people get from not having proper nutrition, not protecting themselves enough from the environment, or simply being unfortunate to have had a dip in their immunity to catch the dang bug, it is good to be ready and step up our immunity boosting game at this time of year, which is called fall season, not flu season 😉

Pomegranates are packed with antioxidants, which is extremely important for cellular health in order to prevent free radical damage. Free radical damage will cause us to get sick much more rapidly.  They are also loaded with vitamin C (protects from immune system deficiencies). And they are also sweet and delicious.

I added some fresh ginger which is a potent anti-inflammatory, and has incredible germ fighting and immune boosting abilities.

If all these natural cold fighting capabilities aren’t enough for you, just drink it because it is delicious.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups pomegranate juice ( I juiced 2 large fresh pomegranates, but if you have some store bought juice that will work too).
• 1 large chunk of ginger (I juiced that along with the pomegranate, but if you aren’t pulling out the juicer today, you can just blend it)
• 1 large handful of fresh spinach (Because I just can’t help add green things to foods, especially smoothies)
• 1/2 banana

Steps:

• Juice pomegranate and ginger
• put in blender with spinach and banana
• blend on high
• serve and enjoy!
• Make sure to sip slowly in order to let digestion kick in and to fully appreciate the goodness that is feeding your body.

For a cold fighting elixir recipe, click here.

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Halloween Smoothie!!

It’s Halloween. For most families that means trick or treating and eating way too much sugar. Our family will definitely be ringing doorbells and filling up buckets with junk. The kids love it. It’s a really fun tradition and I don’t want to take that away from my kids when everyone else at school is talking about it. That said, their health still really matters to me and eating too much sugar is just bad. So I have come up with a solution: I make green smoothies. I do this when I know we will be going to an event where the kids will be eating way too much junk food. The kids are used to this by now, but I tell them we do not leave the house until they are done with their smoothie. They choose: “drink your smoothie and go out (trick or treating in this case), or don’t drink and stay home.” We’ve never stayed home 🙂

On Halloween night it should be even easier to get your kids to drink this:” It’s monster juice!”;  “It’ll help keep al the scary things away when we go to haunted houses!” Get creative!

The reason for a green smoothie is simple: they fill up on a really nutritious meal so that their bodies can handle what they are about to throw at it with more ease.

Fiber is huge in helping keep blood glucose levels from going out the roof. Fiber traps sugar as it passes through the intestines, therefor slowing down the rate at which your body digests it which helps reduce the amount of insulin your body needs to handle it. So eating lots of fiber before eating sugar, is one of the best things you can do if you are committed to eating sugar. This is one of the reasons why eating whole fruit is so different than just drinking the juice, which is void of fiber, therefore is just sugar. Protein has a similar effect.

I add fat to the smoothie in order to help feel full longer, in order to feel satiated. Fat triggers the pyloric valve between your stomach and small intestine. That valve is what slows down digestion and allows you to feel fuller longer as well as reduce sugar spikes.

When making a smoothie for good nutrition keep these things in mind. Does it have fiber? Does it have healthy fats? Does it have protein?

I don’t do this every time I make a smoothie. I do this when I make a smoothie before going to an event where I know we will be eating foods that I do not believe to contribute greatly to my health.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups packed of greens. I used all kale here. Make sure to use fresh greens, not frozen.
• 2 1/2 cups almond milk (or any milk you prefer)
• 1 stalk of celery
• 1 small apple with skin, cored
• 1 avocado
• 2 dates
• 1 small chunk ginger (optional)
• 8 ice cubes (optional, I just wanted the smoothie cold)

Steps:

• Put everything in blender and blend on high until super smooth
• Drink up!

This made about 40 oz. Enough for my little family of 5.

Blackberry Beet Smoothie

I love smoothies. For so many reasons but mainly because I find it to be the best way to get the kind of nutrition I want for my kids without them fussing about it. Thankfully I was blessed with some good eaters who will eat pretty much everything I put in front of them, but not always, and not always in quantities I find beneficial for their growing bodies. About 5 out of 7 days we will start our day with a green smoothie and my kids have become very accustomed to the fact that this is how things are done here. Getting them to drink their smoothie is rarely a battle. This is why I encourage parents to start feeding their children as wholesomely as possible as early as possible. Kids will fall into your routine pretty easily if you adopt a “that’s just the way we do things” attitude early on. Here I was playing with all the purple goodness we had in our fridge.

Ingredients:

• 1 small/medium beet (if it still has the leaves, wash and use them in the smoothie instead of the chard)
• 3 large chard leaves with stems or about 1 1/2 C chopped
• 1C purslane
• 1C blackberries
• 3 medjool dates-pitted  (or more to taste)
• 2 TBS chia seeds
• 1 1/2 C water
• 1C ice

Put everything in a blender and blend on high until desired consistency.

Note: Most of my recipes are designed to feed a minimum of 2 adults and 2 small children. Adjust the measurements according to our own family’s needs.