Luscious Crimson Smoothie

Luscious is right. Luscious. Vibrant. Slightly tart, definitely sweet. Slightly bitter, definitely awesome. Thick, creamy and dreamy.

I made a huge batch of this with the intention of sharing it with my family. I didn’t. I often go to bed with a thought for what the first thing I want to put in my body is. I am usually intentional with my first meal. And this time, I knew I wanted it to be red. Bursting red. With lots of anti oxidants and immunity boosting qualities. I wanted it to feel refreshing while still warming my body. I wanted it to be bursting with flavor and dense in vitamins. I wanted something that would make me feel alive and excited to be awake. This smoothie did all those things and then some. I’m making this again tomorrow.

Just in case you needed more convincing here are a few nutritional benefits of some of the ingredients in this smoothie:

beets: high in iron and B vitamins (great for blood and new growth cells), as well as potassium and magnesium. They also contain tryptophan (creates a sense a well-being).

grapefruits:  high in vitamin A (good for mucus membranes and skin) and vitamin C (an antioxidant that helps the body develop resistance against infections). Vitamin C also helps in the absorption of dietary iron (so a great pairing with the beets!)

maca: high in vitamins B, C, and E (healthy immune system, skin and eyes), as well as iron, calcium and magnesium. Maca is also known to increase energy and improve one’s mood. There are many other benefits to maca that I won’t post here. If you’ve never tried maca, I suggest you do 🙂

jicama: high in fiber it is also rich in vitamin C and provides healthy amounts of minerals such as magnesium, copper and iron. Another great addition for this smoothie 🙂

Ingredients:

• 1 large beet or 2 small ones
• 2 large pink grapefruits
• 1 large chunk of ginger (about 2 inch cube)
• 1 cup chopped jicama, or 1 cucumber
• 1 cup fresh strawberries
• 1/2 cup raspberries
• 1 large banana
• 1 TBS maca (optional but highly recommended as it gave me super powers)

Steps:

• juice first 4 ingredients
• add juice to blender with all other ingredients and blend on high until nice and smooth
• pour in your favorite large container and feel alive!
• this made enough for two large servings. I sprinkled some cinnamon on top because cinnamon makes me happy.

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Pre-Party Smoothie

We had two birthday parties to go to yesterday. Which means there would be a lot of unwholesome eating in one day. I try not to be too strict with my kids with that stuff. I don’t want them to form a negative relationship with food because “mom never let us eat “junk””. At home I feed my family what I believe to be the highest quality foods and nutrient dense meals, and when we are out, while I still try and make sure they don’t spend the whole time gorging themselves with sweets, I let them eat what is offered.

I do put a limit on things such as “You either get a piece of cake OR a cupcake. You get the juice box OR the ice cream”. They are still just children and need a little bit of guidance, no? For the most part they are on board with this. And if I do catch my 6 year old daughter sneaking an extra piece of cake, or juice box or cookie (or anything else, because this happens, often) I try not to make her feel bad about it. I use this as an opportunity to check in with her and ask her how it makes her body feel, or if it makes her happy to eat sweets, or any other question that comes up that will allow me to have her be in touch with a deeper part of herself versus just the immediate palate satisfaction. While eating just for pleasure is fine sometimes, when it happens too often, it is not just for pleasure anymore. If it were up to my daughter, she would have it all, 3 times. My son can easily have his piece of cake and go right back to playing. The baby, well since he is only 15 months, has not really been exposed to sugar yet. Holding off as long as I can on this one. With two older siblings its just a matter of time.

So while I want my kids to be exposed to other peoples way of eating so they can make their opinions about food, their health is still very important to me. That is why I make them a Pre-Party Smoothie before we leave the house. The Pre-Party Smoothie allows me to make sure they get a good dose of healthy fats, fiber and protein in order for their little bodies to function properly not only to be able to play and have fun with their friends, but also so they can handle what ever foods they might eat that their bodies are not used to digesting often. And, if done right, they might not even be that hungry to have pizza AND cake AND ice cream. *wishful thinking* 

While I get my kids to drink their smoothies and juices regularly, they still sometimes put up a fuss. The Party Smoothie is easy because they know we are not leaving until their cup is empty. I make sure to remind them that this smoothie will give them lots of energy so they can play for along time.

Ingredients:

• 1 banana
• 1/2 avocado
• 2 TBS hemp seeds
• 2 cups almond milk
• 2 cups fresh greens (this time it was spinach)
• Optional: a handful of sprouts because I had some handy.

Steps:

• Put everything in a blender and blend until smooth
• this made enough for 3 small servings

For some of my thoughts on eating at parties, you can check out my post from a few months ago:

https://anaboreal.wordpress.com/2014/08/26/tips-to-avoid-over-eating-at-parties/

Grapefruit Smoothie

This is such a refreshing, cleansing, lovely way to start the day. With everyone around me getting sick, I am taking no chances and I make sure every thing I eat supports my health positively. I am much better at preventing illness as I am healing it. This is why I decided to start my day with this delicious smoothie.

Grapefruits are high in Vitamin A (good for skin and mucus membranes), a great source of vitamin C (powerful anti-oxidant which helps fight disease) as well as lycopene(good for vision as well as UV protection). I find it to be a good colon cleanser as well, and drinking it fresh like this makes me feel like I am moving any unwanted bacteria out of my body.

I normally make this drink with flax seed oil but I don’t have any on hand at the moment and the coconut substitutions adds a really nice flavor. The coconut oil, amongst it’s endless list of benefits, helps digestion as well as speed recovery of a cold. I believe coconut oil to be a food from the gods as it can be used in such a variety of ways, internally and externally.

Ingredients:

• 1 large pink grapefruit, peeled
• 1 medium apple
• 1 celery stick
• 1/4 tsp sea salt (the real kind, not regular “table” salt)
• 1/4 tsp cayenne
• 1 TBS coconut oil
• 2 cups water

Steps:

• put everything in bonder and blend until smooth
• serve and enjoy!

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.

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.

Oatmeal Smoothie

All the nutritional benefits of oatmeal and fruit can be enjoyed in this simple, healthy smoothie. Ingredients: 1 cup ice 1/2 cup frozen raspberries 1/2 cup plain lowfat yogurt 1 banana 1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats 1 tablespoon honey …