My First Green Smoothie Concoction

Recently I went back to one of my favorite books on nutrition, Dr. Joel Fuhrman's Eat to Live (2003). And then I went to his website to do some more reading and eventually got to his blog tab where I discovered a link to a really fun blog by a gal in Colorado who is writing about all the recipes she is trying from one of Dr. Fuhrman's books. She and her husband are trying all the recipes and rating them. She mentioned a recipe for a smoothie and then I was off and running again, reading about hi-tech blenders like VitaMix and BlendTec and watching Matt Monarch and team rate different top of the line blenders on a YouTube video. I would really, really, really like to have a top of the line blender for making green smoothies, but they do cost a pretty penny and we do have our trusty 10-speed Osterizer blender that has served us faithfully for many years.

I had a small epiphany when I was at Safeway this evening looking for frozen berries. I saw frozen chopped greens!! Collard greens! Mustard greens! Holy mama, Winston! We can hold off on the hi-tech, 300 mph blender and use ye old faithful standby, the trusty Osterizer, for now. I figure if I start using the blender that we currently have on a regular basis, perhaps by the time my birthday rolls around, DH will be willing to invest in a super duper blender. I don't mind smoothies that I have to chew a bit. I bought a half-gallon jug of Odwalla Superfood, the green stuff with lots of fruits, a variety of grasses, sprouts, spirulina,  Jerusalem artichoke and healthful ingredients like these to use as the base for my first at-home green smoothie concoction. I added a banana, an apple, some frozen mustard and collard greens, some dry coconut from Trader Joe's, a spoonful of flax seed, and six frozen strawberries. It looked totally funky but tasted good.

Trader Joe's used to carry a delicious pond scum looking green smoothie drink with almond milk, bananas, and all sorts of greens. I drank it often a few years back when I was working at the animal shelter, but the product itself didn't catch on with most of the TJ crowd, so eventually it got pulled from their shelves. I don't even remember the name of this drink anymore.

The Green Smoothie Girl has a terrific video to show smoothie novices how to throw together a delicious green smoothie using a (sigh) top of the line BlendTec Total Blender. Someday...