Morning Smoothie Starts

Sometimes, when I come across something out of the blue that piques my interest, I can become a little bit obsessive with it.

Like the time I fell in love with West Side Story and listened to the soundtrack over and over and over again.

Or when I discovered Old Navy’s ribbed tank tops and bought them in every colour I could get my hands on (seriously, they’re great – on their own in summer or layered under stuff in winter).

Or my current obsession with my completing my entire Pitt Marker collection.

And now… my morning smoothie obsession.

I know, I’m very late to the party on this one.

It’s not like I didn’t drink smoothies before – I would have one for breakfast every two weeks or so but my blender always frustrated me so as much as I enjoyed them, it was just a process to make one. I hate processes early in the morning.

But then I read Sondi Bruner’s article on making dairy free smoothies that can act as a full meal and it piqued my interest – mostly because I always add dairy to my smoothies.  I loved some of her tips!

You know how when something catches your interest you start noticing it everywhere?  Like if you buy a red hatchback suddenly you start seeing red hatchbacks everywhere?  Suddenly I started hearing about Simple Green Smoothies everywhere.  Not just for the smoothie part – the ladies behind it are pretty savvy businesswomen and I think anyone who wants to earn a living from the on-line food space should check out what they’re doing – but also for the smoothies themselves.

After reading through their site, I decided to give it a go and started having a green smoothie every morning.  And I love it!  It’s been about 3 weeks now and I don’t miss a “real” breakfast at all.  In fact, I feel great! The only pause I had was during my trip to Ontario a week and a half ago (we had to go out for crepes one morning and then we had to have Polish plum doughnuts the next… what can I say?).  It’s even replaced my first morning cup of tea – but not my second cup of tea!

I’ve decided to do their latest 30 day challenge that starts on October 1st.  It’ll be good to try out all the different recipes (I tend to repeat the same 3 or 4 over and over again) and get a bit more variety going and try out some new ingredients.  I totally think you should check them out (and no, I’m not an affiliate or anything like that – I’m just mildly obsessed!)

Also, their tip about blending the greens with the liquid before adding the fruit for a completely smooth green juice has made me love my cheap $50 blender again.  It makes a huge difference!

This is my current recipe for a pineapple green smoothie that I’m in love with.  I created it based on the ratios they suggest on the Simple Green Smoothies site – easy peasy!  Pineapple is out of season at the moment so I’ve been using canned pineapple and taking the leftover juice to use as my smoothie liquid.

Pineapple Green Smoothie

 

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Prep time

5 mins

Total time

5 mins

 

Serves: 1

Ingredients

• 1 cup of mixed greens (I use a mix of spinach, kale and chard)
• ½ cup of water
• ½ cup of the excess juice in a can of pineapple chunks
• 1 frozen banana
• ½ cup of frozen blueberries
• ½ cup of canned pineapple chunks
• 1 tbsp of peanut butter

Instructions

1. blend the mixed greens with the water and pineapple juice until completely smooth
2. add in the fruit and peanut butter and blend again until completely smooth
3. pour into a glass, add a straw and enjoy!

Notes

My grocery store carries a tub of mixed pre washed greens that includes spinach, kale and chard that makes it so easy to scoop up a cup of greens. But I also use just spinach as well.
I usually make my smoothie before having my morning shower and then stick it in the freezer for 10 minutes to it's icy cold when I'm ready to drink it.

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Smoothie Photography Tips

Here’s a quick tip for photographing smoothies.  After you pour your drink into its glass, stick it in the freezer for 10-15 minutes with the straw in the glass.  When you pull it out, the bubbles from pouring a fresh smoothie will hold for about another 10-15 minutes while you take your photos and that will add a little life to your image!  (you might want to take your straw out and swap it for another before drinking as the smoothie will freeze inside it!)

Another tip for photography drinks is to actually shoot from just below the tabletop level – so your lens has to tilt up ever so slightly.  I didn’t do that in these photos but for examples you can check out my Boston Wallbanger post.  It makes the glass look full on.