The Green (Smoothie) Monster

Posted by Katie Elzer-Peters
April 10th, 2009
Filed in Fruits, Veggies and Herbs, Soil and Fertilizer
Tags: fruit, vegetables

One of the best parts about having a vegetable garden is going out and picking your dinner. Or lunch. Or breakfast. Breakfast? Have you heard of eating vegetables for breakfast? Well, maybe some spinach in your omelet, or a few peppers scrambled with potatoes.  What about eating lettuce for breakfast?  I tried to feed my husband lettuce soup for dinner one time.  That didn’t go so well.  In fact, we had to go get pizza.  And, we lived in the Adirondack mountains, where there is no pizza delivery.  We had to drive to the next town for our pizza.  Anyway, I went back to eating my beloved fresh-grown lettuce and spinach the normal, boring way:  in salads.

Green Smoothies

Recently, I had the pleasure of interviewing Penni from Tulsa, Oklahoma, who runs the Raw Food Tulsa meetup group.  I never really knew anything about raw food, other than, you don’t cook it.  I had see people tweeting regularly about “green smoothies” and wondered what those were.  So, I asked her.  And now, I’m hooked.

A green smoothie is a concept invented by a lady in Oregon who fed her family with raw food for years and years.  They realized that they were not getting enough of certain minerals and vitamins.  So, she developed the green smoothie-a combination of fruits, vegetables and, most importantly-leafy greens like spinach, lettuce, arugula and kale.  I have started making my own, and the most fun part is that I get to go outside in the morning and pick a handful of freshly grown greens for my smoothies.  Right now, I have arugula, red lettuce, field greens and green lettuce ready.  The items from the left row are from my garden.

Why Isn’t it Green?

Depending upon what you put in it, your green smoothie could be green, blue, purple, red, orange or brown.  Most of my green smoothies look kind of like mud.  But, they taste really yummy!  This morning I made one from a handful of greens from the garden, two cups of fresh spinach, juice from an orange, 1 cup blueberries, a cup of strawberries, and a splash of vanilla.  It is also very tasty with a frozen banana, for sweetness and texture. Try yours soon!  You’ll get hooked!