Food, food, food. It really is my nemesis.I love everything I’m not supposed to eat and can barely stand the things that are good for me. I go through ‘healthy’ periods and the rest of the time, not quite as much. Chatting to a friend recently, she said that she almost feels like she needs to ‘re-learn’ cooking and I nodded along vociferously. I feel exactly the same.
I have to learn again how to cook, what goes with what and most importantly how on earth to bake gluten free, and I want to throw a ‘Monday to Friday’ kind of veganism in there too. It’s a huge change, but I’ve started bringing these changes into action for my toddler too, in the hope that her ‘normal’ will include more healthy than not.
At the moment, she’s loving one-ingredient ice cream and sometimes, for treats, she even gets it for breakfast. Another favourite is ‘chocolatey’ date balls – treats I feel no qualms in giving her. One of her new favourites are ‘pink juice’ which is actually a green smoothie, ‘tricked up’ for my suddenly pink loving girl. (She won’t eat her sandwich, but if I say ‘but it’s a pink sandwich?!’ she’ll say ‘Ooooooooh, and gobble it down!)
There are some fantastic websites out there, dedicated to green smoothies, and like with most of ‘my’ recipes – they’re never the same day to day, but they do have basic ‘commonalities’. Here are the basic elements:
- Fruit
Apple – first in is normally an apple, for sweetness. I core it, but leave the skin on Banana – great for making the smoothie a little thicker, also adds some sweetness - Liquid
Fruit juice – My smoothie maker requires liquid to start off with (I think most do). Apple juice is good for a green smoothie, but for a treat I also use mango sometimes. Milk – I’ve used hazelnut or almond milks and coconut milk, about a half cup, but as much as is required. - Greens
There’s so many greens amazon to choose from. Spinach – Baby spinach leaves are definitely my favourites, but you’re supposed to change up the leaves you use. Lettuce – can be quite overwhelming, so I use less green leaves when using lettuce. I haven’t tried it with other green leaves yet. - Colours
Sometimes these are a beautiful, bright green, other times they can come out a rather unappetising brown. The best remedy for brown smoothies is to add some berries. Blueberries make it a gorgeous purple, while mixed summer berries make it an Ameli-approved pink - Healthy additions
Depending on what we have available, I sometimes add flax seed, coconut oil, or other seeds.I’m totally a novice in green smoothies but I’m enjoying the journey.The first day, the first sip, I remember thinking ‘ewwww… how long do I have to do this for?’. A month in and I now look forward to my morning smoothie and I’m so pleased my little girl is slowly but surely developing her favourites too. And the best of all, she thinks it’s a yummy milkshake treat.
(One note of caution – daily smoothies are hard work on your kitchen equipment, unless you have quality equipment! In the last month we’ve burned through a liquidiser, a food processor and broken the spout off our smoothie maker! I’m currently saving up for something of a much higher quality to sustain our smoothie needs!)
