We fixed the glitch, with a fabulous green smoothie.

We fixed the glitch. 

One of my favorite lines from office space. My husband and I quote that movie all the time.



In this post, I'm not referring to a glitch in the payroll system; I'm referring to a glitch in our kids' diets. You see, half of them (sometimes 75% of them) aren't down with the veggies. They get pushed to the side, covered up or tossed on an unsuspecting sibling's plate.

The other day, as I was taking a leisurely stroll through Costco with only two children in tow, I saw that the Zico coconut water was $4 off. I've tried coconut water before, and honestly, not impressed. However, I have heard how glorious it is in smoothies and wanted to give it a fair assessment. So, as you do at Costco, you make a commitment when you buy one of their ginormous bargains.

I was really happy to see that one serving of coconut water has as much potassium as a banana. I have super restless legs during pregnancy (annoying) and supposedly, potassium helps alleviate that. Win win. I ran some test projects through our Blend Tec and was VERY HAPPY that three of our children (one wouldn't try) LOVED the result. So, here it is...

(This makes a few decent servings)

• 1.5 c Zico coconut water
• 2 bananas
• 1-2 cups frozen pineapple
• 2-3 cups raw organic spinach
• 1/2 cup raw oats (optional)

Combine all and blend until totally smooth! 

I like smoothies with oats, but some people may not prefer that flavor or consistency. To me, that makes it a meal as opposed to a snack.

I have been making green smoothies for about four years now, but nothing has set them off as much as adding coconut water! Also? Our eight, four and two years olds approve and ask for more! That makes this mama's whole foods heart happy! I love it and it will be a staple on our shopping list from now on.  

Smoothie Q.

I don't know what's up with the post title, I just thought it sounded cute. Anywho. Smoothies are my favorite, you guys, and while I have a few favorite standby recipes, making a good smoothie is a lot simpler than you may think. If they weren't simple, I wouldn't have time to make one for breakfast every day. You see, by the time I get to the end of blending, I have at least one kid (sometimes two) asking for a cup of water. By the time I'm finished drinking my smoothie, someone needs the potty seat from whichever bathroom it was left in when the last potty emergency occurred.

You see, I love my littles. I love to take care of them and help them and love on them, but I need to plan my breakfast accordingly; mixing up a bunch of delicious/nutritious crap in the blender every morning and gulping it down (whilst giving myself a frozen head) allows me to take care of their needs and eat, too. So, without holding you up any longer, here we go! Weeeeeee!

Non-Liquid Ingredients 

• Frozen fruit (mixed fruit, strawberries, blueberries, mango, pineapple cherries, tropical blend) 
• Non-frozen fruit/veggies (strawberries, banana, blueberries, avocado, peaches, beets)
• Spices/extracts
• Spinach or kale

Liquid Base (pick one)

• Water
• Milk (cow's, almond, soy, rice)
• Orange juice (100%, no sugar added)
• Other 100% fruit no sugar added or veggie juice
• Cottage cheese (plus water - I've done this out of desperation. It's fine. I'll leave this one up to your discretion).
• Plain Greek Yogurt

Optional Add-Ins (pick none, one or some)

• Ground flaxseed (for some Omega-3s and added fiber)
• Clean protein powder
• Coconut oil (boost metabolism, antioxidants, and about 100 other great reasons)
• Spinach (You can add spinach to almost any recipe; it will make your smoothie look disgusting, but most likely you won't be able to taste it. This works well in fruit based smoothies, though I've added it to a chocolate/pb/banana smoothie and lived to tell about it. Just. be. adventurous.)
• Kale

Sweeteners

• Honey (just a drizzle)
• Stevia 
• *Frozen very ripe bananas often eliminate the need for other sweeteners

Combinations I like: 

• Frozen banana, mixed fruit (or strawberries or blueberries), raw old-fashioned oatmeal, water, honey (just a drizzle). 
• Frozen banana, unsweetened cocoa (like 2-3T), cinnamon, 1T natural PB, a drizzle of honey, and almond milk.
• Mixed frozen fruit, spinach, water, honey, and baby carrots. 
• Orange juice (100% pure juice no sugar added, y'all), pineapple, 1T of coconut oil, and ice.
• Frozen banana and 100% orange juice.
• Frozen peaches, almond milk, drizzle of honey, half a banana (frozen is ok).
• Frozen blueberries, banana, almond milk and honey
• Frozen strawberries, banana, almond milk and honey
• I haven't tried it (bc I am allergic to avocado), but I've heard avocado with banana, ice and almond milk is awesome.

Tips: 

• The easiest way to freeze bananas is to peel them (when they are very ripe), put them in sandwich bags and break them up into small pieces once in the bag, before freezing (or slice them up...that's too conventional for me).
• Try to get a protein source in your smoothie - especially first thing in the morning. Protein helps knock out sugar cravings. It's very important to make sure you're getting enough!
• If you use oatmeal in a smoothie (I love doing this because I want the benefits of oatmeal without actually eating a bowl of it), blend it super well. You don't want to chew your smoothie; well, I don't want to chew mine, anyway. 
• If you plan to make smoothies every day, get a good blender. I love our Ninja personal blender (with a pitcher and smoothie cups). It is a little more costly, but it saves a ton of time and absolutely destroys whatever you put in it. 
• Just go with fruits and liquids that you like and make your own recipes. Smoothies can be as simple or complex as you want. Sometimes frozen fruit, honey, and water are the best!
• I make the first and second smoothies, listed above, all the time. Once you find something you love, just go with it and vary the ingredients here and there. I hope you love making smoothies as much as I do! 

Let me know what your favorite recipes are; there are a ton of great ones out there! :)

What does a roast and smoothie have in common?

Nothing, except I'm writing about them together in this post - oh, and that I served carrots with both. So, after yesterday's womp-womp-womp post about how I've let the baby become the world's most adorable leech, I felt something lighthearted was in order for today. You guessed it, more food talk. Who knew?

A friend the hubs' and mine (and I? and mine? is that right? I really do have a degree in English, sometimes I just do my own thing...). Anyway...this dude we know has been nagging me to try making a roast in the slow cooker using tomato sauce (vs. the water and dry onion soup that I usually use). Since I've been rather bored with our current meal rotation, I decided to try this tomato-y roast and hope for the best. (I'm not the worlds biggest tomato fan). Apparently, we've been missing out! I threw a delicious chuck roast (sprinkled with seasoned salt) in the crockpot with carrots and chopped onions, on high for five hours (the roast was still a little frozen when I threw it in). During the last hour or hour and a half of cook-time, I tossed in two sliced zucchinis (skin on). If you add them in the beginning, they'll be destroyed. Trust me, I've done it (a lot more than once).

We had leftover brown rice on the side (the tomato-y sauce is used to gravy-up the rice). This meal is clean if you eat red meat and use a clean pasta sauce (no artificial ingredients - try an organic one!); if not, that's the only questionable part. It was SO delicious. Husband, kid, and nagging friend-approved. :)

And because I'm still pacing around on a weight-loss plateau, I figured it woudn't hurt to ramp up the fruit and veggie consumption. I knew my Ninja blender could juice, but I hadn't put it to the test yet. I threw a bunch of mixed frozen fruit, spinach, and carrots in a Ninja cup. I drizzled honey on top and added unsweetened vanilla almond milk (that's not entirely clean, I guess, but close enough for me). It was pretty ugly, but eating raw spinach, carrots and frozen fruit never tasted so good! I made one again the next day, too. You should totally try this recipe - especially if you aren't a veggie fan. This is a good way to get a couple servings in in a somewhat unconventional way.

Happy Thursday everyone, enjoy! :)