Spring Green Cleanse

Holy cow thunder and lightening. From 1:00 am on last night, we have been up. Windy and Rainy like you cannot believe. If you ever wondered about Chicagoland weather, just live here for awhile. HIGHLY unpredictable and forever changing. As I made this delicious beverage, I watch it just pour outside. There is no running for me today. I would be hanging out in the basement with Shaun T doing some type of Insanity workout. Over the winter, I have not lost any weight, (depressing) but I have lost inches. My jeans still fit. I can actually do several big girl push-ups, (NO Knees) and jumps. My feet will leave the ground. I am grateful to have ran 4 days this week. That is the most since last November. WOW. Yoga is still a large part of my fitness routine. I have spread myself out to three different Yoga studios. Different teachers, techniques, and philosophy's. I keeps me from getting bored and betters my mind.

So why am I selling this drink as a Spring Green Cleanse. Well, it is green and it SO reminds me of Spring. Winter has lasted somewhere close to forever here this year. Usually with a green cleanse, I only use water, but today, I went with Almond Milk. I also used plain non fat Greek Yogurt in this recipe. I am going outside the Box with this recipe. So unsure, but it TASTE Delicious. A bit of Orange Sherbet, but way healthier. This recipe is a keeper, and this is why I am sharing it with you.

Green creamy goodness

Spring Green Cleanse

adapted by ME

Ingredients

1/2 cup of Almond Milk

6 ounces of Greek Yogurt, plain

1 cup of Spinach

1 Green Apple, cored and chopped

1 Tangelo or Mineola, peeled and quartered

1 piece Fresh Ginger, size of fingernail

1/2 Avocado, peeled

Juice of 1 lemon

1-2 cup of Ice (optional)

Directions

Place all ingredients in a blender. Blend until completely smooth. Drink up or place in the refrigerator and drink tomorrow. 

Very basic ingredients. 

The Almond Milk was not present for the picture

Rough chop and peels. 

This was a very simple healthy drink to throw together

The Vitamix was pretty full. 

I always mix everything first and then throw in the ice.

 This drink had a nice creamy texture. 

I think I will try to skip the Almond Milk next time and just use water

With both an Avocado and Yogurt, and all of the fruit, this drink is just delicious

I like my Lime Mint Drink, but this may be my new favorite.

Chocolate Fabulous Smoothie

I am still working on my green cleanse smoothies. My skin is breaking out, but I feel I am ridding myself of toxins. I have lost two pounds, but that is a combination of many  factors. But the biggest surprise is that I like them. They always taste fresh.

This smoothie was part of a treat at lunch. A clean healthy drink treat. Is there anything wrong with that??? My Husband thought it tasted fantastic. He has totally gotten past the weird colors. They are NO reflection on what the drink will taste like.

If you have never tasted Chia seeds, I recommend them. They are loaded with benefits to healthy eating. They also thicken this smoothie. If you do not want to use Protein powder, that would just fine. Greek yogurt has protein in it. Using the unsweetened chocolate powder, really sent this drink to a new level. That I would not skip. If you did not have strawberries, I would use raspberries. I always seem to have more strawberries on hand.

This was one of my favorite smoothies.

Funny shade of green - brown

Chocolate Fabulous Smoothie

designed by ME

Ingredients

1 cup Almond Milk

1 tablespoon Chia Seeds

1 cup nonfat Greek yogurt

1 scoop Chocolate Protein powder

1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

10-15 Strawberries, tops cut off

1 cup fresh Spinach

4-6 Dates, pitted

ICE 

There are a lot of ingredients, but this smoothie tasted AMAZING

Directions

Place Almond Milk in the blender. Add Chia Seeds to Milk. Let sit for 5 minutes. (AT Least) Place the remaining ingredients in the blender in the order listed. Blend until smooth. ADD Ice to make frozen.

This is a load of Strawberries. I wanted to finish my container.
It did give it a more intense flavor. Up to YOU on how many you add

A very full Vitamix. This smoothie made 3 drinks.
Perfect for my Husband the next day

There is Love in drinking healthy smoothies together
The Dates added a natural sweetness to this drink

I always love my bursting bubbles on top. 

This drink was thick, but not heavy.

It was perfect compliment to our salads.

Spinach Fruit Smoothie

I am almost Green. I know, I know, I really need to conquer this. Have I told anyone that I LOVE my VITAMIX. My friend Mary is just such a wonderful person. LOVE her dearly. She is radiating with love and happiness. And her styling is always spark tacular. That may not be a word, but if you know her, you know that I am correct. Mary is "the Life of the Party" in a great way. One of these days, I am going to give Mary a Vitamix class. She has not used hers yet........

This "Green" Smoothie was just delicious. The large amount of fruit gave it such a wonderful flavor. The spinach added so many vitamins and nutrients and such a lovely color. It was perfect for another cold snowy winter day. One of these days, it will be so nice and I will be forever OUTSIDE.  With all the crappy weather we have had, I have completed loads of Spring cleaning chores. That is a good thing, but just ridiculous way to spend a weekend.

Is that not a BEAUTY Queen.

Spinach Fruit Smoothie

made by ME

Ingredients

1 cup Almond Milk

6 oz greek Yogurt

2 frozen Bananas

5-6 strawberries (can be frozen)

1/2 mango (can be frozen)

1-2 cups fresh Spinach

Directions

Place all ingredients in a high power blender and blend away. You can add ice if you want.

Basic ingredients you find in the Refrigerator

dripping with Delicious Flavors

I was totally digging the bubbles on top.

My own amusement

Pear, Oatmeal, Ginger Smoothie

This smoothie was absolutely delicious. I love Ginger. To me, ginger is like Limes. Bursting with flavor.

As we were struggling with another cold snowy weekend, I was putting away my produce. I can across three very ripe pears. It made me very unhappy. One of my resolutions is to waste less food. I hate throwing away produce. A colossal waste of money. So, as I was loading up my frig, I remember that I have 1 or 2 smoothie recipes with pears in them. FOUND them.

This recipe is delightful. The combination of flavors just blows me away. This recipe made two smoothies and I could have drank both of them. GINGER...... hmmmm. The Husband said it was good...

NOT GREEN. 

NO. but still very good for you. 

Pear, Oatmeal, Ginger Smoothie

slightly adapted from Martha Stewart Living

Ingredients

1 cup Almond Milk

6 oz Greek Yogurt

2 or 3 Pears

1/4 cup Oatmeal

2 grams fresh Ginger (1 small piece)

1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon

1/2 -3/4 ice cubes

Directions

Place all ingredients in a high power blender. Blend until smooth. This may take a minute or two with the oatmeal and ginger.

The Pears were ugly but mostly unbruised. 

I added 2 1/2 pears. The Pears added a great texture to the Smoothie

Soup for Lunch was good with me.

The Pear Smoothie with my Soup was excellent with ME.

Cranberry Oatmeal Smoothie

I got ALL of my fruit servings in ONE drink today. Four fruits in 1 drink. WOW. This smoothie was not a slammer, it was a long drink. It was a meal. I loved it. It was very filling but not heavy. DOES that make any sense???

In February, I am going to focus a bit more on more healthy and lower calorie smoothies. (Not that the Oreo smoothie was not amazing) As January has gone on, I have been shifting gears. I want to focus on cleanse and types of meal replacements. Cleaner eating.

I have also been working on different recipes. I am trying to regularly incorporate sweet potatoes into our diet. They are loaded with so many good things and NOT loaded in calories.(we are not putting butter on them) Just to keep this blog happy, I still have some new cookie and bar recipes. That whole deal has not gone out the window. Just like smoothies, there are tons of cookie recipes for me to sample....

Cranberry Oatmeal Smoothie
slightly adapted from somethewiser.com
Ingredients
1 cup almond milk
1/2 cup of Greek yogurt
1 frozen ripe banana
1 apple, cored and quartered
1/2 cup whole cranberries
4 tablespoons rolled oats
4-6 whole pitted dates
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions
Place all ingredients in a Vitamix or high powered blender in the order listed. Start slowly and increase power until smooth.

I let this smoothie sit overnight, you can drink immediately if you want.

Simple ingredients. 

The dates last a long time and add huge flavor to smoothies

These cranberries were from Christmas. 

There were one or two that were ugly, but they have a long shelf life

This delicious monster was AMAZING.

Forget the Fast Food Calorie Laden Nightmares, make your own.

This drink is not fattening.

Black Forest Smoothie

Yesterday, I was trolling through the internet looking for recipes. Why, I did not feel like working and besides I love new and exciting food items. I get so bored with the same old, same old. I could NEVER make the same 7 dinners every week. BORING. Monday night Meatloaf, week after week. yuck.

Dinner was still a bit haphazard, but it was good. Next month, I will post pictures about dinners. BUT since I am on smoothie nation, the smoothie I made was out of this world. Chocolate and Cherries, oh heaven. And four ingredients. Maybe that is why I love making smoothies. Quick, delicious and healthy. Oh course, some are more healthy than others. NO debating that.

Cherries are really good for you. They seem to be a second tier fruit. I am not sure if it is the pit or what, but they are really great tasting.

Black Forest Smoothie
adapted from motherthyme.com
Ingredients
1 cup almond milk
1 5.3 oz cup of black cherry yogurt
1/2 cup frozen cherries
2 squirts of chocolate syrup

Directions
Combine ingredients in blender in the order of recipe. Blend until totally combined.

I added a handful of ice. Totally up to you.

2 full glass smoothies

4 simple ingredients you find in your grocery store. 

If you could not find Black Cherry Yogurt, Vanilla would work. 

The bright red of the cherries mixed with the chocolate syrup. 

Today was a fun glass for the picture. 

We actually drank them out of our regular glasses.