Smoothie Prep

I have some tricks for getting a variety of fruits and greens and making them quick so that I can just grab it and throw it in the blender when it's smoothie time. Nothing fancy, but I thought I would share. With lots of pictures of course.

I got a huge sample from the greens section of the grocery store. From left to right
Beet greens, mustard greens, collard greens, chard, kale, baby spinach. Mixed green on top.

I cut off the stems, then chop the greens up. Not too worried about how much since it'll be blended anyways. These are Collard Green which are quite pungent.

Wash the greens. Preferably in a salad spinner. WAY worth the $3 or so at Wal Mart

It is helpful to use a large bowl on the counter to dump trash as you go. Huge time saver.

Spin the greens dry

I use my empty costco containers to store my new greens. Don't reuse too much or wash in a dishwasher because it's a low quality plastic, but it works for a while.

Moving onto the Swiss Chard

One down. 2 new greens easy to use

On to the mustard greens and kale. The curly ones.

Uh Oh, my mixed green are starting to wilt. You can use wilting (not rotten) greens in the smoothie, You can also freeze them. Waste not want not. It may make for a gross salad, but in a smoothie it just makes it colder.

Now I have a wide variety of greens just as convenient as my Costco greens. Make sure to get varity as too much of one plant has alkalids to prevent overuse. More info in Green Smoothie Girl's "12 Steps to Whole Foods"

Now I grab the greens from the beets. I also chop the beets to use in smoothies or other receipes.

Don't forget the fruit. You can see my freezer is small and full of frozen fruit.

Here are my staples. A bag of lemons I chopped back in April and froze. Mixed berries and strawberries from Costco, bag of frozen bananas. I bought 3 bunches of "value priced" bananas that were starting to brown and just cut up (or just separated with my hands) them into chuncks and froze them.

When I am dying to chew something I just take a few frozen strawberries and banana. An excellent sweet tooth replacement. Plus you eat them more slowly because they are cold. And I love cold treats.