I’ve been reading raw food cookbooks for about the last two years, and I try to make sure that half the food we eat each day is raw. We all know that we’re supposed to be eating leafy dark greens, and I’ve tried hard (especially since I’ve been pregnant) to make sure we eat at least a little every day. But I would find myself struggling to figure out ways to prepare them.
Then a few weeks ago, I got this book out of the library. The author reiterates how important leafy dark greens are, and then she describes what seems to be the best way I’ve ever seen to incorporate them into our diets. Green smoothies. Every morning and evening now, I put a whole bunch of organic greens (spinach, chard, beet tops, kale – whatever I have) in my food processor with a little water and some frozen organic berries. Then I let the food processor do its thing for about three minutes. Viola! Green smoothies that have dramatically increased our consumption of dark greens. It doesn’t get much easier as far as food prep goes, and they’re surprisingly tasty – even my husband agrees.
So I don’t have to think about how I’m going to add leafy greens to our meals anymore, and I haven’t eaten salad dressing in three weeks. I do have to go to the store more often now, since I like using very fresh greens in my smoothies. But I make sure that I go straight to the produce section, get my greens (whatever organic variety is on sale) and get out – no wandering the grocery store and picking up random things here and there. Since I can walk to the grocery store from our house, it’s not inconvenient to shop for greens a few times a week. If we lived out in the country, I would probably switch to frozen greens for my smoothies.
I’m already thinking about spring time when we can plant our little patch of chard out back and I’ll be able to make free smoothies all summer!
Lisa says
What is the book? The link doesn’t take me to the title. Thanks!
FrugalBabe says
Oops! Thanks for the heads up Lisa – I fixed the link. The book is called “12 Steps To Raw Food – How to End Your Dependancy On Cooked Food” by Victoria Boutenko.
arduous says
Wow! That sounds awesome. I’ll have to try my hand at making green smoothies.
Lisa says
Ill look for that book, thanks!
Jess says
Hey! So I first heard about this on your blog and did some research and decided to give this a try and I love, love, love them! BUT, in the month or so that I’ve been doing this, I’ve gone through two brand new blenders (not very frugal). The first was a slightly lower-end model so I thought ok, fine, let me replace it with some thing a bit nicer. But that broke, too (it was a Black & Decker blender that automatically turned off when the motor got overheated). Green smoothies seem relatively popular and not everyone out there can have bought a vitamix for a few hundred dollars to enjoy the, right?
FrugalBabe says
Jess,
I use a Cuisinart food processor that I got for about $150 (it was on sale, I think they’re normally about $200). I use it every day for the green smoothies, and about 4 or 5 times a week for other stuff, and it works great. I’ve had it for about two years and haven’t had any problems with it at all. I’ve read that the Vitamix is awesome, but I already had the food processor and it does the job. I think most blenders are just not that tough – we stopped using ours when we got the food processor.
Ty says
i was wondering if i should buy a vitamix (ouch! they’re expensive!) to start incorporating green smoothies into our diet, and was glad to see this post. i don’t currently own a blender, because i feel the same way. my cuisinart processor handles pretty much everything i would need one for already. glad to hear it’s holding up to this task. i suppose if i really get into the green smoothies it would be a consideration for the future. (and NEXT year’s tax return.)
Frugal Babe says
Ty,
I ended up getting a VitaMix at Costco in the summer of 2008, after I had been making green smoothies daily for about six months (and knew that I was going to stick with it). I use it about twice a day (sometimes more, never less) and can’t imagine my kitchen without it. I still make green smoothies every day, and they are much better in the VitaMix – completely smooth, which was hard to do with the food processor. I still use my food processor for all sorts of things, but the VitaMix was worth every penny. The seal at the bottom of my VitaMix went bad last year, and it started to leak a bit. I called the company and they immediately sent me a whole new seal/blade assembly, and the tool I needed to switch them out. The seven year warranty on the VitaMix does make it a bit easier to shell out the money for one, and I can vouch for their customer service so far.