I want to love green smoothies, really! My go-to breakfast choice is nearly always abyssmal (coffee and a cookie, anyone?). So, I’ve been experimenting with them for a few weeks.
I started with Heather (Beauty That Moves)’s basic recipe, and I’ve changed it up here and there. I’ve used soy milk, whole milk, and almond milk. I’ve done them with maple syrup, with agave nectar, and with no added sweetener. I’ve done strawberries + bananas, blueberries raspberries + bananas, and strawberries + tropical fruits. No matter how I switch it up, I nearly always have the same reaction: meh.
I suppose “meh” is an improvement over “blech,” which is what I thought I would think of green smoothies until I had the guts to try one.
The thing is, I expect more from my breakfast than mere adequacy. I think when it comes right down to it, what I expect is solidity. As in solid food. As in, I can’t get past the fact that my breakfast is a drink.
I don’t want to go back to cookies, so I need a good healthy alternative that I can (literally) sink my teeth into. I am thinking that it would be nice in a muffin format. Do any of you have a delicious muffin recipe that is also packed with all of the amazing good stuff a body needs to properly start the day? Would you be willing to share?
Thank you in advance for making my mornings happier 🙂
ok my go to breakfast is vanilla yogurt(homemade) but Dannon is my other go to if I don’t have time to make it. I put some in a ramakin dish with a little Cascade Farms granola,sprinkled lightly over the top. Quick simple and fills you up till lunchtime. Add a glass of juice and some coffee and voila perfect breakfast 😉
I have had a similar relationship with green smoothies. And I know you are looking beyond cookies, but the King Arthur Flour Company website has a great breakfast cookie recipe – full of white whole wheat flout, peanut butter, oats, and lots of dried fruit. I mix up a batch, set them up on cookie sheets, freeze them and then pop them in a ziploc freezer bag. Fresh cookies for breakfast made easy and about as healthy as a cookie can get!
okay, I had to come over and read your post! 🙂
I tried different variations too.
The banana being frozen makes a big difference because it makes it sort of an ice cream consistency and takes away the strong banana taste. I hated the variations with yogurt because though I usually do like yogurt in smoothies, I didn’t like the sour taste with this combo. AND the vanilla flavored protein powder helped add to the vanilla shake taste!
Have you tried overnight steel cut oats? another thing I was skeptical about and was actually surprised that it was kinda good. (I think I found them on pinterest)
I recently discovered the blog My New Roots. She has some amazing breakfasts and all of the ones I have tried so far have been really great. And healthy. She also has a morning cereal recipe made from quinoa and millet that I’m trying next. I like Dr. Oz’s green drink recipe more than any other I have tried. I am not a fan of dairy in my smoothie, I don’t know why. His drink tastes nice and fresh but I usually have it in the afternoon around 3pm instead of more coffee 🙂 Good luck finding one a drink you like!
Before you give up on green smoothies give the following recipe a try. 1/2 milk (whatever type you like best), 1/2 cup tinned pear/peaches or mango (can use fresh), min. cup of ice, big handful of baby spinach. Blend well. It’s yummy I promise.
Oh, one my fav breakfasts, esp in the warmer weather is overnight oats.
http://ohsheglows.com/2010/04/08/easy-vegan-overnight-oats/
I prefer it low fat milk. Looks horrible but tastes delicious – and I’m not a cereal lover.
I know exactly what you mean! I started with Heather’s recipe and never made it past the first try. Blech! I love greens, but not in my smoothies. I do drink a smoothie each morning though.
I use 1 cup soy milk, 2 T protein powder, 1/2 a frozen banana, 1/2 cup frozen strawberries or mixed berries, splash of vanilla extract, shake or two of ground cinnamon. No sugar added. The vanilla and cinnamon are the key. You can add other good things like flax seed, or flax oil as well. It really is filling. I think the protein powder gives it staying power. I’ll eat my greens for lunch, thank you very much 🙂
A friend of mine stressed that you should have protein with in the 1st 30 minutes that you wake up. His suggestion was peanut butter. I didn’t want to eat it on bread or toast, so I cut thick apple rings, cored the middle and slathered on the peanut butter. I liked it.
Then I tried it on plain rice cakes. Yes, all right. Then I ran out of the good peanut butter. Dh bought a different kind and I’m letting the children finish that one off before I buy the good stuff again.
Oh well… give it a try
Oh I LOVE my smoothies!! We call them the “green goo”. I use apples, carrots, bananas, strawberries and LOTS of spinach. I use vanilla soy milk and some water for the liquid. These are G-R-E-A-T!! don’t give up!! Next take a piece of Rudi’s 14 grain bread and sunflower butter..now we’re talking…
I love my green smoothies, but I don’t use it as a replacement for my meal. The key is to add a lot of citrus. I blend a ton of kale and spinach with a whole lime (with the rind, if your blender can handle that), 2 oranges, frozen berries, a scoop of wheatgrass and chia seed powder. LOVE them! And tons of ice! I have that with a zucchini muffin, and it’s an awesome breakfast.
I never tried green smoothies. Never! But I heard it’s not bad as the way it looks. I really wanted to try one. I would really appreciate if you have some green smoothie recipe. Thanks in advance. Keep posting!^^
[…] by the way, I really have to thank you for all of the breakfast advice. I’ve read every comment, but I still need to digest them (so to speak). I predict some fun […]
Have you tried a big heaping tablespoon of raw cacao in the smoothie? I make smoothies every morning which include tons of spinach, frozen banana, a big heaping tablespoon of raw cacao, ice cubes, chia seeds, stevia powder and a tablespoon of coconut flour for fibre. Seriously, I think it tastes like a chocolate banana smoothie.
I’m a bread-baker, not a muffin maker, but rye toast and cottage cheese, hard-boiled eggs (until I developed a sensitivity), greek yogurt, berries and granola, a banana with peanut butter in the middle… They are all my go-to’s for breakfast in addition to a smoothie. You can thicken your smoothie up by adding oatmeal or cooked quinoa as well. Good Luck!
I don’t like green smoothies for breakfast. They fit more as an afternoon snack. For breakfast in the warm months, I made smoothies with our homemade yogurt, fruit (a banana and another fruit all frozen, and fatfree milk. Yum!!
I love the southbeach diet egg muffins(spinach, egg beaters, cheese, onion, canadian bacon or turkey bacon, or no meat, loads of mushrooms, tomato, pretty much whatever you want. Make and freeze, and reheat.
RT @lclarke522: Green blah http://t.co/jSYsinh9
[…] about Heidi Swanson‘s Millet Muffins. I really thought someone posted it here, in response to my request for breakfast help, but I couldn’t find the comment. Wherever it was that I originally read about them, I was […]
[…] tried twice before to embrace the green smoothie thing.The first time, I found them utterly boring, and I had trouble getting past the fact that my breakfast was […]
Anything called Green Blah ought to be delicious.