Use It Up #4: Drink Your Bok Choy

If you haven’t tried making green smoothies, now is the time to start!  Nothing against simply eating raw greens, but have you ever sat down and consumed an entire raw head of kale in one sitting? By blending greens into a “smoothie” (that may or may not actually be green when you're done) -- you still get all the benefits of raw chard or collards or whatever, but can get insanely large amounts in your belly without feeling like you’re torturing yourself.  

I first learned about green smoothies while randomly searching the Internet at 2am. I was probably Googling, “elixir of life” when I stumbled upon Green Smoothie Girl and was hooked after watching this video on YouTube.  I immediately decided I needed to be obsessed with all-things-green-smoothie, so I bought a Vitamix and never looked back.

Before, despite being good eaters, my kids wouldn’t touch anything that remotely resemble a leaf.  Now, they’re unknowingly drinking their weight in dinosaur kale. By mixing greens with certain fruits and veggies, you mask their flavor, so you feel like you’re sipping a Mr. Misty and not some crazily healthy free-radical busting miracle potion.  My husband dropped a pant size in two weeks -- doing nothing else but adding green smoothies to his morning meal.  And I swear my pores shrunk.  Are you sold?

Here’s my latest creation (the raspberries make this "green smoothie" red):

Note: If you don’t have a high powered blender, you can always try your food processor, but that can get messy as heck since it seems to seep out the sides.  I think we could mow our lawn with the engine on the Vitamix; that puppy pretty much liquefies greens.

BOK CHOY SMOOTHIE

1 head bok choy
1 banana (this makes it creamy; I also used ripe avocados to make it creamy, but didn’t have any on hand)
1 orange, peeled
1 mango, peeled and without the seed
¼ cup frozen blueberries
¾ cup frozen strawberries
¾ cup frozen raspberries
2 cups cold water

Blend together.  Enjoy!

Check out this link for more benefits to making green smoothies!