As you all know I am quite fond of tossing a few items in the blender, swirling them around and swirling myself right out the door with a nutritious, on-the-go breakfast. One version of these breakfast blend-sations includes spinach and I've become accustomed to calling these wonderful little morning creations Green Monsters. Yesterday I hauled my hiney off to kickboxing for a 6:15 (please note this next part)
AM class. I was home by 7:30 ready to put some protein in my tummy to save those screaming lil muscles I'd woken up so early. Out came the blender.. in went the following ingredients!
Green Monster (Mango-Coconut)
1/2 cup fresh apple juice
3.5 oz Greek Yogurt (2% Fage is what I used)
1 TB Flaxseed
1 TB Wheatgerm
2 TB Fiber
1/8 cup frozen coconut shavings
1/4 cup frozen mango chunks (Dole)
2-3 oz cold water if needed
Baby spinach to the top!
I found this brand of Apple Juice at Hy-Vee. I feel like it's as close to fresh apple juice as I can come with out having a juicer of my own. As you can see in the label.. "not from concentrate" They squeezed every single apple into this fun little jar! Doesn't it have a certain 50's -esque feel to it!
If you couldn't see before.. here's a closer view!
I've recently discovered that all yogurts are basically bad for you. They are sugar in a cup. I became very sad at this moment. It's like all these years of thinking I was eating something good for me and suddenly my favorite toy was smashed to pieces. Fortunately I only "try" to eat healthy ;-). I can allow myself to use good yogurt in recipes and I'll still sneak that yummy Chobani I love so much as a treat when I'm feeling naughty! Consider it the lesser of two evils.. straight out cheesecake or Chobani.
This Greek yogurt has good stats with:
130 cals
4 g fat
65 mg sodium
8 g carbs
8 g sugars
17 protein
Flax and wheatgerm. I put these in every breakfast shake I make.. standards in my book. You can't tell they are in there and they provide so much benefit! I'm super excited because I just found out my friend will be selling organic flax from her family farm! It will be fresher and organic! Yay for my body!
Next comes adding fiber. Does anyone know how many grams of fiber you are to eat in a day? (guessing, guessing...) You all might be right.. as the range is
20-35 grams!! (ADA recommends 25-35g) I used the Sprinkle fiber on the left that I bought at the local nutrition store Campbells but I put a picture of a common brand name on the right: Benefiber. These powders are great because you can toss them into just about anything: regular food, sauces, soups, beverages. They are flavorless and don't change the consistency of the food items. Benefiber even has convenient single serve packs for on the go.
I tossed in a smidge of fresh frozen coconut that I picked up at the Indian grocery. I'm sure regular coconut would work. Or try dried, hydrate it, then freeze.
Dole makes these great pre-packaged frozen fruits. At first I thought they were too pricy for my taste. But if you watch the sales and use coupons they are well worth the price! Especially for the unique fruits like mango. Since you only need a few cubes at a time they last forever and convenience wise its fabulous. Plus we all know most of us are more likely to eat healthy if its easy. Plus I thought it was fun to know my mango came from Peru!
Fill the blender to the top with spinach. Push blend and away we go! I usually have to use a rubber spatula to gently push the spinach down abit. I also needed to add just 2-3 oz of cold water this time to make it blend up nice. It always depends. Just eyeball it.
Finally here's the little Green Monster himself. This will totally fill up your gas tank- promise!
