Lighten Up Mom!!!

I found myself in many “Kim, lighten up!” situations last week.  It started last Saturday when my girls were housing chips and other treats while boating with friends.  That same evening ended with amazing homemade chipwiches (they were so good!!!) that my girls could not eat fast enough.  Cut to the Fourth of July, when my girls were offered another ice cream treat, but this time for lunch.  I accepted the ice cream with a slight curl of the toes, chuckled and thought, “It’s the Fourth of July, kids are supposed to be eating ice cream for lunch!” And the list goes on: ice cream cake with breakfast to celebrate Mommy’s birthday, juice boxes, more chips . . . and so on. 

                                          "Lighten up mom!"

Alas, after the crazy 4^th of July week, my girls woke up this morning and requested smoothies.  Either because they are creatures of habit and they have not had their morning smoothie the past few days, or maybe they really enjoy the good stuff, or maybe they are obsessed with the Fresh Beat Band (Marina and Kiki drink smoothies!) . . . either way, I was happy to make them and they were happy to drink them up!

Here are our two morning smoothies:

Smoothie 1

1 banana

1 apple

1/3 of a bag of frozen blue berries

2 heaping tablespoons of frozen chopped spinach or 4 heaping tablespoons of pureed kale

½ cup of milk of choice (we use coconut)

½ cup of coconut water

1.)    Peel and slice banana and place in blender

2.)    Rinse, peel and slice apple and place in blender

3.)    Add blue berries

4.)    Add spinach or kale (Rinse, break apart and puree kale ahead of time to make this go more efficiently)

5.)    Add milk of choice and coconut water (add more liquid if you want smoothie thinner and less if you want it thicker)

Note – if you are using fresh berries and not frozen I would add a few ice cubes

Smoothie 2

1 large banana or 2 small bananas

½ cup of chopped strawberries or blue berries

½ cup of milk of choice (we alternate between coconut and whole milk)

½ cup of coconut water

2 ½ tablespoons of Organic Raw Cacao Powder

5 ice cubes

1.)    Peel and slice bananas and place in blender

2.)    Rinse, chop and add strawberries to blender

3.)    Add milk of choice and coconut water to blender

4.)    Add Cacao to blender

5.)    Add ice to blender

These are just a couple of options.  Experiment!  For example this morning I was making smoothie 2 and I didn’t have any coconut water left or strawberries.  So, I added extra coconut milk, an apple and blue berries and it tasted great. 

If you have extra smoothie left over, make a smoothie pop by placing the extra in ice cube trays.  Cut up a straw and place the pieces in the middle of the smoothie and put the tray in the freezer.

Happy smoothie making!

Love deeply and eat mindfully,

Kim Gilroy – Insideout Wellness