what's in the blender? breakfast!

When I first decided to "go veggie", I intended to follow Joel Fuhrman's Eat to Live plan. It's a strict vegan diet with almost-unlimited amount of fresh fruits and veggies, limited whole grains, and no oil, salt, sugar, processed foods, etc. While it didn't end up being my bag, baby, it taught me a valuable lesson in vegan breakfast food... the green smoothie! Almost every website and blog I visited while researching the Eat to Live diet had "recipes" for green smoothies. And while I wasn't too keen on drinking a salad, I decided to follw the crowd and give it a try. I'm so glad I did! I love making smoothies in the morning, deciding what fruits to pack in, and feeling awake and energized after polishing it off.

Here's what's probably in my At-Home Vegan Smoothie on any given day:

• large banana
• handful blueberries
• 1/4 of a peeled, cored pineapple (I buy them cored - they're the same price as a whole pineapple and I don't have to do any of the work. Plus, I save the containers for leftovers of other yummy vegan meals!)
• a couple tablespoons of ground flax seed (a healthy fat, full of great omegas)
• a little green tea (I just started adding this - I used to just use water)
• a little light soymilk (for creaminess and B vitamins)
• lots and lots of spinach - enough to fill the blender the rest of the way

Blend until yummy and enjoy!

A few notes about green smoothies:

• You can't taste the spinach - promise!
• You can add absolutely anything to these! Watermelon adds a light, sweet flavor. Strawberries are surprisingly un-sweet so you may want to pair them with another sweet fruit. Fresh peaches are awesome, frozen are not so great. Experiment until you find out what's right for you.
• I freeze my spinach, the whole bag of it! I buy the big bag at Costco and throw the whole thing in the freezer. It doesn't go bad and it's always there when I need it. You can't make a salad out of it once it's frozen, but it goes nicely into sauces, stir frys, and pizza.
• Keep a balance of frozen and fresh ingredients. I personally like my smoothie cold but not icy or slushy, so the spinach is typically the only frozen ingredient I use. If you use any frozen ingredients, you don't need ice.
• You don't have to have a top-of-the-line blender. Many vegan sites will say you can't get by with a regular blender, and I think they're just trying to sell you a $400 blender. I'm sure it would help, but mine is of the mid-range under $100 variety and it works just fine. You can still see little flecks of spinach, which I guess some people have a problem with. But, if you get creeped out at spinach in your smoothie, why put spinach in your smoothie?!?

I'm going to spin class tonight, so I don't like to eat too heavy or have too many veggies before class. For lunch I had celery with Bean Dip (bonus recipe: warm a can of veggie refried beans mixed with about 1/2 jar of good-quality salsa, then stir in a little guacamole for a quick and easy lunch or snack). For dinner I'm going to have a fantastic rice, lentil, and fruit salad a la Moosewood. I can't wait to eat it! When I get home tonight, I might snack on a banana with peanut butter. In the meantime, I am going to try to not eat too many blueberry muffins. The zucchini bread is safely tucked away in the freezer - for now at least. Sweets are my downfall (last month I made a butter and egg-filled Barbie cake for my daughter's birthday and ate practically the whole thing), but at least these ones are vegan :)

Happy, healthy eating!