How To Get Those Greens In
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This is one of the only things I don’t worry about with our family.
Are we eating enough dark greens?
This is all the more surprising if you know that my son doesn’t like about half of the vegetables out there. But he loves spinach, kale and swiss chard (hidden in his power shake).
Every Sunday night I get out my equipment to make the power shakes:
A blender, steamer and thermoses for storing the shakes. It takes me about 15 minutes to do the whole thing.
By the way, I am not just making them for our son, I love them too. When I had newborn Willow, sometimes those power shakes were the only way that I was sure I was getting my vegetables.
People ask me how I make my “power shakes”. Here is how I make them.
This makes about five 8 oz glasses.
- A bunch of swiss chard (or kale or spinach).
- I steam this. (Sometimes I steam this one night when I have some time and then refrigerate it until I have time to make the whole shake. As far as I can tell, it can keep for 4 days like this). I like it steamed rather than raw. When the greens are raw, they get a “bitty” (if you know what I mean) and then my son asks- what are those green flakes in my power shake?
- Once steamed, I rip the leaves from the stalks of the swiss chard or kale. The spinach is fine as it is. I put all the delicious greens into a blender.
- Then I add 2 bananas
- Then I add 1 frozen package of berries (I buy Cascade Organic strawberries/blueberries combo or Trader Joes organic berries – but any will do)
- Then, 1 cut-up pineapple (I only use about 1/4 of the pineapple and the pineapple is totally not necessary but adds a tartness I like) .
- At this point you can add the water from the steamed kale to make the power shake less dense or you can add just plain water…..or my favorite: juice. The juice, of course, adds a lot of sugar to the shake though.
- Then I blend a little bit.
- Last, I add a couple capfuls of flaxseed oil (for Omega-3) and, if I remember it, wheat germ (for protein, Vitamin E, potassium and iron). I blend it all together and
- Then I pour the shake into a few thermoses so that they last for days, and everyone gets their own thermos. Any kind of stainless steel thermos seems to keep it fresh for days (even a stainless steel blender will do, which I keep the shakes in when I am lazy- but boy is that a pain to clean out after a few days!)
- Enjoy!
(Thanks to 24 Hour Kitchen for the food label info above on a similar power shake)
***You can make your own food label or find out the nutritional data for a recipe by adding your ingredients. Get it at Nutritional Data.
I lOVE the name Hulk juice. I am going to try that around here. I have a feeling as our son reaches 4 years that monniker will be more appealing than Power Shake.
I def steam- if you see comments above- someone else asked that question.
I have only tried: collards, spinach, kale and swiss chard. Do you have any suggestions? What have you tried?
I got the data from nutritiondata.com. I put all the ingredients and measurements in and it made that label for me- isn’t that cool?!
I’ve never tried steaming the greens first. I’m interested in trying this. I’ve been doing the green smoothies-at our house we call them hulk juice. The kids love “hulkin out” after they finish theirs. One thing I learned like with any foods its good to rotate the greens you use for the shakes. Just wondering if you steam or use any other greens. How did you get the stats (nutrition facts) on the power shakes?
Thanks for the extra info, that makes total sense for the safety issue!
Here is what I found about spinach:
Eating raw or steamed “are (both) good b/c cooking frees the carotenoids (esp. beta-carotene) and makes them move available.It boosts lutein. However, heat can degrade Vit C and folate.”
but then I found other sites that said it is better for you to eat raw vegetables as they retain all their nutrients that way.
Why do I steam the veggies?
The spinach and kale (in particular)when raw, make little bits in the smoothie that I find unappealing.
Secondly, because I am giving this Birch, I am, perhaps unnecessarily so, concerned about “raw” veggies,- remember that horrible somonella and E.Colli outbreak from bagged spinach?- so I just steam them briefly to be safe.
I have a friend who makes these for herself, and she doesn’t even steam the greens. Is there a practical or taste reason to steam them first?
This sounds excellent! I would feel so good if I could get my daughter to drink this. We’ve been doing a lot of fruit smoothies lately, and we do add flax to those- also, to avoid juice we use almond milk and a few whole almonds for crunch which tastes really good as well! Really look forward to trying your recipe
Yes! And I was trying to find a photo of a shake and googled it and found your recipe! I loved your info about Nutrition Data and how you made your food label. I could NOT figure out how to make one. So, after a futile hour and a half I gave up and used yours. Thank you for the use of your food label!
Thanks!
Aren’t these shakes great?!
Also, I realized that I forgot to say that I DO put some juice in before I blend the first time- otherwise my blender would totally gunk up!
I use Kleen Kanteen and Siggs for the thermoses.
This is a great idea and I’m looking forward to giving it a go, for myself and my boys, but just wanted to know what kind of thermos you use? Thanks