Garden Smoothie

My morning usually starts with a mosey around the garden.  I like to check on the vegetables, pull a few weeds, and pick whatever is ripe on the vines.  Then, with my bounty in hand, I head back into the house and straight into the kitchen.  Because it's smoothie time!  For breakfast I love making a smoothie from whatever fruits and greens I've found on my morning walk.  I also like to juice some of the vegetables I've picked and freeze it in ice cube trays for future smoothie use.  I pick our fruits and berries when they ripen and freeze them too for the same reason.  The frozen items keep the smoothie cold and prevent it from becoming too liquidy. 

Every smoothie I make is different because I use what I have available.  That's the beauty of homesteading!  It's hard to get bored because nothing ever stays the same--even our meals!  Here's a list of what usually ends up in my smoothies:

Greens--usually kale or spinach, but sometimes I toss in some lettuce, chard, or carrot tops. 
Berries--our blackberries, mulberries, dewberries, and strawberries are all power foods, and some even help prevent wrinkles and gray hair!  I double up on those.
Frozen fruit--I stock up on bananas, pineapple, grapes, and more when they're on sale.
Frozen vegetable juice cubes--the bounty from the garden, juiced and frozen in ice-cube trays
Wheat grass juice or powder--this superfood is easy to grow and juice, but the powder works great too.   It's good for our blood cells and it increases energy.
Juice--fresh or bottled juice adds liquid to the mix.  I like orange juice or mango juice.

Here comes my favorite part:  The bullet blender.  These things are perfect for making personal size smoothies!  You just assemble all the ingredients in the cup, screw on the nifty lid the has blades attached, flip it over, and place it on the base.  One simple downward twist is all that's needed to start the motor whirring.  A few minutes of blending later, you take the cup off the base, unscrew the blade lid, and screw on the green drinking rim.  Ta-Da!  It's ready to drink.  I never knew how easy this could be until I found my bullet blender at a yard sale.  Once I tried it, it opened up a whole new world for me.  A world that didn't involve a big cumbersome blender but did involve less cleanup--you drink right out of the cup that you blend in, so it cuts the dirty dish count in half!  And now I can not only eat from the garden, I can drink from it too...what a great way to start my day!

And now I can not only eat from the garden, I can drink from it too...what a great way to start my day!