Tag Archives: smoothies

Going Green

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We’ve been going green for the past few months in our house. Green, pink, purple and sometimes even brown. I’m talking about smoothies, of course, which is not a new thing but it’s new to me. In the past I’ve preferred to eat my fruits and veggies whole, but I’m slowly starting to enjoy drinking my greens.

Once I began using the blender daily, we decided it was time for an upgrade. My friend, Dorothy, sang the praises of her Vitamix, and even made me some peanut butter with hers. When she showed me how easy it was to clean, I was sold. Two weeks ago, we brought home this baby:

Even Little Dude is excited.

Even Little Dude is excited.

Prior to setting up my Vitamix, I stuck to a pretty basic smoothie- banana, greens, almond milk. Now I’m alllll about experimenting.

First, I tried this kale smoothie- mango, kale, banana? Delicious. I drank this every morning until I ran out of frozen mango.

After eating Mexican food on Super Bowl Sunday, I tried this cilantro smoothie-

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The cilantro flavor was strong but I’m a cilantro fan, so hooray! Another win.

After my long run on Sunday, I had a recovery smoothie, but used protein powder instead of greek yogurt (because that was what I had on hand). This tasted okay…I’m not sure about the powder. However, I’m usually ravenous after a long run, even after eating, and with this, I felt satisfied until lunch time.

On Monday, I made a spinach and avocado smoothie . This was interesting, in a good way. I mainly tasted the tang from the greek yogurt and the lime. It was super creamy, and I think the fat in the avocado cut the chalkiness of the greek yogurt (fat free greek yogurt isn’t my favorite). I’ll definitely make this again.

Yesterday, I decided to try the Glowing Green smoothie. Dorothy swears by this one, so I knew it had to be good. I shared some with my husband and also brought one to Sara, and we were all impressed with the taste, considering the amount of greens in it.

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I’m almost out of peanut butter, so that’s up next. I’m so excited to use this machine every morning!

Smoothie fans, send me your fave! Vitamix owners, what else can this thing do?

Product Review – Vega One Starter Kit

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vega

I love smoothies. Like, I LOVE them. A lot. So when Vega One reached out and asked if we’d be interested in giving the Vega One Starter Kit a try, I was super excited.

Because SMOOOOOTHIES.

When I got the package from Vega, there were actually two starter packs included, so I wrangled the teen into trying them out with me. She’s an athlete and always trying to include healthy options in her diet. You know, to balance out the cheese balls.

The Vega One Starter kit can be purchased online. Each 5 day starter kit comes with 5 packets of shake mix (2 Chocolate, 2 French Vanilla and 1 Berry). I love this. One of my main complaints with a lot of meal replacement shakes is the lack of individual or trial options. Because before I plunk down a mid to large sum of money for a month’s worth of shakes, I kind of want to know what I’m getting into.

They also include a recipe booklet and a coupon in the box, which is cool. But I like to color outside the lines, so I didn’t actually go with any of Vega’s recipes.

I started with Chocolate, which I mixed with frozen bananas, PB2  and almond milk. This is a standard smoothie recipe for me, and usually a hit with the kids as well. If you don’t know what PB2 is, go here. And then buy some. And then write me a thank you note.

Right off the bat, the teen was like ‘Is it kind of…green?’ (It actually does have a hue to it. I didn’t take pictures. Mornings here are chaos enough without me doing ‘smoothie selfies’). I think that threw her off enough that by the time she tried it, her mind was already made up. Teen was not a fan.

The green didn’t bother me since I’ve been known to toss some spinach into my smoothies anyway. I wasn’t sure what to expect taste-wise, but a friend of mine had used Vega products before and she referred to them as ‘plant-y’.

It’s not inaccurate. There is a definite plant-y taste to the smoothies. Which isn’t bad, quite the opposite. But if you’re coming off of run-of-the-mill whey-based or soy-based protein powders, you’re going to notice a difference. Just chill with it for a few days (which the starter kit gives you ample opportunity to do). You’ll get used to the plant-y goodness.

With teen no longer on board, I got a little nutty with the vanilla. Meaning peanuty. And grape-y. I mixed the vanilla powder with almond milk, PB2 and frozen red grapes for a ‘PB&J’ smoothie. YUM. Seriously.

And since I wanted to try one of the smoothies ‘as is’, I made the berry with just almond milk and ice. I wasn’t a fan, but honestly, with some additions, I totally could have been.

I wish I had super exciting pictures to show you but I am fail in that area. Not that smoothie pics are super exciting, but still.

Overall, I really like the Vega products. I felt like I had a lot of energy on the days where I drank these, and they definitely kept me full for a while. Like I said, taste-wise, this ain’t your mama’s protein powder, so if you’re used to overly sweet, artificially flavored powders, you’re going to have to get used to the difference, but it’s a worthy endeavor.