Happy Hump Day peeps! We're already on week four; it's incredible. Today I have a green smoothie recipe that features collard greens. [Don't worry; you aren't the only ones who thought the way to eat collard greens is with a stick of butter and some salt and pepper]. Who would've thought to put them in a smoothie, right? These greens are an excellent source of nutrition though, as many recent studies have shown.
Before I get to the recipe, I wanted to delve a little further into WHY we are drinking these green smoothies, as opposed to just eating lots of salad. Dark, leafy greens are well known to be nutrition powerhouses; however, they have thick cell walls composed of cellulose. Our bodies don't really digest cellulose very well, so most of the greens we ingest come out the other end before we've accessed the dense nutrients. [Ew!]
Enter the green smoothie. By blending the greens, it's essentially like having someone chew your food really, REALLY well. You may call me lazy, but I like to think of myself as industrious. Breaking down those cell walls allows crazy amounts of nutrition into my body, all ready to be absorbed. I didn't even have to do the work! Having so much readily available nutrition does GREAT things for your body. People rave about side effects such as higher energy, fewer mood swings, fewer cravings, shiny hair and quick growing nails. If you haven't started making green smoothies yet, what are you waiting for??
Here's the week four smoothie, for your drinking pleasure:
"A Tropical Collarda"
1 large banana
1 cup frozen pineapple
1 cup frozen mango
2 cups collard greens
1 tbsp agave nectar
1 cup water
Blend it up and enjoy!
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This smoothie was exceptionally yummy! I've been nervous to put "too many" greens in my smoothie and overpower the fruit flavors but this one was perfect! It turned this really cool shade of lime green that made me think of summertime and you couldn't taste the collards at all! I used fresh fruit and ice cubes instead of frozen, because it's what I had on hand, and had to add a dash of soymilk to thin it out (again, I think because I was using fresh fruit), but I'm for sure going to buy some frozen mango so I can keep making these!
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