Our Smoothies

A couple of friends asked for the recipe for our green smoothies in the morning -- I've hesitated sharing not because I'm possessive of it, but because I really don't follow a recipe or do the exact same thing every morning. 
On this particular morning, though, I took a couple of pictures to show a general idea of what our morning smoothies consist of.  I hope they're helpful.  I will say that when I started hearing about these concoctions, I looked for recipes, too, but mostly found just blogs that promoted a certain lifestyle without sharing any real recipes (unless you bought the book).  I didn't really want to get into the bee pollen, agave, etc, etc stuff, so I just decided to wing it.  I really just use fruits, vegetables, and water -- nothing else.  And we like it.
So, here are a few pictures to give you a start.

Ingredients for this particular smoothie:

Lettuce, bananas, blueberries, grape tomatoes, celery, cranberries, cucumber, baby carrots, and mixed fruit.

I put everything but the frozen fruit in the blender (a good, strong blender REALLY helps with these puppies) and hit the smoothie button.  They blend down to about half the pitcher-full.

This is after the fresh stuff was all blended together.  I threw in a few handfuls of frozen fruit till it was back to the top again.  Blend away again and add some more -- I just add fruit and blend until the blender is full to the top with blended smoothie -- that way I have enough for everyone.  It ends up being about half frozen fruit, which I'm sure to some might be too much, but it helps my kids love it and I'm so not against fruit for a sweetener!  Oh, and the "frozen" component of the fruit is super important because who wants a room temperature smoothie?!  I've done it a few times when I've been out of frozen fruit and I will tell you that it is really not appetizing.  So go to Sam's or Costco and grab that big bag of Dole Wildly Nutritious Blend from the freezer section.

Fruits and veggies -- skin, fiber, all the nutrients, and no added sweeteners.  We love our smoothies!

Oh, and a few have asked for my grandma's french bread recipe, as well as some quick pantry dinners I use regularly.  I have a little blog where I corral recipes that I love (it's not a "cooking blog" with original recipes and witty commentary - just a place for me to keep recipes I have made and love).  I posted those recipes over there.  I'd definitely recommend the Italian Bean Soup and the Good For You Creamy Tomato Soup -- both of them are big hits around these parts.  HERE is the link.  I hope that's helpful!