Green Smoothie Recipe and How I Freeze My Bananas

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day as everyone knows. It’s also one of the most chaotic times during the day for moms. We are trying to get everyone dressed, fed, packed with what they need and off to where they’re supposed to go. With all this going on, it’s really easy to forget about your own needs, and skip breakfast.  At least that is what used to happen to me. I’d skip it altogether, or I wouldn’t have it until really late. I’m talking 4 hours after I woke up kind of late.  By that time, trying to eat to nourish and care for my body was out the window. I was ready to eat anything I could get my hands on, and would likely overeat because I was so hungry and eating so fast to suppress that hunger. This would in turn set me up for bad eating all day; which would usually cause me to skip my work out because I was so tired. When you eat junk, you feel like junk, and more junk makes you feel even worse. 

Some people would say have a bowl of cereal because it’s fast and easy, but I’m sorry, I have a HUGE personal problem with breakfast cereal. It doesn’t matter how much or how little I eat of it, or what I ate with it. It makes me feel horrible. Almost instantly I feel sick, and drained of energy for the-rest-of the-entire-day; no energy for working out and barely enough energy to watch my kids, let alone play with them. Oh, and  I’m not talking about the cereals that are full of sugar either, the ones I ate were the “healthy” ones like Fiber one, Uncle Sam, Puffed whole grains, and Bran flakes.  I still don’t have why exactly pinned, but that would be a whole other post anyways.

I’ve realized over time because of all this that it’s not just important to eat breakfast, but what you eat for breakfast is super important too because it can really make or break your day as in my case.  I have found breakfasts that fit the bill nutrition wise, and give me energy for my day, but my absolute favorite for those hectic mornings, when there is no time to even sit down to eat is the green smoothie. There are tons of variations of this wonderful healthy and delicious breakfast treat out there, but I like mine because of its simplicity, and not to mention taste. It’s also wonderful that I can just blend this right up, dump it in a glass and take it with me in the car to drink on the way. No skipping breakfast, and no sacrificing taste or satisfaction either.  This smoothie keeps me going well into lunchtime.

Super quick and easy green smoothie

 

Ingredients:

1 cup prepared cold green tea

1 romaine heart

2 frozen Bananas (chopped before freezing if you don’t have a high powered blender)

1-2 big handfuls of spinach

Directions

For High powered blender:  Pour green tea into blender, and then add romaine heart and spinach. Blend until pureed, but not smooth. Next add frozen bananas. Put the lid on and blend until smooth. ***I have found it easier to blend the banana on a lower speed until they are chopped, and blend on high for 30 seconds or so after. ***If you’re in a hurry you can add everything at once, but be prepared to have to use the tamper.

For regular blender:  Chop all ingredients small. Pour in Green Tea, and add some chopped romaine and spinach, blend and then add some more and blend again. Keep slowly adding until all the romaine and spinach has been blended, and then add chopped frozen banana in the same manner until everything has been blended thoroughly. Pour into a large glass and enjoy!*** Tip: It is easiest to chop the banana prior to freezing it for this purpose.

 

 

How I freeze my bananas

To get the best tasting smoothie, it is best to have perfectly ripe bananas. They should look like this...

 

You will want to peel and prep your bananas in the way that you will use them. I like to have them whole for ease in measuring for baking, and since I use a Vitamix blender it works well for me to use in my smoothies as well. If you have a regular blender you will want to peel and slice smallish before you freeze them. 

Next line a baking sheet with parchment or wax paper. Lay your bananas on the paper in a way that will be easy to section after they have frozen. The areas that touch will likely freeze together so this should be minimal. I like to stack mine in an organized way. They stick a bit, but are very easy for me to break them apart. As you can tell I like to do this in bulk because we use a lot of bananas around here!

Next, you can cover them with some plastic wrap and stick the whole thing in the freezer. I usually do this overnight. Freeze times depend on how many bananas you have, and how you've organized them. Since I do a lot at once, it takes a while to freeze fully. Now I have enough bananas to last me a little while at least ;)